The difference between Mapp and players like Banner and Rolfe is the Banner and Rolfe at least try. True, it's often a quixotic quest in the face of Denis's poor coaching and misuse of players, but they still give it a shot. Forget about now under Denis - even under Bradley, Mapp was well known for doggin' it. He has never been motivated to be player he could have been if he'd put heart into it. I can't speak for anyone else here, but that's what pisses ME off about both him and the fact that we wasted all that money on him that we could have used to bump up the salary of one of the players on our roster who deserves it or go out and get a good player. Klopas pretty much disqualified himself for the head coaching job in my eyes with that move.
OK...now I see what you're saying...when Mapp held the ball against 3 SJ players and found the open man, he wasn't trying...when he pushed the ball past the sliding defender in the box causing contact, and the penalty wasn't given, it was because he wasn't trying, and when he stripped the ball from Huckerby and ran down the sideline or, when he slid-tackled the ball from the same guy in the box...he wasn't trying...woah...this guy needs to at least try.
snkscore already posted the obvious: I'd add that, ironically enough, the one goal Mapp has scored this year against the Phony Goats in the Stuporliga was due to laziness. He would not have been in position to get the deflected ball if he'd bothered to make the run he should have been making (and that Nyarko thought Mapp was going to make) instead of loafing around the outside of the box. This lack of effort shows up in the results. It's not like Mapp plays a position like d-mid position where a guy can do a ton of little but important things that will never show up on a stat sheet and never be noticed by the fans. In an earlier Mapp-debate that I can't be arsed to dredge up from the bowels of the BigSoccer archives, I went back and looked at his assist and goal numbers and year-in-year-out they are consistently underwhelming. And that goes double for someone who is one of the highest-paid players on the roster and still enjoys the amount of hype he gets. Three years ago, you could still make the "upside potential" argument but that argument has some kind of mould (and not Bob Mould!) growing on it like two-week old leftover pizza in the fridge. Maybe Mapp just needs a change of scenery. I kinda doubt it will help, though, unless he gets a coach who is gonna kick his ass and make him give 100%. [edit]Yeah, Denis sucks. But just because the coach sucks doesn't mean the player does not ALSO suck (see "Carr, Calen"). Or in Mapp's case for this past one game, not "suck" per se since I'd rate him a 6.5, but "continue his years-long habit of underperforming if only to a lesser degree for this game than normal which, btw, does not constitute any kind of trend yet". Other than that, I agree to disagree and to continue inwardly cursing Klopas for wasting so much money on him.
he scored in our first game against FC dallas. nyarko awkwardly trapped a long ball, and played it into mapp who scored from just outside the 6. (the whole play only worked because the FC Dallas defender who was marking Nyarko inexplicably fell over, giving Nyarko a ridiculous amount of time to trap, turn the wrong way, right himself, and then make the pass to mapp) you're exaggerating slightly about mapp's lack of try, but there's alot of truth there... you'd expect a guy who's trying to fight back into the Starting XI to you know.. try to fight back into the Starting XI. If he keeps playing like this we ought to cut him, and use the money to try to sign/keep Pappa and Conde. Banner brought as much to last game as Mapp did. So did Lowry. I'm sure if we cut him we could find someone else with equally bad hair to lollygag around the field for $30k / year instead of whatever ridiculous amount we're paying him.
How to succeed in soccer without really trying You're right, I missed that one. OK, he has two goals now. One of which he (for lack of a better word) earned through laziness and lack of good play. Gee, I'm so much more impressed with him than I used to be. Uhm, you should have stopped at Banner. Even Denis realizes that Lowry was a little rough around the edges. Well that's just it. Let's choose to waste a load of cap space on him for several years - and then promptly bench his ass cause he's not as good as another guy we SHOULD be paying that money to. And this should cause me to support the guy who made that decision for our head coaching job because...?
2 goals in what? 5 games?...he probably has an assist too...you must admit you're wrong about Mapp... I'm waiting...
So you're arguing that we should start Conde at right midfield then? Hmmmm... That's, uhm, "interesting"...
I apologize for this...noone should be allowed to say this to anyone...way over the top...way too vulgar...my bad. I owe you a beer.
Too late. You made me weep openly and drink a bottle of Oban single malt scotch. OK, I'd have drunk the scotch anyway.