I have been hoping and praying for United to finally start sending some decent long balls out of the back and stop waiting for (days) the defense to get set before sending in crosses. We had begun to get so congested in the middle of the field (less so recently) playing this annoying tap, tap, tap stuff that defenses seem to love. Then along comes Burch and he is the answer to my prayers. His curling long balls were deadly. I love that fact that he looks long before looking short, much like that gimpy guy who sits on the bench over in LA. In my opinion, he was the man of the match last night (if not Olsen). I'm suddenly very excited about the prospects of this team. A few weeks ago, I was annoyed with them. What a turnaround!
And he seems to be taking the majority of corners too. Srdan and I were talking about it last night when we saw him overlap and race down a ball on the sideline and feed it in towards the box. My only concern is that he's not fast enough to get back on D if he plays that far forward. Milton Reyes he ain't.
Some folks might remember when Jeff Agoos gave United a similar dimension out of the back from the left side. He, too, could hit a 40-60 yard diagonal ball and find a then much younger Ben Olsen in space deep in the right side of midfield. I'd agree that it has helped United open up the midfield because the defending team can't pack it in around Gomez to strangle the attack. If we could get similar service from the right side to Fred, that would be brilliant.
If he can make progess on the defensive end, the sky is the limit for Burch. I don't think any defender in the league can match his distribution, and he's got the ball skills of a midfielder. The US has been in need of players like Burch for a long time... The flip side of the coin is that pretty soon opponents will be deciding they have to throw everything they've got down the right to keep Burch pinned back.
I was kind of hoping he woud take that free kick ouside of the penalty area when he lined up with Gomez (Christian took it). Seeing his curling crosses, you wonder what he can do with a free kick.
What happened to Reyes? He was always very exciting and a bit dangerous (both ways). Did he have some sort of a career ending injury?
Didn't Burch play as a forward during most of his playing career? As a result he's got better than average offensive skills which are paying big dividends for DC. His ball to Emilio that set up Olsen's second goal was a beauty. Going intot he season DC's defensive depth seemed negligible, but Burch and McTavish have really filled in well.
My impression is that he is our fastest defender, with the possible exception of McTavish. Can anyone with inside information confirm this?
I'm with you on that one, though thats not saying much with guys like Vanney and Boz back there. Still though I don't think he lacks speed. The guy looks real good, scary part is hes still learning his postition so he has the potential to be A LOT better. Great job the DC for picking this guy up though, he could be the find of the year for us.
I remember Agoos's left foot. He could help start quick counters, and that made United much more dangerous. With Burch doing the same thing, that will cause other teams to react to him. And no matter what they do, it's going to be good for Gomez. I'd also like to point out that while he doesn't have the same long crossing ability as BUrch, Namoff can also attack pretty well on his side. If each of these guys do this just a few times a game, it will cause the outside backs on the opponent to respect them and stay closer to home. That opens up the middle more.
He blew his knee out against Richmond. Worst road trip ever. And I've become a huge Burch fan, I just want him to remember he's a defender first. A role he's really still growing into. But he could solidify that spot for years to come. I agree with uniteo, the sky's the limit for him.
Burch does have a nice left foot but give anyone the amount of time he had to line up and deliver those balls and you would see similar results. Dallas did a terrible job closing him down and allowing him to serve those balls.
Perhaps they didn't do a good job of closing him down, but "anyone"? Give me a break. How many times have you seen Gros putting in crosses like that, or Olsen, or anyone else on our team? Just having time to cross does not mean any player can do it well.
Furthermore, I submit that he creates all the time you see by way of his excellent first touch. He doesn't simply "trap" a ball. He places it down into a spot where he can take a good swipe at it.
Another thing I like about this kid is that he's comfortable with the ball at his feet. Late last year, teams were successfully employing a strategy of high pressure to force bad decisions from defenders for whom the ball was a hot potato. In the playoffs last year, Jersey pinned a man to Boswell and forced the other defenders to bring the ball up, which made them uncomfortable and often produced turnovers. Burch doesn't panic when he's got the ball and someone's running up to him. Probably a by-product of his having been a forward previously. It's good to see.
So Burch's success was merely because he was left open? Was he any more open than any of our other outside fullbacks have been throughout the year? I didn't really see it that way but... If that is the case, we should design entire attacking schemes around getting our outside backs open so that they can effortlessly fire in the curling, perfectly placed, "money ball" all day long.
I think Burch is the best left back we've ever had, maybe the best defender we've ever had. We should pay him DP money because he's going to be the best player in the league soon, if he isn't already.
This thread was about the two excellent balls he put in the box. On both balls he had oodles of time to line them up, especially on the second one when he had enough time to move around the ball to get a better angle on it for the serve. So for those two balls he was more open then our outside backs have been most of the year. this isn't to say he isn't a good player or can't serve a ball at other time, but given the conditions on those two balls he was at a distinct advantage. Hitting a barely moving ball from the right angle is infinitely much easier then hitting one on a dead run with a defender hot on your heels and not much time to look up a find a target, which is usually how Gros is hitting them.
Actually, I was impressed with Burch's willingness to look long before looking short, even before he whipped in the crosses to which you are referring. A few of his long passes were less critical but did a good job of stretching the field and the point of attack. I'm not saying he is the second coming or anything (the title of the thread is a bit hyperbolic), it is just a welcome change from seeing our defenders constantly dink the ball around in the back or pass it back to the keeper.