Game Grades: Toronto FC vs FC Dallas
April 21st, 2009 . 8:53 am . By: Peter Welpton
Dallas is a side that improves each week, at least in certain aspects of the game. This week the team continued to build on the attack and finding each other. Ferriera gets himself involved in the match more and more and that is a good thing. David is a battler and FCD fans have to love his tenacity and work rate. Dax is also exuding effort, but the coach is right that he has to start turning results. Deadly services into the box on free kicks are one thing, but Dax is playing THE key spot in Hynman’s diamond midfield formation. McCarty simply must become the offensive engine that propels the team. That isn’t happening quite yet and the team looks to be limited to pushing the ball out wide to build the attack. Going out wide on the left isn’t such a bad thing as vdBerg continues to drop dangerous balls into the box. There is though an inherent problem with this attack for Dallas; two of those that might be on the receiving end are height deficient, and the one guy Dallas has that should be banging in these services with his head continues to find himself everywhere else other than in the box. More on Cooper in a bit. On the right side, the situation is a little different. Rocha just is not the player that was dangerous and the creative force he was last season. He appears that he doesn’t want to be there (ie: Toja). For every positive there are two noticeable negatives and this is a place that Hyndman needs to address. It would be great to see Avila starting, just to see if what he gives late in the game could translate over 60+ minutes. It is no secret that Kenny Cooper is struggling. Strikers sometimes just have to shoot themselves out of a funk and that is what Kenny appears to be trying to do. Unfortunately there were no less than four clear scoring opportunities that evaporated because Kenny selfishly decided to take the chance himself. To be fair he did convert one for a great goal, but the others stand out as missed golden opportunities and poor decision making. Cooper has also picked up a terrible new habit this season; allowing himself to fall under pressure. The number of times that Kenny gave up and fell as defenders put him under pressure added up and it was clear the ref was having none of it. The problem for Kenny is that most of these come after he has skipped an easy pass to a teammate and instead stubbornly takes on multiple defenders. Again, it is reasonable to allow your star to work out his form, but it does appear that Kenny is hurting the team in many attacks, not helping. That is a lot of criticism for your leading scorer and who had two on the night, but expectations of Kenny are very high and he is not turning in good performances by anyone’s standards. Man of the match awards have to go to Drew Moor who had a blistering defensive showing, and poured on some gravy with his headed game opening goal. Moor repeatedly watered down DeRosario’s game. He read the attacks well and helped cover up when others failed. Surely he wished he’d had a better position for Serioux’s goal, but there was a lot of blame to go around on that one. Burse is really struggling and was lucky that TFC didn’t convert more of his fumbles. Good decision making comes with confidence, both of which Ray is lacking. His shakiness effects those in front of him and Sala’s return is needed soon. FC Dallas has some stellar shining passing combinations, shows patience in the attack, works out the back and has improvement all over the field. It’s those “brain fart” mistakes and failures that other teams are turning into goals. If the coach can find a way to minimize those, get someone on the right that wants to be there and get Kenny to find Kenny – FC Dallas might be on to something. Grades:Burse – 4 Subs: 20 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Spot on. I’d love to see what Avila would do with more minutes, you’re definitely right to criticize Kenny for his decision-making so far this season, and I can’t wait to get Sala back, too.
There’s a big difference between “we didn’t deserve to win” and “we played bad, but they played worse”. The situation on Sunday was all of the later and none of the former.
You were too hard on Burse – I’d say 5. John was a more like a 4. Kudos for mentioning Cooper and his falling over. For a while on Sunday I thought he put Purdy’s boots on by accident.
Apologies for my apparent inability to spell.
For once, your grades are pretty good, though you do have a pretty obvious man crush on Avila
Ferreira who had a direct hand on all three goals, drawing the foul on the first, stealing the ball and getting the assist on the second and earning the pk on the third, getting the same rating as Avila who wasn’t bad but didn’t do a whole lot in the game is kind of silly.
I have to agree with Daniel that Ferriera was much more an impact player and Avila looked more average to me than you give him credit…
I think Rocha is playing far below his potential and you can feel his gravitas missing these days. He is in the game but not ‘in’ in the game.
Team plays pretty consistently and that level of play is poor. Bummer cause if we cannot win a 2 game stretch with Toronto FC…this is gonna be a very long year.
Glad they pulled one out though.
i’m curious to know who you thought was responsible for marking Robinson on the 1st TFC goal, but that person gets docked 3 points no matter what his grade is. I was really discourgaged by the fact the nobody was even interested in going out there to defend him after the all turned and saw he had the ball. that really disappointed me. poor marking all around, cuz Serioux ran around 3 players inside the 6 to score the goal.
You know what, -1 point for everyone that was in the 18 during that goal, right before halftime.
and Moor is no higher than a 6, if you factor in the -1 from above and the -1 he gets from the Barrett goal. it may not have been his mark, but his defense partner is starting his 2nd game of his life & Barret set up his run right between the two of them. Thats Drew’s job as the central defense organizer.
Grades can’t really be compared from player to player. They are really, for me, based more on that individual player’s ability, playing time in that match, history of form and expectations.
hell, Cooper had a huge impact on the game, but I gave him a “6″ (initially gave him a “5″, and still think I should have), but because of what we know he should/could be doing he deserved a lower score.
Of course Ferreira’s “7″ is not equal to Avila’s.
“i’m curious to know who you thought was responsible for marking Robinson on the 1st TFC goal, but that person gets docked 3 points no matter what his grade is.”
I’m not condoning not marking the man, but in the press conference TFC’s coach said that was a trick play they had been working on.
Okay below you will find that accurate game grades. Drew Moor was directly responsible the goal before halftime which changed the game in a bad way. He also got lost on the right sideline on the break away for the second goal leaving the rookie alone to drown. Tiny David played hard but is given a high grade due to being the new foreign hope. Cooper got a 6? W/o him we don’t win this game or any others.
Burse – 5
Saragosa – 5
Moor – 6
John – 5
Wagner – 5
Rocha – 5
vdBergh – 6
Ricchetti – 5
McCarty- 6
Ferreira – 6
Cooper – 7
Subs:
Avila – 5
Cunningham – 5
Peter,
Lets not turn this personal. Please show me your resume and coaching badges. Lets just rip Coops a new ass. After all he is tied for leading goal scorer in the MISL. I AM SURE HE KNOWS HIS STRENGTHS AND FAULTS, KNOWING THE WAY HID DAD HAS EDUCATED HIM.
Sorry, I meant to say HIS.
thanks Moose. i dont know if that makes me feel better that it was a trick play cuz that still doesnt explain not one sole defender showing any desire to mark him after they saw him with the ball.
BTW, MLS postgame news conferences aren’t at the top of my list, so i missed Carver’s comments. heard he got docked for his opinion of the pk call too….
Peter:
The whole rating system has to be understood better and clarified. You can see that some have responded by doing a “player-to-player” rating (example “How can you give Kenny a 6 when he played better than Avila and scored 2 goals”), but Peter Welpton above mentioned that he uses a “performance versus potential” model, meaning that Cooper garnered a “6″ based the that person’s ability, potential and unique expectations.
Peter, your approach is rather dubious at the moment. Consider the following example, using your logic: Perhaps Burse should get a “9″ because he only allowed 2 goals to get by him. After all, since most here thinks Burse is awful, we should be thrilled that he performed so well compared to his current potential and poor external expectations.
Allow me to submit a third system, which allows more of an “apples to apples: comparison by position. To avoid going down the path of how well a player did compared to some notion of personal potential, and instead of rating them across positions (trying to compare Dax with John, etc.) instead, rate them to an objective, MLS standard for that position. For example, what rating should Kenny receive compared with typical striker performance in MLS? That might yield something like the following:
Burse – 4
Saragosa – 5
Moor – 7
John – 5
Wagner – 5
Rocha – 4
vdBergh – 6
Ricchetti – 6
McCarty- 5
Ferreira – 6-1/2
Cooper – 5
Subs:
Avila – 6
Cunningham – 5
These are not a lot different from your ratings, and of course others may not agree with me, but please allow me to offer the rationale behind George John’s rating of a “5″ as a perfect example. Given that he is a rookie with only a couple games under his belt, I personally think he did a phenomenal job, and I love seeing SH start him. However, objectively, he is making some mental mistakes that higher rated Defenders in MLS do NOT make very often, and thus you cannot give him a high mark for this very reason. If it were not for the great physical effort and work ethic I see from him, he would have objectively been lower, perhaps a 4.
What do you think about this proposal? It might be a good idea to commit one statement at the end of your Game Grades post to explain the criteria to your readers….then the discussion can be directed to an understood standard.
I would like to correct my rating for Cooper….compared to other strikers, he has to be given at least a 6 for putting in a really nice strike for goal #2. I would not give points for executing a PK…but rather, would deduct points for missing. : )
Attendance is starting to get a little worrisome.
It seems FCD’s front office is trying to step up its outreach programs. Here’s a simple solution: Create a supporters’ trust, get all the fan clubs, season ticket holders, and maybe even some local amateur soccer clubs to buy into it, and give the trust a minority stake in the team. Even taking into consideration the changes in attitude displayed at the 3rddegree luncheon, it is clear that the team’s management is clueless and lost in all matters involving the fans’ perceptions and attitudes. Remember the part during the luncheon when they insisted that they were not marketing aggressively towards kids? It’s the little things that make it truly painful. Like hiring a four piece rock band to play inside the stadium before the game, until thirty minutes before kickoff, thus guaranteeing that they play for an audience of precisely no one. Or putting three ushers on the aisle between sections 111 and 112 to make sure that none of the paying customers in the bleacher-seats of section 112 try to move to the literally empty sea of chair-back seats in section 112. Or actually raising the price of tickets in the midst of a major recession. I think if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that there’s no way on earth there will be any substantial changes for the better unless there is a change in the attitudes of the owners of the club. And in the best way to change those attitudes towards a direction where they might actually think twice before aimlessly stepping on the toes of the team’s fan base, is for the team’s fan base themselves have some sort of direct involvement in the corporate governance of the club.
I’m serious, too. This needs to happen. And not just in Dallas, either. There’s a reason attendances have slipped across the league everywhere except Seattle and Toronto; those teams have actually attempted, and largely succeeded, to develop the sort of genuine fan cultures that make sports teams in larger, more established leagues relatively recession-proof.
Robert.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment and I think you make a good point. The reality is that there is no real set of rules for making grades. Next time I do them, I will explain how I come up with them and why my feelings on the pro/cons on doing it the way you mentioned.
That is excellent Peter, because I think it will help people to engage the discussion while staying on the same page, rather than simply telling you that your scores are wrong because….and then coming up with their own scoring systems and criteria. Grades are subjective of course, but the criteria should be objective, and explaining what system you use will help funnel the discussion amongst the FC Dallas “soccer wonks” so people are talking about the same things.
Peter,
Can I ask you a question. Just how many practices and games do you attend.
Would you please engage your brain, before putting your mouth into gear.
You sound like Buzz and England 66.
Hey “other alex”, how about instead of acting like a 5th grade girl, stop calling people names and making blanket criticisms without providing an opposing viewpoint?
There is nothing on the line, or at stake here. Just my opinion. If you disagree, why don’t you take the time to expound on where you think I am wrong.
Maybe this will speak to you: “I double dog dare you”…
And fwiw, I will take a comparison to Buzz as a compliment, thanks.
Other Alex,
Quit being an arse.