Omar's athletic advantage in such a slow paced league will lead him to dominate. He's been the best defender in MLS for the past 4 years--similar types have gone on to do very well in top European leagues. No question he can cut it in a second-third tier league like MX.
It's not my style to make conclusions about a player a month in (not even a tournament in). So far he's definitely slower than the rest of the backline (and along with Hernandez, significantly slower than the rest of the team in general). He's gotten beat in the air by smaller players. I'm sure he'll improve. The team itself is doing well so even players who I'd consider the weakest links aren't doing bad. The backline had their struggles today against a hyper-aggressive attacking team.
Those are pretty accurate readings of him, to be honest. I hope he improves, but I wouldn't expect a ton.
He's doing well. Never gets beat too badly. You have to take into account context. You said yourself, America were hyper-aggressive. They had to be, down 2-0. So that means throwing numbers forward. What was he supposed to do on the America goal, charge forward and leave another attacker open for the closer shot? I suppose he could have gambled, but that's what it would have been. He arguably made the percentage play allowing a semi-contested shot outside the box, as did the defender next to him. He made a moderate mistake here and there, but he shouldn't be expected to remain near perfect after waves of attacks. Only the elite are capable of that. His partner has been allowing more good chances. Plus, Omar is a major benefit on set pieces. Contributed to multiple goals and near ones already, in 3 games.
Don't really know much about this website but they gave Omar a 6.9 http://www.sofascore.com/america-pachuca/LNsON
And who the hell was talking about the goal? I don't blame anyone on the goal. The whole team was caught offguard on a counter. He needs to adapt to the league and the speed might be a liability long-term. That's all I'm saying. He's a part of the team and I hope he improves.
18 shots for America, 60% possession. 9 shots for Pachuca, 40% possession. Final score: 4-1, Pachuca, on the road. It's not like your grandpa keeper was a hero on the day. He was decent. Only allowing 1 goal on the road in those conditions is a testament to the pragmatic defense, not making many glaring errors amid heavy pressure. I don't think you're properly contextualizing a performance in entirety. Just looking at a few, not so bad mistakes, regardless if you attributed the goal to him or not, and isolating them, not weighing the frequency of opportunities for screw-ups by Omar and co., nor the magnitude of the screw-ups that actually did occur. In so far as your evaluation that he's slow, I don't think that's accurate either. He's super tall for the league, and a long strider. Once he starts moving in a direction, he covers a lot of ground. You're used to seeing smaller, quicker players in LigaMX. It's a different type of athleticism, and we see him use his type to an advantage on set pieces. And FWIW, he's receiving plenty of praise from a variety of viewpoints. I'm confident his coach is content from what he's seen from him so far.
You attributed a false view to me. Don't do that. I don't think he's been all around bad. And I actually agree with most of what you're saying so I don't think we're not on the same page. You're wrong about speed. He's definitely a slow mover and so far has been slower to react than the rest of the defense. He might be an asset on set pieces but that doesn't make for a well-rounded CB. He needs to keep up whenever the ball is in play. All around they held their own against America (and let's face also got lucky a few times). And again, I'm sure he'll improve.
I agree. Rodriguez has no place on the team and Aquivaldo has hit a slump (I'm not convinced he'll be able to get out of it). IMO Medina has been the best of the backline. He started off kind of shaky but I love his style. Aggressive, quick to react, and precise. Manny I have my doubts about, will have to wait and see.
Omar's not a well-rounded defender. I think that is a very good description. He has bad speed, although he's not Onyewu-post surgery slow, he doesn't pass well and occasionally he gets caught ball watching, but his 1v1 defending is very good. He knows how to position himself well in 1v1's against attackers to not let them use their speed advantage against him, he's a good tackler, and he's dominant in the air. He's a good player, and I don't think it matters whether its LigaMX or MLS, and I definitely do acknowledge that they are very different leagues, but a good player is a good player in a similar caliber league, regardless of the styles of play.
Gonzalez started again, played 90 minutes and earned a yellow card in Pachuca's 3-1 victory over Monterey. Pachuca will end the weekend at the top of the Clausura table.
http://www.sofascore.com/team/football/pachuca/1936 Got a 6.8, the second worst on Pachuca outside of the dismissed Lozano's 6.4.
he was good, dont belive sofascore !!! his chemistry with Murillo and Medina is really good and i like the fact that he plays simple . 1 negative thing that i saw was that he cant give a 1 touch pass. he always touches the ball 3 or more times than what is actually needed .
Sorry was out and about this weekend so only saw about 10 minutes of this game. So little time you know. The important thing is we've defensively held off two teams in a row who initially gave the aura of being candidates at the title. Pachuca is looking well-rounded for once since like 2009. Most goals scored and least goals conceded. Possibly the fastest team in the league. Possibly the most ballsy coach in the league, fresh ideas, not scared to make changes in any sort of circumstance, etc. Let's give it a few weeks. We're notorious for starting off well and then crashing out halfway through the season.
Great start to the clausura for Pachuca, on top after 4 games! Hopefully the form continues, haven't really seen much Pachuca matches since Gringo Torres left in 2013. As for Omar, I think at this point in his career, this is pretty much what he's gonna give you. I really thought before his 2012 knee injury his ceiling was much higher but obviously a torn ACL to a guy with below average to average speed really hurt.
Not only was that authentic frontier gibberish, it expressed a courage little seen in this day and age.