As one of those who doubted the boy, I certainly feel much better about Noonan than I did way back when. The interesting thought is that Dimelon may turn out to be the Shalrie Joseph for 2004....
Mea cupla, I was exceptionally critical of the move to draft Noonan at the beginning of the season - I didn't think he'd be worth much to this team. I stand corrected. The Magpie
noonan's going to make the ROY race a lot closer because of this game nice to see a coach do well with a couple of rookies... real nice if an mls coach can't work with new guys (re: first time pros)... he's got no place in this league, imp this league is about developing our talent again, great to see...
Add me to the list of people who missed this one by a mile. Since fair is fair, I will give Doctor George credit for having been patient and optimistic on a day when the rest of us were worrying needlessly. Since my powers of prediction are so impressive (gag), I'll go out on a limb again. If NE somehow contrives to get past Metro and Fire, Noonan will be the ROY.
its always great when players prove you wrong when you put them down, because you feel good you were proven wrong. Maybe you guys should have more confidence in our draft picks next year, our coaching staff is darn good (Murphy gets no where near the credit he deserves).
I wasn't thrilled about Noonan, but I'm still pissed about Singer. Dump him. Trade him. Leave him unprotected. Dead weight. Dimelon? Oh, I hope he's next year's Shalrie Joseph/TnT.
Ralph and Joseph still get the nod over Noonan Why is that? Because he scored a hat-trick against the Mutts' reserve team? It's not Noonan's fault that Bobo Bradley decided to play anyone that wasn't important but owned a Metros kit. Noonan did the business and the kid has done well. As scary as it is to say, his rise has meant that the Revos haven't really missed Twellman. Yet. But Damiani Ralph is the Rookie of the Year, unless Shalrie Joseph gets it. Chicago was rebuilding, new coach, new players and picked by most "experts" to finish last in the East. They ran away with first place with Ralph a big reason. Noonan has done very well and exceeded all expectations. But he's not even the best rookie on his own team. Sorry. If you want to make a case, make it for Joseph.
I'd agree that Noonan has an outside chance of getting the ROY award, and will probably finish 2nd or 3rd at worst. While you can say this hat trick was against a bad defense, Ralph had a big game against our Kamler Kante Cullen Heaps defense. Also, Pat played quite a few minutes as a wide midfielder, not as a forward. However, I'll still say that he's only the 2nd best rookie on the team. In the grading the Revs thread, 10 people out of 13 rated Joseph ahead of Noonan, and there were calls for him as team MVP (where I also rated him) in the Midnight Rider MOY thread. As for this thread, I'm well ahead of my time. I admitted my mistake at least 2 months ago. But I'm still going to be pushing for a young P-40 stud in the next draft.
Just a few numbers about Noonan's great rookie campaign: We all know that Pat split his time between forward and wide mid. As a forward, he's started 11 games and came on as a sub 7 times. He's gotten about 1100 minutes up top, or about 12 games worth of time. In that time, he's gotten 9 goals and 5 assists. That's .75 goals per game and 2 points per game. Twellman is tops among the league leaders in scoring with about .7 goals per game and about 1.5 points per game. I'd have to go back and re-check, but I'd say that almost all of Noonan's goals have been with Twellman out of the lineup, and I'll bet that almost all of Ralph's goals have come with Rasov playing next to him, taking up quite a bit of the defense's attention.
Wasn't Heaps rookie of the year? APC player of the year? It is not very meaningful in the long run. Noonan is an effective player in this system, particularly without Twellman in the way. He makes the most of his skills and is a safe bet to be a solid MLS professional for some time, but he is the benificary of excellent team play behind him (for which he also deserves credit). His speed and play off the ball are average at best and on many teams he would be of little use. Nevertheless, he is the right man at the right time for this team.
Singer Based on what? His one minute in net against Chicago, or his 20 minutes at forward? Everyone rants that the Revs don't use their developmental roster, and then when we do get a developmental player you pan him? I haven't seen him play, but from what I've heard he did a good job with the NH Phantoms. Matt Reis wants to be a starter, so he may be gone this off season. Singer may prove to be Brown's backup next year, who knows? Let's give him a chance to develop before labelling him.
I couldn't agree more. My comments were based on the idea that appeared on this thread months ago, that SJ was ineligible, because he played for a year professionally prior to joining the Revs. We talked about how the award should be first year player of the year, etc. With apologies to Jacen, if Joseph were eligible, he should win. He is a better player and means more to his team than Ralph, Clark, Noonan or any other first year player.
Joseph is eligible. The rule is you can't play more then 2 years of professional soccer. Joseph played one.
Wrong! Singer is a Developmental player (roster protected) and our insurance Keeper since the A-League back up system used in past seasons was scrapped this year and teams were told by the league to make a place for their emergency Keeper needs. To top that off he's is an fairly good keeper way down in the depth chart. George
In spite of Noonan's limited time at forward (just over 1/3 of a season), there are only 3 players in the league who scored more goals in the run of play than him. Additionally, only 6 players had more assists than him. I don't think any of those teams who would have little use for him play in the MLS.
It's kind of harsh to call him dead weight, since he doesn't count against the senior roster or the salary cap. I don't think that it's such a bad idea having a goalie on the developmental squad. When Brown was out for a while, if something had happened to Reis, it was good to have someone backing him up who had actually practiced with our defenders. With one of the best goalies in the league and one of the better backups, it's unlikely that anyone else in Singer's spot would have gotten onto the pitch. Was your suggestion a different keeper on the dv squad, or no keeper on the dv squad?
Not only was it "good to have someone backing" Reis up, but MLS in fact strongly 'suggested' that every team carry three keepers this season. With no A League-MLS development partnership in place, MLS told everyone to keep a third keeper handy in case one went down. Getting Singer was all but mandated by MLSHQ.