It could be, but individual production doesn't always result in a better overall team. A striker who scored 30 goals may actually have made his team worse than one who scored fewer. Forwards tend to get analysed less rigorously than other positions because goals scored is an extremely digestible statistic. It doesn't take into account the opportunity cost of those goals which might actually be higher than the goal total itself. It's not always intuitive though. This idea is easier to see in other positions. It was certainly not a no-brainer to bring back Gerrard even though he has 11 assists in 21 games in his last season with us. The other aspects of his game were so lacking that the team would have been better off playing a player who would have ended up with fewer assists. There was a good conversation in a other thread about Ibra's diminished athleticism and it's impact on our ability to high press and/or disrupt the opponents ability to establish possession. These are great conversations, regardless of where you land. A highly productive 2019 may see GBS still not wanting Ibra back if he hinders our ability to implement his tactical plans. That's not to say this all directly applies to Ibra or that I think he makes the team worse or that GBS/DTK specifically don't want him back, I just bristle a bit at arguments which only cite production. I also don't think there is any reason to extend Ibra any time soon and we have a long way to go before making any hard conclusions.
Maybe short term so that we have a body to put up top if there are any more injuries. I don't really keep up with roster rules. How close are we to having a full roster? And can he be played a couple games and then his slot re-opened by loaning him back to GII? Or does this mean his senior team slot is permanently taken for this season?
You made me think of that dude from Kingdom of Heaven that kept saying Blasphemy and God wills it lol!!
Pretty sure that they could loan him back to GII if they need a roster spot. We have open spots, though. I think Zubak's only our 26th player and we can have 30. One of the reasons for signing him is that spots 29-30 can only be held by a HG player under 24 and slots 25-28 must be filled with players under 24 who make the reserve minimum salary (and can be HG players). Alvarez, Araujo, Arellano, Cuello, Vom Steeg, and Zubak are the only players who meet the age requirement (not sure, but think Hillard Arce will turn 24 during the league year). Antuna is young enough, but probably earns more than the league minimum, especially if any loan fee is included in his budget charge. Only Alvarez, Arellano, and Zubak could qualify for those 29-30 slots since the others aren't HG players.
I thought the same thing. It reminded me of how the national team had trouble with this after JK's 3-a-days. Ibra I think was stepped on, though.
Maybe, but I know Pochettino does intense three-a-day practices during offseason and two-a-days during the season. His tactical style requires all players be capable pressing and running all game long. There hasn’t really been an injury crisis except this season, but I think that’s more to do with Spurs having had so many of their starters play to the very last game of the World Cup. Non-stop soccer for a year and a relatively small squad in four competitions.
Way too late assessment of last game after rewatch: I rewatched the CHI game last night to check out some of the impressions I had 1st time around. Any of you that have done this know you see so much more when emotion is taken out of it.) Not many big changes in my impressions, but had a few lesser ones: Antuna - Second viewing raised my rating of his offensive technical skills but confirmed he is a liability for our possession game. It's not that he gives the ball away when he has it, it's that he lost the battle for 50/50 balls about 90% of the time. This is mainly due to his slight frame/lack of strength but also due to some poor defensive techniques. But I like his potential and ideally he would be late sub energy player for us. Carrasco - I overrated him a bit on my first viewing. He effort was good but he was part of the problem with our right side defense. Feltscher - During games I'm usually so mad about his atrocious D that I fail to appreciate how good he is at moving forward with the ball. He is good at combination play, he has a sweet tight spin move that gets around midfielders and he gets his head up and makes some good passes in the final third. Makes me wonder if he needs to be moved into midfield? Bingham - Outstanding at handling some wicked shots. Full marks for that. Only mistake I saw was going down too early on the 1v1 after Polenta's give away. His technique when facing breakaways was an issue last season - he was very poor at it. It's not that he is expected to save a bunch of these but he needs to give the attacker more of a chance to make a mistake. He vacillates between rushing out and over-committing too early and backing off forever and never pressuring the attacker. Also he never feints like he's committing to confuse the attacker. His gk trainer needs to do a lot of work with him on this. Ibra - Just totally out of form offensively. Mishit volleys, headers, tripped himself on a breakaway. Nice finish for the goal though. Jona - Quietly effective, very good at dribbling and passing out of trouble. Ema - GBS was smart to move him back to his favored right side and he got behind the defense regularly. But I'm still amazed that his technical skills haven't improved since he's been with us. It's still a random guess where the ball will go with his centering passes. Steres - Was mostly solid this game. Polenta - What a find. This guy is so cool in possession, great passer. The critiques of him going forward I think are misplaced. He only did that in the second half after we were down 1-0 and for the most part took his opportunities in the flow of the game. Will stop now because new game is starting!! Go Galaxy!
These English language Univision announcers sure speak a lot in absolutes. Very little nuance in their analysis.
Dallas game he had that SWEEET curving cross directly to Pontius' wide open header. Beckham worthy. He does have some potential on offense. I'd like to see the whole team put in more effort.
We need a capable forward with presence for when Zlatan is out. I’m disappointed if DTK really believes that is Pontius or Zubak.
Prior to the world cup when during a warm up, he dubiously claimed that he wasn't fit and withdrew himself from the match.
I was under the impression that GBS and his staff were gonna have the team fit, intense, and ready. I didn’t quite see that in Dallas.
I hope we don't extend Zlatan, either way, for all the points you've made. I was honestly on the fence about it this off-season (though I knew it would happen). Even under the best circumstances, Zlatan handcuffs you. In the worst case scenario, he picks up a multiple-weeks injury and we are farked. Either way, everything is riding on a 37 y/o being at least as good as he was last season.
This was a great post - really good point regarding forward production. Another was of thinking of it is - how does a forward's production compare to the alternative of an MLS "joe average" forward wandering around the attack (i.e. one goal per game wouldn't be good production in a league where the average striker is putting in 1.2). Also, as attacker tend to get credit for creating goals, because of the easily digestible goal statistic - conversely defenders tend to get undervalued. A lights out defender who prevents a goal a game can't point to goals prevented per game stat. Only if they do it in a flashy way (e.g. a game saving tackle or spectacular diving save) can we really point directly to a "prevented goal". Most defensive plays are those that prevent a chance from occurring in the first place ideally or maybe merely succeed in making a chance a little less dangerous.
Edit: Below was written before I realized you were talking about intensity, not whether they were winning yet. So post below addresses different issue. Even good coaches need good players and time with those players. Assuming AEG insisted on the Kamara sacrifice to get rid of Gio then GBS inherited a team with a total of 7 or 7 1/2 players who should be starting in MLS: (Very Good) Zlatan, Allessandrini, JDS, Lletget, (OK) Steres, Romney and Bingham and Skjoiuk (give him a half starter rating). He also inherited three players who are good as subs Boateng, Pontius and Alvarez. And one depth player Carrasco. The rest of the roster he inherited is hot garbage. He added two starters in Polenta and Corona and one sub in Antuna and one wasted roster space Cuello. So at our opener GBS has a total of ~8 players who should be starting in MLS (Corona not signed yet) but we lose Allessandrini a few minutes into the game. So now he's down to 7 MLS starter level players and some fill ins but somehow we win that game. Second game Zlatan is out with injury but Corona has been added so again ~8 starter level players and the team is filled out with players who should be subs, developmental or depth playes. Plus Lletget isn't 100% and further injured. Plus some of these players have no familiarity with each other. So I don't think it's fair to expect GBS to come out dominating with an injured, holey roster many of whom have barely played together before. We should be judging GBS in year 2, not week 2.
To be fair the loss of Kamara seemed to happen at the last minute. DTK can't just grab another consistent 15+ goal per year forward off the shelf. It will take time to fix all the problems Klein + Pete + Kirovski created.
I agree with you. And, yeah, I was talking about intensity and competitiveness. I don’t know why, but I expected more edge to the team. And, Jona wasn’t inspiring as captain. But, the season is very young.
Or better - AEG buys out Gio, eats the loss and allows DTK/GBS keep Kamara. Kamara may have wanted to leave but if so, we should have said sure, you can leave.... after you’ve honored your contract.
I expect we would be a slightly better team at the moment, because at least we would have 2 legit strikers. But long term, we might be better off if we can convert the $3M+ earned for selling Ola to another new quality striker. Which is not easy, but really should not be that difficult either.
Gyasi probably wouldn't be tearing it up like he is in Columbus, and I couldn't be happier for him. He just got called up to USMNT; the reactions should be priceless.