I was browsing a CP forum and many claim he is out of shape and overweight (relative to a top athlete ,not a fan obviously.. haha). I wonder how long the "not match fit" words will be trotted out.
So a 2-1 win to open the season. Kamara is da'man. Forechecking, backchecking, holdup & goal. Davies OWNED Petrasso so badly and skinned him repeatedly. Teibert >> Piette. The switch passes out to the wing players were accurate and often. The passes up the middle were enough to keep from being predictable and on the money. Marcel was solid defensively and got forward a lot. Edwards was mostly invisible. As mentioned during the game "Our Canadians are VASTLY superior to their Canadians". All is good
A WIN IS A WIN and definitely kei kamara was the best player on the field and davies made mince meat out of petrasso i still have lots of concerns about our MF and CB
Put RB on that list. He's good going forward but defensively he was owned by a former Whitecaps trialist today. Teams will be attacking down Nerwinski's and Techera's side of the field much more in the future, I'm sure.
Canucks forum? yes, he looked fantastic for the first game. I will never be a fan of Carl's commitment to lone strikers, but here is a guy who can make stuff happen on his own. Montero, Rivero both needed service (which they did not get very well most of the time). If we are going cheap on DPS (only two, and buying down one of them - Shea), Kamara was a shrewd pickup. I gotta tell you though, I was about to snooze before the Caps finally got their first goal. It was not a very good performance until then; very bland to say the least. Over all they will have trouble getting legitimate chances. Alphonso looked a bit leaner from last year. Interesting. He was very good today. Enjoy his last year with the Caps. I think the papers are trying to sell his nickname as the Phonze. It looks like it might catch on. Let's just hope there are no sharks this year.
Anyone know where the Opta stats are for individual players? I can't find it on the MLS site. One article has Russ completing 63/68 passes (92.6%)! Xavi Hernandez type numbers.
I thought Teibert was very accurate. Not just making the pass, but shaping it so the player receiving could do something with it. Wouldn't be surprised at all at 92%.
They have some but nothing like I used to get off the MLS site where I could break it down by player, forward passes etc. Interesting (and very nice) to see us with 50% possession and 86% passes completed as a team.
NOT TIME FOR THE COW MOVE: an interesting stat from the game vs a weakened montreal team- Caps had 50% ball possession- in 2017, they had 39% and were the worst possession team in MLS- teibert was exceptionally sharp and should be a starter more than a sub; reyna was basically insignificant and juarez a notch above average, but his pass to techera for the davies goal was sublime- best pass of the game while davies cross for the kamara goal would be a close second if this ball possession continues, expect to see me jumping over the moon in my usual graceful fashion- MOOOOOOOOO
9 times out of 10 we lose that game. The other 1 we draw. I'll take the 3 points lucky though they were. On the road I don't mind the 4-5-1 especially in places like Houston. Long trip, heat, humidity. Bunker and counter time. We revert to the norm after 1 good game with 32% possession, outshot 21/7, 71% passes completed, 15/4 corners but we did handily win the clearances 42/3
I think it was more a 4-3-3 and it looked like the Caps didn't know how to play it - particularly in first half. Wing forwards need to track back defensively, but they didn't (particularly Reyna)exposing the outside backs. Playing a 4-3-3 takes a lot of practice and everyone needs to execute their roles or it looks ragged. To me, it looked ragged. Lack of depth at LB reared its ugly head although Davies acquitted himself well. De Jong has rib contusions which means he could be out a few weeks. Very painful, makes it tough to sleep, much less train.. Hate to see Davies back there but I think the only other real option is Shea and I believe Davies would do better. Reyna seemed lethargic or lost and looked to me like he was struggling to get in the game. Teibert gave great effort, as always, but I think his size worked against him in this match. The midfield, in general, struggled. Jordan Mutch looks heavier than his Crystal Palace pics. Maybe even chunky. Marinovic was tested and responded well Houston could easily have scored more with a little luck. Still, 3pts is 3 pts!
He can have a Dad bod competition with Dunfield He's has brown hair but his skin was, to use a quotation from John Oliver, whiter than a Yeti in snowstorm fighting Tilda Swinton. I thought Houston just lacked that bit of quality to get the job down, despite the overwhelming possession. The CBs had numerous clearances, Davies owned any Houston attacker who went 1 on 1 against him. I thought De Jong was subbed not only because of his rib cage injury but also because of the burns he was getting in trying to deal with Elis. Nerwinski, for the second game in a row, has looked pretty dodgy as a 1 v 1 defender. Reyna as a right winger/midfielder, isn't going to cut it. He was pretty poor overall. On the other hand, Kamara is a difference maker out there. He plays well as the lone ranger up top.
Before the game the announcers showed the players and said it was a 4-3-3 and I just laughed. Then one of them said 4-1-4-1. I shook my head. When you have 32% possession you are defending 68% of the time and you are in the 4-5-1 so that is what I call it. We do have Levis as a LB if Marcel's injury keeps him out. He is every bit as fast as Davies and I would like to see Davies at LM but then again Shea did very well and won the game with his goal. Hmmm. The Opta Index has our keeper at 945 and our 2 CBs at 629 (Maund) & 523 (Waston).
de jong was having a very difficult time handling ellis, but davies- due to his pace and battling spirit - was able to quell ellis' effectiveness- it will be interesting to see who the gaffer plays at LB vs atlanta who have very quick and skillful attacking players and the gaffer surprisingly- as i would have moved teibert to LB- was a brilliant decision- ellis was 'killing' us until davies was put at LB
Elis was still the highest rated player (948) but Davies only got beat twice in close to an hour of play against him and once was due to a ricochet that had the bounce go against us. Excellent showing. Shea can also play LB. I didn't see what happened to Marcel but according to the post game interview with Robbo he was coughing blood. That usually means a rib puncturing the lung.
He looked like he was in a lot of distress. His face was all red and contorted and looked like he was gasping for air. Thought Shea would go at LB but Davies was probably the better choice. One of the things that makes Davies so special as a teen age player is the amount of defensive work he is willing to put in.
Would be interesting to see if Levis gets much time. He is 24 and has all of 6 minutes of MLS league experience. For sure, injury has been part of that. But, they will likely have to start giving him minutes to see how it works out.
Whitecaps are on the right. Only attempted 266 passes with 71% completion. That is very low. Even more shocking was that Whitecaps had 42 clearances to Dynamo's 3! Whitecaps were under pressure the entire game but that stat surprised me. Team Statistics 21 Shots 7 7 Shots on Target 3 6 Shots off Target 3 8 Blocked Shots 1 15 Corners 4 47 Crosses 11 3 Offsides 1 9 Fouls 10 2 Yellow Cards 3 0 Red Cards 0 531 Total Passes 266 86 % Passing Accuracy 71 % 67.3 % Possession 32.7 % 51 Duels Won 57 8 Tackles Won 15 1 Saves 6 3 Clearances 42
how a team has so little ball possession and yet takes points is amazing- this is a stubborn group of players
He hasn't seen a minute of preseason action. No one has asked about how bad his injury situation is. Fiddes went out with injury at the same preseason game as Henry and Ghazal so no word yet on the status of his ankle or if he is even signed. I'll bet we are more likely to see Davies in that LB spot for the short term. If De Jong is gone for a lot longer, a journeyman will be signed.