Over the Top & Underperform

It's all fine and good to get upset at the performance, or lack there of, last night against San Jose. I posted many comments throughout the second half, disgusted with almost every aspect of our game. The playoffs cannot be obtained this early in the season, but as many commented on Big Soccer, it can certainly be lost...this unfortunately is where we find ourselves. Rather than take the normal approach and highlight the play of a few, in the proceeding lines I will offer my take on the entire team collectively, then focus on the individual players. Why you might ask, because I need to get it off my chest before I continue with my Sunday, and, though I never played professionally, I have been a player & student of the game my entire life and my wife no longer wants to hear my observations, so print is the only medium I have left...here goes:

TEAM - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'M TIRED: 

We look tired EVERY game in the first half. We're supposed to be well conditioned...what happened (keeps happening). My take: high pressure to begin the game all over the field makes absolutely no sense. This is not the EPL and our tired legs make us that much sloppier in the second half...pick your spots to defend. If we're going to defend as a team, let's try light pressure when there's no immediate danger and stop killing our players legs in the first 20 minutes of the match. Like I keep telling my son, make them beat you, don't dive in and beat yourself.

POSSESSION ALONE DOES NOT EQUAL QUALITY SOCCER: 

We can knock the ball around all day, and the many quick short passes between Javi, Kyle, Will, and Ned are great to get out of immediate pressure, but it's not getting us anywhere. Sometimes I think JK gives the guys a Snickers bar every time they complete 5 quick passes in a row. Let's think about what's happening while we're playing keep away, they opposition is getting back in numbers.

GIVEAWAYS:

With our Diamond Midfield we're all about possession, so we dink around with the ball to relieve pressure, then we knock the ball out wide to Wingert or Russell, but instead of continuing to move the ball around and look for the opening, we lose patience and serve a worthless ball into the box where we usually have maybe 3 people against at least 6 or 7 defenders. Where's the patience? 

JOINING THE ATTACK:

I've addressed this before, but I'll bring it up again. Either serve an early ball when everyone's running and there's still space in the final third to put the ball into (see Clint Mathis) or have the patience to work the ball around and look for the opening. You can't setup the half court offense and then serve a shit ball into the box, because the midfielders who ran to join the attack now have to run back and help defend and there's NOTHING MORE FRUSTRATING THAN SPRINTING TO JOIN THE ATTACK AND WATCHING YOUR TEAMMATE PISS THE BALL AWAY. After a few or several times (depending on how committed the player is) of running your ass off for nothing the player will STOP MAKING THE RUNS ENTIRELY because it will most likely be a waste of time and energy.

MAKING RUNS OFF THE BALL:

The only time Yura & Findley make runs (Robbie's gotten better at this) is when they're expecting the ball to go over the top or into the corner. When we're setup for our "possession offense" the majority of our team (especially at the top of the box) are simply standing there clogging up the box (the only place we can score from) waiting for the ball....move dammit, move!!!!! I want to see some runs, clearing runs that distract the defense and mix them up a bit. Escalada & Espindola were actually trying to do this a bit yesterday and it seemed to be working a little until we completely abandoned attacking on the ground and went back to the over the top ball which wasn't effective especially since Findley & Yura were on the freakin' bench!!!

ATTACK: 

We were successful last year, and earlier this year because when there was a turn over we ran at the opposition, we actually attacked with speed and took defenders on. Now, we look for the back pass EVERY TIME to make sure we maintain possession. Which is fine and good, but we're losing any amount of attacking advantage there may have been.

ATTACK II:

Step One: Run at the defense, if you make them miss, then go to goal

Step Two: At the very least, make a defender commit to you and dish to your teammate who hopefully is making a slashing run (I know this is a lot to ask)

Step Three: if you're getting nowhere, get the ball to someone else and let them try (in hockey, this would be the equivalent of cycling behind the net, or in basketball, re-setting the play)

Step Four: don't just give up and throw a worthless ball in the air unless you actually have someone to get it to

TEAM DEFENDING:

We defend as a team and attack as 1 or 2 (depending on the formation). Why is Javi defending as deep as our fullbacks. How is he supposed to lead the attack if he has to sprint 75 yards to even get into a position to feed the forwards? Again, why are we high pressure all over the field, especially when it's nil-nil or we're winning? Why can't we play containment style of D in the middle third? The only place you NEED to win the ball is when the opposition is in a scoring position. Stop diving in Kyle, Wingert, etc, make THEM beat you!

OFFENSIVE WEAPONS:

Let's make sure we're clear on who we have and what they're good at (if anything):

Findley = fast and usually good quick shot when he has a CLEAR chance. If it's up to him to create the opportunity, there better be heaps of space and only one defender

Yura = not sure what Yura's good at, mostly disappointed with the fact that he's the BIG GUY we have but surrenders like a Frenchman when he gets bumped. Tired of watching him lose the ball, especially when he shielding the defender...pathetic so far this year.

Espindola = needs the ball on the ground to his feet so he can work his magic. Best when given a ball while he's moving and facing the defender. Not an over the top kind of player

Escalada = loks to be a lot like Espindola, yet not as good

PLAYERS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE GOOD OR ALRIGHT

Rimando: 

what can you say, he's a stud, would be a lot worse if he wasn't here. Plays with passion and should be captain in my opinion

Borchers: 

Nat plays hard every game, can't remember a game where he was the one who blew it. When mistakes happen they tend to be because Jamison put Nat in a bad situation or someone else blew it.

Olave:

Solid in the air, and a physical force to be reckoned with, but his mental mistakes and lack of one on one covering in the box has hurt us time and time again. I'm disappointed with his play, as a defender your mistakes lead to goals, and too often his focus let's him down. Maybe we should play a 4-4-2, with Olave as the Stopper and Borchers as the sweeper instead of a flat back 4.

Wingert:

Great first year with us, but since the new contract he's been horrible. Chris is a serious liability in the back now, and when we have a healthy alternative, he should be the first to go

Russell: 

jury's still out on Robbie, although he's not our problem in the back, I don't think he's rock solid either. However, I think Robbie would work best in a stopper situation in front of Borchers and behind Kyle. He's got speed and size, but also a solid soccer brain, and more composure and covering ability in the middle defensively would be great.

Beltran:

Can scare the shit out of me at times, but seems to be grasping the game a little better. Style is a bit unorthodox and his height is a liability, but couldn't do worse than Wingert at this point.

Will Johnson:

Where is the Will Johnson we saw last year, under control, speedy and taking players on the final third. It appears as if he's been sucked into the Diamond Midfield mentality and looks uneasy and unsure of himself unless he's passing the ball laterally or backwards. He's the only one on the team with limitless energy, so get him the ball 25 yards out and let him try and beat someone going to goal.

Kyle Beckerman:

This is a tough one, I don't know if Kyle is having a tough year or the system sucks for his style of play, but if I see another game of Kyle and his form of high pressure diving at players I may have to stop listening to Bob Marley in disgust. Your defensive center mid simply needs to slow down the attack, not dive-in & miss giving the opposition more numbers in the attack.

Clint Mathis:

Clint's not on the field for defense, so don't expect it, nor should we, because we need players to be more committed to the attack if we're going to have one. Has he had off games, sure, but if you go back and watch our games so far this season, I'd be willing to bet that most of our best offensive chances started with an early ball or quality through ball from Clint. I'm still on his side, because he may be older and a little slower, but his soccer mind is still top notch. I actually think if JK were to get canned and Checketts has to keep it in the family, give Mathis a shot...I know you think I'm crazy, but hear me out on this one. He was on the Nats, he's played outside the US, he's more passionate than most of the players & coaching staff, and he's not afraid to tell is teammates that they're playing like shit.

Javi:

Javi looks tired every game about 30 minutes in. He spends too much time and energy trying to be cute, mouthing off to the referee, and fighting with whoever is getting into his head to be effective this year. But like Kyle, I'm not sure who's fault it is, because it's clear that opposing coaches know exactly how to play us.

Grabavoy:

Ned plays the style of defense that I prefer and think is more effective. Which is to say that he tries to contain the man with the ball rather stabbing at it and missing. Many might say that this isn't aggressive enough, but my response to that: the only place you NEED to take the ball away is within scoring distance. Playing containing defense in the middle third of the field means we wouldn't wear ourselves out, and we would force the opponent work harder (wearing them out and frustrating them - which is what everyone does to us!) So far, I like Ned and hope that he starts as the defensive ctr mid against Colorado.

Yura:

Starting to look like a failed experiment, which is sad because he could be a physical force to be reckoned with. Does not have the touch to beat players one-on-one unless he's in the box and the defender has a greater tendency to over commit, otherwise all defenders need to do is back off a step and let him try and dance, which usually results in a turnover. I'm starting to believe that Yura just doesn't get it, and as we used to say back in college, you can't put in what God left out, and Yura just doesn't understand the game.

Findley:

He's our best scoring threat still and you gotta love the guy because he busts his ass every game. If he had good touch, holy shit would he be dangerous. If I were coaching Robbie, he'd be on another field by himself for half of practice juggling and doing simple touch drills. Sadly, he seems to be the only one that makes runs to get open in the offensive third.

Not reviewed because I haven't seen enough of them this year: Joy, Espindola, Escalada, Cox, Alexandre, Horst, Nunez

There you have it almost 2 hours of my life, now I feel better, thanks for reading!!!!

--
http://4foosball.blogspot.com/