Vancouver vs Tampa

[tmcmurph]

Well the Rowdies look very good. Good thing for us their star striker couldn't finish. We win 1-0 with King missing 2 sitters. Davies for the Caps missed a good chance himself. Luca got yellow cards twice so the Caps finished the game with 10 men. Held on and got the full 3 points. On a soggy, rainy night in Vancouver the Caps pull a win out. We'll take it

[nolando]

I liked the way that Moose played last night and the way the team recovered after Bellisimo's sending off. Yes, they were lucky not to concede on those clear cut opportunities, but that's the way it goes sometimes when you are on a great defensive streak like the Caps are. It's a damn shame that Stewart's not Canadian (Enter predictable comment regarding Canadian residency here) because I would trade him one-for-one with Haber the way they are both playing at the moment. Even if the PK came about from Haber's initiative.

[Lord Bob]

That PK play was pretty typical of Marcus Haber's modus operandi this season. He runs around and effs around with the ball and never actually plays it well (never ever ever), as if he's just hoping someone will foul him and there'll be a penalty.

I can't believe Davies didn't bury that. My god, I was shouting in my office when I saw that one.

[Richard]

I don't think Haber has earned his pay yet - how many goals has he scored this season as the team's star striker. And the 'Caps sold out Swangard despite the rain.

[tmcmurph]

Yea the game could have been 3-2 either way if they hit the net with some of those chances. Haber is effective as a forward but not with his scoring so far. Hopefully he'll bag a few before heading back to England. Stewart is a great find. Kudos to the scouting staff for finding that one. Real serious potential for this one. Almost got another last night. Davies went from looking good to okay to bad and back last night. I think with some more time he will be a good player.

Question is will Janicki be ready now that his backup Luca is out for the next game due to the red card? From depth to shortage at CB is not a good thing. ZT can play CB with Taka back at left back. Constant adjustment for our CB woes.

[Grizzly]

Anyone have any opinions about why Haber's play is so poor this year? By the end of last year he looked great and it was no surprise that a higher level team took an interest in him. Since he has returned he doesn't even look good enough for the USL.

[Juby]

I've noticed this too watching the vcup, I don't want to be mean (he hasn't been terrible) but I expected more based on a decent transfer to a decent club. I'm guessing he was much better last year right?

[youllneverwalkalone]

Anyone have any opinions about why Haber's play is so poor this year? By the end of last year he looked great and it was no surprise that a higher level team took an interest in him. Since he has returned he doesn't even look good enough for the USL.

I would consider that he's 20 years old. He came in last season with nil expectations, save those of a few Dunbar Soccer Club members who knew him well. Now he's on a Premiership club, people -including Teitur- are expecting him to be the best striker on the Caps, with no Gbeke and, generally, no James to support him. I'm not sure that he's actually playing substantially worse than last season, when he also started slow statistically, IIRC. The big thing I notice is that he seems a bit soft, not conistently committing himself to go get balls in the air. To me this is a mental thing and will really be exposed and hold him back in England. Perhaps Gbeke was able to mask this deficiency a little bit last season?

[Grizzly]

^^ I think he is playing a lot worse than he was at the end of last season. In fact, even at the beginning of last season before he found his groove you could see he had a lot of promise. Now he just looks like a different player. He used to be a physical, large guy with a lot of speed for his size and even some tricky movements. Now there seems little effort to be physical and little imagination to his play. Last year I thought he was going to be the future striker for the national team and now he doesn't look even close to national team quality. I remember how much trouble he gave the Impact defenders last year but this year they handle him with ease. Last year it was really noticeable with Braz, for example, because he couldn't outmuscle Haber like the smaller faster strikers but Haber was also much faster than Braz unlike a lot of the other bigger, more physical USL strikers. Again Haber just seems less physical and slower than he was last year.

[tmcmurph]

Playing with two 20 year olds up front vs a vet and a rookie is probably a big part of Haber's lack of goals. He is effective as a forward in many other ways. His holding the ball up, pressuring the defense and he is working hard but all strikers go through goal scoring droughts. I think Gbeke was a big part of Haber's success last year because other teams had to think about stopping Charles first and "don't worry about the kid". Now they focus on Marcus and he is struggling to score. Less physical maybe but he still shows good speed.

In any case I had hoped he would score 5 or 6 before heading back to the UK. Even if he can get a few he has contributed to a lineup that doesn't have Gbeke and James is injured a lot which leaves him as the senior striker at age 20. We'll see how he handles it. I hope he continues to develop at West Brom and I think he could be EPL material but time will tell.