I really hope he makes me eat my words at some point, but as of ahora...el es una problema. Everytime I have seen him play, this is what he does consistenly: -loses posession by making the wrong decision on the ball -loses posession by holding the ball too long -cannot collect a pass and distribute intelligently -struggles with 50/50 balls -hardly ever makes the right pass -is always mentally behind the play -struggles to combine with Shea and Chavez -takes horrible shots and strikes them horribly -gives poor effort on headers -chases the ball poorly/lazily when the other team posesses the ball -is not a danger to defenders one v. one
Man I really disagree with this. Dude wins like every ball in the air, 2 goals and an assist in 4 MLS games. Scored the game tying goal on Saturday. It's a tough, thankless job playing the lone striker role in the current FCD system.
This. Broseph has one job, put the ball in the net, and he's done it better than Luna/Rodriguez/Chavez (well, so far).
What an unenlightened and unnecessary thread. I don't know what game you're watching, but it certainly isn't FC Dallas. Please get a clue before starting a damn thread, much less posting in general. Santos had a bad game. Big f*cking deal. 2 goals and an assist in 4 matches is NOT struggling.
He does have a penchant for taking those long shots and skying them, but he seems to me like the kind of striker who needs to do that to build up some rhythm / confidence. I bet if we can suffer through a little frustration watching those that we'll get repaid with a nice long range goal or two. Plus, I think his layoff passes are going to be more productive once the rest of the players figure him out. He's made several nice little layoffs that weren't properly anticipated. So he's adjusting, I wouldn't say struggling. And he's the best we've got for that position by far.
When his midfield is connecting, he's wonderfully in sync, and a deadly finisher. And it certainly doesn't hurt to have the ease of language rapport with his coach and some of his teammates. He's a great fit for us.
Last night was a tale of two halves. FCD couldn't find a rhythm in the first half - this includes Santos. In the second half, FCD was able to attack and defend well. Your concerns about Santos are limited to one half of the third game in six days. (Third and a half in 7 days...)
Exactly right. And mark it down - AJ in the midfield will end up being key for us having success for the rest of the season. While Cruz and Villar may be ahead of him in terms of creativity and offensive acumen, the big games will require AJ in central midfield. AJ is reminding me so much of Dax *sniff/sob* this year. He doesn't run the attack, but is that great engine that connects everyone together - front to back, right to left. He busts ass on defense, getting in the way of passing lanes and harrassing players who move into our defensive third enough to prevent them from doing what they want. In other words, he does all the little important things that don't show up on any stat sheet yet your team is much worse (borderline dysfunctional) without someone doing all of those things...trouble possessing, spacing and movement changes for the worse, attackers don't see enough of the ball. It doesn't hurt that he's bigger and better in the air, either.
Agreed on the AJ love....he is one of those players that every decent MLS teams HAS to have. Thank goodness we got him....and for pretty much nothing, too.
Santos getting gift goals isn't impressive to me. What Santos needs to be able to do is to 1) collect the ball, 2) make good decisions on what to do with it, 3) distribute to the midfielders, 4) score. He is doing none of them well. And to say that he is "better than what else is there" isn't saying much, because FCD doesn't have a decent forward on the roster anymore.
There's a reason TFC traded Santos away. 2004–2006 Madureira 2006 → Remo 2006–2008 Étoile du Sahel 2007 → Al-Nasr (Benghazi) (loan) 2008 Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shomna 2008 Bnei Sakhnin 2008–2010 Bonsucesso 2009–2010 → Chivas USA (loan) 2010–2011 Toronto FC 2011– FC Dallas He's been at 10 clubs since 2004............and there's a reason. He's really not that good. Personally, I'd rather that Castillo got the nod up top. Something would happen............
Sweet Jews for Jesus people, he's been here all of 5 games. Let's let him finish the season before crying about his production.
Thanks for the suggestion, but you don't need to wait until this guy completely ruins the flow of what used to be a blazing transition offense to realize that something is amiss. Take notice at how many times Santos receives service from midfielders in transition only to lose posession by making a selfish, poorly planned play toward goal.
Since the team had so many games they haven't practiced much or at all in the last few weeks. Santos might not be the answer but I think he deserves a few weeks of practice before we give up on him. Ferreira should be starting to work his way back also and that changes the dynamics for all the other players. There will be good players on the bench but SH needs to figure out out who works best together. Now there will be some time to work on it.
This team got a LOT better once Harris was no longer sucking up minutes and contributing very little to the attack. I'll grant you that he was good on the defensive side...but outside of that he had very little. I'm sure you will agree that our attack is much improved since his time here...and that includes THIS season without Ferriera.
Don't get me wrong, I really like Castillo, but as a forward who plays alone at the top he won't do any of these things for you:
So what kind of goals would impress you? Only hard goals? Was the goal he scored against KC a gift? In 5 games he has scored 2 goals. In 37 games with MLS teams he has scored 12 goals or roughly 1 every 3 games. The best in MLS history score 1 goal every 2.5 games (Cunny, Moreno, Buddle, Landycakes).
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.....don't bring logic into this conversation. Come on, what were you thinking?
A forward that makes good decisions nearly every time, puts most of his difficult shots on goal, is fast and holds up the ball well doesn't play in MLS for very long.