Michael Petrasso

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

I think he lost a step after his injuries. He's still quick, but the top end speed is not elite. Probably slightly above average. Davies on the other hand...

In preseason I read posts about the speed problem that Petrasso will pose while attacking.  I'm not sure that's the case.

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, BearcatSA said:

In preseason I read posts about the speed problem that Petrasso will pose while attacking.  I'm not sure that's the case.

I think he'll be able to cause trouble going forward because his speed with the ball is good because he's a natual winger. I think its the defensive side where he will struggle, because his speed on it's own is not overally great.

[jpg75]

I still think he has decent wheels. One game defending Davies is not going to change my mind. I'd like to see what he can do at RW in MLS.

[Club Linesman]

Keep in mind Davies is blistering fast. He will be a sight to see as he continues to grow as a player.  And if his speed increases look out.  

[Gian-Luca]

I suspect we will see many right backs struggling to keep up with Davies this season. I don't recall anyone doing this to Petrasso at the Gold Cup either. And he got a lot closer to Davies than Lovitz did to Techera on the 2nd Whitecaps goal.

That said, there are a few things he needs to gain positionally at right back but that's the sort of thing that playing time, experience and a decent coach will correct. The on the ball skill is definitely there for both passing and bringing the ball forward.

I wonder how much Garde knew about Davies ahead of time, because there didn't seem to be much of a game plan to double-team him and Edwards seems to give Davies a harder time defensively than Petrasso did. I expect that may change for the V-Cup matches.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

6 hours ago, Obinna said:

I think he lost a step after his injuries. He's still quick, but the top end speed is not elite. Probably slightly above average. Davies on the other hand...

I was going to say the same thing. I vividly remember him in Olympic qualifying just sprinting past defenders with ease 

[BearcatSA]

We'll, Garde will probably give him a few games under his belt to see what he can do.  If the results are the same, he might opt to push him into a midfield position where he can provide the defensive support to the RB and be more responsible for tracking the overlapping LB.  Hopefully, he'll pick it up a few notches as he adapts to MLS.

I can't help but think that if this was an American or international newcomer playing in the same manner they'd be getting crucified on here as complete rubbish.

[CNMNTPERUELIGIBLE]

3 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

I suspect we will see many right backs struggling to keep up with Davies this season. I don't recall anyone doing this to Petrasso at the Gold Cup either. And he got a lot closer to Davies than Lovitz did to Techera on the 2nd Whitecaps goal.

That said, there are a few things he needs to gain positionally at right back but that's the sort of thing that playing time, experience and a decent coach will correct. The on the ball skill is definitely there for both passing and bringing the ball forward.

I wonder how much Garde knew about Davies ahead of time, because there didn't seem to be much of a game plan to double-team him and Edwards seems to give Davies a harder time defensively than Petrasso did. I expect that may change for the V-Cup matches.

Good thing he won't have to worry about dealing with him in international competition (Petrasso)... But the concern becomes once he is put up with a player of similar ilk.... We gotta find some good defensively-sound FBs imo... Any FBs in our pool meet such criteria? 

[BearcatSA]

5 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

 And he got a lot closer to Davies than Lovitz did to Techera on the 2nd Whitecaps goal.

Lovitz got caught out, like the rest of the back line, trying to do the trap.  It wasn't like Techera was trying to beat him one on one with the ball on the dribble on that play.

Davies has that special burst with ball at his feet like so many of the top class wingers have, no argument there.  So you have to close him down immediately as he's receiving the ball or make sure your RB has consistent support from the flank mid in front of him so they can limit Davies' options.  That didn't happen on Sunday, or at least no diligently enough.

For Petrasso, hopefully he is able to deal with the other pacy wing threats in the league and progress in a solid RB for club and country.  It's only one game:  many more to go and prove yourself.

[Unnamed Trialist]

In his postgame interview Davies says he knew Michael from the CMNT and knew he did not defend close normally, so he used that space to get a jump on him. 

The best way to take Davies out of a game is to foul him hard. Some MLS defenders realilzed this last year, but now he's scoring goals, wait for it. He has to be ready to take them and draw the cards if necessary, without risking injury.

[Gian-Luca]

4 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

 

I can't help but think that if this was an American or international newcomer playing in the same manner they'd be getting crucified on here as complete rubbish.

Well I agree that they probably would get criticized on here, but then I'd argue that since we are talking about Canadian MLS teams we'd be perfectly justified in doing so. My view is that the "default setting" for Canadian MLS teams should be Canadian players - the Americans and the internationals on our clubs need to be visibly better than the Canadian players who are either on the squad or who could be on the squad. If the non-Canadians put in performances that are no better than the Canadian performances, then they might as well be playing the Canadians. I realize that not everybody out there sees in that way - I can recall when Ben Spencer was signed originally by TFC there were folks in social media saying stuff like Jordan Hamilton will need to prove he's better than Spencer in order to get playing time ahead of him - which, coming off a season where he scored 5 times against MLS opposition while Spencer hadn't yet even scored at the USL level, was utterly ridiculous on its own merit even before the nationalities of players gets taken into account. Regardless of the stats in question, to my mind the unproven American needs to demonstrate why he should be getting playing time over the young Canadian on a Canadian MLS team, not the other way round. Because let's face it, it is the other way round (as it should be) for the tons of non-Canadian clubs out there.

Now, if Petrasso gets benched next week in favour of Chris Duvall, I doubt you will see many calling for Garde's head because everyone recognized that he struggled defensively in the first game and you've got a proven MLS defender as another option. If Duvall's outing is no better however, I'd think you'd see most people push for the younger Canadian to be put back in.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

In his postgame interview Davies says he knew Michael from the CMNT and knew he did not defend close normally, so he used that space to get a jump on him.

Exactly! Petrasso stands off too far and then just backs up and never puts in a tackle. If he is to succeed at full back, somebody needs to teach him how to defend.

Edited March 6, 2018 by dsqpr

[Guest]

Just now, dsqpr said:

Exactly! Petrasso stands off too far and then just backs up and never puts in a tackle. If he is to succeed at full back, somebody needs to teach him how to defend.

 

Edited March 6, 2018 by dsqpr

[Guest]

Duplicate post. GUI bizarrely does not allow me to delete.

[CNMNTPERUELIGIBLE]

5 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

Exactly! Petrasso stands off too far and then just backs up and never puts in a tackle. If he is to succeed at full back, somebody needs to teach him how to defend.

The guy to do this may now be gone for the season ffs!!!!....smh

[dbailey62]

36 minutes ago, CNMNTPERUELIGIBLE said:

The guy to do this may now be gone for the season ffs!!!!....smh

What have you heard? 

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Gian-Luca said:

Now, if Petrasso gets benched next week in favour of Chris Duvall, I doubt you will see many calling for Garde's head because everyone recognized that he struggled defensively in the first game and you've got a proven MLS defender as another option.

Really?  Because I think you'd have a number of people here jumping in with comments about his not getting a fair chance and so on.  And one of those guys would probably be me!

Look, I get frustrated and annoyed when mediocre American journeymen populate the back up roles on Canadian MLS rosters.  I've posted my opinions about specific players on a number of occasions here.  But my track record on this forum also shows that I try to be as objective as possible when assessing performances.  Petrasso had rough outing but I don't feel the need to defend him by saying that the American journeyman playing LB for Montreal was equally bad on a fairly dissimilar play.  Petrasso will, I'm sure, own his performance, as will Edwards.  And as will the American Nerwinski at RB for the Caps, who looked the same as Fraser Aird out there.  I'm all-equal opportunity in the "calls em as I see em" department. 

[Dub Narcotic]

10 hours ago, dsqpr said:

Duplicate post. GUI bizarrely does not allow me to delete.

It can be done, it just involves a lot of random clicking and swearing at the editor interface.

[Gian-Luca]

8 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

Really?  Because I think you'd have a number of people here jumping in with comments about his not getting a fair chance and so on.  And one of those guys would probably be me!

Look, I get frustrated and annoyed when mediocre American journeymen populate the back up roles on Canadian MLS rosters.  I've posted my opinions about specific players on a number of occasions here.  But my track record on this forum also shows that I try to be as objective as possible when assessing performances.  Petrasso had rough outing but I don't feel the need to defend him by saying that the American journeyman playing LB for Montreal was equally bad on a fairly dissimilar play.  Petrasso will, I'm sure, own his performance, as will Edwards.  And as will the American Nerwinski at RB for the Caps, who looked the same as Fraser Aird out there.  I'm all-equal opportunity in the "calls em as I see em" department. 

No question about it - apologies if you felt I was suggesting otherwise, as I wasn't (and I'm a bit puzzled as to what may have led you to think that I was, if indeed that's impression you were getting). If anything I was defending the lack of objectivity from those of  us who do give the non-Canadians who deliver crappy performances a hard time.

It's rare on this forum (or any other message board on any other topic) to get near-universal agreement on a topic, so to see everyone agreeing that Petrasso and Edwards didn't have a good season debut is somewhat of a rarity. As such, I have a heard time seeing why anyone would be shocked down to their toenails, knowing that there's a 26 year old MLS veteran waiting in the wings, if Garde sat Petrasso down for a game or two. I don't see how people can have it both ways, even on this board. I would expect the "off with coach's head" type reactions to be more likely if Petrasso never saw the field again (or not again after a prolonged time) rather than starting on the bench the next game while they work on things in practice behind the scenes.

I expect if Garde starts Petrasso next match it will be for one of (or a combination of) three reasons:

1. He simply doesn't rate Duvall and would rather go with a younger player that he rates higher, even if it means, as it often does with young players, some growing pains and inconsistency. This would be consistent with an approach if he views this as a rebuilding year rather than having playoff expectations for the team (to be honest, I'm not sure what his expectations are, maybe some of the Impact fans can chip in). (You can also change the names of Duvall and Petrasso to Edwards and Oduro for this paragraph, I think).

2. He attributes the struggles Petrasso had in the match as being more to do with being over-matched by one of the quickest players in the league and Garde (being new to the league) not being aware of this and coaching around it so that Petrasso wasn't isolated against Davies so often.

3. He recognizes the struggles but also that it's the first game of the season and the defense as a whole struggled, so he's not going to single out one players when other players at the back also made some gaffes. The reason why I mentioned the Lovitz play on the 2nd goal (in a post where I was also critical of Petrasso for non-Davies-related stuff) is for this reason - to help put things in perspective here rather than hang the goat-horns on one member of the defense. We can also mention the huge gaffes that Piette & Bush made on the day in this regard, both of whom have probably got off much more lightly here because their respective gaffes didn't lead to goals against (but probably should have, especially Piette's). And the marking on Kamara on the first goal wasn't stellar either - as is often the case there's usually a chain of breakdowns that result in goals against (ironically if Vancouver had scored on the aforementioned gaffes that Piette and Bush had made, those would have been down entirely to individual errors).

What concerns me a bit more at the moment isn't the one on one vs. Davies thing but a moment early in the first half when Taider yelled at Petrasso because he didn't make himself available for an outlet pass in his own zone causing Taider to hold on to it for too long & eventually all he could do was bank it off the attacking player to get Bush a goal kick. Petrasso seemed to be indicating that he was expecting Taider to hoof the ball up the field but really he should have been making himself available for the pass. This is something that is correctable and ought to happen given time and experience. Given that Petrasso hasn't played a ton of games at right back, this is something which he should be able to learn in due course. But if Garde is thinking that he doesn't want to go 0-2 to start the season and with an experienced and impressive Columbus side coming up next, I can see him going with Duvall for the next game for the experience part alone. Or he may very well start Petrasso again for the reasons I mention above - could go either way IMO.

[gator]

I think Petrasso and Edwards can play much better, Davies burned them with an exceptional match and it was the season opener for both on a new team! As GL says, Petrasso hasn't played much Right Back, in fact he hasn't played much at all in the last 3 seasons due to injury and then a huge squad at QPR, he will get better!

[CNMNTPERUELIGIBLE]

20 minutes ago, gator said:

I think Petrasso and Edwards can play much better, Davies burned them with an exceptional match and it was the season opener for both on a new team! As GL says, Petrasso hasn't played much Right Back, in fact he hasn't played much at all in the last 3 seasons due to injury and then a huge squad at QPR, he will get better!

Agree!!!... We being a lil too harsh on him lmfao plus add the fact he will not be going against him in international competition (to his relief, but still a little concerning when you think of players he may face of similar ilk to Davies as long as he plays RB)... I'm sure he will get his game back in the most suitable role Garde finds fitting as the season wears on...He's got some great qualities that make him a valuable footballer overall (just look to last year's GC or 2015 pre-olympic tourney)

[The Beaver]

Yeah, I've got a lot of time for Petrasso. I think he'll grow nicely under Garde. But I think what we saw on Sunday was a Premiership bound 17 year old blowing by a guy who was struggling to make the starting line-up of a Championship side. Petrasso will get better; so will Davies. (Sprinters do not hit the top of their game until later in the their twenties, barring injuries. Just you wait.0

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, The Beaver said:

Yeah, I've got a lot of time for Petrasso. I think he'll grow nicely under Garde. But I think what we saw on Sunday was a Premiership bound 17 year old blowing by a guy who was struggling to make the starting line-up of a Championship side. Petrasso will get better; so will Davies. (Sprinters do not hit the top of their game until later in the their twenties, barring injuries. Just you wait.0

Certainly agree about having a lot of time for Petrasso (particularly for me with the QPR connection) but the truth is that defensively he has looked like a duck out of water every time he has played RB/RWB including in the Gold Cup, where his defensive shortcomings were fortunately more than mitigated by the excellent offensive work he did down the RW with Junior. But he will not last long as a defender unless he learns the art of actually defending.

[El Diego]

I don't know what type of role is best for Petrasso: full back, wing back, defensive winger, traditional winger, or inverted winger. I imagine he could do a similar job to a Marc Albrighton (though obviously at a lesser level). I don't feel comfortable with Petrasso being an important part of the National Team, but the talent level in Canada is so low that he may well be one of the best options.

All that being said I understand that he has not played meaningful, regular soccer for a relatively long period of time. He could certainly improve substantially over the course of the season.

[Kadenge]

For anyone who did not watch the PSG vs. Real game today, Alves had a howler of a game at right back. Just goes to show that even one of the most experienced right backs playing at the highest level can have a bad game. Petrasso has to show improvement in his next few games and  he has the right coach in Garde to develop his game at either right back or winger.