I'm not sure if you play Winning Eleven 8, but thats what the goalies in that game do. They know when the ball isn't going to go in, so they don't move. And often the damn ball will hit the post. All the while the keeper just turns and stares at it. Every time Bo does that it reminds me of that game, and it pisses me off.
We need to start a campaign to get every teams licensing permission on Winning Eleven 9. I'm sick of playing with "North London" (Arsenal).
Here, here! That is the only reason I keep the cartoonish FIFA 2005 around. As manager, my KC Wizards are 68-1-4.
Well, that is in "career mode", but not on the highest level of difficulty. I keep re-signing with the Wizards when the idea is that you are supposed to start small and work your way up to better jobs. After the first year, I was hit with Meola, Guti and Preki's retirement, so I've had to fill some holes, but I've got some great prospects. Both games need better stats, better player development in career modes, etc, etc, but having never played soccer, this is the only way I can actually deliver a decent ball. If anyone has gone through the trouble of entering the Wizards into Winning Eleven, complete with likenesses, stats, etc, I'll pay you for a copy of your memory card. I knew somebody that went through NCAA Football 2004 and entered all of the player names into the rosters. Wow. Man, if it weren't for me discovering soccer last year, I would have never touched my PlayStation again.
I've done the 2000 Wizards, but I may have been a little generous with some of the stats. The results are the same though...unstoppable.
Why Not Johnny Walker for a 4th Round Supplemental Pick? Bo is way too slow to play in the MLS. He refuses to come out of the six yard box for any ball in the air. Every third ball he plays with his feet, either a goal kick or a punt, he sends out of bounds. That's why as soon as he picks up the ball he is looking for a quick outlet to "throw" because he can't kick. The problem is that he can only throw about 25 yards, so we have yet to have a quick counter attack all season coming from the goalkeeper
Re: Why Not Johnny Walker for a 4th Round Supplemental Pick? Tony? Is that you? (Or Taly, or Will, or any of the other goalkeepers Bo has beaten out for the starter's slot...) Ya know..... That one's not even worth debating.
Re: Why Not Johnny Walker for a 4th Round Supplemental Pick? slow how? his reflexes may be the best in the league. His footwork on the other hand, is below average. But he makes up for that with athletic ability and his quick reflexes. That's a legitimate complaint... he doesn't have very good command of his area in the air. A little exaggerated, but also a legit complaint. Then again, Meola wasn't exactly "Mr. Accuracy" with his distribution the last couple of years. Honestly, I blame it on Tim Mulqueen. "throw"??? What else would you call that? Bo can most definitely throw more than 25 yards... On more than one occasion this season he's let a 50+ yarder go. His arm is quite strong (and accurate). As bad as his distribution is with his feet, his arm is excellent. This one is my favorite... because it's flat out untrue. Ummm... our first goal of the season came off a quick counter attack from a Bo assist. Look it up. Bo's quick outlets to our wingbacks (if you want to call them that) and Klein on the wing have been extremely consistent and dangerous this year. It gets our counterattack started quickly, and puts a lot of pressure on the opposing defense. Again I ask, why are we criticizing a goalkeeper who just recorded a clean sheet? and is sitting mid-table or better on almost every goalkeeping stat the league tracks?
Since you concede the fact that he "doesn't have very good command of his area in the air." And His "footwork...is below average", I ask you what are you looking for in a goalkeeper? Personally, I prefer one who has a commanding presence in the air, is quick off of his line, has decent foot skills, and can distribute consistently. Being that the US is a hot bed for goalkeepers, I would think we could find someone better (maybe even young) than a career backup goalkeeper. I don't think we know how good or bad our other keepers are since we've never seen them play. I realize this is the MLS, but I have higher expectations for my Wizards. Plus, I realize that a clean sheet does not just come from one player. Nick Garcia had one of his best defensive performances last game and we also have the best US National Team defensive midfielder in Kerry Zavagnin who makes everyone look better. Technically, we consistenly play with two D-Mids with Diego in there, which is a huge reason why we have a good team defense.
Keeping the ball out of the net. That's all. As a goalkeeper myself, I understand better than most that a clean sheet is a full team effort. No argument here. Yes. Okay, I'm a huge KZ fan... but he's not the "best US National Team defensive midfielder." He's probably third or fourth on that list, behind Mastro, John O'Brien, and Reyna. I give him the edge over Mulrooney and Armas.
Mastro turns the ball over too much (although I'll concede that I like him a lot and he may be as good as KZ) John O'Brien is always hurt, plus he usually plays outside defense (although I like him a lot as well), and Reyna really is not a true D-Mid either as he plays outside defender/midfielder for his club and when Bruce has used him in the past he has mostly played attacking midfield and moved Landon to outside midfield or forward. Occassional, he plays d-mid for the NT, but it is KZ's natural position. As for the Wizards, it makes even less sense that Gansler refuses to put Diego at left midfield and leave KZ in his best position. We end up having two D-mids and because we have been playing a 4-4-2 most of the season, we have been short a playmaker. I know Gansler loves Diego (his captain), but he should put him at outside left midfield or we need to play a 3-5-2 like 2000. No one argues that Diego is a better D-mid than KZ, so let him play his NT position already. As for the Bo discussion, I still would have loved to pick up Johnny Walker for a 4th round supplemental pick. That was the steal of the season. Bo does make the saves that he is supposed to make which makes him an average keeper at best. The difference between an average and a great keeper is that he makes saves that he is NOT supposed to make. Bo just doesn't do that enough. Plus, I am scared to death on every corner kick because he refuses to use his strength (and weight) to muscle guys out of the way and grab the ball and get off of his line.
On Bo -- he did have one of his best games against DC this time. He actually came off his line a few times. It is too bad that MLS doesn't keep stats on Catches/Punches. It would be interesting to see if his number of C/Ps goes up per game over the entire season. Because Bo seems to be coming out more. I wonder if this is due to the GK coaching change this year. His only mistake was that one situation where the free kick came in over a crowd and hit the post. He let himself get blocked out.
Re: Why Not Johnny Walker for a 4th Round Supplemental Pick? Arnaud's goal against Chivas was started by Bo's long throw to Sealy who was standing around midfield. That was a quick counter and a throw of over 25 yards. EDIT- This is why I'm glad I'm not a keeper, Bo gets a clean sheet and we still have at least a page worth of discussion about him.
Do you really think Bo is a good distributer of the ball? Have you ever seen Brad Friedel or even Tony Meola in his prime distribute the ball? Maybe we have scored a goal or two off of a Bo distribution, but they are few and far between. It maybe the goalkeeper coaches problem for not having him practice it more...I don't know. I'm not sure if we should even count statistics against Chivas. They looked like a USISSSSSL team last time we played them. The page worth of discussion is because Bo is a below average keeper and Johnny Walker just went to the Crew for like a 4th round supplemental pick, which means it was a free transfer.
Name once and show me a box score where Johnny O played outside defender for the Nats. He's strictly been a d-mid under Bruce Arena. Yes, he played left back for Ajax, but Bruce hasn't tried him there. It's simple, Bob Gansler likes playing with two holding midfielders (see: 2000 MLS Cup Championship season). 1) I never said I thought Bo was a good distributor. Overall he's not. But he's well above average with his arm, and that's started a number of attacks for us. That's a big part of what makes us dangerous. 2a) You can't even mention Tony Meola in the same breath with Brad Friedel as a distributor. Friedel is incredible. Meola was above average at best (in his prime), and below average the last few seasons (read: worse than Bo). 2b) [SNL - Bill Brasky] I once saw Brad Friedel throw the ball across the Grand Canyon, where it still had enough pace to puncture a hole clean through the opposing goalkeeper's abdomen, and go on into the net for a game-winner... then he went home and slept with my wife. To BRAD FRIEDEL! [/SNL - Bill Brasky] And FWIW- I'd take Bo and his average distribution over Johnny Walker and his boneheaded mistakes that lead to stupid goals any day.
WOW!! Bo over Johnny Walker?? That's amazing. Has there ever even been a mention of Bo getting a call up from the Bruce?? No way. Walker has played for the national team...enough said. John O'Brien hasn't played outside defender for the Nats. If this is true(I don't have the time to look into the last 8 years of games) the question has to be why is he playing a position that he doesn't for his club? Either way, he hasn't played enough recently or been healthy enough for long stretches of time to credit him better than KZ at a position he never plays (unless it's the national team...sometimes). In 2000, we played a 3-5-2, not a 4-4-2. Having two d-mids in a 4-4-2 stifles the attack and often eliminates the playmaker/attacking mid role all together or forces one of the d-mids into that role....period. Since you like to refer to the 2000 season, Meola was amazing at his distribution that year...period. Do I think Meola was as good as Friedel, no way, I didn't write that either. But he was a great MLS keeper and a good national team keeper in the mid 90's (WC '94), and way better than Bo ever was. As a goalkeeper, I still can't believe you think Bo is really good. Surely you just think he is OK or average, but not above average right?
He may have been called up to the nats, but that doesn't mean he's been playing well lately or since he was called up. I will forever remember Johnny Walker for his "mad dribbling skills" he showed off against DC when Moreno scored on him in that blowout. You talk about Bo not having foot skills, and you compare him to Walker, I'll take Bo's skills any day. He's more of the style of keeper where if it is kicked back to him he just plays it long, he knows he doesn't have the foot skills so he doesn't try. He plays in the mid, because that's where we need him to play, he is a very capable player in the midfield, and Ajax has plenty of players that could play in the mid over JOB, which drops JOB into D. I would take JOB when healthy of Zags. That's the way Bob plays though, we play a defensive oriented take advantage of their mistakes type of play. We've started moving out of it a little but we still play it. Plus we don't really have the personel to play much differently.
Fine you may not want to discuss stats against Chivas, but you're ignoring the fact that Bo started the play that led to the first goal of the season by Wolff, in fact, Bo got the second assist on that play.
Keller had a horrible foot skill display that cost a goal similar to Walker against Mexico years ago; however, one foot skill mistake does not make him a worse keeper than Bo. Pat Onstadt batted a ball like 5 times against the Wizards several years ago and looked liked a little girl, but he is still a solid keeper. I'll take one bad play over consistent below average goalkeeping anyday. The fact he has been called in to the nats alone means shows that he is better than Bo, who Bruce wouldn't even blink at. So we disagree about JOB and KZ, why not find a spot for both of them. Put JOB at left back, that would be sweet. As for Gansler and his defensive style, that's what is frustrating, if we don't have the players to play differently (more attacking) it's because that's who Gansler brought in over the last 7 years or whatever. Combine that with the lack of good foreign allocations to the Wiz and we have a tough time scoring goals.
No, Bo hasn't gotten talk of a call up, and he shouldn't... but Johnny Walker getting a call up isn't all that spectacular either. Honestly, I'm just not a big Johnny Walker fan. A goalkeeper's job is tough enough as it is, he doesn't need to make it even tougher on himself by making dumb mistakes. I just don't think he's a smart player. And you have to be a smart player to be a good goalkeeper. Johnny O has 21 caps for the National Team (going into the Gold Cup). Not one of those has he played at left (or right) back. Believe me, I've been clamoring for him to play left back for the nats since before the '02 Cup. Still, I think he's a better d-mid than KZ. And now that he's healthy, you'll notice that he's at the Gold Cup and Kerry isn't. And he's playing in that holding midfield spot. I said it in another thread, but I'll say it again. The box midfield seems to work pretty well for the National Team. We seem to be able to attack quite well out of it, and create a lot of chances. Maybe you should take up this argument with the Bruce. Meola was amazing at everything that year. He's not anymore. He's gotten old and slow (and injured). His reaction time is way down. Yes, but not better than Bo now. Ask around the league. There's a reason Columbus didn't want Tony, and it wasn't all about his salary. He's jumped the shark. I never said Bo was "really good." I think he's definitely an above average MLS goalkeeper right now. I'd take him over all but maybe 3 or 4 other starting keepers in the league (Cannon, Reis, Busch, and maybe Hartman - even though I can't stand him). It's simple: Bo doesn't make mistakes that cost us games. He makes saves when he needs to. He's a well above average shot stopper, and that's due in part to his athleticism. Yes, there are flaws in his game, but every player has flaws. He's a solid MLS goalkeeper.
"consistent below average goalkeeping"? are you serious, I mean yes Bo has made some bad plays at times, but below average? I don't think so. He's not the best keeper in the league, but he is certainly not the worst. He is just above average. I'll agree with Chad's list of goalies in the league I'd take over Bo, and Walker isn't one of them. And you need to get off the high horse of Walker being selected to the national team, that was what 1-2 years ago? Notice he hasn't been called up since, he got his shot and showed he wasn't worth it for the national team. Sure he's been called up, but since then he's been passed by many other keepers, Hanneman(sp?), Cannon, Reis, and Busch.
"A goalkeeper's job is tough enough as it is, he doesn't need to make it even tougher on himself by making dumb mistakes. I just don't think he's a smart player. And you have to be a smart player to be a good goalkeeper." Are you saying that Bo is a smart player and Johnny Walker is a dumb player? Maybe you guys forget that 1-2 years (when Walker was called up) ago Bo was a backup goalkeeper and that was for years and years until the end of last season out of necessity (Meola's injury). Now the league is watered down a bit with two new teams. It's not that I think Johnny Walker is this amazing goalkeeper, but I think he is much better than Bo. As for KZ not getting called to the Gold Cup over JOB, I'm not convinced that Arena called his best possible lineup (although I think JOB deserves to be on the team when healthy). The Gold Cup doesn't really matter and he needs to look at some players who haven't contributed significantly to WCQ to see if they are going to be able to help with the last stretch of qualifiers and eventually Germany. KZ was a big contributor in the last few qualifiers.