One could argue that's the story of the Fire, a team with a hard-working, pressing style -- who always seems to have about a third of its roster injured.
It's true that Twellman puts himself "at risk" with his style of play, but that doesn't excuse the way he (and other players on other teams) are targeted. Look at the kind of tackles directed towards him near the end of the game last night. How many of those type of tackles were directed towards the other Rev players?
i believe dr. jay is right about the wrist taping. that's what taylor told my wife at the meet the revs thing.
Yea in an article taylor siad that he broke his wrist but its fine. Its just a superstition wraping his wrist more than anything its lucky for him i guess
Not to keep this subject going over-long but I think I remember reading some place in the past year or two that the league had instructed Refs to "protect" marquis players from thuggish behavior designed to "take them out". That seems to me like it should be an unnessessary instruction but big name players were getting targeted with the MLS physical style of play and big money players were spending more and more time on the bench from injuries. To think in the face of such guidence that the league was attempting to restrict "second yellows" or that Refs wouldn't give reasonable protection to marquis players makes no sense. Yet the way TnT has been manhandled this year with very few if any calls against defenders, almost no yellow cards aginst the hackers and not one PK call for the repeated beating he takes in the box says volumes. BOTTOM LINE: MLS Refs are allowing thuggish behavior with little threat of punishment for the offender or his team.
If I'm not mistaken, TT got a penalty call in the game against Chicago at CMGI, the second game of the USA Holland double header. Wolde Harris took the kick and missed it. TT did make a penalty kick later in the season, against KC I believe. I don't remember who was fouled. Or maybe it was a hand ball in the box. Can anyone corroborate my memories?
Not to stoke the flames any higher, as I do understand where some of you are coming from, but Twellman could have it ALOT worse. Every team, including yours, has it's fair share of legbreakers, and usually those guys focus in on one guy. On your team, it's Twellman. Look at the league numbers though. Andy Williams leads the league in fouls suffered, and he's played in significantly fewer minutes than Twellman. Should Twellman be protected? Yeah, as should ALL players, be they "marquis" or otherwise. Is the situation with Twellman unusual or even the worst example of player thuggery this season? Sadly, no. JMac
I suggest that you take a look at a tape of the Revs V. Colorado game last Wednesday. I don't recall seeing a forward get hammered as many times in one game.
It seems to me that in the formation that the Revs are currently employing TnT has to cut back on a diagonal on a regular basis to touch the ball either from long passes from the back or to maintain team possession with a touch on to a midfielder. By doing this he is constantly marked by defenders who literally have him in their sights as they go forward to cover him. Blooey! They cream him when he touches the ball, often in an up and under slash at his legs and ankles. Wolde does this too but he seems to carry his body in a somewhat more protected fashion. I don't know if there is an answer but it reminds me of when i USED to follow pointyball and small recievers would get hammered when they cut against the grain for short comeback passes. They didn't last long. JIM DOW
I suggest you take a look at tapes of Andy Williams, Ruiz, Quaranta, Moreno and more from this season. I suggest looking at tapes of Mathis in 2000/2001, and JMM, Cobi, Wynalda, Savarese and Diaz Arce from the early years of the league. Look at tapes of Damarcus Beasley and Steve Ralston throughout their careers. Twellman gets knocked around alot, and the league should do something to keep their finesse players from getting assaulted game in game out, but to think that Twellman is getting it worse than any other player doesn't make much sense when Williams, playing fewer minutes, has been fouled more often. It's a stupid thing to argue about. I was just trying to get across that it isn't a new thing, and players getting mugged did happen before Twellman joined the league. JMac
Fine. Let's swap tapes. I've seen all these guys play, and I maintain that no one has gotten mugged as often as TT in the Colorado game.
Works for me. I'll give you a Williams highlight tape and the best of Moreno for the Revs/Raps tape and Debbie Does Dallas. JMac PS: You may very well be right about that one game. I was referring to the whole season, since some of the fans on here have been saying Twellman gets it worse than anyone on a consistant basis. That is the point I was making, and not anything about one particular game.
I don't have Debbie Does Dallas. I do have Debbie Gets Burned. Its a re-make of the former, but with soccer players.
Yes, we Revs fans have seen Andy Williams play a time or two - you are aware of that I assume. Fact is, Williams see's a lot more of the ball and dribbles a heck of a lot more than a typical forward - particularly Twellman. A typical Twellman possesion takes up one or two touches. What's amazing is that he is getting cracked consistantly either before he ever touches the ball, or within the one or two touches he sees of it. This makes the offenses seem even more blatant. It's apparent that this is a planned and systematic strategy (and an illegal one at that) by opponents to nuetralize a goal scorer - exactly the sort of thing league officials are supposed to be out there to prevent.
You may well be right but it doesn't add up with my memory (which at this point is admittedly almost a week old). As I recall, all was pretty much okay until approximately 30 minutes or so in (could have been 20, maybe 40?) when Titus made a clumsy/stupid challenge as Taylor was passing down the left wing, resulting in a brutal foul. For which Titus was appropriately yellow carded. (It was a bad foul, but Titus did not deserve a red IMHO.) As I further recall, Taylor didn't really get fouled much more - if at all - until late in the match when on a close-to 50-50 ball he got fouled by ???? (I forget who), after which Taylor left the game. I presume this foul was to the same leg/ankle as the earlier foul, hence the injury. I don't recall whether there was a card for this foul. In any case, it wasn't nearly as blatant as Titus'. That's all I remember of the "mugging" Taylor got. Two bad fouls? Absolutely. But mugged all night? I don't recall that. I could be wrong however.
I can't tell you how many of the fouls were called, but there were at least 3 or 4 times in the last 15 minutes or so when he was upended after the ball left or hip-checked out of bounds. Jmac, I don't think that this thread was that much of a "Twellman gets it worse than anyone else" thread, just a general (and valid) thread about not only what happened to Twellman in this game, but the way defenders get away with murder after they get a yellow. A few players clobbered Twellman but got "stern lectures" because they were already carrying yellows. In another current thread it was determined that only about 2% of the yellows issued this year are second yellows. Instead of the old axiom of players having to be careful when they get a yellow, it seems to have the opposite effect.
Colorado Game In the Colorado game, Taylor set a dubious MLS single game "record" - most fouls suffered. Tapes of the fouls were sent to the league office. Many of the fouls were not within Taylors "one or two touches" they were clearly late, with the ball long gone, and clearly designed to hit lower leg. Unless the referees inforce the existing rules, this type of strategy will win games, so teams will continue to do it.