Completely agree with this. Maybe it's the fact that DeRo, Pontius, Boskovic, and Salihi are not fully fit (injury, late signing/visa), but I don't see DCU demonstrating the fundamentals necessary to be a possession team right now. This better improve. Again, it may be a pure fitness issue, but the movement off the ball isn't there. You know, the small quick (constant) adjustments of players off the ball making themselves available in open passing lanes (triangles anyone?). Occasionally moving toward your teammate in possession to offer a passing outlet. Not seeing it. Some are blaming this loss on poor D and bad distribution from the back, but movement up front leads to improved distribution. Hey I give KC credit. They played with good defensive shape, but come on man. Too often I saw Pontius or Najar make nice moves out wide only to find themselves cut off from support (runs in the middle were poorly timed, and/or there were no players moving to them for easy outlet passes). This repeatedly lead to loss of possession. What's more painful is that if DCU can't play a possession game, it is not equipped to play any other style either. How can we play defend/counter with mediocre defense and no speed (or size) up top? We're not even a scrappy/physical club. Our players were routinely beaten to 50/50s, and our central defenders struggled to match the physical play of Kamara. It is Olsen's job to have a vision for this team's style of play. He should then assemble a group that is suited to play in this style. He should then coach the group and make sure they are expressing the desired style. I understand it is difficult to find players with the talent/first touch to execute a possession game with MLS$, but no more excuses. The team has to have players/tactics ready at the start of the season. We are not league favorites. We cannot afford to give away points in any part of the season and hope to win a playoff spot. vamos united.
It took a couple of hours, but it actually grew on me soon after it was unveiled. I wasn't sure about the additional white when I first saw it, but I was fine with it as soon as I wore it.
Looks great on the field! However (I'm sure it's just me getting old, but...), I find that I can only wear jersey to games or when playing pickup games. The giant VW logo and increasingly gaudy styles prevent me from wearing them casually. I keep looking for more understated options. I have the all black half-zip collared sweatshirt with the the DCU logo right in the middle of the chest (from days prior to the VW) that is still my current favorite casual option. Would love to see an all black fleece with DCU logo on chest (and maybe small VW logo on sleeve or other chest). Any way...
I hear you. The most worn piece of gear I have ever had comes from around 2007-2009 and is a black long sleeve t shirt with thin white lines across the chest, small adidas and United logos in the center, and thin white stripes down the sleeves, nothing on the back, about medium weight. I love it. I wore it all day Saturday. I wear it at least once a week all year, including most of the summer sleeves pushed up in AC. Haven't seen anything like it since.
I don't like the red accents on the inseams of the shorts legs. Otherwise I think the new kit is an improvement. Nice to see more red as we are the black and RED.
Absolutely. That "two-touch" style is the hardest style to play in the world. Cryuff said it best when he said "The hardest football to play is simple football." It's what Barca does and everyone else tries to replicate. It demands you have extremely technical players who know how to see plays way in advance before getting the ball. Barca trains their youngest players to play keep away until they are well into their teens. That's how you develop that style, from the ground up. We do not come close to that style. First - Our formation spreads us out too far. A 4-4-2 doesn't work with two-touch passing because you're too far away. You must be close to one another. It has to be 4-5-1 or 4-3-3. Second - Pretty much none of our players can play that way. Our sidebacks are incapable of passing (as are most of our cbs). Our wingers are dribblers before passers. Kitchen is OK with his passing. Bosko is terrible at it when he should be our best. DeRo's first instinct is to goal and our Albanian's first thought is to score. We'll never play that style with our players. Simple fact. Third - Truthfully, Benny isn't anywhere close to knowing enough as a coach to bring together a team and play like that. He doesn't have the training or the experience. The flaws in our game, as it stands, are the exact flaws that system can't handle: A. not controlling the game B. not pressuring high C. spreading ourselves too thin in attack and D. actually passing the ball around. Hopefully Benny can fix this, but as it stands, it'll be a long time before we put in a pure two-touch passing game. I still say we play a 4-5-1 with DeRo dropped into the hole. Let him help dictate the team. Keep our tactics simple and make sure everyone has concrete, simple instructions on what they are expected to do.
I rather like that idea...Make Salihi the sole forward, keep Pontius and Najar on the wings, make Kitchen/Bosko support behind DeRo in a midfield triangle, and as the flow of the game dictates, you can take Bosko out for another offensive-minded forward or defensive-minded midfielder.