His debut got lost in the craptacular collapse, but I thought he looked good. Looked like a soccer player, a baller. Not just some athlete who can run hard. Another piece of the puzzle.
I agree. He looked very solid, professional, and smart. Likely to be a useful player offensively. Whether he can carry his share of the load defensively remains to be seen.
Also agree. This board has been clamoring for solid pros - not necessarily big name DP's, but pro soccer players who don't have to be developed, and immediately make the team better. Zerka seems to fit that bill to a T.
from the little we saw this match...liked his ball skills, eagerness to attack, positioning and attitude. Seems to be enjoying himself at this point. Hope he knows what he's in for and can continue to help the squad.
Once again tonight. Boy it is so ********ING great to not have to see Zak Boggs out there ruining almost all offensive threats for us.
His addition has resolved a critical missing piece in the ability of the Revs to play attacking soccer. Damn it's fun to watch a true professional whose situational awareness has him instinctually connecting with new teammates and has the skill to light up an offense. I think this guy may turn out to be the best signing in the last few years. Time will tell but he sure has started in a manner that has me excited.
Talking about "damning with faint praise". That's like saying Eddie Murphy was the most talented member of the Saturday Night Live cast circa 1980-84. Yes, Murphy was a bona fide star... which was made even more apparent given the dearth of talent surrounding him.
He clearly helps the offense. I still have the impression he is slow coming back defensively, but have been unable to tell for sure from TV's field of view. Even so, he is overall a net gain.
I was at the game last night and was pleasantly surprised how often he tracked back. He seemed to have a way of being in the right spot at the right time. Maybe he is a very smart player. Hope it continues.
Can you imagine if this team would have this base plus Perovic for next season? Add a few draft picks and replace the dead weight and that's a good team. I was skeptical of Zerka, but in two games he seems to have made a statement.
Zerka’s play is a good sign Boston Globe by Frank Dell’Apa I forget if this was picked up at the time of his signing but this jumped out at me:
I liked Zerka's first game, too- he's added purpose to the Rev's attack in the final third. Unfortunately, the Dallas game wasn't a good performance. Watching him on Saturday, he lost the ball a lot (15 times tackled and lost possession)- none of his attempts at dribbling past his defender worked. 0. From MLSSoccer's chalkboard, 42% of his passes were completed (vs. the team average of ~60%, vs. Dallas's ~70%) No shots, either on or off target. Only 1 of 5 throw-ins were successful. (I.E., 4 more possessions lost.) All of 1 tackle won and a single interception. I suspect fatigue was an issue, and adjusting to a new country may have caught up to Zerka: it could take awhile for him to demonstrate consistent form. But I agree Zerka represents a difference in quality relative to the Rev norm.
I noticed he had more than a few errant passes saturday. I will conceed that to the field, new teammates and getting use to MLS. I expect to see better from him since he has played consistantly at a pretty high level in France
I'm in nitpicky mode here, but I'll just note that the only reason he's doing those throw-ins is because Alston has a cast on his arm. In this circumstance, any Zerka throw-in from deep in the defensive zone is basically a clearance anyway.
Nitpicky back at you! Zerka's only successful throw-in was from "deep in the defensive zone", and he only had 1 unsuccessful throw-in from there. 3 of his unsuccessful throw-ins were in the attacking third. OK. Time for the "it takes two to complete a pass/throw-in" argument. Granted, Zerka's targets aren't the most technically accomplished, and he couldn't be familiar with this teammates' preferences. On the other hand, when it comes to throw-ins, he has all the time in the world. This was just an off day for him... (Interesting team stat: Revs were successful on 48% (11 of 23) of their throw-in attempts vs. Dallas' 84% (16 of 19). That's a lot of possession to concede.)
imagine if... ...Twellman stayed healthy. ...Parkhurst/Dempsey/Dorman never left ...the Revs signed great players. Different year, same 'what if'
you can imagine what you want, but Dempsey staying was never going to happen (and he should have gone on to better things) ..... we should have been able to keep Larentowicz though.
That's the point that he's trying to make. "What if's" are useless. He's not saying that Dempsey was ever going to stay. He's just simply saying that in the world of "what if's" the Revs could be a four time MLS Champion and currently making a push for number five. It's fantasy land.