Post by fuzzy on Jun 12, 2019 18:25:45 GMT
Man I really don't agree with this. I would say that of the five forwards we're talking about, Clint was the one who was horribly ineffective when he was asked to carry the team. As for EJ, I know a lot of people felt/feel the way you do but I hard disagree that only because Mauro delivered a good ball was EJ able to score. If anything I would put that in the reverse - if EJ wasn't so good in the air, Mauro wouldn't have been our assist king. Ruidiaz is a tougher comparison. He plays with almost objectively better players than the other guys did. He plays against better competition and scores at a higher rate. Really tough to say he would/n't be who he is on a different team.
On an ability to do it themselves scale, I'd rank the five like this:
1) Oba
2) Fredy
3) EJ
4) Ruidiaz
5) Dempsey
We really only disagree on Clint Dempsey. It suprises me you have one of the most multidimensional forwards at the bottom of your do-it-themselves list. Clint racked up assists, scored on set pieces, off crosses, from distance, poaching...I could post a compilation of his free kicks that only Montero could compete with.
With Dempsey, fair or not we didn't see Dempsey create chances for himself. Dempsey was not good in '13 and then he played with Oba in '14 and '15. In '16 i would absolutely say he carried a bad team at the start, but he was robbed the back half by the heart condition. He didn't exactly suck in '17 but it wasn't a great season in the context of all time Sounders. I wouldn't really argue with him being over Ruidiaz, but beyond that, I'll stand by we didn't see him do a lot of taking guys on and finishing for the Sounders
I don't mean to knock Dempsey though, and I don't want to - he's my all time favorite USMNT player. I simply reject any notion that EJ only scored because of Mauro, that he was a one-trick pony, or that he didn't put it all on the line every time he was on the field. Of course I have memories of him scoring towering headers off of Mauro crosses, but I also remember these, of which I'm not buying that the key was a great pass or team move:
2012 playoffs vs Galaxy - youtu.be/CrSwQKOBaio (go to 1:25)
2013 playoffs vs Colorado - youtu.be/qTWgpgpxJ8Y (go to 8:40)
Those are big goals, created via individual effort, in big games. He also scored on a header against Portland to bring us within one in 2013 after the Colorado match. Even that one I reject that it was a 'great cross' so much as he just jumped over both CBs. Here' that one at 7:20 youtu.be/_aSc8WwS3-U