Assessing Etcheverry's Performance [R] As promised in the old Etch thread I'm reopening the topic today. Let's keep the personal attacks out of the discusion this time. I'm sure what we're all interested in is a discussion that truly evaluates Etch's current playing. So how did Etch do against KC? And what bearing does that performance have on your evaluation of Etch's status on this team in general. Here's the rule though: No personal attacks. In fact, no attacks against other posters at all. This is a board of diverse opinions. Let's respect that. If you post an attack your entire post will be deleted by one of the mods. Got it? Good. --- --- --- --- I thought Etch did pretty well but I still don't know quite what to think of him. I need to see consistency before I make a real evaluation. I've been disappointed by his play too often in the past to be swayed by one game. After all, sometimes he does play well. The question is what he'll do next week. I'm skeptical until I see consistency. Yeah, that's not much to go on but I'm sure other posters have a more developed opinion than me.
I agree that we need to wait more. He obviously had the great play and cross to Tino. He earned some free kicks in dangerous area but I don't remember any of those free kicks causing any concern for Kansas. I think we pretty much gave the ball away every time.
Great work by Petke on the first goal, but it was Etchverry's free kick that started it all. The second goal was vintage El Diablo. He went by two defenders, and made a perfect pass to Quaranta.
I don't think he even looked up - it's like he just knew Tino would be unmarked at the far post. IMHO the goal was Etch's and the assist Tino's
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the corner kick that Etch took that was headed directly for goal, and would've scored if not for an incredible save by Meola. I think we can safely say that El Diablo is back, and he's ready to play.
Hard to believe Etchevary is getting credit for that freekick. It went over everyone's head. Olsen should get all the credit for that goal for chasing down the errant free kick and sending a cross into the middle.
I think Etch looked pretty good last compared to other disastrous appearances. If he can do that week in and week out, we'll be ok.
Marco was simply magnificent, especially his distribution. I don't believe the problem has ever really been Marco but rather his supporting cast. Yesterday, the supporting cast pitched in some, especially Benny, although definitely not Bobby, and we had a decent chance of winning the game. We certainly need better defending on the left side and maybe a better goal keeper. Perhaps, we can get Presthus back.
Let's remember that Marco was playing probably the most difficult position he could play last night as the withdrawnd attacker off of Tino... With the way United sat back in the first 30 minutes of that game, for Marco to have such influence over that match was astonishing.. The key though will be consistency of course.. Marco is going to have mediocre games this season, all players do.. But when we needed Marco yesterday to come through, he did quite well...
I think now that Etch is fatter than Meola, we can really understand him. That kick he made was to no one and nobody. Thank you Ben Olsen.
Etch had some terrible moments and a couple of flashes of brilliance. I still think he's fat and when he doesn't have the ball, he doesn't move. The move and pass to Quaranta was fantastic. I just don't think he has the stamina (yes, a FSW reference) to do it for 90 mins - every game in MLS.
So how many of you noticed the corner kick headed directly for a golazo if Meola hadn't saved it? That was a fantastic shot with a fantastic save.
Yes it was brilliant. I think Etch will have a rebirth of sorts this year, I am really hoping that with Stewart now on the team some of the pressure will be diverted. Should be good things to come, too bad about the ot though.
It seemed to me that he saw that Olsen had some space around him, and Etch hit the ball to space. He was right; Olsen had a couple of options with the ball after getting it. By putting the ball where he did, Marco helped create some space around Olsen once he had the ball. Sure I give him credit for that. Too often I have seen people taking free kicks that are that close and they try to put the ball between the stikers and the keeper, and since there is no room, the keeper usually wins that battle. Marco and Benny work very well together. If Earnie can join them, I think we have a good attack this year. (And if Marco can play like that every game.)
I definitely felt Marco looked better last night. It was a DAMN good thing Ben WAS on the far end of that errant cross, HE set up the goal, not Marco. I saw more hussle, crafty play, and pace from Marco than I have ever seen. I REALLY hope he can keep it up. I won't mind a bit having to eat my words from the past if he does.
etch had a great game. he may be old and fat, but he can still do things on the field that no other DCU player can imagine. he poved that last night on the second goal and the corner. he will be fine as long as olson, convey, and stewart stay healthy: players who can run and play with skill. and how good was it to see ben back? we just need to get chino and namoff out of critical defensive roles and i think (ever the optimist) we may have an exciting and successful squad this year.
I was wondering if that didn't actually go in. There wasn't a great camera angle on it but I thought Meola knocked it out from inside the goal. That was a great play especially his ability to focus with the fans chanting "MULLET!" in the background.
i don't think anyone could question diablo's distribution yesterday...simply put...his touch is still amazing and he consistantly puts the ball where other players can play it dangerously. my only complaint is how he slowed down the attack. sure diablo put the ball where olsen...tino...ect could do something with it but by the time he got it there the defense was in position. on the flip side...when dema or earnie came to the attack...we looked more dangerous not as pretty but their defense seemed to struggle more. i'd still like to see how well we attack without etch in the line-up...but it's probably not going to happen. that said yesterday we had our moments dispite playing with only one striker.
Once he figures out how to work with Stewart, or more importantly once Stewart learns how to play with our team, our attack could be scary. Think about it, we can throw Quaranta, Convey, Etcheverry, Stewart, Olsen, Kovalenko and Stoickov in as any combination of starters, with Ali Curtis, Quintanilla, and Eskandarian all coming off of the bench. We could be scoring goals in bunches this year, especially after 3 or 4 games of getting used to each other. I also liked that even though Etcheverry took most (if not all) of the free kicks, he was passing them most of the time rather than going directly for goal each time.
I saw Etch win a pretty zesty tackle last night. I haven't seen that in a looong time. I thought he was great in the match, but I would still like to see him share some of the free kick serves with other players just to keep the opposition honest. Good job Marco.
i hope he continues to play as well every game as he did in this game. he had a couple of free kicks that were stinkers and he seemed to dribble himself into trouble a few times, but i thought he showed more than a few flashes of brilliance such as the assist on Tino's goal, the shot on goal from the corner, a few cross field switches and a little tenacity on defense when we were trying to preserve the tie. i might be reaching a little bit, but it kinda seemed like he started playing a little better once he realized that the team was putting up a fight to try and equalize the score. Or maybe we started fighting more once we realized Etch was into it. i don't know...