Friday, May 4, 2007

Credit where it is due






The media in the pressbox have complained more than once that the red and white stripes of Chivas USA's uniforms, combined with the gold lettering, make it difficult to see the numbers of the players properly. That might have been why the stats people improperly credited Jesse Marsch with the assist to Claudio Suarez on the one goal Chivas USA scored in the Super Clasico.


It looked to me as if Laurent Merlin had the pass to Suarez.

"Yeah, it was [Merlin]," said Jesse Marsch when I asked him about it.

Jesse admitted he'd gotten credit from the statisticians for something he didn't do.

"They gave me the assist," Jesse explained.

He didn't seem upset about being confused for the much-younger Frenchman

"Some people think that Laurent and I look alike, which I think is a good thing, because he’s a pretty good-looking guy, so I’ll take that."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Considering Merlin is on a short term contract to prove his worth he needs all the stat credit he can get.

AC or LB do you both think Merlin has earned a long term contract?

L.B. said...

I think he needs to get more playing time to show his worth. At this point, I think he is in a constant fight with Maykel Galindo for the starting forward spot. We might see more of John Cunliffe in the midfield and Ante's solid up top so the Galindo-Merlin fight will be ongoing. I think Merlin will probably end up staying here full time but that's just my opinion. He's come a long way since getting here but I'd still like to see more of him in games.

J.S. said...

I concur. Merlin can only get better if he plays more. His style of play is smooth, but lacks the physical tenacity to bang iwth some MLS teams. He definately "brought it" against Galaxy. I hope he scores soon. Same with Cunliffe.