Its a team game. They both have complementary skill sets. All depends what you value more. In College soccer with the rules it is easier to destroy than create. I lean to kids that can create vs the best teams. Those kids are harder to find.
You told me that earlier. I disagree. So I watched the Duke v FSU game specifically to watch Jones and I tracked her all game, and to be frank, I think she sucked. Now, a couple caveats: She usually lines up at left mid, but today, with the 4-4-2 she played top of the diamond. So, maybe a new position. And second, her primary responsibility was to shadow Howell. And I think she did it pretty well. According to my tracking of her, which I admit is HIGHLY subjective, she had 3 interceptions, 2 tackles won, 3 forced turnovers, and 2 plays that I call denying space (she forces a player to make a bad turn on the ball or make a bad pass.) By my count she had 16 possessions. She had 13 passes completed, she was 2 - 4 on 50/50 balls. She had 6 turnovers: caught in possession twice and 4 errant passes. Her showing for the ball was simply atrocious. She just didn't. Several times she ran directly behind Howell with Howell between her and the Duke player. In a lesser player, I would accuse her of hiding. She had one +1 play, which is a play that I define as a play better than the average replacement player would make. And that was the time she was out wide, got the ball and was able to get baseline and make a good cross. I thought she was completely anonymous, and judging her by your how-does-she-perform-vs-top-competition metric, the narrative is wrong.
I am traveling and did not get to see the game. I followed it on the stats. FSU is becoming very efficient at converting scoring chances. Despite the score, Duke was not an easy team to beat.
Good players in great situations will out perform great ones in good ones. Church sacrificed her to try and win the game today. She has done more to carry an average team than any other CM i can think of...again my opinion at the end of her season. There is no right, just opinions
Val1, I have the ultimate respect for your posts and soccer knowledge, but please watch a replay of that play. The Duke player clearly tripped.
Thank you Coach Church! "It is a great learning experience for us," said Duke head coach Robbie Church. "It is a humbling experience. It is not a 4-0 game. We had a choice. We could have sat back like a lot of teams do against Florida State, but that is not who we are. We play to win the game. We came to press them, we played high and that left some space in behind us." That quote right there is a prime example of why young women want to play for Robbie.
But learning for what? The pragmatic teams increase their chances of winning. Do you coach for the handful of players who may play beyond College or for the program ?
Learning to play in the “big moments”. I find this a slightly odd take by you. You have always downplayed the importance of winning the NCAA tournament. So why would you criticize Robbie church for playing a style which was high risk high reward, which did not work in this game obviously. Bunkering against us would likely have kept the score down, but was unlikely to have changed the outcome of the game, and would not have shown any confidence in their offensive players.
So I finally got to watch the game. A few thoughts. 1. Duke came out with extremely high energy, a new formation and had a few really good chances in the first half. 2. Despite making second team all ACC, I did not know what kind of goalkeeper Roque was. I now have my answer, and it is that she is a very good one especially for a freshman. 3. This is not news, but our center backs Madril and Berkeley are studs. 4. Mark absolutely must love Flynn. She plays a lot and he takes time to talk to her and educate her. She is growing on me. She is 100% effort player. She will never be one who will push for national team, But will end up being an excellent player for FSU for four years. 5. My favorite player who gets very little play had another good one last night. Heather Payne made a nice pass to Jenna Nighswonger for a picture perfect goal during the run of play. 6. In the department of redundancy department Jody Brown is very disruptive to other teams. Play her 1 v 1 and she will burn you. Give her too much attention and we have about six other players who will benefit. Don’t understand why she doesn’t play a few more minutes. 7. Last year we were very dependent upon Castellanos. This year there’s no one player you can take away and stop our offense, because there are so many options. 8. I like our chances to beat North Carolina, but as always it will be who finishes their chances. I am impressed with how Anson has turned North Carolina into a team who is very comfortable on the ball with possession and with subtlety as well as with Superior athleticism.
Agree with all of that, Tom. I’m curious to see the game on Sunday, too. I suspect UNC’s outside backs will be able to shut down our end line runs, taking away one of the nice offensive weapons that has been much more effective than last year. I wonder if we’ll see more of Brown, too. Help stretch the defense when some of the other ways we do that won’t be in play.
I certainly agree with your first sentence. If Church sacrificed his best player to try and rein in Howell, it.tells me that Church knows who the best player on the pitch is.
i see it differently. I think he pushed his two forwards on to the FSU CBs and played Jones higher in more of a 10 role hoping to choke off supply to other players. Made a lot of sense, but it put the onus on other players to actually get the ball to Jones in dangerous areas. I think he did it because he figured out it was the best way to win the game.
This is Mark commenting on Roque. “She is getting better and better and better and honestly we knew she was a talent but she has really grown through the course of the season,” said Krikorian on Roque. “She has found a physical part of her game that I was not sure she had coming into the team. There is no one that is going to doubt her with the ball and her technical quality, it is really really good. She is now turning into a competitor which is turning her into a more well-rounded player. She had a very good game and was very competitive and helped us possess the ball.” Mark rarely gets so effusive about players, especially freshman! I think we may be watching the beginning of our best goalkeeper ever!
No doubt that North Carolina’s outside backs will present A better challenge. That said, they have not faced an offense as creative and varied as ours. I’m looking for a two to one game hopefully FSU will have the two. As aggressively as North Carolina plays, we will have some spaces and opportunities to attack. We simply have to convert the best opportunities!