Also, Chris Rolfe is much faster than I thought. He was on Counter Attack last week on Sirius/XM FC and was discussing with Tony Meola how Olsen has him out on the wing this year when he's traditionally been an out and out striker. When he got the ball last night, he was dangerous. He ran past half of our midfield in the second half at one point. Gotta give Olsen credit for having them play as well as they have, especially after how last year went.
Great time last night! Our city's hinchada was in full voice and it was a throwback Sunday cuz it sure felt good to help press on our men to mind the match winner. Which thanks to Hammid, our guys did! Supporter's Shield here we come!!!!!! Seriouxly, Beaz, who looked the part in naranja and was boss all night, gets kicked in the face right in front of us in the hinchada and how a ref misses that play is beyond me. However, being that it is our American refs, their collective shittiness does not surprise me anymore I will be honest. Found out today that Beaz earned a chipped front tooth a la Loyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber. ^^^This. This simple philosophy on football used to be the cornerstone on how our players used to approach the sport. Indeed, when getting down the line, whip that mo' fo' ball into the mixer. Cutting it back and then dribbling always allows a backline to reorganize themeselves. Perhaps last night will be the beginning of the end of Dynamo football that forgets what Dom's teams like to do, direct balls into the 18.
I have been thinking about this Bruin situation, and if feels like a more intense version of Chris Wondowloski. Dom kept on running Wondo out there despite Wondo never being able to find the net. I assume it was clear to Dom that Wondo had the ability based on his play with the reserves and in practice. Dom finally gave up on him, and he went on to be one of the best scorers in MLS. It would not surprise me if Dom feels similar to Bruin and based on past experience he is being even more stubborn.
My favorite play from last night was Bruin getting the ball on the right side of the penalty box. Surprisingly he had a good first touch and then dribbled all the way across the box where the ref seemed to bailed him out with a free kick right outside the box. I couldn't tell if he was looking for the perfect pass or to shoot the ball.
He has all of the right moves that a good CF needs, but lacks the confidence to just play. To just hit it without second thought. He combines nicely with OBG all of the time. I can see him being more consistent one day, but will he survive that long? He didn't finish a run to the back post for a tap in, and missed 2 headers in the first 30 minutes, but did look good at other times. He is MLS in a nutshell.
I stated this verbatim to Jim the MLS HQ official that looks after game day goings on here in Houston. Really good guy and as a native Texan.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Wondo got anywhere near the minutes Bruin has had. Bruin isn't the first man off the bench, or the guy who gives Ching a break at turf stadiums. Bruin has had FAR more time than he should have needed to either poop or get off the pot.
Yup! And one more thing, our old pal Alejandro Moreno is a better Dynamo forward than our Will Bruin.
Wondo was King of the Reserves but rarely started in Houston and only saw limited MLS 1st team time. I could look it up but from 2006-2008 I bet he only started 5-6 MLS games, maybe fewer. But Wondo was always acknowledged as one of the better finishers in practice. Bruin does constantly get himself into scoring opportunity positions but can't convert like he should for an upper-tier forward. He has good movement and is quicker than he appears. Sub-par aerial game however and that is a Dynamo staple (and one reason why we have struggled some still playing the aerial cross game with guys not as good in the air). He also rarely gets calls because he goes down in a sort of odd way that makes it look like he fouled himself.
Yeah, that is what I mean by a more intense version. We also had some talented forwards then which made it hard to get minutes. If Bruin and Wondo are switched in time, I think their playing time also switches.
Wondo started 11 MLS games in a more than 3 years here in Houston. He had 37 appearances for a total of 911 minutes. He scored a total of 4 goals. That would be 228 mins per goal. Bruin has 102 starts so far and 107 appearances with a total of 8563 minutes played. He has 33 goals. That would be a goal every 259 minutes. Wondo scored more often but not by much.
Trolling the DC boards a bit and man (with reason) they really, REALLY hate Houston and hate Will Bruin even more! hahahahahaha Nice to get a chuckle after a win finally!
I'm by no means a JJ or Cummings fan! Of course, you saw that I wrote "Bench Bruin, play Cummings or even JJ or Tyler Derek". Tyler Derek to replace Bruin!! Look, I am not a Cummings or JJ fan, I'm just fed up with Bruin, and fed up with Dom's desire to have Bruin start and not sub him. Cummings is over $200K or $250K of a has-been who has unfortunately had too many injuries. JJ is like a kid with limited skills playing a man's game. And Tyler Derek is a goalkeeper. Thats just a way of saying, bring my grandmother in, but don't play Bruin anymore, and don't renew his contract, please! Look, the offense that you propose would actually make me quite happy. That formation may help Barnes become the star that he is working hard to become. My frustration is my lack of understanding Dom tactics. Cummings may not play full 90, but then you just bring Bruin in when needed. If we should never play JJ, then we should have gotten rid of him a long time ago (I would not mind seeing him leave). A change has to occur, we can't continue to depend on Bruin for the rest of the season and 2015 and 2016 to be the goal scorer. Bench Bruin, trade Bruin, get rid of Bruin.
Johnson was sent to Pittsuburgh for a reason - to try to get better playing a level down. It doesn't look like it stuck. Dom's tactics are simple. Do I have a better option? No. Ok then Bruin. I honestly think it is that simple. When Bruin's contract expires and Cummings 200K comes off the books, it will be interesting to see what Dom decides to do. Mark Sherrod looks like a much better and cheaper alternative so I could definitely see him letting Bruin walk with Cummings in the offseason.
Outside of the two missed headers, I don't think Bruin was nearly as bad as he has been for most of the season. He was highly involved which has been my biggest critique of him this year. The last two games have been a major improvement from him. Nobody saw that brilliant pass he made to Beasley when he chipped his tooth? I can't find it anywhere, but it was phenomenal. He also stretched the defense on a couple of plays (the one he laid off to Davis' best chance). I get it, he's been extremely bad for a lot of the season and should not be a guaranteed starter. If we can get a better all around striker in the off-season, then by all means. But people complaining about his last couple of games are looking to pile it on him and being somewhat subjective. He absolutely has to finish better on those headers, but he was extremely active in the attacking third and not as bad as he's getting it this time around. Sherrod looked like a great replacement, but that does not look like an easy injury to come back from. Bruin is pretty cheap for a forward and I'd take him as a backup, but would like a better starter. If he wants more money, then we will certainly need to look elsewhere. His second touch was bad on that occasion. Because he's so big it looked like the ref bailed him out, but he was bumped and if Boniek does that in that situation then its a great play on his part to earn the foul.
[QUOTE=" Sherrod looked like a great replacement, but that does not look like an easy injury to come back from. Bruin is pretty cheap for a forward and I'd take him as a backup, but would like a better starter. If he wants more money, then we will certainly need to look elsewhere..[/QUOTE] I agree with keeping Bruin as a basck up next year but eveyone is afraid if he is available Dom will still start him instead of having him as a bench option. Mark Sherrod and Barnes are only aerial presence we have in the box and just like everyone has moaned about in this thread is the passing back and forth across outsid ethe penalty area with the final cross into a packed box. Will has not improved his aerial game since he's been here - in fact it's worse. We need someone like Cahill becuse we are set up to rely on scoring by getting the balls to overlapping outside backs and midfielders to cross into the box for scoring opportunities. Bruin isn't getting it done in the air for that or for hold up play. We need someone else to play target forward.
We do need more aerial threats in the box. Barnes is good when he gets there, but he rarely ventures there. He's generally making diagonal runs to the corners and taking on a defender or shooting from 25-30 yards out. I wish he would make more runs into the heart of the box, because he would get a lot more goals than he does now. As much as we bash Bruin, he still easily has our most goals this season. Barnes is more of a playmaker when we need a striker.
I thought the quote from Dom about the 2 new players was classic; "“The first 20 minutes I was giddy with the way we were playing.”
Bruin and Cummings not here next year? May you be a genie and grant me this wish! PS. Take JJ also. Doesnt look hell get any better.
I like Bruin (Hence my Avatar). With that said we do need a Top striker to "kill" all the chances created with our suddenly stacked midfield. That is OBVIOUSLY NOT Bruin. Unless he goes on a crazy streak I also think he's gone next year - He won't take less money given his age and given that well apart from a few Elite MLS strikers most strikers are just average. I'm willing to bet a beer a few teams already have their eye on him and will offer more money. This is where the Dynamo Recruitment Team (LOL) have some work to do. Top strikers are NOT cheap. There are many of them South of this border on those teams but if a 32 year old left back from that league commands 750k a year how much does a younger striker want?