NY @ The Scum Sat. 4/12 @ 7pm EDT on MSG+

Discussion in 'New York Red Bulls' started by kokoplus10, Apr 5, 2014.

  1. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm officially sick of out $hitty defense, lack of a 90 minute effort, and the inability to get 3 points.

    These guys have been asleep through the first 5 games of the season and have only Robles to thank.

    If this group of players can't put together a complete performance against The Scum then they don't deserve to wear the jersey. 5 games in boys. Time to figure this $hit out.
     
  2. iced1776

    iced1776 Member+

    Dec 4, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    For the love of god Petke stop ********ing around with the starting lineup and go with what you KNOW works...

    ---Henry---------
    ----------Cahill---
    Steele-Peguy-Sam
    --------Dax-------
    Convey-Sek-Olave-???

    Kimura was the worst player on the field against Montreal, let Lade or Duvall show what they can do.
     
  3. harvest00

    harvest00 Member

    May 16, 2010
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Yeah, the guys have been asleep, Petke got to wake up the team and playing 90 min. intensive attacking 10 up/10down game.

    Can not allow the players to choose the playfield, thus change the starting eleven.

    The team seems to me lazy and out syn.

    Back to the Metro days.
     
  4. defendyourself

    Jul 13, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Dear Hulk,

    Come back

    Thanks,
    Everyone
     
  5. jeremydneezy

    jeremydneezy Member

    Dec 12, 2011
    Greenville, SC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We have to win this weekend. Simple as that. It's time to put the sluggish start behind us.

    Here's what I think we'll see...

    -------Henry---Cahill-------
    ----------Luyindula---------
    Steele---------------------Sam
    ---------------Dax------------
    Convey-Olave-Sekagya-Lade
    --------------Robles-----------

    Lade is admittedly a bit of speculation on my part. I have been less than enthused about his defensive frailties in the past, but he is a young player with potential and hopefully he is primed for a return to the first team.
    Maybe watching from the sidelines over the past year has made him hungry and more astute. One can dream...
     
  6. iced1776

    iced1776 Member+

    Dec 4, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Its disappointing how the right back spot was mentioned as a focus in the off season, and we ended up worse off than we started... Eckersley has struggled to adjust to the team, Kimura is a poor defender, Lade is no Phillip Lahm, and Duvall apparently hasn't looked very impressive in the reserve games.
     
  7. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I agree with both of you guys. This is our best lineup (although Miller has been okay and we have ZERO idea who should play RB).

    I understand Petke's idea of rotating guys and keeping them fresh as well as getting the new guys integrated, but the fact is we are one month and 5 games into the season. 15% of the entire season has already been played and we don't have a single win. 15%!!!

    And let me say that although I understand Petke's reasoning, it hasn't been working out and I'm starting to disagree with it. It's painfully clear who our best players are right now and Armando, Convey, Alexander Kimura, and Eckersley are not it (Convey has been okay at LB).

    Olave and Sekagya are clearly our 2 best CB's. If I see Armando again any time soon I'm going to flip out. If I see Alexander at CM or RM any time soon I'm going to flip out. If I see Convey and LM or CM I'm going to flip out.

    BWP has been half decent and Cahill has been off to a slow start. If Mike wants to f#ck around with things he can work with that.

    What troubles me the most is RB. That was an obvious area of need in the off season and it seems management blew it. We're being beaten like a pinata at that position with penalties and unmarked runners. If Lade and/or Duvall can't get the job done I package up something in the summer and get a REAL right back. That is the #1 priority for me right now. Depth is pretty good so number 2 would be an impact midfielder or forward...unless BWP/Cahill start to turn it on. In which case I'd grab another midfielder rather than a forward.
     
  8. jeremydneezy

    jeremydneezy Member

    Dec 12, 2011
    Greenville, SC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I understood the decision to keep Kimura over Barklage in the offseason with the assumption that Kimura was the depth option. He's not as talented as Barky but you need your backup to be a durable guy and Kimura ticked that box. I thought RBNY would then go out and acquire a bonafide RB. Drafting Duval, trialing some dudes and getting Eckersley late in camp shows that the front office couldn't pull anything off. Eckersley was their big gamble and he doesn't look like he is an upgrade. He may be the best guy we have after he settles in but he isn't a substantial upgrade even in the best case scenario.
    There is a dearth of quality outside backs in global soccer and the MLS salary cap makes that need even more glaring stateside. Not to mention that US Soccer produces an especially low number of good homegrown full backs.
     
  9. jeremydneezy

    jeremydneezy Member

    Dec 12, 2011
    Greenville, SC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Why haven't we seen more Bustamante? The guy is not a world beater but I'd rather see him in central midfield than Alexander and Convey any day.
     
  10. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Absolutely. Barklage couldn't stay healthy. Makes sense.

    So did I.

    Pft. Excuses.
     
  11. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ehhhhhh. Not too sure about that. He looked pretty solid the one time last season he was deployed at RB. I'd give him or Lade or Duvall a chance. Could they really be any worse over 90 minutes than what we've had so far?

    ...I hope not.
     
  12. jeremydneezy

    jeremydneezy Member

    Dec 12, 2011
    Greenville, SC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I assure you I'm not making excuses for the front office's inability to land a solid RB. I'm just stating facts in an attempt to show why you need to be proactive in procuring such an acquisition. You don't say "we need to upgrade at RB" and then expect the market conditions and player pool domestically to fill that need. Good full backs are a real commodity, thus you are forced to go out and target a guy and then do whatever it takes to get him.
    If they were proactive they could have figured out a way to get any of the available MLS guys like Sean Franklin, Chance Myers or Steven Beitashour, all of whom are established players in this league and who I personally rate much higher than Eckersley.
     
  13. jeremydneezy

    jeremydneezy Member

    Dec 12, 2011
    Greenville, SC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Bustamante played RB against Lyon in the friendly. He was pretty good but he was much better when he played CM in an MLS game against Toronto down the stretch last season. He had an assist in a 2-0 win and never looked out of his depth.
     
  14. iced1776

    iced1776 Member+

    Dec 4, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    It makes you wonder just how much of Eckersley's salary we're paying. If it's similar to Pearce's situation where we were apparently paying nearly the league minimum despite his guaranteed $340k, then I can understand the decision a bit more.

    Myers and Beitashour both got new contracts this year so you figure they were both demanding nice pay raises, especially Beitashour who was threatening to try his hand overseas. Not sure what Franklin's salary is going into the option year of his contract, but considering he was previously making $225k/year it still has to be a sizable amount. None of those guys may have been a viable option financially if the cap situation was as dire as Roxburgh claimed.
     
  15. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Of course. I'm not disagreeing with either of you. Just saying that in the entire world (MLS and beyond) there must have been something affordable and better than what we've seen from Kimura and Eckersley so far.

    It's the front office's job to find that player and right now it looks like they failed miserably.
     
  16. iced1776

    iced1776 Member+

    Dec 4, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    On paper Eckersley really didn't look like a bad transfer, even Toronto fans thought pretty highly of him. We thought we were getting a guy who wasn't afraid to bomb forward and put hard balls into the box or on frame, and had the work ethic to get back and put in a good challenge on defense. For whatever reason he just hasn't shown that yet.

    I still haven't 100% written him off and think he's the best option we have, especially if Kimura is going to put in shifts like he did this weekend.
     
  17. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm a patient man, but I can't put up with these underwhelming performances much longer. There is far too much skill, smarts, depth, and veteran leadership on this team to be where we are right now.

    These guys need to get pissed off and locked in for 90 minutes.
     
  18. Metrosuccess

    Metrosuccess Member

    Jan 6, 2000
    NJ
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I am beginning to worry that Henry and Cahill are beginning to show their age this season. Maybe we are just a warm weather team?
     
  19. DecadeOfDCU26

    DecadeOfDCU26 Member+

    May 2, 2007
    DC
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You guys seem worried about your RB, we are kind of worried about our LB. Christian gets caught up the field a fair amount and has been broken down a few times. Definitely room for Sam to attack him. I'd like for us to put DeLeon on the left to have a go at whoever is at RB for you Saturday, but Ben may keep Neal there to mitigate Sam. Interesting matchups on that entire flank from goal to goal.
     
  20. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Henry's stats are going to be down, but he's going to still going to retain possession smartly and put guys in good spots.

    Cahill: World Cup on the mind? I think so.
     
  21. metz

    metz Member

    Jan 17, 2003
    Like I say before, I will say it again, sign Henry for extra years was a big mistake, he don't deserve that kind of money for what he do for the team, that is nothing any way for now, and in the future will be worst.... Grandpa have to be on the old people house already......
     
    Don't Tread on Me repped this.
  22. jeremydneezy

    jeremydneezy Member

    Dec 12, 2011
    Greenville, SC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    With a bunch of injuries and aches in our team, here's my revised lineup...
    -------Henry---BWP-------
    ----------Luyindula---------
    Steele---------------------Sam
    ---------------Dax------------
    Miller-Olave-Sekagya-Lade
    --------------Robles-----------
     
  23. iced1776

    iced1776 Member+

    Dec 4, 2009
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Apparently Dax is struggling with back pain which is why he didn't start last week. If he's not good to go I don't even know what Petke would do, Alexander proved he's totally ill-suited for the defensive role last week and its just the reserves behind him. Lade has been playing the CDM role in reserve games, Bustamante might fit the role as well.

    Convey also picked up an injury in training yesterday, so there's a chance that both he and Miller will be unavailable. Luckily everyone who has watched the reserve games is very impressed by the 3rd stringer, Oyongo.

    We were doing so well with injuries through the preseason and first few weeks, now all of the sudden we're getting slammed.
     
  24. jeremydneezy

    jeremydneezy Member

    Dec 12, 2011
    Greenville, SC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  25. kokoplus10

    kokoplus10 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 5, 2008
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Explains his form so far. So I'm not going to ride him for poor performances at all. This explains everything.

    Luckily it doesn't seem like any of these injuries are long term (month+). Even if we assume that Armando, Dax, Convey, Miller, AND Cahill are all out of the question (to start at least) we'd have:

    -----Henry-BWP
    ---------Peggy
    Steele------------------Sam
    -------------?
    ?-Sekagya-Olave-Kimura
    ---------Robles

    While it isn't GREAT we have cover at CDM with Alexander, Bustamante, and Lade. Sekagya could also be put in there if you put Miazga in his place (apparently Petke is talking to Ramos about possibly holding him back from USMNT camp). Not sure how Bover's groin injury is, but if he's good to go you could put him in too.

    LB is obviously trickier, but between Oyongo, Kimura, Lade, and Duvall you have options (although 3 of them would be on the wrong foot). Hell, you could put Steele back there and start Obekop, Lade, or Bover at LM.

    There are options...and quite frankly maybe we need a young guy or two to come in and wake this team the f#ck up.
     

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