Another thing I gotta b* about Franklin! I just saw the replay of the goal and he makes his body tiny and looks scared of the ball when the shot is hit. Dude you made a mistake in marking and your running at the player make your body huge damnit and try to slide in for the tackle or at least hit the ball with your leg! Maybe he was doing it to not get a hand ball but who the hell does that, especially as a defender!!!!!!
And according to the salary numbers out today his base is $225K, 248.33K with bonuses. Just makes it even worse.
what gave it away? I never loved the guy, I always felt like the last sane person alive when I heard people talk about him. He was a good defender and terrible at going forward. In the modern game fullbacks need to be just as skillful as midfielders at going forward and whipping balls in
Great post. In particular the one on Sean. I'm not ready to give him up. But man, please recover from that stinker.
I used to think Sean was a poor man's Sergio Ramos during his first and second year. However, now he's just a poor man's 1st/2nd year Sean Franklin.
This is one of the most poetic things I've ever read on BS. lol. When I wrote my post last night, I did it without having read the thread and felt that I had been harsh on Sean because I haven't been a fan over the last couple years. I was surprised he had so much backlash. I think though, that we need to be level headed and let him find his form. He was terrible last night and a reason we came out of the game empty handed, but his tweet along with his years of service to this club warrant him time to get it back together.
And more importantly, his flashes of occasional competence. I understand the sentiment. Given the league and the choices we have, probably the best course. BUT, the question is "how much time." It seems like his career is dotted with these periodic howlers, and at some point - I'm not one to say when - LAG is going to conclude that it just isn't going to get any better consistently. Maybe he's just one of these guys that periodically goes wandering off the farm. And then they have to decide if that is good enough. Never forget that his best and most (maybe only) consistent year was his rookie year, and he was playing one of the center back positions at that time. Maybe that is where he belongs. You want to harness his talent, but there are so many situations like last night that you wonder if he is uncoachable.
Franklin is a free agent after this season. I can't imagine AJ at CB next season if Omar is not with team. Per the 'Player Salaries' thread, Franklin is set to make $248,333.33 this season. The cap this season is $2,950,000 for the players 1-20. We're currently at $2,880,054. We need $184,375 free to sign a 3rd DP for a 1/2 season. Not knowing how much off-the-books allocation money we have currently, perhaps we have to move a player like Franklin if signing a 3rd DP is even possible, especially if we sign Rogers too.
I missed this..... People seem to be really sensitive to any hint of criticism. I'm an optimist by nature but I think it's fine to made a critique now and then, critique of a player isn't damning them. Since I'm the one who made the critique of Cochrane, I'm going to respond to point #3, nothing to say on the rest. My comment which sparked the non existent debate was directed at Twellman overstating the case again. He said Cochrane was perfect, I responded right after, while he wasn't bad, he wasn't perfect. Just like when he said Beckerman "showed his class" after he was subbed out against Canada, when he spent the majority of the match in his own half making simple passes from deep against a team that wasn't attacking. I don't have a vendetta against any Galaxy player, Twellman on the other hand is a different story, terrible commentator. Cochrane in the match had made a few positional errors, if not errors than I'll advised positioning given how Houston were playing. I know he's a rather attacking fullback but he found himself a little too high and he marks his man a little too closely when he's playing deep. He needs to find the balance with his position up the pitch. Also he played a part in the breakdown which led to a Houston chance which Bruin nearly found a teammate to make it 1-0 in the first half. Houston's forwards did a good job checking out to wider areas and switching, which I think confused us a little bit and with the space on the left Bruin and Giles could would check out that way. On one instance Cochrane was rather high and AJDG had to check up to cover space defensively behind him when we lost the ball. There was a bit of confusion between Gonzo and AJDG on who they should be tracking, but Cochrane's recovery speed helped the back line recover but they were still shuffled and Houston had time to get a decent cross in which was in the area of Driver but not too accurate and Franklin was in good position. I feel this was an issue on the goal conceded as well. Don't get me wrong the goal is mostly on Franklin, but the line was rather high, which I think was due to how AJDG was covering that space, he did it at least 2 or 3 times, mostly supporting with Bruin, Giles or Boniek. Look at Cochrane and AJDG's position when Barnes receives the ball. Pretty high and AJDG is sitting in the space where he feels he would have to cover because of how we'd been playing down that side. To be honest I think AJDG should have done a better job to track the runner because Barnes mishit the cross, he was looking for Clark. If you look at the replay he never even sees Driver. It happened to run to Driver who was free because of the momentary run from Franklin to cover the area was supposed to go and Clark would have had a better look at goal if it was accurate. To me that breakdown starts on the left. It's still Franklin's fault for the most part because even though AJDG wasn't tracking well Gonzo actually made a good stand on Barnes which is why the cross wasn't good anyways, still he had to switch over just like the attacking instance in the first half, if he wasn't so narrow he could have made a better play on Driver. To sum up where he was picked is irrelevant given the context of my original statement, so I don't see why people keep mentioning his draft position. Are we only allowed to critique players who have been picked in the first 10 picks? It's not to say he won't improve. I actually like what I see from Cochrane, good getting forward, crosses are good, made a couple really good interceptions, he's bloody quick innit he, I even saw him try to play one-two's a couple times up the pitch which is part of my issue with Franklin because he can be rather predictable going forward. Honestly I would keep starting him, the positional play and awareness is something he needs to improve but he can do that with minutes. Or the alternative sum up all my comments from last night to now, Cochrane is a terrible footballer, he should be traded, which was always my point but saying he wasn't perfect, not perfect means not good enough! (I'm sure that's how some will interpret what I just wrote)
I think you may be on to something. Franklin looked very good on a bad team and a very bad back line, perhaps it’s a case of flattering to deceive or simply not improving over time. Someone mentioned it, but you’d think 5-ish years with one of the crossers in the world would have improved Sean’s crossing at least a little – maybe it has and we’re just not seeing the improvement as it’s so incremental or so marginal.
Relax. I think you're being too sensitive. Not every praise of Cochrane is made as a counter-argument to your one post regarding Twellman.
Correct. I wasn't even thinking of you, SoCalYid. I have no problem with criticizing his mistakes, I always zone out on Twellman anyway and don't really care about what he says. My point was exactly as simple as it sounds: for the last pick in the 2013 draft, I think Bruce may have found a gem. One who needs to be developed and will make mistakes, but goodness, he's able to fill in and start for the league champions when 25% of the guys drafted ahead of him haven't been able to make a MLS roster. Proud of the guy for stepping in and battling. He doesn't look afraid, and that's awesome.
Nobody else was critical about Cochrane from what I saw, so I'm going to respond and elaborate on my point as I see fit. I just find it funny that one comment about Cochrane can have such a reaction, "You know he was a late draft pick right?", nobody said he was a bad pick at all and that had nothing to do with my statement.
I suppose the relevance of his low draft priority is that provides context for what sort of expectations people have or had of him. Not to say he is above criticism or that anything you said about him is wrong. But, right or wrong, I think people tend to be be a bit forgiving in the case of someone from whom so little might be expected. Maybe that leads to inappropriately defensive reactions. I'm just saying that the low draft position may influence people's reactions.
You're missing the point. My comment was not part of the reaction to your comment. It was totally unrelated. You can, of course, elaborate your point ad infinitum (and no offense, but you've come pretty close to that) but don't lump my point in as a "reaction" to your comment. It wasn't.
He wasn't terrible just last night, he hasn't hit the Franklin he should have been. His potential was just that, potential. He never realized half of the player he could have become. And at 200K+ he isn't worth it. If we didn't have a salary cap i'd say let him stay for depth or to battle for the position and perhaps that will make him better but we can't. ...that brings me to another problem. How many players can you say on our Starting XI are actually battling for their position? Maybe LB, FWD and RM? Battling keeps you sharp and makes you better and I think the problem with Sean and maybe even Juninho/Sarvas is they are getting complacent due to no competition.
Yeah whatever man, I just find it funny given I'm literally the only one to critique the boy. I think it was, which is fine but I'm still going to say something. The length of my post wasn't just for the hell of it. If I could explain my point in a more succinct post I would and not all of it was about Cochrane.
Just curious...what backline would you like to see? Would you prefer a lineup where AJ and Franklin switch (this could disrupt the chemistry between AJ and Omar) or do you not want to see Franklin out there at all? If Franklin is removed then do we bring Meyer in and move AJ out wide? I definitely feel like Franklin has been struggling in certain parts of his game and needs to step it up (especially for the amount of money he is getting paid), but is our backline stronger (or even as strong) if he is removed?
Have at it, but I think you're making yourself miserable over nothing. I know for myself, my praise of Cochrane had absolutely ZERO to do with your comment that he wasn't perfect. And I think you flatter yourself to think all comments in praise of Cochrane are a direct result of YOUR comment. But by all means, enjoy yourself.
I think we can replace Franklin with a far better fullback or center back. If we didn't then I do feel that Dunivant-Gonzo-Meyer-AJ is a stronger backline. It also opens a lot of salary cap space. I honestly also wouldn't mind seeing Meyer force his way into the starting xi and force AJ and Franklin to compete for a starting position, the lack of competition hurts us as i stated earlier
Miserable? Hardly and I must have missed when I was referring to your comments, I didn't even know you mentioned Cochrane. I wasn't even thinking about you. I responded to who I thought was referencing opinion of Cochrane in his rundown of other things taken to far like Franklin and Donovan critique. P.S. I'm having a great time.