Vote for AT&T Goal of the Week: Week 9 I voted for BB. As good as Montero's long distance blast was, he had no one on him. BB had to beat two defenders.
I'm not sure why there's so much gnashing around to pick the player to blame. No one had a perfect game, but it was actually a pretty impressive effort overall considering the travel, the altitude, congested part of the schedule, etc. Bottom line, the team wasn't good enough and the team needs to improve. The way I see it, there are 2 major problems that have to be addressed - and neither has to do with specific individuals. 1) we've got to get more creative in breaking down packed in defenses. I think the major problem at this stage is that our offensive/creative players bring a wide variety of styles and backgrounds and still have a ways to go to learn each other's tendencies and thought processes. We've got a Brazillian-American, a Colombian, a Granadan, a Texan, a Frenchman, another Colombian, etc. They're all used to playing a different way, with different-thinking teammates. 2) we have to get much, much better at defending dead-ball situations. You can't play like you're afraid to foul or afraid someone will go down easy - then you lose all your aggressiveness and intimidation. It's inexcusable to be having so many breakdowns on free kicks - and to have every corner be a brush with disaster. We have more than enough size and ability - it just seems like our organization is really lacking. All that said, we put on a ton of pressure to tie up the game, after a lot of questionable officiating calls went against us. I think the ref had some historical bias in his game - i.e., RSL is so good, ... Olave got away with murder in the area, while Soares gets called for a body to body foul?
I'm not sure I follow your logic here. You do see that he is being skinned right? In this game alone, there were at least 2-3 occasions where Soares had to abandon his position to cover for Tierney, leaving the center pretty exposed. Just because goals haven't come from this, it doesn't make it okay. Think of all the goals that have been given up against set pieces. If Saborio or Ihemelu had blown their headers, would you have been okay with the set piece defending?
There were a few scenarios where the ball was played out wide, unfortunately, Sene was the one with the ball, taking what should be the target out of the box. I know that he may not be the greatest with his head but he REALLY needs to be in the middle when they are up a man. Tierney, Alston, Nguyen, etc... should be the ones providing the width and pumping the crosses in.
I agree. Though Kevin's game isn't regressing, he really isn't showing any progress on the offensive end. He's really a head-scratcher of a player. Defensively, he generally seems to understand positioning and how to use his pace plus he's comfortable and confident playing the ball out of the back. Then he crosses the center strip and he becomes a completely different player. He doesn't seem to understand how to use his pace to provide width and crosses and he looks nervous and panicky on the ball. I keep hoping that this will be the year that his game will make the leap but I'm starting to lose some faith in that notion.
I actually think he is better this year. I'd bet that Nicol gave him the green light everytime he had the ball to attack. Heaps probably put a stop to that and is trying to teach him to pick and choose. I have always thought he was a loose cannon offensively but this year, he seems to me atleast, to play with more restraint and has looked better when he does join
Mike, spot on, as always. Repped. I had thought real time that the ref was right on the Cardenas call, as he lunged in studs up, but on the replay you can see the studs were down well before the contact. The ref doesn't get the benefit of replay, so I'll cut him some slack on that one. I think the RSL red was called by the linesman (excuse me, assistant referee, which he really was in this case). During the post foul melee, you can see him come over and signal the ref to come talk, after the yellow card had been shown. I'll bet that he changed to red based on the ar's input. This probably factored even more in his feeling of a need to show the red on the Revs (balancing a call that he wasn't sure of in the first place). RSL seemed to be working on the "whine early and often" plan to get the ref on their side. My personal favorite was when (I think) Espindola took Alston down with an arm around the neck and then complained that the call went against him. I kinda felt like I was watching an old tape of the Celtics with Danny Ainge. Gantar definitely showed his inexperience -- it was a tough match to call with 5 or 6 borderline calls, but he certainly didn't cover himself in glory. The fact that he put the whistle away after the Red to Cardenas said "Jeez, I'm blowing every call I make, I'd better stop."
You have a promising and entertaining side. Best of luck in the East, and thanks for beating Colorado.