Laurent Robert? As Squid said, he kicks the ball hard, and takes a decent corner.
Otherwise, he's a lackadaisical player who played hard at Newcastle only when the spirit moved him, which wasn't often. He also was sh*t on defense on the wing. Not what you'd call a hard man. A problem child for managers, too.
I wasn't sad to see Robert leave Newcastle, if you couldn't tell.
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
fanatic wrote:In Toronto FC news (cricket sounds in the background)....
We actually signed a couple of pretty solid players this week. Laurent Robert (ex Newcastle guy - PK, any input?) and Guevara (former MLS mvp and new york star - Zeppo?). Also on the verge of signing former Spurs/Arsenal (love it) player Rohan Ricketts. Three great (in mls standards) midfielders if you ask me.
Zepp, Jared - you guys also season ticket holders? Been to games yet? TFC home opener isn't until next week.
Those acquisitions should help the squad immensely, as their current offense is dire. Edu and Robinson do okay holding down the center of the park, but they get no offense from the wings. You expect all three of those guys will be inserted into a 5 man midfield, thus leaving Edu and Robinson holding?
I also heard Toronto has put Cunningham on the trading block, but exactly who else do they have who can play forward? Cupboard seems pretty bare.
I'm not a season ticket holder (was a partial-season ticket holder for DC United, but I moved to Philly and it's too far for me to catch all but a handful of DCU games). Though I got mls.tv, so I watch all the games. That Toronto game was strange...the defense looked absolutely horrible for the first ten minutes....I was expecting a decent defense and an absolutely horrible offense. Toronto's gonna need all the help they can get this year.
fanatic wrote:In Toronto FC news (cricket sounds in the background)....
We actually signed a couple of pretty solid players this week. Laurent Robert (ex Newcastle guy - PK, any input?) and Guevara (former MLS mvp and new york star - Zeppo?). Also on the verge of signing former Spurs/Arsenal (love it) player Rohan Ricketts. Three great (in mls standards) midfielders if you ask me.
Zepp, Jared - you guys also season ticket holders? Been to games yet? TFC home opener isn't until next week.
Those acquisitions should help the squad immensely, as their current offense is dire. Edu and Robinson do okay holding down the center of the park, but they get no offense from the wings. You expect all three of those guys will be inserted into a 5 man midfield, thus leaving Edu and Robinson holding?
I also heard Toronto has put Cunningham on the trading block, but exactly who else do they have who can play forward? Cupboard seems pretty bare.
I'm expecting a 5 man midfield, but who knows. I think that Dichio could possibly act as the lone striker, but I have a feeling a DP slot could be used for this position in the not so distant future. Cupboard is bare, but filling up slowly.
I'm not a season ticket holder (was a partial-season ticket holder for DC United, but I moved to Philly and it's too far for me to catch all but a handful of DCU games). Though I got mls.tv, so I watch all the games. That Toronto game was strange...the defense looked absolutely horrible for the first ten minutes....I was expecting a decent defense and an absolutely horrible offense. Toronto's gonna need all the help they can get this year.
Yeah the defense is scary so far. We're getting our first rounder (the highly rated Julius James) back from injury this week, so that might give the d a boost. Also with the midfield acquisitions, we can slot captain Jimmy Brennan back to the backline.
Those DC fans are great though! Set the standard for this league.
Just to illustrate PK's earlier point about him not being a hard man.
Toronto's got a young, roudy crowd and is generally a city that loves "blue collar" type players like Doug Gilmour (90's Leafs) Jerome Williams ("JYD" was on the Raptors). No way we will stand for those antics!
fanatic wrote:Toronto's got a young, roudy crowd and is generally a city that loves "blue collar" type players like Doug Gilmour (90's Leafs) Jerome Williams ("JYD" was on the Raptors). No way we will stand for those antics!
Fanatic:
Let's put it this way: Robert is no Wendell Clark!
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
Well, the Brazilians' transfer has been rumored for weeks. Personally, I am interested to see where he plays with Pato, both characteristics and treatment for the ball are similar. Personally, I think his best days are over.
Big boost for Barca as Messi is set to return from his injury.
Seems to me that forieng stars who have some desire left and choose to come to MLS do very well in the league (Stoichkov, Nowak, Donadoni, Djorkaeff, Angel, Schelotto, Blanco).
On other hand, former Euros who come to MLS to cash a paycheck and stroke their ego after decent Euro clubs are no longer interested, tend to be ineffective and don't last in the league very long (Matthaus, Denilson, Herzog, Reyna, Waterreus).
I fear that Robert (and even Gallardo in DC) fall into the second category.
Naples39 wrote:Any evaluations of Robert so far fanatic?
Seems to me that forieng stars who have some desire left and choose to come to MLS do very well in the league (Stoichkov, Nowak, Donadoni, Djorkaeff, Angel, Schelotto, Blanco).
On other hand, former Euros who come to MLS to cash a paycheck and stroke their ego after decent Euro clubs are no longer interested, tend to be ineffective and don't last in the league very long (Matthaus, Denilson, Herzog, Reyna, Waterreus).
I fear that Robert (and even Gallardo in DC) fall into the second category.
I'd say he's been pretty impressive so far. In TFC's 3-2 road win against the Galaxy, his rocket of a free kick bounced off the keeper and was headed back for our second goal. The game winner came off a long pass from Robert to Cunningham.
I think his quality will lead to a lot of TFC goals throughout the season. Sure, he may not play an amazing overall game, but the strength of his set pieces and precise long passes should really help us. Considering that Guevara also had a beautiful first game and that we are adding Ricketts to the midfield this week, I think that Robert will feel plenty motivated to keep his level of play up.
Also, if you can't get motivated in front of TFC's fans, then you REALLY have a problem.
fanatic wrote:I'd say he's been pretty impressive so far. In TFC's 3-2 road win against the Galaxy, his rocket of a free kick bounced off the keeper and was headed back for our second goal. The game winner came off a long pass from Robert to Cunningham.
I think his quality will lead to a lot of TFC goals throughout the season. Sure, he may not play an amazing overall game, but the strength of his set pieces and precise long passes should really help us. Considering that Guevara also had a beautiful first game and that we are adding Ricketts to the midfield this week, I think that Robert will feel plenty motivated to keep his level of play up.
Also, if you can't get motivated in front of TFC's fans, then you REALLY have a problem.
That's encouraging to hear. About time TFC started putting together some entertaining soccer, or at least a few wins here or there.
[url=http://sensiblecoasters.wordpress.com/][b]Sensible Coasters - A critique of sports games, reviews, gaming sites and news. Questionably Proofread![/b][/url]
Quick shout out to Man City's youth team, who won the FA Youth Cup last night beating Chelsea 3-1 in the second leg at Eastlands, in front of a crowd of about 20,000.
Extra shout out to George Gillett, whose interview with Sky TV I caught part of as I was on my way out to work. Looks like he's doing a good job of destroying the Grievers from the inside.
Having said that, for someone who was boasting that he had a 'first rate investment record', pumping money into a football club doesn't seem like the sort of thing that would enhance that reputation. The only people who've really done that recently are the Irish blokes who invested cash in Man U, fell out with the Drunken Scot over HorseSpunkGate and sold out to that senile bloke from Tampa, doubling their cash in the process.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
About the same as Man City played for Rolando Bianchi, and he couldn't score in a Turkish brothel with a ten pound note wrapped round his dick.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
For only a mere £7m more, they could have had the goal machine that is Darren Bent.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
