It was a "yawn" emoji. Tweeted during the game. Interpret that how you will, MLS Twitter opted to interpret it as a commentary on Pena's feeling about the team, especially given he's been trucked off to RGV again.
Don't blame Tomas Martinez on Jordan - that was the future and heir apparent to the #10 jersey according to Wilmer. Obviously Jordan doesn't have an eye for talent - he has brought in some bad deals. Only pleasant surprise I can recall was Manotas (Wilmer), Figeuroa, and maybe someone else I have forgotten... Who recalls these other big signings by Jordan like Maidan, Senderos, Agus, Willis, who was the keeper from Dallas, Pena, and the list goes on and on... It's amazing the guy still has a job. This team still has no #10 since Dero left.
Just second game so I am not passimg judgment on Ramos right now. I do however never want Tomas Martinez to start for our team ever again. The man is a turnover liability. Which since he is an Argie is like having a whole in water bucket, just draining the team as it leaks possession! And Vera needs a dual destroyer to compensate for his lack of decision making on who and when to tackle. Lundmiss should never be our dead ball hitter again also. In comes the defending Champions sports fans! DALE DYNAMO!!! Well, Stuie did slide into the middle and did well. But I understand what you are communicating. Cuz I have been declaring the exact same thing on our lack of an enganche, a quarterback. A man that is the complete opposite of Tomas Martinez.
Needed context: 2018 Dynamo vs LAG 3-2 home W 3-2 away W 2019 Dynamo vs LAG 1-2 away L 4-2 home W 2020 Dynamo vs LAG 1-1 home T 2018 Dynamo vs SKC 2-3 away L 0-1 home L (regular season) 4-2 home W (USOC)*** 2019 Dynamo vs SKC 1-1 home T 0-1 away L 2020 Dynamo vs SKC 0-4 away L if you step back and look at the results over time -- and I grant the sample so far this year is tiny -- we lost ground against each opponent relative to results in recent years. tying LAG sounds superficially nice except we beat them 3 of the last 4 and the last two home games in 2019 and 2018. ***i hadn't realized we played every USOC game that year -- on the way to the cup -- at home.
i don't want to overstate it, because i think arnaud was similar to barrett in terms of overall effectiveness, but he might have been better than now. the specific concerns i have are (1) as I said yesterday, like the USMNT we don't seem to be a realistic choice for the System we have adopted and (2) also like GB it doesn't feel like the best people get on the field. on the former, if you looked at our roster, would you think, ok, touch passing team? high pressing team? it can be attractive to watch when it works but i am a pragmatist. it doesn't work enough and the results so far are meh. the two forward approach at least sounds like a coach on some wavelength with his roster. we're an understaffed, weak defense team with forward injuries that wants to play end to end soccer and take pressing risks. on the latter, give or take the maric swap, ramos feels just like cabrera. old formatiion, same guys. i know people are hurt but the midfield is the same, and given the two frontline absences he would rather play weak nominal "wings" like mac and memo than try, say, ramirez central and manotas wide. ramirez is simply a better forward than the other two. but he is more of a back to goal guy. a smart coach would figure out a way to get his best people on the field and shake things up. a bad one will pigeonhole players and emphasize system fit.
I am sorry but Holden/Cameron nostalgia is rose colored glasses. DeRo's best season(s) were 15 goals (2010) and 13 assists (2005). In Holden's best season(s) he had 6 goals (2009) and 5 assists (2007). In Cameron's best season(s) he had 5 goals (2011) and 6 assists (2009). In Boniek's best season(s) he had 4 goals (2012) and 9 assists (2016). In Alex's best season(s) he had 5 goals (2016) and 11 assists (2017). In Martinez's best season he had 5 goals and 13 assists (2018), a goals number he equaled in 2019. The numbers do not support the Old Guard being better than the mids who followed them. There might be an argument for the End Kinnear period when we basically used a 6 as a 10, but that's flattering. I'd also point out that what it takes to be a good 10 in this league has changed. The league has become slicker and more technical and 20+ assists are now possible. And this is all not to get into how forward production in recent years -- including assists -- would put the Old Guard makeshift mids to shame just the same. No one ever seems to want to acknowledge that Holden and Cameron were better wide or in the back, and were at best OK central. They looked composed because of their quality, but their productivity was tepid, and their teams struggled for goals and success despite a very good defense.
In 2009 we allowed 29 goals and exited the semi round because we scored 39 all season, and managed 1 overtime goal all postseason. If we had any offense for a few years there, we would have won MLS 1-2 more times. The engine for those years began as Holden and Cameron, and ended with Boniek. There is a fair argument to be made Holden and Cameron were superior players -- but they were played out of position and had limitations there. Cameron had the turning radius of an oil tanker, and basically sprinted straight upfield and made a bunch of bad passes over the endline. Holden had a tendency to just get it and give it, and not play the incisive ball -- which he did more out wide. I think we're also forgetting Brad, but I forget which years he was wing and which few he got to play 10.
Ramos should indeed know this! Also, after Ramierz showing so well when he arrived here from LAFC, one would figure that it was that up top high, # 9 striker role for Ramirez to lose not watch it get passed to Manotas who is more of a #7 type player. A Griesman or a Kun over Ramierz being like a Giroud or old Luca Toni or Alan Shearer. Sure they play back to the goal but the position demands it unless your team is running full steam down field in a break out and on the counter attack!
You're also missing Jordan's original #10, the great Chaco Maidana with 3 goals and 4 assists in 2015.
my post is not meant to be pro Jordan, because as I said, the number of assists needed to be profligate in this era has gone up. i just think holden and cameron were weak sauce for their time period at the 10 spot. it's like people forget 2010. re the rest of the discussion, most of the good players from recent years are basically a long chain of hondurans, the first of which predates the jordan era. he did ok with Alex, but he was a rental. wenger was a decent utility guy. manotas was a rare loan success. beyond that, yes, horrible.
to me the sheer excess of forwards and the crappy/old midfield begs for using "forwards" as "mids." and right now with the injuries it should be ramirez and manotas up top -- but i think we're trying a la Berhalter to "commit to a scheme." instead we are using the surplus mids and memo as forwards, basically spreading the weakness to the strong line. personally i'd try (when healthy) something like Ramirez Manotas Quintero Elis Boniek Martinez Vera Figueroa Struna Valentin Maric and right now (unhealthy) Ramirez Manotas Lundkvist Boniek Martinez Memo Vera Figueroa Struna Valentin Maric
I'll make it worse for you. We let him go to clear room for Landin at 800+k because we were unwilling to pay Dero 600k. smh
You know. I want to say something more on this. I've always feared that the whole dump Dero for Landin thing emanated from that consistently pursued but never ever successful pandering to the Mexican/latin soccer fan philosophy that pervades US soccer. It was the concept behind Chivas USA which was a failure. It is the concept behind how the Dynamo have been managed. Cubo. Hondurans. Etc. What is so apparent is that the Mexican soccer fans will support quality soccer. Period. They will not support mediocre Mexicans/latins. And they want good TEAMS -- not just stars. You know .. like they are sophisticated soccer fans or something. Well they are. The 2006-2007 Dynamo teams were very popular on Univision and it was a bunch of canucks and white boy americans (and a Hawaiin dude). IIRC, the only hispanics were Cerritos (for a little bit) and Ale Moreno. Yet the team competed well in CCL and was organized. So sophisticated fans (that happened to be Mexican) liked em. While the general snooty thinks-he-knows-so-much-but-only-really-knows-what-he-hears-from-brain-dead-commentators-or-reads-on-twitter-american-soccer-fan turned their nose up at the orange and considered them banal, or somehow unworthy. btw ... to close this too long post ... I've not yet figured out how to blame Brener for moving Dero. Probably have to accept it as Dom's folly.