twellman vs. ruiz

does any other country in the world use this "points" system

does any other country in the world seriously keep track of assists

and who gives the credit for these assists

i have seen assists given when a guy makes a long pass out of the back to a wing player who then crosses into the box for a third player to crack it home (is this really an assist??)

i would prefer to see the golden boot given to the player who scores the most goals

end of story

 

I think Twellman will come away with it. Twellman is so hungry now for goals its not even funny. He knows the Revs are depending on him and he will score to get them there. I don't think he is worried about the scoring race, but will come away with it. Overall, Twellman is alot better then Ruiz. I mean, just look at the teams they play on.

 

Youre such a homer. Ive seen Ruiz a little bit more than Twellman in open cup and league and cannot say one is A LOT better than the other. Both have scored important goals for their club. Regardless of what team plays on is pointless because the REVS have a lot of talent, they just dont have a coach to save their lives.

 

Actually, saying anyone is a lot better than Ruiz is quite laughable. I'll chalk that up to your rampant homerism.

 

We're not the rest of the world.

And usually, secondary assists are pretty meaningless (exception - Andy Williams against the Burn last week).

 

Assists are critical in fantasy league play. Without assists, there would be very little chanllenge to it. True, some assists are cheap, and then again, some assists are more vital than the goal.

But isn't that the very nature of statistics. They give you an outline, but they don't tell you the story.

For instance, Clint Mathis has incredible vision and even though he is playing well below par for him, he still makes passes that few people in MLS even contemplate if given minutes to conjure up. That is why I always want to see him on the field, even if this hasn't been his finest season. That's also why I enjoyed watching Kyle Martino, because the couple of times I was able to see him play, he did things on the field with style.

That's what makes the game exciting, not whether it turns out that Ruiz has 56 points and Twellman 53 points, but how they get there. Having seen both of them, I'm happy they are in MLS this season, they have added a tremendous amount to the league.

 

I haven't seen enough of Ruiz to say who was better, but unless your tongue was planted firmly in your cheek, someone from LA who says that noone in the league is a lot better than Ruiz and then complains about rampant homerism is equally laughable.

 

Don't forget, Twillman has played 2 matches more than Fish.

 

Only laughable if you haven't seen enough of him to say...

From what I've seen, Ruiz is a top notch poacher, is always focused, has good skill to back excellent positioning/vision, and is a fierce competitor. There are few, if any, in MLS I would pick over him at forward.

 

Twellman didn't start the first two games of the season, but came in as a sub. He came in in about the 60th minute in both games, as a midfielder.
The Revs didn't know yet what they had.

His first start was at Columbus in the third game, and he scored in the 10th minute. As we all know, he's been scoring ever since.

Ruiz is a terrific player, and so is Twellman. MLS needs some new stars, since Etcheverry, Mareno, Valderamma, et al. are over the hill.

 

i wouldn't mind the assists if they didn't count the secondary assists.....it's stupid.


but I think Twellman has scored the best goals this year, even if he hasn't scored the most.

 

I can't say who is better but I can say two things:

1) Taylor had a phantom goal given to him earlier in the season when he never touched the ball but was still (absurdly) credited with the goal.

2) He may not play on as good of a team but Ralston, especially earlier in the season, fed him many balls on a platter. This is not to take anything away from Twellman, just to note that he has gotten some pretty good service over the course of the year (especially in the first half of the season).

 

I hate LA, but I love Ruiz. We have shut down Twellman, but we haven't figured out how to stop Ruiz. Hopefully, the next two weekends will prove me wrong.

Hey, look at this way. It's great to have two new, young, strikers in the league. I like them both a lot...

 

Sometimes secondary assists are the most important, even more than the goals or primary assists. Example, Reyna's assist vs. Man U. Even Albright could score that goal from 5 yards.

 

both quality

These guys are both out and out goalscorers. I'd give a slight edge to Ruiz in terms of game savvy (watch him ghost in behind defenders, etc.), dribbling skill and shot accuracy. Twellman works incredibly hard--there's no quit in him--and he has amazing athletic ability and desire. In the end, I might wager that Ruiz has a bit more polish, but they're both top notch. Excellent pickups by the league.

 

That's one of the unique things about MLS that gives the sport an American flavor - the statistics. I kind of like that about the US match if anything else because of that. Most American sports focus on all facets of athletic performance - IMO, better than European leagues/teams, so it would be no surprise to me at all if MLS was better at this as well.

I do agree about third party assists. THat is pushing the envelope a bit too far. Imagine in basketball - the guy that gets the rebound, throws the outlet to the guard, the guard throws it to another guy for an alley-oop. According to football, that would be two assists.

 

You could pretty much describe Twellman in the same way. I would say that both players are fairly equal. In Twellman's case, he's been scoring goals for the Revs consistantly over the course of the year while players like APC, Serna (before his injury), and Diallo were unable to. In Diallo's case, he started scoring goals in bunches right after he left, so it's not like he's in a year-long funk (which may be the case for APC).

 

Shame on the coaches then!

 

I think Twellman has 2 of the best goals this season. The diving header and his overhead kick. Ruiz also has some nice ones as does Kreis but Twellmans were probably my favorites.

 

Don't forget that Ruiz's goal count also includes more PKs than Twellman. I know that Taylor has one PK to his credit too, but I don't think that PKs should be allowed in the overall total at all.

Maybe if it was like basketball where the person who was fouled had to take the shot then I'd feel differently...

 

ruiz's first open cup goal against dallas was a thing of beauty, for sure.