NY @ MTL Sat. 4/5 @4pmEDT on MSG

Pretty sure we're stuck playing at Olympic Stadium, which means some of the worst turf in the world, which means no Henry or Olave.

Petke said he'd seriously consider giving the reserves a shot to spark some life into the team, but who knows if he'll actually follow through. If he does, maybe Akpan will play instead of Henry? He's still scoring plenty for our reserve side.

I wouldn't be surprised to see another 4-5-1 system similar to the Chicago game, but with Peguy in the CAM role instead of Henry. I wouldn't like it, but away from home without our best players I can see Petke being super conservative.

 

Look at this way, with out Olave we will be safe of penalties, 2 at least for game, the way he is playing lattly.....

 

Ya, I usually dont agree with Metz but I have to say, Olave is looking his age more and more per game. He is 32... turning 33 next month. He is still strong and physically a beast but he is just not as fast as we need him to be. Armando is a great addition so far despite his aggresive nature.

Miller has also been okay at the left-back position. Eckersley I am willing to give more time.

Personally I would like the Red Bulls to go and sign a younger option at the CB position.

 

I have seen no dropoff in Olave's play this year so i am not sure what peopel have been seeing that I have not. I see Eck being much worse than Barkladge and/or kimura from last year.

 

I'm not worried about our CB's at the moment, despite the result Chivas's only shot on goal the entire game was the penalty kick. Metz is just ripping on Olave because he's the only person on the planet who thinks that his penalty against Colorado was an actual penalty. Well, actually Simon Borg thought it was a penalty too, but if anything that's confirmation that it wasn't...

The hope is that Miazga pans out in the long run and can contribute for many years to come. Even if Olave is on the downswing (which I don't even really agree with), Armando is only 29 and definitely has a few years left in the tank if he sticks around.

 

Ah, I think I need to re-state what I meant, Olave has not changed at all defensivly. He is still as good as last season but just a little slower to react and to get back, that is all.

 

I think Olave has looked fine individually but he's not always been on the same page as his teammates. There are a lot of new pieces floating around in the back and developing chemistry on the back line just takes time. I'm not giving up on Eckersley yet, either. It looks like his technique and athleticism are good for the MLS level but he's just been slow to adjust to his new teammates. I'm willing to give him a pass for now.
That being said a CB pairing of Armando and Sekagya this weekend scares the shit out of me. That's two pretty slow dudes playing against a quick attacking unit on a fast surface. Doesn't exactly give me the warm and fuzzies.
I honestly hope that the league bans artificial turf in the future but that's a discussion for elsewhere.

 

Is there any word on his injury status? If I were Petke and there is any doubt about his injury, I might be inclined to sit him for at least the next game (bench option maybe) to give him a little bit of a reset. He's been struggling defensively and his overlapping thus far is no better than Kimura's. If he needs to settle in a little more, I'd work on that in practice, having him rotate with Kimura working with the 1st team, but letting Kimura take the field in the next couple of games. He needs to be more effective, which he hasn't been and Kimura clearly was in his minutes as a sub against Chivas. There may be specific match ups where Ecks is a better fit than Kimura, maybe where footspeed is an issue, but he is not looking like the upgrade that Roxburgh and Petke sold to us in the offseason.

I'm not saying dump him (yet), but his price tag is extremely high for such poor play. He's teetering on the edge of the Marquez cliff in terms of the price-effectiveness ratio.

 

Its worse than that, his overlapping has been completely non existent. Granted the team as a whole struggled in the first half, but in his 44 minutes on the field against Chivas, Eckersley took ONE touch in the attacking half of the field (a short square pass just a few yards over the line). In fact, other than that one touch, he failed to even complete a single pass into the attacking half of the field period. No wonder Sam had trouble finding the game during that time... For comparison, Kimura managed six touches between the opposing 18 yard box and opposing end line.

I'm not saying dump him yet either, but my confidence is waning. If it were just a matter of adjusting to a new team, you'd expect to see at least a glimpse of attacking ability and so far we've seen zip. It'd also be a different story if he was a rock solid defender, but he's not that either.

Injury or not I think Kimura earned a start this weekend based on his play against Chivas.

 

Toronto is definitely on the hook for a lot of his salary this year, who knows how that will carry over though especially if his contract is up. He joined Toronto in 2011 and I'd be surprised if a player of his stature got more than 3 years on his deal.

 

On the plus side, The Spanish Assasin is really impressing me...

 

Cahill is out for 2 weeks, Eckersley out for 4 weeks.

I'd love to see Petke actually follow through on his talk about bringing one or two reserve guys into the team. Either Bover in the middle with Peguy-BWP up top (my first choice), or Peguy in the middle with Akpan-BWP up top.

But really what we'll get is Alexander in the middle again.

 

------BWP---Peguy------
Steele---Dax--Bover---Sam
Miller--Armando--Sek--Kimura
Robles

 

Even [spitballing] $150K is a lot for a player that can't really play that well. And that "deal" we got was probably only for the 2014 season. So then what? We don't want to pay $350K or more for the guy who's showed up in the first few games of this season.

It was a gamble, but so far it isn't working out.

 

The good news is the reserves played pretty well against Dayton. The bad news is it's D3.

 

I'm not talking about his game, is about his faults, he commit at least 2/3 faults per game that easy can be call it PENNALTY and that is what I'm talking about....

 

Dax is not starting today...Will see how this works, but this will be interesting to say the least.