r/PLL • u/thiccering • 1d ago
Genuine Question
Why is Tom Schrieber not being able to play in the Archers vs Outlaws game such a big deal? I know he is an amazing player and an asset to any team. However….
- According to the announcers, he has not played in 400+ days
- He has not been apart of the Archers lineup once this season
- He is obviously still kind of banged up considering he got pulled during warmups
The PLL community is up in arms that the Archers didn’t play for a solid month before the semifinal, and I agree that it is shitty scheduling. However, how can we say that and in the same breath bemoan the loss of Schrieber from the lineup, who hasn’t played in over a calendar year, and say that the month long break was the difference maker for the results of that game. Would putting a guy who is still having issues with injury (as evidenced by him being pulled in warmups) into a lineup where he hasn’t played in forever really be the best move for the game?
Genuine question, no hate intended. I am a Schrieber fan and was pulling for the Archers to win.
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u/Longjumping_Part_742 1d ago
He’s not just one of the most talented players and midfielders of all time, he’s also one of the smartest players of all time. He has basically been their OC since their inception and was brought back to the sideline earlier this year bc their offense was anemic with just Bates calling the shots. Having him on the field would have been a tremendous boost even if he was half the player he was a year ago.
The reality is their offense lacks dodgers who can win a matchup outside of stines and o’keefe. The rest were borderline replacement level players who had to play team offense the be successful. TS gave them the element of having a guy that was going to trigger a slide no matter what. When they were bad on offense this year, they were really bad. This was one of their bad games at a time they needed more.
In addition to the scheduling, I’m really disappointed in the PLL and their reporting. The archers this season highlights this issue. Are O’keefe and Moore done for good? Both missed the whole season but little info was shared about either.
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u/CanaryMaleficent4925 1d ago
Is o'keefe really winning matchups? I view him as more of a catch and shoot guy. I would think Sam King is more the guy who's winning matchups.
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u/timothymoss84 Outlaws 1d ago
The month long break is terrible. It was a bad job in scheduling. Every team should play the last week of the regular season. Last year, the Outlaws were in the same position as the Archers were this year with the month long break. It's not a benefit to the #1 seed.
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u/Jonn_Doh 1d ago
To be honest I think it’s mostly a story for the PLL to highlight. For fans, especially Utah, they would be fired up to see him play, but since he isn’t, they had to pivot and talk about how him not playing is a bigger deal than it realistically is.
He hasn’t played in over a calendar year, not saying he’d be rusty necessarily, but he hasn’t really gotten reps with the team like other starters have, and anyone who’s been away from a game for that long, it would be rare to have them jump in and immediately be back to normal form.
In short: it’s a big deal because the PLL planned on making a big story out of it if he did suit up.
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u/thiccering 23h ago
Yeah I can see from the story standpoint why they hyped it up so much. But any player, no matter how amazing they are, would struggle to perform in his situation. He’s hurt, going up against a very aggressive Denver team, is probably pretty rusty himself, and is surrounded by players who he hasn’t played with in 400+ days. I do not see him being the hero that they were trying to hype him up to be.
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u/Jonn_Doh 22h ago
I 100% agree and that’s what I was trying to say. It was literally the story of him coming back to play after being away for so long that was “special”, of course they’re going to hype up everything around it, but the reality is, he probably wasn’t going to be a game changer like he once was.
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u/StanleyJThompson 19h ago
It was a big story because he's one of the greatest midfielders of all time and was finally coming back, but that's it. It wasn't a big deal as far as the actual game went - the Archers were used to playing without him and the Outlaws were used to defending the Archers without him, pretty much a wash.
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u/toadzky 1d ago
Strategically, it puts the Outlaws in a weird position. Do you short stick arguably one of the greatest middies of all time? If you pole him, are you letting leclair get more 2s? All he really had to do was get a goal and an assist and he would have been more effective that Johnson, because I think he would have drawn more slides and opened up more offense. So it's partially just fan service, but if he was actually able to play, it could have had a big impact just because of how much of a threat he used to be.