Oh, and I made the bold claim that selling and buying was like a pimp and a whore. Well, I was wrong. Wwe looked like a desperate John, actually. We paid to get ********ed http://www.realsaltlake.com/video/2...a-stars-postgame-press-conference-jason-kreis http://www.realsaltlake.com/video/2...sota-stars-postgame-reactions-gil-and-wingert The comments from Wingert are interesting. He was obviously not pleased with how things went, but he was especially upset with the finishing on the squad. If PJ knocks in his 1v1 in the first half or finishes the ball that falls to him on the top of the 6 in the second half, this game might go differently. Our finishing is attrocious. And then the sharpness in the back. Wingert seemed pretty solid, but I haven't seen Borchers and Olave be that off at the same time in a long time. I think it speaks a lot of what Rimando does for this team in terms of organizing in the back. Our defense just doesn't have the same shape and composure without Rimando behind them. Does Reynish even direct his guys? I'm trying to think of a time where he is directing his defenders... and I can't think of anything, not even set pieces. Can someone explain to me why Seattle and Portland got an extra days rest? Why are they not playing their matches until tomorrow? I don't think RSL would have been a much better side with another days rest, but it just seems weird that those 2 sides didn't play tonight...
RSL put its best available 11 on the field tonight. I don't buy all the observations in this thread that say the organization doesn't/didn't really care about this tournament. We put our best available players on the field and they got taken to the woodshed by a better 11. Espy has a knock. He was being treated on the North end in the second half when he was warming up. I think JK would have put him in had he been healthy. In reality, he wasn't available. Olave and Wingert are 2 stalwarts who had a very bad game. Olave's passing this season has not been good, and tonight just continued that trend...except that it was worse than normal. When Tanaka was pulled, our right side attacks disappeared. This game proves beyond a doubt that RSL doesn't have the quality depth we all thought it had. The organization has got to rid itself of PJ. I was disappointed that Bonfigli didn't show us more tonight. Steele is at his best coming off the bench late, with fresh legs against tired legs. He's not a starter. RSL had several chances to win this game. Although we had 7 shots on goal, most of them were pretty weak rollers right to the keeper. The really dangerous opportunities were ruined by shots that were not on frame. Even Borchers shot badly. The main point here is that we have no consistent finishers after our starting 11. Reynish seems to be going down the DJ Countess path. He appears to have lost a ton of confidence. Our fans were great! Why does RSL lay an egg so often on well-attended games. I feel bad for the first timers. They saw bad soccer and and probably left wondering what all the fuss is about. Finally, the Minnesota Stars need to be given the credit they deserve. I don't know if they would have won if RSL had been able to field Sabo,Espy, Javi, Will, KB5 and Rimando. But, it doesn't really matter. They came in, played hard and seemed to want it more. They earned the victory, as opposed to RSL losing the game. The better side won on this given night. Frankly, I think they may have goven the FO a much needed wake up call regarding RSL's depth. Given the strains of the upcoming CCL, it might be a blessing that we are out of the USOC this quickly. We do not have the depth to strongly compete concurrently in MLS, CCL and the USOC. Right now I'm thinking that Garth and Jason are going to have to decide which remaining tournament to focus on--- MLS or CCL. I don't think we can succeed in both, and we might even fail at both unless one is given a lesser importance. P.S.- Javi sat with his son a few rows below us throughout the second half. I'm pretty sure only a few of us recognized him.
Eh, we tempted fate Saturday and at Portland and against Toronto and got away with it. Tonight we got down early and had to chase, and we did, with a makeshift lineup that isn't used to each other. By contrast the stars had cohesion, knew what they wanted to do on offense, and stayed compact on D - then they got another cheap lead and were able to pack it in the whole second half. Our most experienced scorers were Olave and Borchers, and they couldn't finish their headers. Chances were there. Lots of film for improvement for everyone. I'm most worried about Reynish and his confidence level. If the coaches believe in him I do too, but he's got a little Weasley is our King going on right now. We need to beat Chivas on 6/16.
woooooooooo, jason was PISSED in his post game conference, it's been a while since i've seen him THAT ticked off. this quote is a gem: "I’ve said this once before in my coaching career and I’ll say it now - I would not want to be a player under me right now." guess the guys played with a little too much in the tank, didnt leave it all on the field, well now their going to get their asses worked over more than enough to take care of that. wonder what uncle dave thinks of flushing all that cash down the toilet to bring the game home, bet he's real goddamn happy. at least 17k+ came out to cushion that monetary blow, although i wonder how many were from the POAP.
There will be many games like this if our backup forwards are not producing. Checketts should put out more money so that we can get some more forwards . We get backup forwards who get the lowest salary and then never produce even in reserve games. All the money is tied up in the starters. Other team owners are putting out their own money for players they want. Forwards have come along in trades that maybe Real could of gotten .
Do you really think so? So many of the players seemed to not care that much during that game. Leads me to suspect that maybe, just maybe they were told on high to at least not worry about it. I'm not suggesting anyone told them to directly mail it in, but maybe it was more like "have fun, don't get hurt, there's another game in a week etc". :shrugs:
The good news about this game: I brought a friend of mine to the Dallas game, he loved it, and came to this game too. Even though we lost, he's debating becoming a STH because, as frustrating as the game was, he's still a fan and he still enjoyed himself. I also brought two other people for their first game, and miraculously they want to go to the Galaxy game. So somehow, even with how crappy we played, they at least won over 3 people?
Pretty sure that wasn't the case. Kreis put out the best healthy lineup he could. He clearly wanted to win, and his postgame comments reflected that. The problem last night was the players bought into the idea that the talent disparity was enough that they could play at 75% effort and still win. Obviously that wasn't the case. The talent disparity between Minnesota and RSL's reserves is minimal, if there is one at all. There were some starters out there, but it was obvious that most of them didn't give a rat's ass. Read my article for more on this. That was the problem all across MLS last night: Reserve players aren't more talented than their lower-division counterparts, and starters feel like they're above this tournament. That's a recipe for disaster, which is what we saw all over America last night. This match was a good lesson for kids - and it's a life lesson, not just a soccer lesson: You can overcome a considerable gap in talent with hard work, effort, and desire.
Plain and simple it was an unacceptable and embarrassing performance. Uninspired and lazy. Not once have I ever wanted to boo this team (even in 05 - 06), but last night they earned a boo from me. I saw one player give an honest effort and play like he cared (thanks Ned), other than that no one passed, played defense, made runs... nothing. Pitiful. Give all the credit to MN, they played an inspired game with a plan and they did great.
What game are you talking about? I don't recall RSL playing last night. There was no game, there was no game, there was no game...
Ironic that the best MLS performance on the night came from the team best known for blowing off the tournament last season, NYRB.
I leaned over to my wife when I saw who was starting up top and said "I wonder who is going to score in this match for RSL as these guys can't even find the net in reserve games." We are in desperate need of a 3rd striker on this team. It would force Sabo and Espy to compete more and would make substituting in matches much more manageable for Kreis. If either of Espy or Sabo pick up a knock that puts them out for more than a couple weeks, we are completely and utterly screwed in the offensive department. Defense... what the hell is with giving up multiple goals this year?!
Two things stuck with me after the match. First was the above post. We played like we were so overly talented that even when down a goal we were easily going to win. That or nobody on the team wanted to be in this tournament at all. Second, I dont know how you can watch a game like this and say Sabo isn't that good. This game game was begging for Sabo. We seemed to have plenty of possession on the wings, but no one to cross to. No one to hold the ball up field and help relieve some pressure. It would have been nice to have Espy in there, but Sabo would have made a bigger difference.
Wow, just woke up and had a crazy nightmare. I had a dream that RSL played a game where no one hustled, and the team was utterly awful. Good thing it was only a dream!!.... Right?
The quote from Grabs in the desnews today speaks volumes of this teams inability to keep an even keel: Our reserve team record is starting to scare me more and more. It shows how big the gap is between our first 13-15 guys and the rest of the squad. We don't have depth and if we want to be successful in CCL or MLS Cup, we'll need to address that.
Not only that, but let's hope it's a wakeup call for the organization to stop patting itself on the back. I don't get this vibe from Garth or from Jason so much, but when I listen to On Frame, there always seems to be an underlying theme of self praise. Self praise leads to indolence. Check the post game quote sheet (excerpted; emphasis mine):
Please let me apologize... I brought my wife to the game again last night. Some of you may remember this: So she hasn't been to a game since the Chivas home loss, i have brought other family members or friends to all the other games instead, but last night she wanted to come, and we lost... All neg rep this way if need be. (is that even an option anymore?)
this team has a huge issue in keeping a level head. From the front office down to us fans (I'm guilty of it as well) we seem to get way to high and arrogant after a few nice results. I want some humility on this squad, and I don't just want it in words. A truly humble coach, players, front office, etc would have handled last nights match like it was another MLS Game, not a friendly. The whole night lacked any form of professionalism.
Maybe it's time to tweak the "team is the star idea" which really translates into "we don't want to spend the extra money" and go out and get a DP quality Striker for this team. The idea of keeping the core of this team intact is admirable but I truth it has made the team less deep and more impacted when one of those core players is hurt. Back line and midfield are Ok, but we do need some punch up front. I really do think Paulo can come back, seems he has lost that desire to attack the goal and seems to want instead to be a set up guy for others. Not at all what we saw from him in his first few appearances for RSL. How great would it be to have a striker like Klose in SLC.?
Paulo plays alright if he is on the pitch with Epsy or Sabo. The problem is he doesn't have any individual creativity like we were lead to believe when he first got here. I'm against splashing big money on a DP as it would take a huge chunk of our salary cap and doesn't exactly have stats to back it as a successful venture. I don't want some washed up striker for my DP, either. If we are going to spend big bucks, get a guy in or close to his prime
Who do you cut? We need $350k in cap space for a DP striker. I don't think it's possible without either making the team worse, or totally dismantling the roster. You can't do either of those things mid season.
On this 3rd striker conundrum, I remember in the last STH meeting with Garth and Bill someone suggested to Bill that we should go after Juan Agudelo as NYRB weren't even playing him at the time. Bill just laughed and said "they'd never let him go". Out of curiosity I went to Ismitje's salary thread and compared base salaries: PJ 75,000 Agudelo 70,000
I've got to get a few things off my chest now that I've had time to digest last night's game. I was there when all the quotes Black Prince pasted above were said. I'm sure most of you realize that the published quotes are just snippets and quite a bit more is said that doesn't make it onto the quote sheet or the next day's fishwrap (and I include TV, radio, & internet when I say fishwrap). After listening to the entirety of what Grabs said, I'm realizing that there's a problem that's beginning to surface with the youth/depth on this team. Obviously there's plenty of evidence that the youth/depth is struggling...they're DFL (dead f-ing last) in the reserve league. And I'm starting to think that the reason comes down to professionalism...these guys have not learned how to be pros yet. You can come to training, go through the motions, go get a hamburger afterwards, then go hang out with your buddies and play XBOX, but that doesn't make you a professional. That's not what winners do. Winners take pride in winning, even if it's just a game of soccer horseshoes in training. Winners eat right and take care of themselves off the field. Winners work out and watch film on their own time. And based on the things I've heard from RSL's leaders and what I see thanks to social media, some of the youth/depth hasn't figured that out yet. Borchers told me once that talent will only get you so far at this level...the rest of it is preparation and professionalism. I think he knows what he's talking about. I just hope our youth/depth quickly comes to realize that they can't just out-talent everyone like they have up to this point. Everybody at this level is close enough in talent that the winner is whoever goes the extra mile.