Wow - the level of football commentary on this board just keeps hitting new heights.Originally Posted by 123 elite
Of all the numerous and varied shit-eaters on this squad, you guys are choosing to pick on one of the guys who's shown the most heart and dedication. Great choice. Really hope he doesn't come across this thread.
We have lots to bitch and moan about. Let's do better than this.
Agreed those comparison's are just stupid. Chad Barrett is a better comparison, for sure. All heart, but no goalscoring composure sometimes. Cahd was a bit more of a workhorse, Johnson has better technical ability.
RJ - Our best hope for goals..... YIKES!!
we got the new kid"the best finisher in modern era....wtf.PM must of been at pub before that quote.
agreed, but you have to admit, blowing 3-5 clear goalscoring opportunities (including 3 breakaways) in the last 2 games doesn't put us at ease. the vancouver game, he could've had the winner, the revs game he could've had the brace. when we're potentially looking for a long term solution in the striker role, heart and dedication won't net anything.
you can see that he's starting to get frustrated, but is he going to turn that frustration into goals, or is it going to consume him?
Agreed.
It's football, these things come and go. He seems pretty strong mentally, and so was Chad Barrett, and so is Fernando Torres. He might be on a bad streak of clear chances that he failed to put away, but to bash the guy just seems ridiculous.
I mean really, TFC fans have everything under the sun to complain about, from the Bud in the concessions to the FO nonsense to the garbage on the pitch, but this guy isn't it.
He started out vert strong, he's just had trouble finishing for quite a long time. Then again, he isn't our primary striker, thats why we have Koev. But I think he will turn it around, and start connecting on a few of his opportunities
Not sure if it's been stated yet, but his strike rate is nearly that which he had with SJ. If it was lower, he'd be a bust, higher: a gem, it being the same makes him a bargain.
a bargain???? we gave up Alan fucking Gordon to get him, as well as a serviceable CB and a winger (who I would have given away for free but that's beside the point). Gordon's only problem was his health, which can probably be blamed on the medical staff for clearing him to play when he had a nagging injury. But when he did play he was great. I wouldn't think twice about taking him over Johnson, even if it meant that we had to take Peterson as well.
A player is only a bargain if you get more than you give up, and in this case, we certainly did not get more out of Johnson than what we gave up in Alan Gordon
hindsight is 20/20...
Whatever his funk is right now - be it mind games or just plain old bad luck, he needs to get the fuck over it and start producing. With Danny K out, this is his chance to become something more than just an average/below average mls striker.
Not sure what gets him going when he plays internationally, but someone get him some jerk chicken and goat curry as a pregame meal because that might be the answer to his problems.
he's never going to get another chance like the one he has now. Danny out. Plata and Soolsma gone. Wiedeman and Lambe essentially wide players. He's the only option for a central target.
If you think about it, if he regains confidence, with Silva sitting slighlty off him with Lambe to the side (jury not in yet on Wiedeman), there's potential there for some goals.
a ha ha heh he hoo.. ha
fair enough, but let's be reasonable.. if he continues to fluff chances, criticism will get worse. fans have short memory spans (like the dunfield bashing hitting a lull since his winner), but we're out a striker for the entire season, and from what i've read, possibly a lot of next season. long term it's making people nervous. hell, it makes me nervous. i wish it didn't, but it does.
plus, what else do you expect us to talk about? we've won two games in a row
But he definitely was NOT a bargain. And the excuse that he isn't the primary striker is also ludicrous since one of the players we gave up for his was capable of being the primary striker
Johnson has missed his chances as of late, but your assessment is unreasonably harsh.
Need I remind you or anyone else that he was the primary reason for our memorable CCL run, and that he finished just shy of the golden boot award for the tournament?
Some people have a very short memory around here. He has done more than enough for our club since his arrival to be given some slack for his poor run of form lately, and he definitely has the ability to bounce back.
Comparisons to some of the other players (Chad Barrett) are unfair. Barrett did plenty of other stuff wrong besides not finish. Ryan Johnson is a far superior all around footballer.
Now he's got to put some more balls in the net, but if we were looking for a place to rag on the performances of our players... I think this would be about the last place I would go.
The problem is everyone takes the stats that prove their points and ignore the ones that goes against it. I am not directing this at you, but if someone were to talk about Winter's start and include the CCL/VCUP matches as part of his record some posters would say they don't count. When judging players we should be looking at their total body of work in league and cup matches.
Barrett had a terrific work rate, as does Johnson. Barrett got himself into some good goal-scoring positions, as does Johnson. Barrett missed a lot of those chances...seemingly sitters at times.
Barrett was gone before he got the chance to break his slump.
I think that "slump" is permanent.
You mean people like Tom Anselmi ? Is he lurking on these boards ?
my objection is to the claim that he was a bargain. Do you really think that RJ is better than Gordon? It's not like we gave them a couple pennies of allocation for him, we gave them a striker who played really well for us when fit, and has played well since as well.
Barrett was also making twice as much money.
Alan Gordon has a reputation for missing sitters too. Ask any Galaxy fan. He was effective with TFC, but over the course of his career, he's shanked a bunch too. And he really, really wanted to return to Cali.
Johnson's making ~$140K. He has 13 goals and a handful of assists in 47 appearances (all competitions). He's decent value, and personally I'd make that trade again. If nothing else, it's a good trade because it got rid of Peterson..
At the time of trade, this trade opened up cap space by getting rid of peterson and a little from attakora. Tfc got a healthy striker while gordon was injury ridden. At the end of season gordon hardly played for sj while rj scored a lot of clutch goals for tfc. Nobody expected gordon to turn into mr clutch this season
Gordon was injury ridden because TFCs medical staff didn't properly deal with his injury so they let him play anyways. When ge got to San Jose he was ruled out for the rest of the season almost right away. And I must be nobody since I didn't see any reason for him to not be clutch once healthy. He was clutch for us before the medical staff fucked him up
Well thats the past. No point to keep harping.
Harping? I just don't agree with the claim that he was a bargain.
Guess tonight settles that, then.fair enough, but let's be reasonable.. if he continues to fluff chances, criticism will get worse. fans have short memory spans (like the dunfield bashing hitting a lull since his winner), but we're out a striker for the entire season, and from what i've read, possibly a lot of next season. long term it's making people nervous. hell, it makes me nervous. i wish it didn't, but it does.
plus, what else do you expect us to talk about? we've won two games in a row
I liked what Gordon brought to the team during his time here, but in my opinion, I would rather have Johnson. Johnson is more versatile, and he has also proven to be a far more durable player. It seems like the guy has played every minute of every match in MLS and the CCL since he's been here. He's a work horse with a deft touch and playmaking abilities that works well in tight spaces. If he was a better finisher he would be a star in this league.
You're right, but only partly. I think saying RJ is more durable than Alan Gordon does a disservice to Alan's long and enduring MLS career. I'm biased because I think Alan is a really good guy in person, but even that said, I think most would agree he's the definition of serviceable workhorse in the MLS.
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