Honest question: when do the grocery sacks come out? I know with the ties this is not a record losing streak, but if this keeps up the Tornado's 1968 futility streak record becomes obtainable.
Brek seems a little, or actually a lot wasted up top if the mids can't get him the f'ing ball. Just stranded up there. Don't think he got 10 touches all game. Almost certain he didn't. DF showed his class with his through ball to Brek but it will take time. But really, for Brek and DF they ahve no one to play off/combine with. Once they pass it to a teammate it's as good as a giveaway. Castillo is someone they can play off and link up with on occasion but that's really about it. Depressing game. But, Tor sucks as well.
There has to be a U10 girl in the FCD youth ranks that can take corners and free kicks better than DH! Every single one from Frings, save one, was perfect and dangerous. DH had one OK free kick, the rest of the free kicks and corners were all garbage. Man I have missed DF10 and he instantly looked the best player on the field when he got on the pitch. Great to have him back. DF10, Blas up top, Brek on the wing, Jackson or Castillo on the other wing, that will produce goals and Ws. Don't know if Marcelin could have cleared that ball he tried to take down with a chest trap - that led to the sequence of the TFC goal. Ball may have been too high. Either a bad mistake (as it went to the middle of the box) or unfortunate. The one thing I will say about Marceline ........ I think SH and the staff will take a good hard long look at him as the replacement for DH in the defensive MF role and I think he could fill it quite nicely. We saw this when DF10 made his debut and Marcelin dropped deeper to the D mid role. That is very acceptable, thought it looked good. Draw vs. TFC wasn't unexpected when the starting XI included DH, Marcelin, and Jacobson, for my money that is THREE defenseive MFs. Castillo! Outstanding run in the 18th minute blowing past several defenders and taking it to the corner of the box ....... where he decided to try to shoot from an impossible angle right at the GK instead of laying a soft pass to the PK spot where Brek had made his run and was standing all alone. F this kid has tons of potential but he needs to get his head up when he dribbles and needs to learn when to pass. He shoots when he should pass and vice versa!! Regardless of injuries, you have Leyva on the bench. Put Leyva at LM, Jackon at right, Castillo up top with Brek, and 2 of 3 DH, Jacobson, and Marcelin. SH lineups and tactics are just too defensive minded and we aren't good enough to win 1-1. It's tough to score one goal, we get one early, and yet still give up the equalizer. This was the worst team in the league, by stats, and he rolls out a lineup like it is vs. San Jose or Seattle. What do we have to lose by putting a more offensive lineup out there? The defensive lineup works fine when you have a healthy DF10 out there. As we saw when he came in it is a different dynamic. But as long as we continue to have 3 defensive MFs supporting 3 offensive players, one of which, Brek, being played out of position, scoring one goal is about as much as we can expect and more often than not it will not be enough to get 3 points. I do think SH has built a very strong starting XI that can be one of the top 5 teams in the league, but we have a ton of injuries, need goals and Ws, and it really doesn't matter anymore if we lose. I would rather see us lose, in fact, trying to win, that have 7 defenders and 3 offensive players in the field. But I know SH does not consider Jacobson a defensive player. Why I have no idea.
I watched the game in HD last night on FSSW+, was there an issue with your carrier? On DirecTV, FSSW+ was showing it in both SD and HD simultaneously, I noticed both because I accidentally tuned to the SD feed first before switching.
I felt SH coached scared. Three defensive mids again and I don't know how others aren't seeing how many times Marcelin gives up the ball (although Hernandez is now doing it also). Even when he does a good job winning it he makes a bad pass or gets stripped. In a game they had to win no forward played a minute in the game. Would have loved to see a forward on for Castillo and Brek moved to left mid the same time Ferreira came on. If I was a prospect and SH stays I would think very hard about signing a home grown with FCD.
Amazing how DF10 is better, after having been out over a year, than anyone else on the line up. DH was visibly upset with SH for the DF10 sub and didn't want to shake hands after coming off the field. I cant believe this guy is going to be a coach on this team.
Forgot to mention that IMHO Rodriguez is not as good as Benitez. FCD sure missed those long switches from the fiery one. Were there any good crosses all night from either side?
I agree that JB is currently better than C-Rod, but think there is some promise there. The best pass I recall from C-Rod should have been a goal (or at least an excellent chance) in the first few minutes, but Brek's poor touch took him toward the corner flag...other than that, not much in the way of service. Who played the ball in for AJ to send back across to Loyd on the goal? That was a nice one...
Unless I am mistaken for another player, I think it is Hernán Pertúz who is responsible for multiple screw up on multiple games? Seems like a guy who is missing some very basic Football 101 stuff we teach to U10 squad?
Marcelin I thought played well but he is being played out of position and/or being asked to do things beyond his skill-set. He is a defensive MF all the way and at least is aggressive and tackles well and is a ball winner. I thought he was better than DH last night. The problem is we only need ONE of those two on the field, not both
Yeah, Marcelan gives up the ball way too easy. Do we have an extra defender who can play his slot. Fine, let's put the other one in.
Seems to be the case as DH and JM never really figured out what each other's roles were last night (although it seemed like DH's role was to stand in the center of the park and point at who JM should be marking). It seems so obvious to me (who I suppose could be biased) that DH is simply not bringing anything to the table defensively anymore and actually hurting the team with his set piece delivery...why is he still out there? Isn't his knee in a state of constant disrepair anyway? Will he be a big contributor next season? FML the dude can't even get close enough to opponents to even foul them anymore. JM is easily capable of replacing him at this time...at least if he is going to pass the ball directly out of bounds like DH, he has a chance to win it back. PS: That 23 on their team was dirtly little b!tch all night and, while I never wish injuries on anyone, I was glad to see him come off and no longer have to worry about another FCD injury. He's exactly the kind of player MLS needs to eliminate.
We went to the game for the first time in a long time (5 years, I know sad, brought our twin sons for the first time, they are 5, hence the 5 years; they slept in their clothes and still have their FCD shirts on). I have several observations/opinions, who doesn't? So here they are in no particular order. David's presence was amazing, from walking out with his cleats on, to when he went to warm up, to when Drew Keeshan pointed to him to get his game jesery on, and then every touch he makes is dangerous. I was so nervous that he would get clattered and TFC obliged. The center mids need to check to the ball, 2 of them, at all times, there were several times when they all ran away from C-Rod or Zach. FCD needs to play the ball to peoples' feet. It seemed like several times, they were anticipating movement that was not occuring and the ball was played directly to a TFC player or out of bounds. This was particularly the case whenever someone was playing Zach Loyd the ball, it seemed many passes to him were just out of reach. This point has been made, but Brek needs more of the ball, and it does not happen with him up top. Jackson has taken a maturity step, and fights for the shirt, it is awesome to see. Castillo is much more frustrating in person, than on TV. He did not pass much, just dribbled into pressure. He does not track back enough. He is SO fast, and his final ball is lacking at present. The crowd was good. The fireworks were good. For veterans, where do you park? We parked on the West side, and snaked through parking lots and left just south of Rudy's to get on the Tollway and U-turn at Eldorado, is that the best exit strategy, or is there a better one? Oh, why did the ref have his red and yellow cards in the same pocket? I thought he red carded Eckersley when he pulled his cards out.
He didn't make a second substitution until the 91st minute, and still had one more on the bench at the final whistle. Maybe the players on the pitch gave everything they had (though that's debatable too), but Hyndman certainly didn't.
"Everything we possibly had" doesn't include a single natural forward on the pitch all night? I get that Blas is hurt and that Sealy/Luna/Top haven't done anything to prove that they can play at this level, but I'd still rather have seen any of them out there than for Brek to be played out of position (I know he's been played as a forward before, but he's also been played as a defender before). If Shea and Castillo are ahead of all our forwards except Blas on the forward depth chart, our roster is really FUBAR and we have to blow it all up.
Brek is a terrible forward, and an even worse lone forward. Why anyone would think his skillset would work up there alone is beyond me, his first touch isn't good enough for any type of hold up play, or getting on the end of long balls. The coaching decisions on this team get worse as each game goes by. To not having any forwards dress out against the team in last place, at home, is just stupid. Toronto is clearly on the upswing, whereas Dallas is clearly still headed down the drain. Pathetic season.
No, you are not mistaken... which is why with John or Ugo in there i don't think we give up that score... damn injuries That would be Jackson. The only really good decision made by Shellas this season so far was to get him back from Brazil. Of course, more than likely that wasn't even a Shellas decision.
I honestly don't care about the defense giving up a goal. They are rookies in this league and they have to learn from their mistakes. It's the midfield that's the problem and DF10 is back to help. Now how to keep DH off the field is the question.
Last night made me want to cry. For really the first time I can recall in recent years, our entire team looked like they couldn't have cared less about winning -- in front of 20,000 people that were begging for a reason to cheer this team. This is NOT how you build a solid fan base, people. Loafing your ass off in front of people that pay hard-earned money to see you play is not a viable strategy for bringing those people back. Okay, here goes... 1) David Ferreira was the only bright spot, and here is what happened -- our guys have been making such horrible passes for 10+ games in a row that nearly every one of his passes was wasted because a) our players are no longer anticipating high-quality through passes and therefore they don't have their bodies primed and ready to take the pass and proceed; b) there was no willingness to put the game in gear -- we were strolling through our plays like we've given up on the season. 2) Daniel Hernandez is a complete idiot when it comes to taking dead balls. Loyd takes much better direct kicks and would be a good substitute for Villar's absence when it comes to direct free kicks. Hernandez should never kick another dead ball as long as he is on the pitch. He can't seem to master soccer 101: make sure you get the ball over the first man and don't send the ball into the cheap seats. Seriously, 90% of his kicks do one or the other. Is Schellas totally blind to this fact? Why does DH keep taking our kicks and wasting them? I don't want to hear how strong his kicks are -- he's scored something like twice in 10 years. 3) Carlos Rodriguez is an experiment gone horribly wrong. His body is frequently out of position and he can't seem to keep the ball in play when working along the touch line. 4) Fabian Castillo -- Yes, he can run, run, run, run, run... and then screw up all his effort with his (pick one) a) horrible last touch or b) shot to the wrong zip code. This kid is showing no improvement and to have him start shows that we are dreadfully short on finishers. 5) Jackson -- Dear God, he had better be injured or else he has regressed so far that he needs to be sent down to the NASL. He gave such a putrid effort last night that he should be ashamed of himself -- unless he is injured, and if he is, why was he on the pitch? 6) Brek -- He's tired of carrying this team, and last night he didn't give a s*(t. He had a beautiful cross laid out in front of him for one of his classic headers and he passed on it -- he literally blew the play off and didn't make the effort. That was my top WTF moment from last night. I hope that Brek is not suffering from nagging turf toe because that could ruin his career. He wasn't hobbling but something was seriously off and he wasn't the physical presence he usually is. 7) Hedges -- great potential, but he is now starting to make the classic rookie mistakes that you might expect. I still think he will be a great one, though. 8) Loyd -- smartest guy on the team, but he needs the support of those around him. 9) Hartman -- Most underrated player in MLS history. We need Blas back deseperately because of the example he sets by hustling on every play and leaving it all on the pitch. He won't be "mentally tired" like the rest of the players that squandered David's passes. Hope he heals up fast.
I agree with most although with some as you note it's more that they were out of position. I do disagree with you about Rodriguez / Benitez. Some of the OPTA stats have shown Benitez with most touches and accuracy for some games. He and Shea our the only consistantly accurate crossers. Benitez to a streaking Jackson was missed. Rodriguez made a few runs but the final pass wasn't there and he gets shoved around like a rag doll in the box. I like him better as an outside mid backing up either side. He needs to hit the weights in the off season to play defense.
Well, everyone mostly nailed it on the head. DH, I'm so so sorry we didn't win you a MLS Cup that you (and the whole 2010 team) sorely deserved. Having said that, please hang it up already. What I see when I watch you play is a has-been holding on to what little life he has in this league. You got taken off of set pieces last week and instead of taking it as a sign that you need to step aside, you throw a Twatter rant about how no one loves you. Instead of showing strength in his decision, SH caves to your bullshit and lets you take them again. We all saw how well that worked last night. You were one of THREE defensive midfielders on the team last night. THREE. Jackson was invisible which is disappointing because I feel he has been our best player the last few weeks. Brek is awful alone up top but it wasn't like anyone could get him the ball. CASTILLO, Castillo, Castillo....you do all the hard work, then your final ball is horrid. Every game it's the same thing. You should have scored though, unlucky to hit the crossbar. The entire second half consisted of Toronto laying on the ground and the 20,000 in attendance were quite bored. We had two, TWO, subs in the tank going into the 90th minute. Only then did he bring on an attacking player, but not for a defender or a defensive mid. Nope. For Castillo. SH, your clock is ticking. Is the season over yet?
