Its absurd that LA is not in the top group. Dallas has the personel, but nothing to suggest it will score goals at the rate of LA SJ's 3 is better then most of the rest (outside LA/NY) NY is right (in top group) DC is middle of the middle group AT BEST, and likely more towards bottom then top (of league) Columbus and NE are off to a slow start and will get better as summer goes on (Buddle was hurt) and lord knows what NE's problem is (actually, Cancela refuses to cross the ball), but both these teams should wind up scoring more then DC.. Yeah, KC will be poor.....Colorado has Spenny hurt (hardly fair there either).. So, I think the article is not too accurate, actually.....end of year will look much different...(Just 'cause you have 4 forwards DOESN'T make one more effective...also Chelsea has no business getting a mention in an article regarding MLS....worlds apart....
I did read it. Ruiz/Kirovski didn't play yesterday, but LA still scored 4 goals- so why aren't they in the top group. DC has 4 different forwards, but none likely are going to score a lot of goals regardless- I'd take SJ (w/injured Ching or DeRo....hell, probably even an injured Donovan over that)... Spenny could be gone the whole year, but they aren't going to be this bad (scoring).. KC might..with or without Wolff (he's not the same Josh, I'm sorry)...etc
LA only has 3 significant scoring threats. Thankfully they have Herzog who can pass the ball in a way that you don't need as much creativity from the forwards. The column was talking about how deep the roster is with forwards, not the quality of players. I agree the SJ has 3 good forwards to choose from (though I still think Donovan should be playing AM), but DC and the Metros have a higher number of quality forwards to use.
The thing about adding DC to that list is their forwards just can't hang with the other teams in the top OR LA. Hell, look at the Metros listed. He didn't even mention Mike Magee, and Magee scored more goals last year than any of the DC forwards.
TCS SAYS: So first he gets taken out by a goalkeeper and actually pops back up to score a goal. Then a week later, he gets dumped and goes down, apparently injured ... and actually is? OK, whatever alien has inhabited Little Fishy's body this season, you obviously did not do your homework on how he [behaves] on a soccer field. This man's writing is god awful... if he can write for MLSnet then why the hell can't I?
i was referring to his writing style... not the comment. The comment i thought was hysterical. But his use of language is high school level at best.. he's the text equivalent of Jack Edwards.
I thought thw whole article was pretty bad. LA belongs in the top group at least as much as DC. The same probably goes for Chicago. Just because you have 4 forwards doesn't mean that you have depth. The forwards actually have to be half decent to count. The Metros are the only team that's really deep at forward. They don't even know what to do with them all. Someone already said that the article didn't mention Mike Magee, and he'd find a place on every team in the league.
Exactly. And he throws in Joe-Max to get NE to 3, while ignoring players like KC's Matt Taylor. If this were a sports radio ramble, it'd be fine. But when Tino talks facts, there's an expectation of due diligence. When Tino is just having fun, facts rarely get involved. It's this "pseudo-fact" crap that lowers the whole level of discourse. This week's column would be considered a marginal N&A thread post on BigSoccer.
If all he is doing is saying who as the most people at a position and not taking into regards the quality of them, then it's got to be the stupidest article in the world, so I'm going to assume he was taking quality into account. In that case the fact that the LA front line as 14 goals, and you could even count Nwgenya as a front line player then that makes 15. 15 goals, more goals by the "middle" of the pack forward line then any other *TEAM* in the rest of the league (although to be fair they've played 2 extra games then others). That said on paper the Metrostars should be getting the best results I would have to imagine. I also have to imagine we're going to see a trade involving 1 or more of them as well sometime soon.
There are always trades (well, until FIFA imposes internal transfer windows). Don't forget about WCQs pulling players away, and don't forget that teams will be losing players to expansion in the off-season.
The average American reads at (I believe) a middle school level. Newspapers are writen at (I think) a 6th grade level. Tino doesn't write the the most eleoquent pieces, but who really cares. We're not talking about a philosophy paper explaining the meaning of life, just a comical column on MLS soccer...which incidentally, lends itself to comedy very easily. I look forward to the MLS column parade every week. TCS is usually funny, but none of the MLS columnists write a good piece every time.
Its not journalism, its an opinion column. Right? I didn't take a journalism class in college but isn't there a difference? Journalism reports the facts from which teh reader draws his own conclusions - an opinion column is the wroter's conclusion. Or something like that. Wouldn't you have to have heard about Matt Taylor first before you can be criticized for ignoring him?
Sanka may have been referring more to just poor grammar than Journalistic vs. Opinion styles. "OK, whatever alien has inhabited Little Fishy's body this season, you obviously did not do your homework on how he [behaves] on a soccer field." This is the quote he brought up, and it is not very particularly grammar at all, for someone who is being paid to write. "OK, whatever alien has inhabited Little Fishy's body this season, it obviously did not do its homework on how he [behaves] on a soccer field." Would have been somewhat more sound. Sorry Sanka... didn't mean to speak for you if this isn't the flaw you were referencing.
wroter's? First point: Opinion column, I get. Shoddy use of rosters, bad writing - I don't. Second point: It's credibility. Joe BigSoccer Poster probably hasn't heard of Matt Taylor, Joseph Ngwenya, or even Bobby Rhine - but one of MLSnet's big 4 pundits better have. It's part and parcel of the position. If the Dayton Daily News sports columnists gets a few MLS facts wrong, it's not too big a deal. Even the BBC can't seem to get stuff about American soccer right. But my problem is the fact that MLS's semi-official semi-insider needs to know. Otherwise, they've got the wrong person in the position. Whatever happened to Tino's faux Euro-writing style, anyway? At the end of the day, I do believe that "Tino Palace" does know exactly who Matt Taylor is, which leads me back to my main criticism. It's a shoddy, lazy, crap piece.
What has Matt Taylor done to earn this incredible defense by Andy Mead? I thought Tino's biggest omission - and everyone else on this thread - is Jamil Walker. Here's a kid who started and scored in MLS Cup last year - who looked great and was a key figure in San Jose's cup run and especially in their comeback against LA - who can hardly get off the bench today. As far as proven quality goalscorers, as long as San Jose has Donovan, they are at the top of the list.
Nothing in particular, just a name that any columnist covering MLS should be aware of. I thought columnists were supposed to be smarter than the casual fan, rather than just parrot back the same kind of stuff we get here on BigSoccer. I thought the columnists were supposed to offer up good writing or insights or access that we can't otherwise get. Normally, I think Tino is fine. I just thought this was an exceptionally poor effort. Don't get hung up on the Matt Taylor reference.
Actually, the biggest omission by far when it comes to Kansas City isn't Taylor, who at this point is essentially a non-entity and doesn't deserve a mention, but Simuntenkov, who he passes over completely, failing to mention that - I believe anyway - he is due back in July or thereabouts and will bolster their attack. I also agree with Nutmeg - Walker was the biggest omission in the whole piece (though he didnt have a goal in the MLS Cup, only an assist).
Awhile back I chided someone for apparently not reading the article. Maybe that isn't the problem. Maybe most of you don't pay any attention to what is written. Kind of like a third grader that can mouth and pronounce words, but has no idea what meaning is meant to be conveyed by the words. So, let me try again - Tino says: "A quick glance at the stable of forwards for each team, and their production so far this season, shows how the classes break down in MLS." Note: 1) this season 2) production 3) forwards Meaning midfielders don't count no matter how productive they've been. Meaning last years efforts don't count no matter how impressive they may have been. Kids who have not spent a minute on the field in an MLS game don't contribute to the teams production. Guys who are not even sitting on the bench and who have played zero minutes due to injuries don't contribute to the teams production. It is all based upon: "What have you done this season." Period. Now if you want to use a different set of parameters, that's your perogative, but don't blame Tino for not reaching the same conclusion as you might when you change the rules of the game, as it were.