What the Hell is our coach thinking
July 6, 2007 by f4denz.
So in today’s Deseret News, our coach was quoted as saying “They added a spark; Jamie got in behind a couple times, Kyle got in behind once and nearly scored,” said Kreis, who reiterated that simply adding a spark isn’t enough.
“To be frank, Jamie comes into the game and seems to get a chance for the past three games — he’s got one chance, he’s got to finish it. Period. The end. It’s an easy finish and he’s got to finish it.” When talking about Kyle Brown and Jamie Watson.
I hate to inform our coach but the reality is that Jamie Watson is a hell of a lot more productive in his very limited minutes than MFP (most favored player) Medhi Ballouchy. Let’s take a minute and look at the numbers from this year:
|
Player
|
Minutes Played
|
Goals
|
Assists
|
Shots-PM
|
SOG-PM
|
|
Medhi
|
1149
|
0
|
0
|
22- .019
|
6-.005
|
|
Jamie
|
47
|
0
|
0
|
4-.085
|
1-.021
|
So Jason, I hate to tell you this but Jamie Watson has more than “earned” his time and then some by a factor of 4. Now would those numbers hold up if Jamie had played 1149 minutes, we don’t know but one thing is for sure he could not be any less productive than Medhi. But let’s do a fairer comparison, let’s look at Jamie’s 1st season with RSL
|
Jamie
|
818
|
2-.0024
|
1-.0012
|
16-.020
|
10-.012
|
Now last years numbers for Medhi- his first season
|
Medhi
|
2162
|
2-.0005
|
2-.0005
|
19-.009
|
5-.002
|
So if I were the coach of a team and I would take a couple minutes to do some research and make sure I wasn’t talking out of my ass, in calling out a kid who has done nothing but give 100% on the pitch. Despite some off field issues, and general growing up that Jamie has needed to do, treating him like the loss is his fault, is simply wrong. I have lost a lot of respect for our coach in the last couple days.
Let’s talk about another player that hasn’t “earned” the right to play a position he was promised he would get a chance to play when he came to RSL. Freddy Adu has proven one thing for sure in the last 10 days, that is that given a chance to be the attacking midfielder and play with others who will actually play with him, that he is as good as the hype. Freddy has been the most critical part to the US U-20 team finishing 1st in their group, beating both Poland and Brazil. If upon his return he is not given a chance to play the attacking midfielder position, I for one will begin to wonder if the move to the bench has not affect Kreis’ ability to think.
I am not sure if John Ellinger is still pulling the strings at Real, but without a GM to offer some assistance to our coach, one thing is clear we are not making the improvements that we should. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season that we would be out of the playoff picture before the MLS All-Star game?
OFF MY SOAPBOX