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Gerba sent home from camp


nolando

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I guess I put the hex on him. It was so painfully obvious seing that overwight body trying to play intelligent soccer. It did not make any sense to me and ever since that time it has been a downhill thing for him.I still don't know how he managed to fool the MNT staff unless they had exceptional players that made him look good.

Anyway back to that drawing board.

John, admittedly Gerba has been a disappointment for TFC, but he didn't 'fool' anybody on the MNT staff. His goal scoring rate for the Cdn MNT is terrific at 15 goals in 29 appearances and he is on pace to be the highest scoring Cdn national all-time.

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John, admittedly Gerba has been a disappointment for TFC, but he didn't 'fool' anybody on the MNT staff. His goal scoring rate for the Cdn MNT is terrific at 15 goals in 29 appearances and he is on pace to be the highest scoring Cdn national all-time.

7 of his 15 goals are against oponnents like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, El Salvador, Cuba and Guadeloupe. I'm not impressed at all. Also, if this guy is really a lazy player as it seems to be, then he got what he deserves.

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7 of his 15 goals are against oponnents like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, El Salvador, Cuba and Guadeloupe. I'm not impressed at all. Also, if this guy is really a lazy player as it seems to be, then he got what he deserves.

I don't think you have a clue. His numbers for the national team speak for themselves.

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I don't think you have a clue. His numbers for the national team speak for themselves.

Well, while I think he still has pretty good numbers, I guess you can make a point about 7 of his goals being against either very weak opposition (SVG, 4 goals), one he never scored (Guatemala own goal in 2007) and 2 against Guatemala in close door friendly that was contested as being an A friendly since Guatemala played Mexico 2 days earlier.

8-9 goals in 26 games would still be pretty good for a Canadian striker, specially since he was used as sub in some of them but I think the 15 goals in 29 games is a bit misleading sometimes.

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Well, while I think he still has pretty good numbers, I guess you can make a point about 7 of his goals being against either very weak opposition (SVG, 4 goals), one he never scored (Guatemala own goal in 2007) and 2 against Guatemala in close door friendly that was contested as being an A friendly since Guatemala played Mexico 2 days earlier.

8-9 goals in 26 games would still be pretty good for a Canadian striker, specially since he was used as sub in some of them but I think the 15 goals in 29 games is a bit misleading sometimes.

If only a few more Canadian strikers could mislead us so!

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If only a few more Canadian strikers could mislead us so!

I think you easily understand what I mean. If someone was going to tell us keeper X should be a starter for us because he has Y clean sheets we would be cautious with those numbers if 50% of those clean sheets happened against weak opposition.

This is the same thing I'm suggesting for Ali, to look at the whole picture before having him as an instant starter/hero for our MNT. Looking only at stats can be misleading, this is my point. I recognized that even if you take away some of the goals he scored, he still has a very good record but not just as good as the 15 in 29.

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I think to summarize Ali Gerba, he doesn't really know what he's doing, but he's got confident as hell. Two moments that illustrate this are when he got 1v1 with the Costa Rican keeper at BMO, and instead of side footing the ball into the gaping net, opted to toe punt it straight into the keeper's arms. Then there's when he bombed in that amazing goal from outside the box against Mexico in Edmonton, hitting a bouncing ball from a difficult position most other players would not have tried.

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Why don't the CSA organize a friendly against Aruba and US Virgin Islands so Gerba could score 8 goals and become the best striker of all time for us?? Clown.

First of all, Cuba beat us in the Gold Cup in this decade, El S made the hex in the last WCQ, Guadeloupe is in fact probably a top 10 CONCACAF team if it were able to officially participate in CONCACAF (French territory right now) and have done well in the Gold Cup. All the teams you listed, aside from St V&G, are no pushovers in CONCACAF. My statement stands.

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I would add that he scored twice against Mexico in World Cup Qualifying - it's difficult to think of anybody else from Canada that can say that.

Off the top of my head, Bunbury did it. One goal in 1993 in Toronto in that do or die game and another one in Edmonton in a 2-2 draw in 1997.

It wasn't that difficult! ;)

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I neglected to add that I was referring to players currently in our playing pool - although comparing him to Bunbury istorically isn't going to do Ali any harm either (and unlike Bunbury, he can claim to having scored against Mexico in Mexico - you have to go back to Gerry Gray in 1980 as the last time anyone did that for the national team).

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I guess I put the hex on him. It was so painfully obvious seing that overwight body trying to play intelligent soccer. It did not make any sense to me and ever since that time it has been a downhill thing for him.I still don't know how he managed to fool the MNT staff unless they had exceptional players that made him look good.

Anyway back to that drawing board.

I like Gerba's poaching instincts but I do agree that he needs the right type of service to be successful because he's not a threat to beat a guy 1 v 1 or outrun a marker to through ball (though that volley vs Mexico was conjured out of nothing). He needs passes played to his feet but even that can be a so-so venture because defenders know the plan, are right on him, and he struggles with control under pressure. If the midfielders are generating precious little than he becomes a big non factor in matches and even a detriment if he is used as a target man to hold up the ball for the mids.

Mind you, after watching his heir White getting schooled last year by Chivas' jockey-weighted emergency CB Jonathon Bornstein, I'm not too inspired by the current situation.

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First of all, Cuba beat us in the Gold Cup in this decade, El S made the hex in the last WCQ, Guadeloupe is in fact probably a top 10 CONCACAF team if it were able to officially participate in CONCACAF (French territory right now) and have done well in the Gold Cup. All the teams you listed, aside from St V&G, are no pushovers in CONCACAF. My statement stands.

"Cuba beat us in the Gold Cup in this decade". What that is supposed to mean? That Cuba is a great country in terms of football because they beat us? Losing against Cuba was a real shame for us, and the same goes for Guadeloupe but if you want to put Canada on the same level that Cuba, a country that given its political circumstances will never be a great football nation then the shame is on us. I prefer to think how can we become better than Mexico rather than comparing us with "pushover" teams.

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"Cuba given political circumstances may never be a great football nation."

Canada isn't even a football nation let alone a great one. Let's not get carried away here... we are happy when a player can score against ES, Cuba, etc. because just as often we can't. You can think we're not pushovers in CONCACAF, but that doesn't make it so Picard.

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I think you easily understand what I mean. If someone was going to tell us keeper X should be a starter for us because he has Y clean sheets we would be cautious with those numbers if 50% of those clean sheets happened against weak opposition.

This is the same thing I'm suggesting for Ali, to look at the whole picture before having him as an instant starter/hero for our MNT. Looking only at stats can be misleading, this is my point. I recognized that even if you take away some of the goals he scored, he still has a very good record but not just as good as the 15 in 29.

I think everyone understood what you meant loyola. There was no need to explain further. I would have thought that I was easily understood too.

My point is that Canada plays/has played a lot of minnows over the decades, and few strikers have been able to poach an abundance of goals. 15 ties Gerba for what? 4th? on the all time list! We played Belieze 6 years ago...a team weaker that SVG if results mean anything...twice at home and I don't think anyone was able to get more than 2 (DeRo and Radz played).Turning up one's nose at goals, given that we are Canada not Brazil, is at best questionable.

As for Gerba, I don't think we can emerege froma group of death with him as our primary goal scorer, but i'd feel far more comfortable with Ali Gerba up front against Minnows, than any other Canadain striker currently in the fold.

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"Cuba given political circumstances may never be a great football nation."

Canada isn't even a football nation let alone a great one. Let's not get carried away here... we are happy when a player can score against ES, Cuba, etc. because just as often we can't. You can think we're not pushovers in CONCACAF, but that doesn't make it so Picard.

I've never said we're a football nation, never. Yes, we can be can considered pushover teams too, that's thes sad truth.

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I think everyone understood what you meant loyola. There was no need to explain further. I would have thought that I was easily understood too.

My point is that Canada plays/has played a lot of minnows over the decades, and few strikers have been able to poach an abundance of goals. 15 ties Gerba for what? 4th? on the all time list! We played Belieze 6 years ago...a team weaker that SVG if results mean anything...twice at home and I don't think anyone was able to get more than 2 (DeRo and Radz played).Turning up one's nose at goals, given that we are Canada not Brazil, is at best questionable.

As for Gerba, I don't think we can emerege froma group of death with him as our primary goal scorer, but i'd feel far more comfortable with Ali Gerba up front against Minnows, than any other Canadain striker currently in the fold.

I'm not sure we are needing a goalscorer when we play minnows (SVG, Belize, Bahamas). Historically we are doing well against those teams and win easily in the 3-4 nil territory. Since we are a lot better than those teams we are always going to score a few goals and I doubt it really matter who plays striker in those games. That's why I prefer looking at more important games against better opponents which I think gives you a better idea of the player. In the case of Gerba he is still doing well against better opposition but his stats aren't as good, that's what I was trying to say.

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That's why I prefer looking at more important games against better opponents which I think gives you a better idea of the player. In the case of Gerba he is still doing well against better opposition but his stats aren't as good, that's what I was trying to say.

Gerba's goal scoring rate for Canada against teams ranked higher than Canada at the time of the match (in general, I would term these "non-minnows") is 0.35 goals/game. Which would still rank him first among active players for Canada. He has 2 against Mexico, something no active player can best, I don't think.

This may be "not as good" as his stats against lower-ranked teams (almost 1 a game), but I'd say this strike rate is good verging on excellent, considering what our other players have done against non-minnows (basically nothing).

The details: http://oot-football.blogspot.com/2010/03/gerbage-goals.html

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Of course! My logic apply to all players. Games against minnows don't mean much for me in term of knowing what a player is all about.

And just to reinforce my point, Gerba (or Friend, or Hume, or Jackson et al, for that matter) are generally only as effective as the service they get. If our midfield isn't "clicking" not much is going to happen.

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And just to reinforce my point, Gerba (or Friend, or Hume, or Jackson et al, for that matter) are generally only as effective as the service they get. If our midfield isn't "clicking" not much is going to happen.

But sometimes the midfield needs to have strikers who can work with them in term of keeping the ball up front, passing and creating spaces. I don't think it's a unilateral relation, it's bilateral. That's probably Gerba biggest weakness that I have seen with TFC. Unless he is at the end of crosses or can find some open space to shoot, I don't think Gerba was really helping his teammates by holding onto the ball or making intelligent runs.

Anyways, I hope Gerba will find another club where he can stick for more than 6 months because at the end of the day we don't have many options at his position.

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