The last game at home I thought Santos actually gave us more trouble than anyone else on DC, Dax had a nightmare trying to mark him because of the gap in strength. Speaking of which, what the hell happened to Santos? He went on a tear at the start of the year and is a great passer for a big man, anyone know why he hasn't even been making the bench at United lately?
The forward situation at DC is really weird. Their DP Salihi can't get any playing time, the just traded for Philly's garbage in Pajoy, and they use Long Tan. Santos has fallen a long way since his early season hot streak.
If he were going there for surgery and then recovery that would be one thing. But when was the last time you remember a pro player going back to his home country in the middle of the season only for a 3 week injury rehab assignment? New York City has some of the best hospitals in the world with the best equipment, but this magical calf healing machine doesn't exist in the NY Metro Area? The northeast? The East Coast? Why didn't Henry go to Mexico for this magic machine? This doesn't make sense.
dc fan here. i read your board pretty often, mostly for metz. bigsoccer LEGEND. anyway santos has a toe injury, which can be nasty and long-lasting for how lame it sounds. the salihi situation is a mystery to all except perhaps ben olsen, who may or may not know. i think you will probably see a de ro/pajoy combo up top wednesday. also you guys should look out for that dneezy character who sometimes posts here, i suspect he is a fellow traveler and i'm having him looked into.
I'll be going to the game. Hope they show up and it isn't an embarrassment like the first game at DC or the NE game I went to earlier this season.
Very peculiar of Rafa and Backe, can you image, that in Mexico they have a special machine made in USA that don't exist in USA, how about that.... Only on the termite house that this two fellows have for head can you believe something like that and of course of the trainer that accompany Rafa in his adventure .....
Thinking more about this Barklage situation. Is it possible that Backe is trying to get all the way to this 2 week hiatus without having to use him much? What about not playing him in KC so he could go the full 90 against his former club? The more I think about it both sound reasonable given his injury history and/or what he did to the scum last time.
The worst enemy of the RBNY are the same RBNY players and his brilliant Wizard as a coach.... Backe has been playing Pearce for more of the part of the season that he has been here as a LB and time by time Lade, but this time he choice to play a CB Conde as a LB a position that is a complete mystery for him and the result of course was a disaster.....But going back to the players in general with the exception of Pearce, Le Toux and Henry, players like Tainio, Solli, Lindpere, McCarty and the four "Riders of the Apocalypse" as defenders, that have little physical and mental speed, that is to difficult to ask for them a better "futbol", Henry have a much better mental agility than all of them, but his old body and bones don't help him develop plays that his mind calculate to be done and Le Toux since he come here suppose to play as a FW Backe making good to his record has playing him out his spot must of the time, that bring me to remember Richards, of whom I always say, that he was fast as a "Secretariat" but with a lilliputian mind unable of compute the most simple plays....And that is the problem with the RBNY, that Backe and the players have a "Richardism Syndrome".....
I don't necessarily support Conde playing Left Back, but I would not call it a "disaster" after watching the game.
How was Conde on the left a disaster? Weren't you the one calling for him to play LB a few weeks ago? He completely shut down Zusi, one of the league's best players at the moment, and had absolutely nothing to do with the goal we let in. Other than a few shaky moments in possession at the start and limited support for Solli/Lindpere because of his lack of mobility, I thought Conde had a fantastic game. I honestly don't see why people are upset about the move past the "he hadn't played there before" argument. He has the soccer IQ to adapt to the position and is a far better option than Miller or Lade, which I think he showed against KC. I hope they continue to line up this way, it allows Pearce and Holgersson to grow an understanding between each other and gets rid of the double wingback system that has gotten us caught out on the counter time and time again since the start of 2011. Conde won't overlap much, if at all, but he distributes very well from distance, is far more disciplined than Miller, and is damn near impossible to beat on the dribble. Let Barklage/Lade/Solli or whoever the RB is get forward and provide crosses. If you want to blame Hans for anything last week, take a look at how isolated our wingers were all game. That's what killed any chance of building an attack through possession.
I'm not sure if Conde is the answer at LB, but I wouldn't mind seeing him out there again. Not much going forward, but pretty lock down on defense.
I had the same concerns about him going forward when it was brought up a few weeks ago, but after Miller's performance against Portland and some very shaky games from Lade at that position, I just don't care anymore as long as we're defensively sound. Playing with two wingbacks and a very high defensive line has not been an effective defensive strategy for us the last two years, even in 2011 we looked better with Albright/Mendes at RB instead of Solli because they have a defense-first mentality. Bottom line is no winger, no matter how speedy, is going to get by Conde on the dribble, and he most likely won't push up far enough to get caught on the counter. For all of Backe's failed lineup experiments this year, I think this one might work out for us down the stretch.
Fug it. Let's do it. -------Cooper-Henry -------------Cahill Lindpere------------------Solli -------------Dax Conde-Pearce-Hulk-Barklage --------------God Bomb Barklage up the wing all game and leave a 3 man backline of Conde/Pearce/Hulk to guard the counter. Lade and/or Sam (maybe) for Lindpere and/or Solli Tainio for Dax or Cahill LeToux for Cooper or Henry All the other bench guys are emergency only. No Miller whatsoever.
This is exactly the lineup I would play. Conde did not offer much going forward but that's probably a good thing with regards to defensive shape. If Sam is fit then I think we should play him at some point just to see what he can offer on the touchline. Most things I've heard about him (and the little I've seen) suggest he is pretty good running at defenders and deft with his crossing. That sounds like a guy that would fit rather nicely with Cahill, Henry and Cooper.
In attack mode we would be: Cooper-Henry-Solli Lindpere-Cahill-Barklage ----------Dax Conde-Pearce-Hulk ----------God
What I will like to see, is this: Gaudette Conde....Marquez....Pearce Dax Lade....Tainio....Barka Cahill Cooper....Henry
Forget the first post, what I want to write is this: Gaudette Pearce....Marquez....Conde Dax barka....Tainio....Lade Cahill Cooper....Henry
This may be a bit premature, but I believe we go to 4-3-3. In a 4-3-3, we can go with 3 mostly central midfield types and fits more with our team and gets Le Toux in a position he is more accustomed to. With Cahill and our other midfielders, we have a lot of flexibility. -------------------Gaudette------------- Barklage-----Holgerson/Pearce----Conde (when Marquez is back, I am not sure) McCarty----Cahill---------Lindpere Le Toux--- Henry------Cooper a 4-3-3 With bench of Lade, Miller, Tainio, Lloyd Sam, Solli, Keel, Robles