Fair enough on your read on Becks’ game. I should have qualified it as “mediocre for Becks”. I agree that he showed lots of hustle and grit.

On the Bryan Jordan tip: “starting to get disillusioned”? When was he ever worth illusions? I never saw anything but speed and hustle. His touch has always been shaky and his decision-making not fast enough in game situations. I lvoe his heart, but I’ve never seen the kind of skills that merit appearing in MLS games even as a late-game sub.

Very clear that next year’s draft picks need to include some speedy wingers and another striker.

I disagree with the comments about Beckham’s play. While I do think that his passes weren’t up to par, he played with a lot of determination and hustle, which I have to give him a lot of props for. I liked seeing Klein getting the start, and he and Beckham worked well on the right side (Klein is the king of the overlapping run).

I’m starting to get disillusioned by Bryan Jordan. His speed is great, but he can’t seem to develop an even average touch on the ball. His breakaway in the 2nd half was comical. His skills need to improve greatly if he ever expects to be a starter on a regular basis. Speed is only part of the equation…

Birchall played great, minus a few poor decisions (that was totally a back pass to Ricketts, thankfully the Fire couldn’t get their act together and Magee made them all look really stupid). Delagarza was awesome, Gonzalez was awesome, Franklin looked like a guy who has been out for most of the year, and Berhalter looked like the veteran player who does just enough. I did think, however, that there were far too many slow-rolling balls across our box that luckily no Chicago player got a touch to.

I didn’t agree with everything in the post. I think I put more stock than others do in general, when evaluating performances, in how players contribute to keeping and regaining possession for the side. But I certainly agree about Gonzalez’s quality, and Delagarza continues to amaze me (how old are they really!!?).

Fun.

Just an example of Franklin’s off night, since I had a great view of it. He ran a ball up from the backfield. I’m not sure but I think it was 3 on 4 as the Galaxy attack came in, with Magee right in the middle. Franklin came down the wing. Magee was not wide open, but Franklin had an opportunity to pass to him. Instead, he ran at the D, which collapsed on him and took the ball away. I think he just panicked a little and made a poor choice.