Nice, Dave. This is exactly what I was referring to before, when I mentioned that players can affect the game without touching the ball. To the untrained eye Jaqua seemed ineffective Thursday, but he was definitely working his ass off out there. The only thing I lamented was his lack of speed (but that’s more noticeable when Nyassi and Le Toux are zipping around, and he isn’t there to zip around, he’s there to get his head on the ball and feed to others).

Jaqua has value, and that’s why I voted for Evans (not that Evans doesn’t have value, too). His goal was great, but lucky, and Alonso was much more impactful in the middle. Maybe Evans moves to the outside for Nyassi or le Toux, it’s not what I’d choose, but I’d want Zak in there as soon as he’s ready, so that would necessitate another hard decision. We’ve got depth there, and that’s nice. It will be a big factor if we get deep into the USOC and have those extra games. And, of course, next year when we are working CCF, USOC, and who knows what else…

By the way, the highlight didn’t show up for me. Not sure why. MLS’s highlight editing/creating options are excellent, and sites like these are the ones that can really take advantage of them.

And hey, I don’t think this is just for hardcore fans. Hardcore fans already know this. This post is to help new fans understand that things like this are happening all game long, and that they should be noticing them. When they say “Not much is happening,” we can send them to you.

Keep up the great work!

I’m working on getting the embed function for MLSQuickKicks to work correctly. That’s why the link is there right now. That should let you see the same thing, but you have to go to there site.

And Cornchops, a lot of the ‘hardcore’ spend more time focusing on atmosphere than they do the match.

Dave, your correct about hardcore fans. I know several in every major sport and you wonder if they even know what they are talking about. Actually, if you listen to “So called” experts that even played the sport, many don’t know what they are talking about.

I agree, Jaqua was fine. They play you mention is just like in football a WR running a streak pulling the safety his way and leaving underneath open for another receiver to catch the ball. The catch doesn’t happen if the other receiver didn’t sell that possible long pass.

Personally, I think after one game it is much too early to criticize any player.

While you are spot on in your analysis of how Jaqua’s movement created the void for Evans to move into; it should also be pointed out that once Montero received the ball Jaqua was offside and thus had to retreat back to regain onside positioning. While this movement certainly created the space for Evans (as well as the RB player’s decision to follow Jaqua), I credit Evans for recognizing that Jacqua’s movement had opened up a “running lane” if you will. Sort of like running an “isolation” play against a man-to-man defense in basketball. Anyway, great job dissecting this very subtle movement and its pivotal role in setting up the goal, well done.

That being said, I agree that Jaqua brings more qualities than just goal scoring to the team. His ability to hold up the ball in traffic while the wingers make runs is just as important, imho. Thus, I think we are likely to see either Le Toux or Nyassi on the bench to make room for Freddie, opening up the possibilities of a 4-3-3 lineup with Evans, Alonso, Le Toux/Nyassi in midfield and Freddi and Fredy as dual playmakers behind Jaqua as the target forward. At least that’s one possibility.

Yes, I guess I was thinking ‘hardcore’ as ‘people who really know what’s going on.’ This is a topic for another post, and a post I’d rather not see, as there is plenty of contention running through the forums already.

The link just took me to the editing/creating site. I didn’t see your clip.

Excellent info. This is the kind of talk you get after a Husky, or Seahawks football game. Keep it up. I think that Ljungberg should go in for Evans. Not that he isn’t quality, but someone has to sit for Ljungberg and I really like the overwhelming speed of Nyassi and Le Toux, coupled with Freddy L. is nasty. Jaqua and Fredy M. trail the plays and make runs into the box. Explosive! I don’t know if any team can handle that speed. Later in the game you can bring Evans in for someone who is tiring or has a yellow etc. I think you bring in Zakuani for Jaqua 60th or 70th minute to add a secondary burst of speed and attacking prowess that the other team will be too worn out to handle. Just a thought.

If you watch the clip closely you will notice that it is the defender that moves first.

Jaqua is simply following him so that he isnt in an offisde position should a cross come in.

This point is further accentuated by the fact that the defender stops, and Jacqua keeps moving past him.

The fault for the goal goes to the other defender, one closer to touch. He moves to close now Montero when he recieves the ball, making it three Red Bulls covering Montero. This opens up the space Evans runs into. To cap it off, the defender who is out of position ineffectively lunges in an attempt to intercept the feed, and fails miserably.

Regardless of whether he moved to prevent an offsides call or intentionally to open a space for Evans, the point is well taken and this is certainly the sort of analysis the game needs here.
Now, if only the idiots in the seats to my right could read this post; I’m sure I’ll be fighting with someone if I have to keep listening to “that guy sucks! what’s he doing? he sucks! man, I’ve totally played before, and I know that guy sucks.”

Brendan,

Nothing would require Jaqua to drift to the center and then right just because the defender does. He could have just come even with the line but stayed in the left corner, of course, if he’d done that the defender would have just kept beside him.

The way I see it is that it is not a function of offensive movement. Its more about the poor defensive marking of New York. Yes Jaqua made the right run to pull his defender to space, but any good defender would follow because he would be expecting one of the two center mids (I think they are center mids) to track back to cover Evans’ run. One of them was a step or tow behind Evans and the other was taking space away from Montero. The mid who was taking the space didn’t even see Evans track behind him and the other was flat footed when evans took off. Either of them should have effected his run by marking him closer.
If I give anyone on Seattle’s side deserves the credit it is Montero for being such an offensive threat that he needed to be tripple teamed durring the play. Thus causing the mids to miss mark Evans alowing him to capitalize on the space created by Jaqua and Montero. Lets just hope all the defenses in the league are as poor as New York so our good movement up front can tear them appart.

Go Sounders!

If you could see thought balloons over the Red Bull defense on this play they would read “Montero cross; Jaqua header”. Therefore, they felt the need to double team Jaqua in the penalty area and Jaqua sells that notion with his movement. I don’t know how much Jaqua knew about the move that developed, but the point is he was doing all he could to attract the attention of the defenders in the box and it worked. The defender nearest him initiates the run back, but when Jaqua turns toward goal again, the Red Bull defender has his attention completely focused on him, ignoring Evans’ run.

A lot of credit goes to Fredy’s reading of the play. A cross into Jaqua would have been pretty obvious and therefore probably ineffective. Seeing Evans’ run and placing the ball so perfectly made the goal possible.

My concern about Jaqua was his apparent speed and hustle. I say apparent because I can’t tell if Jaqua is slow, or if he just looks slow in comparison to the speedsters around him. Also, I don’t know if my expectations about which balls Nate should be able to reach ahead of the opposition are likewise skewed by the capabilities of the players around him.

I thought Jaqua had a nice game. He was very often the outlet man (or target man, if you prefer) for the midfielders and the defense, and almost always did something intelligent with the ball.

He reminded me of Emile Heskey a little bit, in that Heskey has built a very nice career for himself doing just that. He’s never been a prolific scorer, but the guys playing with him always manage to get lots of goals. Go figure.

3 comments re last night’s game:

1) If someone fouls Montero badly, then the next time that guy touches the ball he should be flattened

2) Jaqua’s goal was good, but he gave the ball away too many times – so let’s start Ljunberg (SP. on both names) instead – please

3) Why is Keller blasting the ball out every time? Most of the time it just gives the ball away – how bout a short rolling pass out to the midfield or whomever – just as every good international team does (Brazil, Italy, Holland, you name it) ?

A.T.