Tea Light in the Dark Universe: Bobby Wood at Hamburg

The thing was, he could have taken the shot and nobody would have reproached him for not scoring. A great scoring opportunity missed yes, but a selfish play no. I think there was a better than 50% chance he would have scored. MOST goalscorers shoot from that position. That doesn't make them dumb. Did you notice how the scorer was a step behind and almost didn't catch up to Bobby's play? It was a very selfless play, almost too selfless. Still great to see Bobby showing he's a talented, all-around striker.

 

The thing I took away from it was how hard those dudes in the stands were celebrating. Super important goal.

 

Not like this is on topic or anything.....But I am someone who thinks he deserves a call up. However, I have never used the word "automatic". And I don't necessarily think it has anything to do with the league as it does that I believe he is a solid player in a position of question/need moving forward. And I whole heartedly believe he is a brighter light than Dax McCarty. So being outraged than he wasn't called up because he is an automatic choice? No. Being "outraged" that McCarty was called up in place? Maybe.

 

Does HSV have the most points since league play resumed?

 

only because it was pretty much an assured goal for himself.

 

One on one with GK's are not that assured. Its probably a 60/40 proposition.

 

i'd say 75/25 in that situation.

But you bring a fair point.

 

In what situation. A 2 v 1 where you don't pass the ball? Interesting soccer fact. What percentage of 1 v1's end up being goals. OPTA stats where are you.

 

I also feel Morales doesn't get a fair shake, he doesn't make mistakes yet, he is graded to a higher standard than our current mids, even when our mids haven't looked their best in quite some time. Sometimes coaches don't want change unless the incoming player is enormously better than the current player that has the position.

 

Talk all you want about a 1 v 1 chance, but as a coach, you can't ask for a better team building moment than a guy who passes up a chance to be selfish and possibly miss, to draw the keeper and slot a teammate a dream pass for an absolute 100% tap in. The amount of good feelings that creates in the team is priceless, especially going into the business end of the season. I think that was a very mature, humble move on Bobby's part, not to mention pretty f'ing cool under pressure.

 

http://www.bundesliga.com/en/stats/table/?d=28&t=RUECKRUNDE

 

Darmstadt ist schrecklich.

 

He was alone on the keeper and looked on the replay to have a pretty good near post angle with a left footed shot. With 2 trailing defenders the pass is not completely without risk and he had to wait while Holtby came back to an onside position. That is a shot Bobby takes 100 times per week in practice, he ought to feel confident taking it.

So I disagree, taking that shot is not a problem to me, even if you miss.

 

Merely pointing out other players were lock sarters on the US team while riding the bench in the BL. Perspective.

 

Bradley always got significant playing time in the Bundesliga. 76 appearances in about 2.5 seasons as I recall. He was briefly suspended after arguing with the coach. No need to distort the facts to make your point.

 

Ah, ok, so you need how many appearances exactly to prove my point? In two years, not due to injury how many appearances does Morales have? (103 essentially since 2014, just a tad more than MB)

In addition, he was clearly on the way out because guys like Kruse were being brought in and guys like Marx were ahead of him.

I think it was very apparent he was going to be riding the bench so he transferred. He tried aston villa. That was dismal. He found Chievo. Good for him.

At any rate, to not even been called in, in your prime, while starting for a BL team is suspect.

 

and they were relegation bait as well. I miss those days. Especially as the team generally improved (though just as he was leaving).

 

I wouldn't mind Morales for a game away at a hard rival, like Mexico (no idea if he'd stand San Pedro Sula's heat).

As for Wood, this assist was awesome. On the other hand, his 1-on-1s versus keepers need to improve.

 

for those who followed the team very closely, who would be in the top 3 running for club player of the year? Is Bobby in consideration?

 

You stated that Bradley was a "lock starter" while "riding the bench" which is flatly false. Now you are moving the goal posts, speculating "he was clearly on the way out" when he moved to Engalnd. That is neither provable or falsifiable. But we do know he always wanted to go to England, so the loan move was very in line with what Bradley wanted with his career.

Morales' situation has little to do with Bradley's situation from 8 years ago. But one apparent difference is that Morales is not in great demand to move to other clubs in top leagues. No-one from the EPL wants Morales. I don't see him having a future in Italy. And I predict that Morales will stay in BII once his club is relegated in a few weeks.

 

if I recall Bradley was loaned out (I think he figured the club was def gonna be relegated and he was 1 of their best players so he wanted to jump ship). It's just that the AV loan didn't work out and BMG weren't relegated. New coach didn't care much for him so he left for Chievo. I don't recall him ever badmouthing the club which is something I gotta credit him for.

 

Let's get this all out at once:

1. Bobby wood is a good example of a guy you take a chance on for the USMNT because he's making the cut in a league that makes it very hard to start as a professional.
2. Morales has played over 100 BL matches in what amounts to 3 years due to injury.
3. I wonder why he was not even in the discussion.
4. Bradley some matches would start then get pulled. Others he would ride the bench. He started early, but was slowly being worked out of the starting position for guys like Marx.
5. He left for Aston Villa because he was at odds with his playing situation.
6. As I recall, the last months of his stint at BMG were not particularly good.
7. He has always been a lock starter for the USMNT.

 

Because:

1) He already played for the NT and was meh.
2) If you can endure an Ingolstadt game, you'll notice the guy is a soldier that works well in a very fixed setup.

They're 3-4-2-1 all the way, and their whole schtick is clogging the midfield.

 

1) some guys get extensive chances despite being poor on the pitch. You could probably name more than me.
2) Not unlike Bradley with Chievo. They played a 4-3-3 (3 defensive midfielders, honestly who cared about the attack as there was no attack.) where the top 3 defended better than the back 4. There whole set up was never break formation.

 

We have a winner ladies and gentlemen.

Seriously.