What I see is her not chasing down balls that she could get if she hustled. I see her get a ball in a suboptimal position and then just give up on the play and dump it uselessly to a teammate. It's that kind of thing that drives me nuts about her.
Ratdog, it sounds to me like you tend to exaggerate (I'm talking about your evaluations of Nogueira and Asllani's play) but, as I said, you see more of the games than I do and it's for everyone to decide whether your descriptions seem fair enough. I know a lot of Red Stars fans seem to feel the same way but I've also seen the tendency of fans to, well... be a little too much like fans, getting too up when things are good and getting too down when things are down. But I really don't know. I just hope Chicago does well enough to maintain the interest of its fans because it's a classy organization and the fans are great. Hope things work better next season. And I think we all agree that, for whatever reason, Cristiane's time with Chicago has not been a successful one. Too bad because she can be a delightful player to watch (when we're not busy hating her for applauding that red card on Shannon Boxx at the last World Cup)
The stats speak for themselves and even the most passing glance of our play backs up the stats perfectly. No exaggeration needed. Asllani wasn't perfect but from the little we saw of her, she seemed to have more upside than Nogueira. And Nogueira doesn't totally suck but she does need someone to put a boot up her ass or otherwise motivate her because now, after a full season, CRS fans really don't care what she did at UNC. We're all tithe-paying members of the Church of What's Happening Now.
Asllani and Nogueira are both only twenty one. I'm not giving up on her yet. I'm not sure if Chicago Red Stars is the team for her, but I think she still has potential. Maybe this isn't the place for it, but I think there is definitely a player for her in the league. She could be a great asset for a trade.
Me neither. I'm hoping Namazi can get her to raise her game. If she's still this way this time next year, though, maybe it's time for a trade.
I don't know about that... but if you say so...(!) But I assume your observations are valuable to other Red Stars fans, as are the observations of others I read here. Chicago is always good for lively discussion.
Well, you start with the stats and go from there. Sometimes stats lie but not often (well, not in sports anyway). There's gotta be a reason the stats say that Asllani was getting more goals per minute played than Casey or Cristiane despite having less game minutes than them in which to gel with the team. I have yet to read anyone else come up with a more convincing counter-argument to my take on it but I'm willing to consider one if offered. Until then, as far as I'm concerned, the stats tell me that despite not being big or tall or having a rocket for a leg or the most dazzling dribbling skillz, Asllani did have vision, persistence, guts and enough talent to get it done where others have either failed or at the least not impressed given their hype.