I like what I've seen from this guy in limited time on the field. He seems to have good speed and strength. I was suprised to see Dallas let him go. What are the expectations for him?
Huh - I didn't even realize Dallas ever had him. I'd guess he's happy to be close to home, and we're definitely happy to have him. My son played against him in state premier league several times a few years back, and he was always impressed by his speed, strength and skill. I hope to see a lot more of him for the Quakes.
Yeah - Dallas cut Nash in preseason, when he got picked up by the Quakes Dallas got the Quakes first round pick in the supplemental draft next year. Seems like a pretty good move by San Jose in hindsight. He's got a big body, has some speed, and really has gotten better at controlling the ball and passing since I saw him in his first Reserve game. He's learning how to use his body to position himself to win balls much better, much like Brian Ching. Don't know if he can keep improving as he has done, but he's been a good find and has filled a hole quite well coming off the bench for some late game energy.
As much as I want to see our Creighton guys succeed, I am so amused by how you guys have categorized Julian as a good catch-------and based on a few minutes of action. Unbelievable how amateurish many of you are in rendering opinions on player potential. Tons of positive comments on these boards about Julian.......Julian has all of about 40 minutes of MLS playing time, 20 of which came in one game where he was rendered invisible by game conditions......you guys were a man down and were just hanging on. We saw him here in Omaha for 4 years. He has decnet talent but was the preverbial underachiever. His work ethic was questionable, at best, and never helped on defense. Watch his pace after about 10 minutes of action and contrast this against the other forwards . He would go in and we would never know which Julian we would see. Most of the time, he'd go in spurts....but if things did not go his way, he'd simply watch the action and not help out. Please enlighten me about what is so difficult about coming in for 5-10 minute spurts and not being able to go "full throttle"? Julian's recent assist was great.....but candidly, it was a simple "dish off" that you'd expect from any forward. Fortunately, it culminated in a great goal for your team. Right place, right time do ya think? Just trying to be objective........but nevertheless, Go Jays!
I'm getting the feeling he must've beaten you out for a spot on some team sometime. No-one said he was all-star naterial, just that he looks like he has a bit of promise on a team that is very low on depth due to injuries. true he's only played limited minutes, but in those minutes he has managed to make a few good passes, hold the ball and set up a goal. It remains to be seen how good he is but to call people amateurish for wondering makes me think you must just have lost something to him one time or other.
And the point we were making was that we got him basically for free.....a supplemental draft pick is a pretty low price to pay. For the 10-15 minutes he has been in, his work ethic is not an issue. If you go back and look at other posts that were made early in the year after he was picked up, we have posted that he has been noted for inconsistency, not a great work ethic, and other things. Maybe he's turning that around, maybe not. But even if we don't get anything else out of him, he's filled a need that we have had this year in the backup forward position. Let's see, your assessment of players seems to contradict what the San Jose coaching staff thinks and you call us amateurish. You are convinced that Nash shouldn't be playing, and that Rodriguez should be. But Kinnear seems to think otherwise, and let's see, the Earthquakes are in second place and have lost several of their starters to injury for most of the year.......I'll go with Kinnear's decisions, thank you.
Don't put words in my mouth. I never said I am "convinced Nash shouldn't be playing". I am simply pointing out how quickly you all reach your conclusions, oftentimes based on very limited information and observation time------or you simply just ride the wave with the coaches-- as long as the team is still in contention, the coaches must be right about everything..........But then when they lose........you turn on the coaches and the players like they are a dreaded disease. You should go back and read the posts your fans make when your team loses. Unbelievable venom comes through. And while I will concede that Kinnear is doing a good job with your club this year so far with limited resources, his success thus far has nothing to do with the minutes he has given to Nash or the lack of playing time he has given Rodriguez, or Goldthwaite or some of the other development players. So let me get this straight LGF----as long as your team is winning, every decision your coach makes is golden and not subject to criticism or debate? Interesting.
Nope. Just sharing an objective observation. I don't even play the game and graduated from Creighton in 2001. Like I said, we want all our Creighton guys to do well. However, we watched Julian play for 4 years. Of course, you can form your own opinions................but I'd suggest you hold off a bit until after you have some meaningful basis for your opinion. 4 years is alot more than 40 minutes. I truly hope Kinnear is able to instill intensity into Julian. This would truly make him a very good pro. But I have always believed than players are born with intensity.............this is not something a coach can create in a player.
Looks like you are the one trying to put words in people's mouth. No one at all here has been calling for nash to be a starter, a few people simply said that he looked like he might be a positive addition to the squad. please be a little less hostile in your criticism. I've seen very little criticism of kinnear this year on this board, one time i did ask if we needed Yallop back, but that was just cos I admired what Yallop did moreso than kinnear not cutting it. Of course fans will take the coach to task when the results don't come in, that happens in every sport and maybe even more in football. The fans pay for the seats and are entitled to rant, just look at the Columbus board. But in the case of san Jose we have a coach who hqs made some great decisions and brought the team a lot further than most people thopught they'd go. We have a player, in julian Nash who managed to get the attention of more than a few supporters in limited minutes, and we have an ill-informed poster (probably with less than a year of watching the game) who just decides to come in and call people amateur because the said supporters recognize a positive contribution by someone that said poster does not like.
I think you're putting words into other people's mouths too. The basic idea is that, in general, we would trust the opinion of an MLS coach over some guy who apparently graduated from Creighton. Yes some people on this forum start to turn very critical of Dom when things aren't going well but those aren't necessarily the same people here who are expressing general faith in Kinnear's ability to judge talent. That said, you're right, we haven't seen enough of Nash to really judge. But one thing to consider is that he doesn't have to be a great 90 minute player to be successful in MLS. He may take on the role of a super sub. And in that limited role he's shown some promise for a rookie. Another thing to consider is that if he ever lacked for motivation, if he doesn't get it now, he'll never get it. And the coaching staff won't put up with lackadaisical effort. Dom has stated that Nash tends to pretty phyiscal player in practice, so I get the impression he's sufficiently motivated. Finally, the fact that he's playing and Rodriguez is not doesn't necessarily mean he's got more promise than Rodriguez, or even that the coaching staff is "higher" on him. It has more to do with the way the chips have fallen in terms of injury and depth chart. Nash is next to last (ahead of Ramirez) on the forward depth chart. But right now that makes him the third option at forward. Rodgriguez is probably in a similar position, maybe ahead of one guy, but near the bottom.
Don't confuse hostility with objectivity. I am not trying to be hostile at all and if that has come across, my apologies. I am pretty objective though. And that comes from watching countless Creighton games over 4 years. BTW, where did I indicate that I thought you all were pushing for Julian to be a starter? You confused me with that one and the reference to me putting words in your mouth. Lastly, you have said that I do not like Nash. Not true. Great potential. Great skill. Pretty athletic and decent speed and strenth. But he lacks intensity and sustained pace and focus. You have chosen to intepret objective feedback as my not liking Nash. I am an avid Creighton supporter who wants nothing more then to see our guys succeed in MLS. How much more objective can one be?
Thanks for the observations....everyone's entitled to their opinion. You make some good points, but you don't seem to read what other people are posting very well. What I object to is you classifying 20-30 different posters on these boards as all doing the same thing ...."when they lose....you turn on the coaches and the players like they are a dreaded disease..." Some posters do that, many don't. If you want to go back and look at my posts, I just put a lot of criticism on several players for their performances this past weekend, even when they won. And after previous wins, I have criticized Dom for some of his substitutions (or lack of substituting). So I don't think it's fair to say that everyone just goes with the coach all the time. So, no, as long as my team is winning, every decision the coach makes is not golden...if you're going to make posts like this, maybe you can at least read what is being posted by me and the other San Jose fans. I try to support the coach and see things through his eyes to better understand what he is thinking, but I don't blindly agree with him. I do think some of his strengths are the ability to recognize talent and to mesh many players together into a team that is better than the sum of its parts. San Jose has virtually no stars, probably nobody who will play in the All Star game, have suffered severe injuries that have hurt the team this year, and yet they are in second place and are on a very good roll right now. I give Kinnear a lot of credit for that.
Plenty of college players blossom at the pro level. Plenty of Heisman trophy winning college players wash out at the pro level. Football, soccer, baseball...they all have endless illustrative examples of that. How Nash did in college can help determine how he might do as a pro. But it does not set it in stone. Whether he's a late bloomer physically....or a late bloomer emotionally....or a flash in the pan, we don't know yet. But what he did at 4 years at Creighton is by comparison rather trivial with what he's done in the last 6 months in terms of how he ought to be rated and valued as of today.
One question about Julian appears to have been answered by the staff: Is Nash better than Levesque (now in Seattle, as he was last year). Quakes staff apparently this so. Having seen Levesque for four years at Stanford, I'm surprised. I believe he was Pac-10 player of the year at one point. And was on the U23 USMNT side when he hurt his knee. I'm rooting for Nash, but I'd sure like to see Levesque get the same opportunity. He was a tremendous college forward.
Yep - the great Roger Levesque mystery.....what is it about him that Dom sees (or doesn't see), that prevented him from getting a serious shot when Ching went down.....I only saw him play in person briefly in a couple of Reserve games and one scrimmage....he looked ok, didn't do a whole lot but the entire Reserve team was pretty flat their first couple of games. As has been pointed out, Levesque is not getting any younger, so you'd have to think he either makes an impression this year (after he comes back once the Sounders are done) or he probably isn't a Quake next year.
Speaking of Levesque, I watched the Portland Seattle match on FSC this weekend and he was great. He showed speed, good hops, tenacity with defenders, good movement off the ball, good awareness of where his teammates were. He had an assist and a goal and was brought down to earn a PK. He hustled the whole time, which was >80 minutes. Seattle doesn't belt long balls down the field much so I didn't really get to evaluate how'd be with a Jim Curtain or Eddie Pope draped all over him. But with that one noteworthy exception where I couldn't really judge, he really looked class out there. Only one game I know, but beats me why Dom doesn't rate him.
My comments were in fact based on an extensive reading of the Earthquake fan posts, especially yours, since you seem to devote the most time to this and to watching every game the seniors and development players participate in. I have come away with a strong impression which I tried to express based on surfing all your comments. If you don't like this perception, that is fine and surely your prerogative. I actually do read quite well. Yes, it is difficult to make a generalization based on hundreds of posters. But I tried to.........and I am very objective since I really will not lose sleep if your team does not win a championship. I do think it'd be a shame if you lose the team though. That is not right. Take this for what it's worth.............probably not much to you I am sure.........
Your are so right........2O minutes of MLS field experience should carry the day vs 4 full years at a very high Division 1 level.........................How foolish of me.
Not foolish, maybe a little naive, many have learnt that college sport does not reflect what a player will do in a pro league, not just in soccer but moreso i think due to the lack of support for college soccer in the big picture. I would take the 20 minutes of poro and the reserve experience a lot more seriously than what a player did in college, after watching so many college picks who just never cut it.