Yeah but he's currently at 3.95 G+A/90 and that will not sustain.
2023 Leagues Cup
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
Yeah but he's currently at 3.95 G+A/90 and that will not sustain.
IMFC goes Miami->Cincy->Harrison->Miami->LA over a 15 day window right when MLS play kicks off again. You gotta imagine at least 2 games of rest for their new stars. Then there's another stretch of games like that (with less travel) at the end of September.
lol. this is like all those robben clips. you know exactly what he's going to do but you still can't stop it.
It's great to see messi thriving. but it won't last. You can already see glimpses of busquets being sloppy and having a bit of trouble when he's put under a lot of pressure. atlanta just did not put messi and busquets under any real pressure for some reason. MLS mandate - injure messi and get fined? lol.
it'll be interesting to see how things develop going forward though. I'm a huge messi fan so i'm happy to see him do well. just have a muted game against us
it'll be interesting to see how things develop going forward though. I'm a huge messi fan so i'm happy to see him do well. just have a muted game against us
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crazy! i mean. it can't be THAT hard to make him go right, can it? lol.
I thought about this, and when you actually watch the games you realize that there's 90 minutes. And in 90 minutes players can do lots of things.
He does go right a lot. and that's what makes his left cut so difficult, because the defender isn't sure if he's actually going to go left this time. And then he does. And the player was busy covering the right.
yea. he does go right. but he's much less lethal on his right. i'd just make him go right all the time and take my chances. you know you can't STOP him per se. but for players like him, reducing his ability to make magic happen is still a win.
But they do cut off his left all the time. He just goes left and back at a 45º or even 60º angle, usually ending up several yards further from goal, and it doesn't matter. It's almost every play in that compilation: left and back, left and back. If they cut off that angle, he'd go left and in which would be worse.
It's like the great game that Pereira had against Dallas. After 2-3 dangerous shots where he had cut in on his left (including one goal called back for offsides in the buildup), Dallas' defenders let him go onto his right. The first time he did it, he assisted on a Santi R. goal. The second time, his shot was blocked and Talles M. tapped it in.
Yep. Exactly. And it's the back that many times he's able to get past defenders and go from there. And he does assist from that sort of position as well.
The cut inside move is a pretty common one, but most players aren't as good at the other parts around the "cut inside", robben was reall good at it!
Sry for double quoting - here's an example.
It's not soccer, but I played D1 lacrosse in college long ago as a defensive midfielder. You described the challenge of taking away a player's strong side well. The issue many fans undervalue is that the defender's primary objective is to stay in front of the attacking player. This objective really limits your ability to shade heavily to the player's strong side. I often see commenters in a bunch of sports (soccer, NBA, etc.) talk about it like you can just stand to the strong side of the attacker and shut a one-sided player down. It really doesn't work like that. You game plan for star players that heavily favor a side, you are aware of it as a defender, you have help schemes set up around it but good players are always going to get chances in their strong side. You can't "take it away" like many fans and commenters claim you can.
That kind of reminds me of typical commenting (from commentators and fans alike) that often say, in both soccer and american football, how do you not cover/mark that guy? And they're always talking about some superstar receiver or striker who is wide open and the defending team just didn't cover/mark them.
There's a reason why that guy is wide open/has tons of space, it's because they're a superstar and that's what they do.
