While arguing about the performance of Corben Bone against Colorado, it occurred to me that when discussing the performance of a player, it is hard to get an overall picture of his contribution.   We usually remember a key play or two, but many of the mundane passes or defensive contribution gets lost.  To really get a sense of a player's contribution, you have to look at all of his contributions.  

For the game against the Vancouver Whitecaps, I elected to study Puerari because he's probably our best bet to find a quality playmaker on our existing roster.  Carlos De Los Cobos has now started Puerari in the midfield twice, he will have to evaluate Puerari's performance to determine whether he will be adequate at CM going forward.  I will now present the raw data: the results of all of Puerari's touches during the game, after the jump.  Let the debate on Puerari's effectiveness begin:

2' Misses Pappa on a short square pass

3' Oduro tries to play the ball through to Puerari, Oduro hits it too hard and it rolls out for a goal kick

6' Short one touch pass to Oduro, who then works a 1-2 with Paladini to get into space

8' Short square pass near midfield

9' comes in hard on a standing challenge, fails to win ball and goes down

10' Hits a corner which dangerously falls near the penalty spot, no Fire player at the other end

17' Whitecaps player evades his slide tackle in the offensive half

17' Tries to pass forward to Pappa in traffic, misses him

18' Carries ball forward breaking out of our own end and plays through to Oduro, who crossed to Chaves in front of net.  Moderately dangerous chance.

19' Collects ball at corner of the VAN box, dribbles past one man, but not the 2nd man.

20' Back pass in defensive half

21' Carries a few yards before tapping to Oduro, gets it back and then taps it to Bone

22' Fails to control a pass, ball tacked away from him

23' Chases down attacker from behind, knocks ball away and knocks the attacker down

24' Pushes VAN player down near midfield, foul called

26' Tries to square pass to Pappa at the top of the box, VAN controls

28' Pushes VAN player over trying to receive a long pass from Anibaba, foul called

29' Kicks a 50-50 ball straight into the air

30' Finds Oduro on the wing who is able to get upfield

34' Short square to Paladini

34' Couldn't control pass, loses possession

35' Kicks ball forward trying to break out of our own end, loses possession

39' Tries to hit Oduro with a through ball in the VAN box, pass intercepted

41' Gets away with a push, causes VAN player to lose his balance, collects the ball and hits square to Anibaba overlapping who shoots from somewhere near Alsip

43' Carries the ball a few yards up the right side before hitting a short square

44' Tries to carry into the box, muscled off the ball, no whistle

45' +1 Tries to hit long ball to Oduro, pass intercepted

Halftime

47' Finds Pappa with a through ball down the wing

49' Short pass forward to Chaves

51' Back pass

52' Tracks back to our defensive line and makes a couple short passes

53' Fouled near midfield

54' Hits Oduro with a through ball that Oduro crosses and wins a corner

54' Hits corner to a dangerous spot at the 6 yard line, no Fire players on the end of it

59' Tries to play over the top to Chaves, pass intercepted

60' Pulls Chaves out of the scrum that earned Chaves a yellow

62' Short square

62' Dribbles past two men, passes forward to Oduro at the edge of the VAN box

63' Short square

70' Shoots well wide from 25 yards

70' Dribbles a few yards before hitting a poor through ball to a defender

79' Chases all the way back to the defensive corner and fouls attacker who had received a through ball

80' Blocks a long range shot

82' A couple short passes near midfield

82' Dribbles forward and shoots wide from 35 yards

84' Subbed off

As for what all this means...

He seemed reasonably careful with the ball.  His passing accuracy was acceptable, at least much better than the analysis of Bone I did last week.  He lost possession a few times, but he also created several chances, in particular by finding Oduro with through balls.  At first, it seemed like he wasn't taking well to a midfield role, but he should be an acceptable plug-in as a playmaker.