Wasn't able to attend so had to watch on TV. Glad I'm not the only one who wasn't pleased with the commentary. I muted it after the Fire scored when the guy said its common that teams slip up right after a goal and let one in themselves which is a myth.
Since the Khan household has a policy of not giving any money to Ellen's bitch, we watched this game @ home in HD. First, the announcers sucked a horse's ass. Russell stammered more than a scared 1st grader, and added nothing to the broadcast. Many plays were missed or replays took forever while the camera zoomed in on Yallop, Heaps, or some random fat fvkc in the stands. Pathetic. SJ played well, I thought. His brain didn't go on it's normal 3 vacations per game that it usually does. He actually DIDN'T try to channel Jon Busch's "aimless-kick-the-fvkcing-ball-as-far-as-I-can" distribution. I'd bet that his pass completion rate was unusually high for him. He made every save he should, and got close to the PK. I actually hate it when SJ has a game like this, because then we are deceived into believing that he will become a complete GK someday. [Then, his brain will take another vacation or 10 in the next match, and he'll make stupid decisions that will cost the team.] The defense likewise didn't have it's 3-4 brain turds it usually has per game. This time, only 1 or 2. Alex and Anangono suck; Magee wasn't very visible, other than when he wanted to whine and bitch at the ref. [Actually, this team whines a lot at refs...] Speaking of which, the ref sucked balls. In sum, I'm glad we no longer pay good money and spend time to go to Toyota Park to see shit like this.
Watson couldn't make that pass in a wet dream in a game vs. crippled children, with his team up 2 men, and Watson's team mates are all international super stars. Why in God's name is Yallop insisting on using Watson as the 1st CM off the bench? Why not use Shipp there, and bring in an outside MFer instead? Watson doesn't suck out loud at soccer, as Pause and Anangono do. But Shipp's pass today shows that he has something to offer as a creative force for this team. [Thank God for the league gift of Shipp.]
Watson is garbage. He's a Logan Pause that doesn't back pass but instead makes shitty passes that go nowhere. Alex is bad a football.
Alex needs to go away. I would suggest NASL, but not Indy 11. They can do better. He is one of the worst professional football players I have ever seen, especially as a player from Brazil. He can't pass, he can't shoot, he is not a good defender, he has no sense of positioning (that is, where to be on the field), he has no sense of timing (that is, when to move where), he is keeping better players off of the field. He has one goal per 1,000 minutes played and 1 assist for his Fire career (over 2,800 minutes). Other than that, I guess he is okay.
I remember when he started with us. He looked to be a promising attacking midfielder. It seems like he's been asked to change his style and it has reduced his goals and assists. I can only assume he's being asked to do other things on the field and he's successful enough at those things to remain on the field. I'll try and focus on him the next time I see him live.
I agree. At this point, it's clear what they have. It's definitely not an impact player. A depth piece, OK. But a starter who leads a lethal (or even strong) attack? Forget it. Too much dribbling, mediocre decision making, virtually non-existent vision and inaccurate passing. Whoever wrote that Shipp's through ball was not even in Alex's wet dream was spot on. Time (or very close to time) to see what the kids have. Play 2 out of 3 of Joya, Pineda and Ward (when he's ready, obviously).
Now that I watch these without emotional investment, I find myself agreeing with some things and then disagreeing with other things or at least seeing them in a different way. First, the Shipp pass was about as sweet as it gets, and props to Quincy for riding through the shoulder to shoulder contact on the goal AND the finish. Nice stuff. Second, the Nyarko penalty was a penalty. Yeah, there was not much contact, but he ran up behind him and clipped his feet causing him to go down. Patrick should not have run up on him like that. There was nothing positive to come out of that from that angle. Penalty. Quincy's first yellow was horseshit. I think it could have gone as a no call, but it was definitely not a yellow for a dive. For me, they should give that where there is clearly no contact and a blatant dive. Not even close. Quincy's second yellow was deserved. No contact with the studs up shoe, but you can get yellow for showing the studs without contact, and then the back leg took him down. The bottom line on that, however, is that Quincy was a flat out idiot on that play. You have a yellow already and you go in studs up over the ball? At speed (as the ref sees it) you can't tell that it's the second foot that brings him down. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. He earned red just for being stupid, although I think the yellow was earned there as well. On the play that led to the last penalty, the penalty and the aftermath. First, Bakary hit a freaking fantastic volley to start that sequence. It's a real shame that didn't go in. Would have been a goal of the year candidate. Second, the ref correctly jumped in with the immediate red. He wasn't a great ref by any means, but I wish he worked the US Germany game in 2002. Third, the anti-abortion crowd must be picketing JLA's house right now, because that "attempt" was the biggest abortion of a penalty I have EVER seen. My God, I almost never say, "I could have done better," but, "I could have done better." Finally, did you all catch Big Red crashing the missed PK? That is the way its supposed to be played boys and girls. Again, its a shame he didn't get that goal, because he deserved it.
Thank you for the clip. ******** you for giving me an opportunity to listen to those asshats on the broadcast.
I absolutely agree with everything you wrote, and I penned the "wet dream" post. I would only criticize your post as follows. An insult to octagenarians everywhere. They know what too much dribbling is all about. Oh wait, that's drooling. Nevermind. Now, this is an insult to mediocre decision makers everywhere. And blind people (who make better passes) would like to have a word with you on this one.
I agree with all of this except I wouldn't give a penalty on that Nyarko play. The ball was out of play so contact or not, it didn't take away a scoring opportunity. I would see it as incidental contact. As for our PK, we shouldn't have needed it.
I would agree with that as well, but at speed, that is a big risk to take. The poor decision by Patrick to run up his back side is at least as responsible as any call by the ref. You can't let the ref be in the position to make that call. Similar to Quincy's tackle. If Patrick has a better angle, then fine, go for it. From where he was at, he had no chance at anything good happening. If he doesn't clip him, Alston just touched it out of his own reach and you have a goal kick.
Very accurate assessments across the board, IMO. Quincy's first card: terrible call Nyarko's foul: warranted Anangosuck: possibly the worst PK I've ever seen. Guarantee you the Academy kids (16s/14s) could do better. All of them.
Agreed. It was close (to being a no call), but warranted IMO. Nyarko took too much of a risk there. Not a smart play on his part.
I agree with the penalty. Yes, the ball was going out of bounds, as Bunge mentions, and I could clearly see it from the skyway, but taking into consideration that the ref sucked 1,000 balls and was trailing the play, it was understandable that the penalty was called. Nyarko made a stupid play running down a player from behind in the box.
I saw THREE people with the new jersey yesterday. 1) Looked like he just bought it at that moment, but was a little small for him. 2) Was about 15 3) Was a little kid, with a sign "This is my first game" That was all.