Breaking Down The Breakdowns

As an extension of what I was saying earlier, I want to diagnose all the goals against for the Fire so far this year, to see if there are any patterns that necessitate serious adjustment.

Who: Kenny Cooper
When/Where: 3/21/2009 at FC Dallas
What Happened: Logan Pause made a bad backpass, and Cooper took a 65-yard shot that Jon Busch couldn't cover. Pause and Busch could have clearly done better, but usually when you give the ball away in the attacking half of the field, it doesn't lead to a goal quite so directly. Plus, as Baky Soumare mentioned last week, Pause doesn't make a lot of mistakes. And the Fire won the game.

Who: Luciano Emilio
When/Where: 3/28 at DC United
What Happened: John Thorrington and C.J. Brown both missed tackles further out from goal, and then Wilman Conde backed off Emilio instead of closing him down, giving him the space to get a shot off. Thorrington (and, to a lesser extent, Brown) should be able to take that chance because they've got cover, but that cover didn't come through.

Who: Ryan Johnson
When/Where: 4/11/2009 at San Jose Earthquakes
What Happened: Brandon Prideaux was beaten to a long diagonal ball by Darren Huckerby, who then found Johnson on the cross. Dasan Robinson probably could have gone a bit harder at Johnson, but may have held up when Bakary Soumare slipped on the near post coverage.

Who: Bobby Convey
When/Where: 4/11/2009 at San Jose Earthquakes
What Happened: Prideaux with a weak clearance off his head that fell right to the feet of Convey. Soumare tries to recover, but misses his tackle.

Who: Arturo Alvarez (PK)
When/Where: 4/11/2009 at San Jose Earthquakes
What Happened: Dasan Robinson knocks over Bobby Convey in the penalty area.

Who: Josh Wolff
When/Where: 4/18/2009 vs. Kansas City Wizards
What Happened: A long diagonal ball gets over Gonzalo Segares and Josh Wolff is there to put it in the net. Tim Ward fell down up high on the right flank, allowing Claudio Lopez to get the pass off before John Thorrington could close him down.

Who: Josh Wolff
When/Where: 4/18/2009 vs. Kansas City Wizards
What Happened: Michael Harrington's ball into the box lands well within Wilman Conde's reach, but Conde inexplicably lets go through. Jon Busch seems surprised by this, and Josh Wolff pounces past Baky Soumare to punch it in the goal. Harrington had a ton of space to operate, which looks like it should have been the responsibility of Mike Banner, who had just entered the game and was playing way too far back and too central. As much as I want to hang this one totally on Conde, I think Banner's probably at fault at least as much.

So, I'm going to blame as many players as possible, except for Jon Busch. If I were to include him, it would probably be on the Cooper chip and the second KC goal, the latter for not coming hard off his line and making Conde's poor decision moot.

Brandon Prideaux: 2 (beaten by Huckerby; weak header to Convey)
Dasan Robinson: 2 (beaten by Johnson; gives up PK to Convey)
Wilman Conde: 2 (backs off Emilio; lets Harrington cross get through)
Bakary Soumare: 1 (missed tackle on Convey)
CJ Brown: 1 (missing tackle on Emilio)
John Thorrington: 1 (missing tackle on Emilio)
Logan Pause: 1 (giveaway to Kenny Cooper)
Gonzalo Segares: 1 (beaten by Wolff)
Tim Ward: 1 (missed tackle on Lopez)
Mike Banner: 1 (terrible positioning allowed Harrington space)

So, nearly half of the "blame points" assigned went to guys currently not in the starting XI (Prideaux, Robinson, Brown, Banner). Three of the four missed tackles were probably the right play, but just didn't work out -- the exception being Ward against Lopez. Two of the mistakes were from players who don't make them often (Pause, Segares). One (Banner) could probably be traced back to Denis Hamlett's substitution.

That leaves Conde. For a player who gets a reputation as being aggressive, both of the goals that involved him saw the Columbian defender playing too conservatively, which, when you include the play where he went for a tackle against Kandji in the New York match when he could have just pushed him out wide, contributes to my theory that he's not a good decision-maker under pressure.

Defenders are going to make a few mistakes the way that forwards are going to miss most of their shots, but the kinds of mistakes Conde makes are more troubling to me than other regular defenders. In part because of his proximity to the goal in these situations, I worry that if he doesn't get his head in the game for the full ninety minutes, the Fire will leave more points on the table.