And, you know (not that I'm trying to be a pollyanna), because of this rash of injuries, a lot of guys have gotten a taste of first team action who otherwise wouldn't have. Happened last season, too, and really helped in our playoff run: Ekpo being forced to play a more defensive position Brunner and Zayner getting starting XI time Dunc becoming an active member of the roster again Grendi getting time in midfield Even Garey and Lenhart, reprising their roles from last season Losing 6-7 guys at a pop is too much to absorb, and hopefully we'll not have to go down that path again. But, later this season, you can bet we'll be without a couple of starters for whatever reason, and someone new is going to have to step in and contribute. This team, this clubhouse, has to develop a personality different from last year's team. With some luck, these first week, this trial by fire, will help the team come together if/when they get healthy and start racking up some wins.
I know it's been mentioned, but like a fine wine, Guille is getting better with age. He seems even more motivated and energetic on the field which is why he's already got 3 goals and they aren't all penalty kicks. His ability to lead by example has to have a great affect on our young guys. Once we're back to full health and get into a groove, watch out.
Good point. I think these injuries and lack of team leadership have put the team in a funk. They will no doubt improve. From what I hear Chad is fine, Rogers is much better, Frankie is still iffy.
Apologies if this has been discussed to death on your boards somewhere, but it's not in this thread and I'm curious... If Marshall has such a history with concussions, to the point where he's worried about another one ending his career, why isn't he wearing one of those helmet/headband things like Eskandarian? I know it looks goofy, but you'd think someone would have enough sense to make him realize his health and livelihood are more important than his on-field fashion sense, if that's the hang up. If it is some other issue that any of you are privy to, I'd be really interested in knowing what it is.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but is that anecdotal or are there studies and articles floating around out there that I haven't come across? Maybe it was good marketing, but I was under the impression that they were reasonably well thought of for a while.
No, they are about as much use as covering your head in foil. To have any sort of protection you have to insert metal plates like Cech did, and even then it's questionable (Cech's is mainly for insurance purposes).
Laugh now but when our backline is being controlled by aliens we'll only be able to turn to this guy:
The problem is that you still have to hit the ball with your head. If you are going to have effective protection, it will absorb so much energy from the contact, that the ball will basically drop out of the air and bounce around, e.g. in the penalty area. That's not what your central D wants.
I’ve got to say, if Marshal is fully healthy I’m in favor of Marshal and Brunner in central defense. This is not a Danny hating post I just think that’s our best CB paring. I thought Brunner was good in the makeshift defense against the Rapids, I don’t see why he wouldn’t grow into the role and become stronger with Marshal back with him.
I hear from a source that Garey is running already from his major sprain. He was expected to be off his foot for over a month so thats good news. He could be available around the May 9th game even which is good to hear.
Curious, as those two have not played one second on the field together in a league game, that you would say it's our best pairing. Using this brilliant logic, I think Blake and a C.P.D. officer would make our best forward pairing. After all, they've never played together either, but by themselves, they do OK. In all seriousness, i think it's safe to say Brunner has put Iro into the 4th spot on the CB depth chart for the time being. But he's got a ways to go before being better than Danny.
I don't know of any studies that discredit the effectiveness of those headgear things but as far as I know there aren't any that have shown that they are effective at all. It would be a difficult study to undertake. You would have to observe people who are using them for several seasons at least and a large enough group of them for the results to be worthwhile. Not very many players wear them in the first place and more or less everyone at the professional level who wears one does so because he's already suffered a significant head injury which would make them unreliable for comparison due to the likelihood of them suffering more injuries. So that pretty much leaves us with anecdotal evidence- which is not useful in any broad sense- but while we're talking about it, look how much good headgear did for Ross Paule.
Unfortunately, that story doesn't help much. He decided to play without it in the game where he suffered his career-ending concussion. So we really don't know in his case how much it wouuld have helped.
Yes, because that’s the same thing, clearly my assumption that the two CBs on the team with the most talent would make a good paring is equivalent to the assumption that two people not on an MLS roster would work together better than Moreno and Schelotto. Keep up that hyperbole; it makes your position seem irrational. Look, I’ll admit when I’m wrong, and I was wrong about Iro, you were right. Danny might be a bit better than Brunner right now, but watching their positioning and their decision making for one game it’s not by much. That means the guy with a hell of a lot more skill at the position we are talking about has a lot more upside Danny has peeked, he’s not going to get any better. Ok, so you might ask why switch to Brunner over Iro now, why didn’t I always want to see Brunner. I was hoping that maybe just maybe Iro learned a few things his first year as a professional that would make him better than Danny or at least Brunner clearly I was wrong. If I had known that I would have supported Brunner’s ascension from the start. I was never happy we took Iro over Brunner in the draft, I saw both of them at Ohio State during the Gauchos vs. Buckeyes playoff game. I thought Brunner was clearly the better player, but one game isn’t a large enough sample size so I gave Sigi his due for picking him. What I saw when he played for the Crew didn’t encourage me I don’t know why he picked him over Brunner, size? Maybe he thought Brunner wouldn’t be physical enough for MLS? I don’t know but I stood by my position then and I wanted us to get him from New York when they screwed him over and was ecstatic when we finally did. Yeah a Marshall Danny paring got us a championship last year. I never saw anything last year to make me thing that was the best CB paring in MLS and I still don’t. Marshall is a top three center back if not the best while Danny is still a D-mid playing out of position he has good games and eye averting games. I’m curious; do you really believe that we could use no upgrade at the position? I honestly feel Brunner is MLS quality and once he settles in we might just have that best CB paring in MLS I’ve seen enough of Brunner over the years to have that much faith in him so I’ll eat my crow if I’m wrong.