A solid "blue-collar" run from the black and red. Clutch scoring and solid defending took the team from out of the playoff zone to seeding to host MLS cup. The serious defense DCU featured was mostly Olsen's design. I think he deserves credit. Like Houston, DCU could play solid defense. But unlike Houston and KC, DCU really could only rely on two players at a time to score goals. Though many DCU players did scoring this season. Only a few got on a "streak." How many did the DPs score this year for DCU? Very excited for DeLeon's performance in the playoffs. Solid season. Should have a lot of confidence for next season. As for the Houston Playoff series: Injury to Pontius, Red Cards to Najar "AND" Hamid in Harrison, NJ, allowing a -2 at Houston was a lot to overcome. When it comes to defending. Houston is no push over. Nor is Houston going to allow 4 goals scored on them, like say NYRB. For next season. Pajoy plays Olsen's game & system. But a forward (with DCU's scoring limitations) needs to bring way more scoring. Have no idea who DCU could afford even if they got rid of Pajoy, Salihi, Tan, Neal, Dudar. That's "some" money but not enough to bring in Pele. Landing someone will be very difficult. Are there any young scorers in the Youth team?
Boskovic & Dudar were absolute beasts tonight. Salihi tried to be, but it's hard when you don't get any time with the first team. Kitchen & DeLeon were both good, but largely kept in check (in attack) by Houston. DeLeon also tried to do too much, earlier, when it was clear that Pajoy & Santos weren't going to score. DC had no speed tonight, except for Korb, who I think is developing into a real nice left back. Pajoy, Santos, Saragosa, Neal, & Russell didn't show me much. Thank you United, for making the fans proud again. Thank you, SE, BB, LN, & DU for the tifo tonight, and for bringing it for the entire season!
Our only DP by season's end scored 6 goals, half of what Pontius scored in 40.4% of the time Pontius spent on the field. Oh and by the way it took De Rosario 93.8% of the time Pontius played to score 7 and Pajoy, in 42.1% of the time Pontius played, scored 3.
It's not comparable, let's be honest. Pontius and DeRo do a WHOLE lot more than score goals, including assists, holding the ball, playing D. I think you can more easily shame our 'preferred' forwards.
The season ends...Thank You United! This offseason will be rife with possibilities to take what Ben Olsen is building and making it even better going forward. An exciting final 10 minutes there.
They do thats correct but if you've started 10 games all season and the last one was way back in June, 6 goals is a decent return.
The question was about the "DPs", not about the Pajoys. Financially we only have two DPs and technically only one. Furthermore, if you think Salihi did nothing to profit the team technically and tactically (in other words outside of goals scored) when he was on the field you are entitled to that opinion. I am entitled to believe you are wrong.
This I believe: Boskovic should start and never be the first to be subbed out, unless injured. Salihi should start. Period. If Ben continues the Najar experiment at right back, then Korb starts at LB. Woolard can fight to regain his starting position on the left, and Korb can start at RB if Najar is moved back to RM. Pajoy and Santos (and Long Tan) should be thanked profusely and released (or traded). Dudar should take a pay cut, but should always be a contender to start in central defense, alongside Jacovic or McDonald. His distribution > McDonald's. Neal is useful to have around because of his versatility, but he shouldn't start. Russell played well today, but should only be considered backup. Perhaps he should pull a Josh Wolff and become a player-coach. Saragosa should be kept because he is decent and is a positive force in the locker room, I understand. He wore the captain's armband today and took it to heart - giving out encouragement and instructions to his teammates. Kitchen is a lock. We traded away two good DMs; Carroll and Simms. Don't trade Kitchen. Nurture DeLeon. He could be special.
Thank you Ben. Great job molding this team into the number two seed in the east when DeRo and our offense went down in the middle of the season. I've really like the work the HC and staff have done to keep finding and developing new players for our team. There have been a lot of misses, but this team has an identity that we can build off of this off season. After DeLeon scored in the first half of the Dynamo game at BBVA, we were doomed. The team went into a defensive shell, injuries mounted, add the previous suspensions, the tired legs, extra day of rest for Houston and you can see how that lead to a 3-1 ending in the second half. Just the way we were pushing so hard in this game, you expected Houston to get one on our streached defense. I've got all offseason to post about roster moves, we've got a solid core here, just need to make a full offseason of adjustments to solidify the roster. Plus, with new ownership, I'm sure they'll want to make their mark on the roster at some point.
i mean i haven't watched the team much, but olsen really is only in his second year coaching ever right?? he still is in the process of learning that role, im sure he'll get better. whenever i watched dc united play this year it never seemed like they were outmatched from a tactics standpoint, so he's not off a terrible start.
What if our DP was a central back? Would you compare the goals scored? You were the one comparing our DP to our starting players (non-DP or otherwise). I think it's irrelevant to compare Salihi to Pontius or DeRo. It really is. It's like comparing a DP forward to a DP center back.
I mean you'd likely compare the defender to a comparable defender though. You wouldn't compare Salihi's tackling to the fictional DP defender's tackle ratio.
Sham, the question asked how many goals the DPs scored, so yes, if the a DP was a back then I would have compared the goals scored in order to address the question.
Obviously disappointed in losing, but this season as a whole was a huge step from 2011 and night and day from low point of 2010. It takes a bit of the sting out given all I wanted was playoffs (and beating out Metro was so sweet) that we came up just short of a cup final. I guess onto off season bickering and rumors about moves (1. Will Boskovic, Salihi and Dudar all be gone? 2. Will Pajoy ink long term contract? 3. How much bourbon is left?) and the stadium saga.
Well, I've go no complaints about today. The team played really well. We all knew that we needed to score first and when Houston did instead, that was pretty much it. I thought the whole back line had a good game. Bosko proved he can play 90 minutes and also play some defense. Why a guy with Salihi's skills couldn't even get minutes off the bench is a continuing mystery. After 5 games, we were 1-3-1 against these guys, so I think we can just concede that they are a better team. Watching DVR after getting home, it was a pleasure to see Thierry Henry sitting in the stands in London while MLS playoffs are heating up.
Any idea if there's a replay of the game on TV? Kinda want to see the pre-game tifo. Didn't see it on my OSG for CSN or NBCSN. Found it on Twitter: And it only took us two hours to lay down all those plastic sheets. @DistrictUltrasX @LaNorte128 @ScreamingEagles pic.twitter.com/pBP1Im6L— reese’s pisces. (@CochinoChuy) November 19, 2012 Thx, Jay!
Honestly, I would be okay with that. I wouldn't mind keeping Salihi and Dudar since we know we'll need depth, but I'd be fine if they were gone and we used their salary in better ways. Pajoy... please lets get rid of him. Russell I could go either way with. He can defend fine as long as he isn't marking anyone fast. He can back up Andy or let Andy play outside mid. Russell is a solid squad player in my mind but if he's gone I don't think it hurts the team much.
Ben barely let him off the bench so its a little unfair to blame him. Do blame Salihi for not doing much the past few months too? Blame Ben.
Two sections here: The last game was disappointing. I don't think they played like they needed goals until after Boskovic scored. It was way too late. I think what we saw tonight was what happens to this team when no one steps up. That's not entirely fair - Korb I thought had a stellar end of the season, I just don't think he's good enough to make a difference on his own. No one else tried to impose their will in the game the way that DeRo, Pontius and (in previous years) Najar have been wont to do. Nevertheless, the goal was to make the playoffs and they did that and more. Next season, I'm not sure that I agree with replacements 1-4. I think Santos has to start regularly to be useful. IIRC, it took him a couple games to get rolling and when he stumbled and was replaced, he never returned to form before getting injured. He did not look sharp tonight and never looked confident, but I'm not sure he is a must replace before next season starts. Pajoy finished the season terribly - the hold up play that I thought was valuable before the playoffs largely disappeared. I personally would get rid of him, but I think Salihi will be gone, not Pajoy. I do think that Russell is done - he was emergency back up this year and he'll have less next year. King can go too. But I think it is important to keep a number of the players - how many of them had played in big games, elimination games, before? The really important thing for next year, I think, is to get DeRo to accept that he cannot be "the man" every game and to teach the team the same. Not that I don't think DeRo has more to give, just that with Najar, DeLeon, and Pontius hopefully around next year, that gives other teams a lot to worry about if those three are integrated and not simply means to feed DeRosario (which is how this team played during the summer doldrums of this year).
they had a strong season. Ben did a credible job in many areas. I was pleased with the defensive effort and organization and with the development of the young talent we have (Hamid, Kitchen, Najar, and DeLeon) ... in the end we just could not put the consistent goal tally on the scoreline ... when you have a team of limited scoring depth and between injuries and poor decisions (Najar, Pontius, DeRosario) it is eventually going to catch up with you. I am very happy with the men and glad that we are truly back in the hunt for the league. Now if we just get the front office to announce a stadium deal that would really go a long way for the franchise. in terms of this game - Neal, Santos and Pajoy were all substandard. Korb and Dudar were outstanding today. DeLeon really gave it his all.