I thought he looked good. Too early to tell if he is "great", but he provided the sort of midfield combinaton of hustle, possession and distribution that we have been lacking. Clark looked better tonight. He played with greater confidence and was more of a factor. Clint looked a little better but still lacks that explosive quality he had a few years ago. At least he learned the right way to gripe at the refs. Instead of yapping, he got crunched in the box and made a point of showing the ref the stud marks. Any ref that sees that and hadn't called a foul and given a card feels sheepish. That's how you show a ref that he blew it badly. That's how you get the next call. Ruiz from LA is a dirty diving scumbag.
yeah... i really like Guevara and Clark in the midfield... Those guys got flair and that's the only thing Mathis is lacking right now...
I caught the post-game press conference with Bradley on MSG. Towards the end, he pretty much said that now Guevara is in, he's going to put Mathis and Moreno up top together-so there you have it for those of you who want to see Magee come off the bench rather than start. He seemed fairly satisfied with the performance, and likes the way Guevara settled in right away. Guevara has plenty of guile. He seems like a real cool-headed player and real midfield commander. Hopefully Mathis gets fit enough to become something of a target man so he can take more shots and Moreno gets closer to the box rather than lingering around the midfield and trying to dribble everyone and their brothers. THe metros looked like they kept trying to break through the middle a lot of the time but there were like 4 LA players there marking them really tight all the time. You could see that LA was starting to play it cautiously lest they make a dumb mistake. It's all coming together; a much more coordinated offensive effort than with Columbus. By the way: Clark, Pope and Jolley are the shiznit. Ziadie didn't look bad either. Williams was rock solid.
yea pope was dominant in the air and he and jolley did a good job on guys like ruiz... used their size well... guevara looked real solid... moreno needs to play some one touch balls... he stalls the flow of play too much
My suggestion for when he next comes to town: "Ruiz, Ruiz. You're just like Louganis. You get a '10' on your dive Then take a '10' up your anus."
Yeah, I would agree with that. The one thing that I'm not so sure about though is , how much this is due to the team needing to work out the kinks, or its lack of quality players on the flanks. It really shown very little width so far; poor crosses; very few quality overlap runs; no one really able to push the ball foward on the flanks. Guevara though-I agree, it was night and day the midfield last week and this week. Although, he did a lot of barking at the ref, gesturing for cards. Maybe Bradley has to pull Mathis aside and tell him to tone it down, as some of the other players are taking a cue from him? Still, he looks just like the thing we need.
You guys might find this interesting. What is the second attacker? Some say the second attacker is a player who plays a little behind the attacker to the right or to the left of the attacker. So the attacker if he gets high pressured can always go to that player with a horizontal square pass. Just another option to have in a game. Comes in handy if the dribbler is double teamed you can splite the double team with a pass to the second attacker easier then you can break the double team with the dribble. Keeps the dribbler from becomming isolated, and that gives the dribbler confidence to hold the ball longer and look longer. Ideally, the second attacker should be further away from pressure then the dribbler. Go to the second attacker he can look for a through pass or he can be used to reverse the field and play the ball from the pressure side. If the second attacker is slightly a head of the dribbler the more chance the second attacker has to lose the ball. Because it could put him closer to the pressure, and it does at times. Sometimes that difference, and it could be just a few feet is enough for the pressure to be in the second attackers face as he touches the pass. The second attacker as a first pass option is not a good one if there is a forward option available. The second attacker gives the dribbler more time and the confidence to look longer up field which is the best option. Because the first attacker knows if pressured he can always lay the ball off to the second attacker. ----------------------- Now to the point of my post. Have a very good distributor of the ball? He can if you want him to always try to put himself in the position of second attacker. That should get him a lot of touches and chances to pass the ball. Like Valdarama plays. I am very sure Bradley told this to Guevara. I do not think he brought this with him to the team. The danger of a second attacker, and a back pass support player is that the dribbler may get used to always going to them instead of trying to be creative himself. That is why the second attacker should never be a first pass option, or even a second pass option only when the dribbler is under pressure should the first attacker look for him. Here is a problem when you are first learning to do it. Donovan and Mathis had this problem in the begining, and Guevara has it now. You should put yourself in this position when you are already behind the ball, and not when you are already in front of the ball. If your already in front of the ball just be in a position that you can see the ball so the dribbler can short pass forward to you. It takes too long to get into this kind of second attacker position when you are already in front of the ball. Then what happens you get that little horizontal pass when your back is turned, you want to get it when you are facing forward and not back. Plus you want to be in the right position to receive the ball before you get the ball so you have time to look up field. These things happened to Guevaraa few times in the last game. I am sure they will be worked out. Maybe by the next match. Something for you guys to look for next week. Richie
Everyone says they thought Richie was the MOTM. I think he was very good, but Guevara was better. I think Guevara was MOTM.