LOL It's all in the eye of the beholder, I guess. I think that Pajoy was EXCELLENT at holding up the ball, and also at making runs. The problem is that he could rarely ever seem to pull the trigger, and was way off when he did do so. Plus, he had multiple opportunities one on one with a defender to goal, and crapped the bed. He even had a couple opportunities where a good first touch would have had him directly on goal, and he crapped the bed those times as well. He's a frustrating player, to say the least.
It's a shame for Najar because his play at right back is on another level than this league. I believe the Korb cross was left-footed (haven't seen the highlight) that led to the own goal, so that might be a first for him. Another positive was the team didn't have the best passing night. It was okay, but they can do better and I believe they will on Wednesday. Really only Pontius and Jakovic had good percentages. Tainio is a key for them. Boskovic must work harder in the second leg to deny him the ball and stick with him when NY regains possession. Reduce his touches and reduce their possession.
I agree. He had a handful of good plays, but he was also where attacks went to die so many times. I'm amazed to see so many people praising him.
You just can't do that to your team -- no excuses for age. Just like when Gomez crapped the bed and let Chris Brown get to him -- kills it for the rest of the team and washes away the good you might have done.
Pajoy does everything pretty well until it comes to the final moment when you, as a forward, are expected to shoot the ball. If we finally go away from the 4-2-3-1 and pair him with, say, Salihi, then we might just get some goals from our forward line. But I expect Benny to stay conservative and play with two holding mids again, which means we will have only a single forward, and I doubt it will be Salihi, dammit. If we had Woolard back or more confidence in Chabala, we could play one of them at left back, put Neal at left wing, and let Pontius play up top. But that's not where he's best. My guess is that on Wednesday Korb will stay on the right and Neal will play LB. Without Neal as a sub, Benny will have to keep Boskovic in longer (he was doing fine tonight and didn't look winded when he came out).
I've played CF in a similar 4-5-1 and I have to tell you it's not easy. Pajoy was fantastic in maintaining possession despite being outnumbered 4 to 1 every time he got the ball. If you're hell bent on criticizing, maybe you could also look at Boskovic and Pontius who were always several seconds late in support when Pajoy got the ball. Like another poster has said, Pajoy had a handful of weak moments. He does lack that finishing edge. But it's not like he blew any sitters. I don't recall anyone serving him with a clear chance.
I came out of the stadium thinking DC had blown the series. Missed pk and Najar's implosion were just killers. DC outplayed Red Bull but DC's road form makes me nervous; they needed to go into RBA with at least a goal cushion.
I don't know what Pajoy you were watching, but I will go to War with the Pajoy we had tonight. This guy takes so much crap from so many people who quite frankly have no idea what they are talking about (not you per se stangspritzring) in regards to what roles players have on a team. He was a beast tonight. Yes, we all wish he would pull the trigger sooner or recognize an overlapping player on occasion, but what he gave this team tonight was massive. It's not easy to play alone up top in a 4-5-1, but he did it well tonight. People need to get over their preconceived notions of players and recognize a good performance when it happens. Even Lazo Alavanja managed to play a decent game or two in spite of being the single worst field player to ever play significant minutes in United's deep and long history. Just once, give the guy his due - and oh by the way, he did it in a playoff match..
I wouldn't say it was inconsequential, the resulting corner kick (after Henry's shot was blocked out for the corner) eventually ended up as the tying goal. United never got a hold of the ball after that call.
Pajoy does what Ben wants him to do - play with his back to the goal, take the ball down, and ... well, what? He doesn't shoot often or well, so he needs to lay it off to someone who can. Often he received the ball so far ahead of his midfield that a pass to one of them didn't really threaten the goal because they were too far away. He would do better with a partner, like Salihi, who can finish chances. If we had DeRo back and played him at withdrawn forward it might work, but that would mean Ben would have to ditch his beloved "empty bucket" and play with only four midfielders, presumably (and hopefully) with Boskovic among them.
That war would end in a draw. Pajoy is strong as a bull and has terrific skill, but where is the end result. He left it all out there, and that's all I'll ever ask, but it is compounding frustration when he gets where he needs to be and you're watching and you're hopeful and......he Pajoys it. Again. Wednesday is another day. One thing's for sure, Pajoy will not be a shrinking violet.
No need to rearrange the deck chairs. Robbie Russell has been healthy and will slide into the right back role on Wednesday. Done and dusted. Najar has been keeping Russell on the bench. No reason to make 2 or 3 moves with players when only 1 is needed. As an aside, I saw Daniel Woolard on the Concourse level before the match and was talking to him. The funny thing is that not a single person recognized him (he did have a beard) during our entire conversation. Seemed a bit strange but what can you do..
Playing Russell would change the team a lot more than moving Korb and playing Neal, imo. It would change the whole style of the last 8 games. It's not like Neal would have to chase Dane Richards anymore, the RedBulls are one team that doesn't have a surfeit of speed.
One positive is that the Red Bulls looked like a pretty pedestrian team. Definitely looked like a beatable team. We looked pretty good and dangerous a lot of this game (at least the first 6o some minutes). We even got a couple good chances down a man. I know its hard to win on the road, but NY just didn't look very good. I know we should have gotten a lot more out of this game and I'm also pissed that we didn't, but I think we have just as good a chance to win the series as I thought we did a day ago even though we'll be on the road and without Andy.
I agree. I didn't see anything this game that would change my odds for the series. I had it at 50/50 and I still stand by that. New York is an enigmatic team. I don't know what to expect with them. Great individual talent, but as a team they're old, slow and not very strong.
I've been a huge Pajoy basher here, but I must say this was the best game he's ever played for us by a country mile.
Did he win a majority of 50/50s? Yes. Did he hold the ball well? Pretty well as can be expected, though he was often double- or triple teamed. Did he make good (or even quick) decisions when he had the ball? No. Did he recognize and play to overlapping players? No. His decision making is also painfully slow, which is a liability when you're the sole forward. His tactical sense is league mediocre at best, which ain't great if you're 31. And, as others have noted, he's certainly not the ideal lone forward in a 4-5-1. I don't think that's entirely on Pajoy, either, by any means, but on Ben. Switching to the 4-5-1 has definitely solidified our defensive play, but I would much much MUCH rather have seen Pontius as lone forward with Neal starting on the left wing in that formation. Hell, with the loss of Najar, I say eff it and switch to a 3-5-2 with a Pontius/Pajoy pairing up top. Ben had other problems, I might add, in that Pontius was flagging around minute 75/80. Very frustrating night.
Here I must disagree. There were a few occasions, and one stand out specifically, where both Pontius and Bosko were open in the box, and all Pajoy had to do was put in a quick cross. Instead, he sat on the ball for too long, got double teamed and lost the ball. That's directly related to slow decision making. He's the ideal historic United forward. Contemplative and hesitant to shoot.
Just to correct a few errors in the thread: 1) The hand ball call on Saragosa directly led to the game tying corner kick so somewhat significant 2) Gomez lost it against CJ Brown, not Chris Brown, though the latter might have been interesting 3) Korb's cross was right-footed I'm as happy as I could be after a red card, a missed PK and an own goal, which is not very happy but for whatever reason I don't feel too distraught. NY looked hopeless. Of course Henry can make a goal out of nothing at any time, so there's always that possibility but the rest of the team pose absolutely no threat to DC. Cooper is exactly the type of player Jakovic and McDonald eat for lunch. Cahill hasn't looked like much all year and looked even worse tonight. The question is whether we can score on the road without Najar (not that he's been instrumental in our offense, but he does give the defense something to worry about). Given the European pedigree of the Red Bulls I would slightly favor them in a PK shootout, so hopefully Olsen goes for it late when the Red Bulls are pushing forward. I will say I didn't understand tonight's starting lineup. It seemed very similar to how we played against Chicago except in this game we needed a win, not a draw, and we were at home. Given NY's total dearth of wide play this would seem the perfect spot to stick Bosko out left and play with two forwards. We had a lot of dangerous possession that led to nothing because Pajoy was by himself. I know Ben's not going to ditch the dual DMs after so much success but why play a lone forward at home against a bad defense that will be packing it in? I still wonder about Ben's tactics but he seems to have made a real connection with this group, even the ones you'd think would hate him for limiting their playing time. The combination of playing the Red Bulls, the injustice of some perceived bad calls, and being stripped of home field through no fault of their own will, I think, motivate this team to do something special on the road. Or maybe they'll implode. I'm hopeful.
That's what hurt this team today. Glad they came out, worked and had the better of the chances, but they need to keep a level head and not verbally attack or question every since foul or whistle.
We played him once when he wasn't close to 100% this season and it didn't work too well. NYRB's play develops from Dax and Tainio, limit them and the production of Henry and the other forward of the day is virtually gone. We can win the second leg. NYNJ is a mess right now, so homefield support for the pink cows should be lower than expected for a Wednesday night game. True, but this is how you build a great foundation to build off of for a decade.
Why? Boskovic had a very good game. United's inexperience and lack of composure turned what should have been a 2 goal win into a major loss of advantage going into the second leg, and likely an early exit from the playoffs. The exasperating thing is they played well enough to win.