Does Speed Make Bad Players Good?

The Etimoni Timuani Case

Does Speed Make Bad Players Good?

The big question today is whether speed alone makes a poor player good.

Etimoni Timuani is unquestionably a bad plyaer.

Aside from the 15 rating for acceleration and the 14 for pace he has at the start of the game, there’s really nothing to get excited about here. This is a poor player who doesn’t really belong on any squad outside Tuvalu.

Now, we drew this match against Western United FC. You can see the result in the video above.

In fact, Timuani was blamed for the equalizing goal:

But I’m not convinced this was fair.

First, as you’ll see in the video above, Timuani actually had a good match despite his deficiencies. The 4 rating he has for passing didn’t show at all. On the contrary: he made several key passes to help with our attack.

His 6 rating for jumping reach and his relatively low height also didn’t hurt him all that much. You’d expect him to lose everything in the air. He didn’t.

Second, it’s not his mistake that cost us a potential win. We had several shots on goal that simply would not go in. I blame the attacking players much more than Timuani.

Third, Southwood could have done better on that play. Timuani was only marking a man that was trying to get in front of the keeper anyway. I’m not sure what he was supposed to do.

But does that mean that pace and acceleration really can nullify all other deficiencies in an otherwise weak player?

What do you think?