Apparently you missed Garcia repeatedly being beaten like a drum by Kandji repeatedly. He was the same player he was with the quakes, only New York's offense is terrible, and Toronto's midfield dropped back deeply to overwhelm the NY attackers with numbers.
Hmmm...I actually didn't see nick marking kandji all that often...but I did see Nick winning lots of balls, not making stupid fouls...actually passing rather than just clearing...and organizing. Look...if the argument is that Toronto are idiots and we're geniuses...ok...maybe so...but why would a potential playoff team want a total loser to run their central defense...unless maybe they think they could do/and have done worse than to have him on their team. To say that they just picked up his salary so that they could get gerba is belied by the start that he got and the fact that the announcers mentioned that it wasn't the first time Mo had tried to get him. this might be another example of another coach getting the most out of a player by utilizing him the right way. Look...I'm not saying that Garcia is the be-all end all...he looked fine against NY on Sat...and if anything we were getting burned badly without him by Zakuani/montero and Lundberg (sp)...I don't think he would have done any better than Pitchkolan but I really doubt we would have looked worse with him in the back line... I just feel like we were panicking right after we got some points and were getting healthy players back (hucks and jason)...I think we could have gotten more for weaver than wondolowski and someone would have picked up nick for a playoff run for his experience. Nick never should have been marking kandji but we didn't have our fast guy (jason) or our younger guy (zaher) at that time...so yes he was overmatched. Your experienced veteran is used for organizing and marking the experienced players on the the other team...not the fast but inexperienced kids. I'm just going to keep track of what we gave up and what we got...not saying that we should have kept nick or weaver over time... I've been arguing to get rid of corrales and cochrane...both not worth the cap space that they are taking up. IMO we should be trying to load up on cheap young talent and let them fight it out for starting jobs next year...and use the rest of the season as experience for them. So far bringing in aging, experienced players, has been the strategy and it just has not worked... And to say that giving up two bad goals (not earned) is a good defensive effort is a little tough to swallow....If nick had done what Jason or Arturo had done there would have been howls...I don't recall nick tripping over a ball or losing his mark the way arturo did.
Nicks problem wasnt that he was terrible, it was that he wasnt good enough. Not winning enough headers, not being able to defend in open space, not being able to adequately cover.It says something that when we had Hernandez and Garcia on the team, we were probably the only team on the league that sent neither of our center backs forward for set pieces. And for that we were paying 200k. As for Kandji, Garcia had Kandji run at him a couple of times vs New York. He basicly retreated well off the ball, afraid to get beat. Its lucky for him Kandji cant shoot. If you had seen Velez get roasted in the game vs. LA, you'd understand why they were willing to take on Garcia. Well, Garcia got torched by Ljundberg giving up a free kick that led to their first goal last time. And the problem with Zakuani was in Leitch's coverage (he played better in the second half, and in the first game). Garcia was just too expensive for what he offered. And we probably got the best offer we could get for Weaver. I doubt there was much market, and that was probably the best deal available. And I doubt his value would have gone up. Now, could it have been disproportionately beneficial to Houston? Possibly, but we cant be worrying about Houston right now. We have to worry about not sucking, and this trade helps a little on that front. I agree, and Id just say Garcia has no part in that. Arturo should never have been marking Montero on set pieces, thats on Yallop. Hernandez's trip was just a freak play. I will say one area we definately need to improve on in general is set piece defense, and one part of that is getting a bonafied aerial stud defender. That ain't Garcia, but freeing up his cap space makes it more possible.
Just saw this article about Garcia in Toronto on espnsoccernet.com, this quote sounds like a knock against us: Wonder if he was given a welcome basket like Riley got in Seattle.
Imagine he feels he got the waste basket from JD. Wonder if other players, past and present, feel the same. What say you, Mr. O'Brien?
did I just imagine this or did NickG complete A clean sheet versus NY. FO has been wrong on more than one ocassion!
We should just move on from this. Nick, no matter how I like the guy, no longer plays for our team. I'm happy for him that he's working out in another team. Infact, I'm happy for anyone who leaves San Jose and are working great in other teams. As long as they don't do well while playing against us, then I'm happy.
ummmm....I think its VERY appropriate for us to keep track of the results of personnel decisions made by FY and/or JD....unless you think those threads are useless as well?