Morris makes the 22 Under 22 list at number 19: OUR MASTER IN THE MIDFIELD 💫@AidanZMorris has been included in the 2022 22UNDER22 list pres. by BODYARMOR, recognizing the top young players in Major League Soccer.#22U22 | @DrinkBODYARMOR pic.twitter.com/ZeuLNGE4T4— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) September 20, 2022
He can widen his run only for so long Again most of his offsides are on him but hopefully with this playing time the experience will kick in and he will get better. I personally like him as a versatile back up who can play RW & RWB/RB
So many of his offside plays are when we've had possession for a bit and are knocking it "around the horn" against a packed in defense. He's looking to run in behind and because he's not quick he cheats. He can see the whole field and all of the players making the offside line. He gets very little leeway from me on these.
On the topic of offsides, it is another excellent reason for what I've been calling for, which is more lateral runs and switching in the final third. Hard to get the ball to guys running straight away from you when covered and they run out of room (offsides.) We do not play the ball quickly enough horizontally near the area. It is a far more effective way to disorganize the defense and create good chances, vs. playing for the cross and hoping, especially when we are not good at doing anything with them. We of course still want to use vertical runs, especially with Diaz. That creates a lot of havoc.
Anyone who isn’t on board the Courtois hype train clearly just hasn’t watched Crew 2. I urge you to go watch a Crew 2 game before speaking. The difference in the style of play is incredible. Just from an entertainment perspective, you can not tell me you don’t want to see the first team play like that. quick 1 2 passing, give and go’s on the wing, early crosses in, BALLS OVER THE TOP, quick, precise counter attacking. Also, your comment on JRR makes no sense to me. He came in and had two incredible performances and then had a mediocre third game, and then we signed a little guy called Cucho Hernandez you might of heard of who kinda filled the position for the rest of the year. I’m not really sure why you’re bringing up a player anyway when we’re talking about the coach. No one is saying the roster from Crew 2 could succeed in MLS. we’re talking about promoting the coach and instituting his style of play on the current first team roster. The fact that a second division player might not succeed in the first division has absolutely nothing to do with a second division coach succeeding in the first division with a first division quality roster.
By that same token, what works in a developmental league won't always translate to the Pros. But it's gotta be better than anything Porter is doing...
So? Let's be real here... if you're winning games 9-0, and routinely blowing people out, it's not all tactics. You have to have an overwhelming talent advantage to get results like that. Nobody has such an advantage at the MLS level, or if they do, it's an anomaly. And JRR... "incredible" performances? Really? Then how come I can't remember a single second of them? He had two assists. And hasn't played since. Can't even get ahead of Hurtado? I'm not saying DON'T give him the job. I'm just saying slow your roll a little.
The problem here is that you’re not using eye test. You haven’t watched the team. You’re looking at a score line and immediately jumping to a conclusion. The Crew 2 have a certain style of play that you would be immediately aware of in five seconds if you bothered to watch the team. All I’m saying is that I like the way they play. I think it’s entertaining and exciting and I would like to see the first team try playing that way. You sound like TRUJDUB21s mirror universe counterpart. He says any and all problems with the crew are due to the lack of quality in the roster and a fault of Bez and that the coach has no responsibility, and you’re saying now that any success Crew 2 has is entirely due to the talent of the roster and the coach deserves no credit. Both of you need to realize that two things can be true at once. Yes the Crew 2 have a talent advantage, but like we’ve been saying all year, a bad coach can ruin talented players *cough Cucho and Lucas *cough. I don’t think it’s that insane to suggest that Courtois has done a good job. I think you had posted elsewhere that you’re okay if a team grinds out a result and parks the bus. Maybe that’s where the disagreement is stemming from but not me. I don’t ever want to see my team play for a 0-0 draw at home. I would welcome in a heartbeat the quick, positive style of play that Crew 2 have.
That’s a lie and totally false i have said repeatedly the blame goes to the GM, Manager , Players and in that order. A better manager would help A better GM would get better players and better players will get the results so long as the coach has a system that lets their skill sets flourish
I guess I don’t blame you for forgetting about that period of the Crew’s season. I’ve tried very hard myself to forget about it, and I feel bad for having to remind y’all but there was a period of several months where this team had the black hole know as Miguel Berry up front. We had absolutely nothing going for us offensively for months and then JRR comes in and he starts making runs and chasing after balls and taking shots. So yeah it was incredible. It was a burst of energy midseason that we hadn’t had all year. And that first half of the Toronto game away where he had two assists was the best the Columbus Crew have played in 3 years. It was beyond belief. Of course, in the second half, Porter turned off the offense and we decided to bunker down with our 2-0 lead which is the story of the season. Luckily, our two goal cushion was actually enough that day. As for why he can’t get playing time over Hurtado, did you forget that Caleb Porter coaches this team? Like bruh. That’s his MO. A player will come in and have a couple of good performances and then they’ll have one bad game and Porter gives up on them. Happened to Zawadski. It happened to the 5-3-2 formation. It happened to Berry last year. After his games against Cincinnati, it took like 2 months before Porter was finally willing to give him a start. I mean to actually use Porters judgement of a player in your argument for why they aren’t good is insane. All I’m asking for is to make him interim manager for a couple months to see how he does while we search for better candidates. Explain how I can possibly slow my roll further?
I mean. It’s slightly hyperbolic for comedic effect, but at the end of the day, you fight against giving the coach responsibility, and KCbus is fighting against giving the coach credit. At this point I’m just unsure of what a coach actually does then. you’ve many times shielded Porter by putting blame on Bez and the players and now KCbus is giving credit to the players and not the coach. It’s just a funny juxtaposition is all.
Nope coaches have responsibilities and i never said otherwise . I said the problem with the Columbus Crew has in my opinion more to do with the Gm and his roster than the coach. I do think it’s pretty close and that they should both be fired. I don’t blame the players as much but they still also get a fair share of blame. anyone who thinks any of the 3 have no justified part of the problems is insane . Obviously we are not all going to agree on who gets the lions share.
Look I don’t think I’m telling any tales when I say you’re a pretty big Porter apologist. I think most people would agree with that. Like I said. I’m just comparing your resistance to giving Porter blame to him not wanting to credit Courtois. I’m not sure how many times I have to explain this.
Some of these conversations that have happened over the past few days make me want to run my head through a wall.
Sigh. I'm in no way trying to avoid giving credit to anybody. Of course coaching has something to do with it. It works both ways. Good tactics are useless without good players, and good players are less effective without good tactics. I just have questions about whether the coach is making the players look good, or the players are making the coach look good. When things are working as well as they are, it has to be a combination of both. I just don't think we know enough to know what the percentages of that equation are. Crew 2, the league they're playing in, and the competition they're playing against are all so new that I'm wary of trying to draw any big sweeping conclusions about it. As for JRR... you yourself basically made the case that he was great by comparing him to what we had before. Berry was such a bust that anything was an improvement. But that doesn't make JRR Carlos Vela. A hot dog might taste like a big juicy steak after a month of nothing but expired ramen noodles, but it's still a hot dog.
The problem is that you for some reason think I’m arguing that JRR is great. Vela level? Literally where are you getting that from? I just said he came in and did well.
I was at that away game in Toronto at BMO, to say it was the best performance from the team in three seasons, which includes a 3-0 win in MLS Cup 2020, is a bit much. That being said, JRR was great that game, agreed. He’s ten times the player Berry is. Berry is just big and got lucky with deflections, miskicks, and simple luck. JRR still has a lot to learn and improve, but you could see the wheels turning and what he was trying to do. And of course he wasn’t consistently great for the senior team, he was used to playing with two up top with Crew 2. Man finished as the golden boot. There is potential there. Fire Porter. Give Courtois a legitimate interview and opportunity. Not saying he has to be the new coach, it can be someone else. Courtois has shown he has quality, he knows the league, he’s qualified.
Pat Noonan is taking back-to-back-to-back wooden spoon winners Cincy to the playoffs this year. This is Noonan’s first year as a professional head coach, at any level. Was he ready? Steve Cherundolo was terrible with Las Vegas in his first year as a professional head coach. He took LAFC from missing the playoffs to top of the west. Was he ready? If we can find a veteran coach that knows MLS, great, get him. If we can’t, Courtois deserves a chance. Teams all over the world promote youth coaches to senior team positions all the time. To simply hand-wave the idea away and dismiss it is ridiculous. He worked for 4 years in the Lyon academy, one of the most prestigious academies in world soccer, period. He also worked in LA Galaxy’s academy. He played in MLS. He’s been here for nearly 4 years now. His team finished the season with the most points, best goal difference, golden boot, and was unbelievably entertaining while doing it. If that’s not a resume for promotion I don’t know what is.
For the love of God. I'M NOT SAYING COURTOIS SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED. I'm just saying don't get swept up in what going on with Crew 2. People seem enamored with him because of what he's done. But we don't KNOW what he's done, because we don't know what Crew 2 is yet, because we don't know what MLS Next Pro is yet.
Yeah this is something I meant to point out but apparently forgot. The idea that Courtois won’t succeed in MLS because JRR didn’t light up the league is so anecdotal. That’s one example. We were wasting time arguing over how successful JRR really was, but the crux of it is that doesn’t matter. I can just as easily think of 20 examples of coaches who came from humble beginnings and became great managers. Juergen Klopp was coaching like bundesliga 3. Jim Curtin and Jesse Marsch are now two of the best American managers in the world after being given a chance. There’s just no realistic argument to not give Courtois a shot.