Gas can Mesa had the same thing happen for the Indians in game 7 in '97. It was obvious by the World Series that Mesa's arm was tired from a billion 9th innings, and Mike Jackson was actually more effective in the playoffs (usually the 8th inning guy), when Mesa came on in the 9th to finish off the Marlins, my brother and I, watching from my dorm room, left, and went to the car, sure he would blow it, and he did. When you no longer have "it" as a reliever, it's a legit "thing", in the very same way the yips are with putting, or say Knoblauch got with throwing to 1st, it gets in your head, and you simply can't execute. Mesa at that point was nick named "gas can" for that reason. Second half of the season he was basically going up in flames on the regular over and over despite the heat he could throw. Sucked, as he was fantastic for much of that season, but it's a reality, kind of like w/Steffen right now. Circa '15-'18, I was very confident in his ability to handle games between the posts, but now? Now he just has that "oh god no" look in his eye everytime he's in front of the net. You can't go with a guy like that until they get the success reps up enough to rebuild the confidence.
Oh and fans, it's not fair to England to paint with a broad brush but fan bases earn their reps at times, and the innane nonsense being posted by fans about Haaland over the weekend? Just really tars the fans there as colossal morons. A Norwegian Andy Carrol? Lol. Good luck with that take. Guy is literaly the best striker in the world BY MILES right now. But those fans (w/the innane comments), i suppose, watch nothing but EPL, so they're utterly clueless.
Norway andy carroll, I yell lolled. That was actually pretty funny. Stupid......but funny. Whats ole Andy up to these days? Seems like a Wayne Rooney DC united target
That's my sense, too. FWIW: 538's Soccer Power Index puts the two leagues roughly on par with each other. Perhaps the top end of the Championship is a bit stronger, but the median and low ends are about the same. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/championship/ https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/mls/
Yeah, last I checked, the average SPI of the Championship 44.1 with a standard deviation of 8.9. MLS was a 39.5 with a 7.2 std dev. There are 16 leagues between 30 and 45 in SPI, so it's very bunched up there. All the Top 5 leagues are up in the 60s or higher.
Vines with a nice pass pic.twitter.com/sdXYPNzxBA— vince (@teamsetitofflwc) August 1, 2022 Man saw where they were staying in Qatar and flipped the switch in his head— I A N (@The_Fuchs) August 1, 2022
Some videos from everyone's favorite... Dike Daryl Dike vs Middlesbrough (7/30/22) pic.twitter.com/QDNvBvRYHl— Justin Moran (@kickswish) August 2, 2022 Ledezma Richy Ledezma vs Ajax (7/30/22) pic.twitter.com/1SZHpdxNek— Justin Moran (@kickswish) August 1, 2022 Ledezma subbed on at 88' with PSV leading Ajax 4-3 in the Super Cup.Even in that short time, he had several good involvements, including setting up a goal for the 5-3 win.— Justin Moran (@kickswish) August 1, 2022 Scally goal Joe Scally's goal this morning: pic.twitter.com/z9JZP4wCPI— Justin Moran (@kickswish) July 31, 2022 Tillman Malik Tillman Rangers debut vs Livingston (7/30/22) pic.twitter.com/YMSjgbErdD— Justin Moran (@kickswish) July 31, 2022 Sands https://twitter.com/kickswish/status/1553573905788506112
I'm sure Pep will come up with a scheme for Haaland but sometimes I wonder if Pep only bought him so he wouldn't have to face Haaland playing for Chelsea.
On second watching I thought he slipped and the pass was a fluke. On third watching I realized he wanted to fake out the defender. And he did. Amazing pass.
Was that Bamford's first goal of the preseason? Maybe he was just so happy and relieved to be playing and scoring again after last season's injury-riddled campaign.
Aaronson plays like he thinks he’s in a battle for the last spot on the team every single time he’s on the field. And that’s why he’s going to get pretty solid minutes for a Premier League team two years after breaking through in MLS. Every youth coach needs to show game film of Aaronson to their teams at the start of the season and simply say, “That’s the intensity we need to see from all of you when you play.”
Passes like that just don't get attempted often, especially after that 'just-try-to-stop-me" run. It was a dagger pass following a dagger run. Of course the defender whiffed. He was flummoxed by the audacity of it all. Does anyone else for the US create as much danger, game-in and game-out, as Brenden Aaronson?
Aaronson is like a motorcycle waiting for traffic light turns green. Dike is kind of having boys bouncing off him.
Any way to see how MLS has improved over the years? Like a Billboard chart of the Hot 100 Leagues and MLS is moving up with a bullet?
Love this, spot on. Any good coach will tell you that the most-talented players don’t always make it, and conversely that occasionally less-talented players end up crushing it because they just work harder. I imagine we all “know” that, but often we still prioritize the talented player and try to change their work ethic—even though that’s one of the more difficult-to-change traits in an athlete as it’s a character thing. Aaronson is way more skilled than some posters give him credit for (see: the above pass, the endline dribble v. Costa Rica, etc.), but more than that his work rate ensures that he’s basically never going to have a truly awful match because he’s going to be contributing in non-scoring ways (ie pressing) at a minimum. (He also plays very quick and decisive football that makes his teammates look and play better, which is underrated…too many talented players don’t lift the performance of their teammates around them, but Aaronson does that in spades.)
I suppose someone with way too much time on their hands could use the internet archive wayback machine and go back on the SPI, including the time is was on ESPN. But I haven't seen history anywhere. Even the 538 csv download only has current and chance from a short time ago. That said, a decent % of the comparison between a European league and a leagues in the Americas is just transfermarkt values. So you might be able to get a history there. There's only 1-2 matches between Western Hemisphere and European clubs a year, really.
I mean I hope marsch is able to keep Aaronson at Leeds for awhile but it’s time to start thinking about which big 6 club is going to snap him up for 65-75 million. It’s just abundantly obvious the ridiculous talent he has it’s only inevitable
I love Aaronson, and I know he may not have total control over this, but if I were him I’d want to stay at Leeds for awhile and develop. He has a system and, crucially, a manager who really believe in him. Adams’ situation last year is a testament to how important that is.
It’s like I tell my son - “All you can do is maximize the potential that you have, whatever that potential may be. If you are doing that, not much else really matters.” Brendan Aaronson undoubtedly has taken a message like that to heart for a very long time.
Tillman and Sands both starting for Rangers right now, I believe this is on Paramount+ 🆕 Tonight's #RangersFC team to face @UnionStGilloise.🗒️ Full Team News: https://t.co/2sNpBm035w pic.twitter.com/8PTMbKTSzW— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) August 2, 2022