So maybe midweek games are a bit much for Peguy's legs... hopefully Cahill is ready for 90 minutes next week. ------------BWP------ ------Henry----------- Alex--Dax-Cahill-Sam Miller-Arm-Olave-Kimura Its a real bummer that Sekagya isn't available, he's been playing really well the last few games. I didn't agree with the red but it seems like I'm in the minority on that one.
Along with Sekagya's suspension, Cahill is ruled out of tomorrow's game with his hamstring injury and BWP missed training today with an illness so he's unlikely to be available as well. Houston's defense hasn't been great lately, but our options in attack aren't too exciting going into this one...
Yea, he may come on a sub in the 85th minute instead of the 90th. Petke better put him on a minutes count!
If there's anywhere on the field where the young guys could get a spot its in the center of the midfield, and Lade has been playing defensive midfielder in the reserve games. Bover or Bustamante could have a shout for time next to Dax as well. But if we're being honest, there's a 99.9% chance of using Steele-Alexander-Dax-Sam to start the game. Maybe Petke will rotate one of them in around the 60th minute, but if we're being honest again it will be at the 85th like @theENFORCER said. If there is one bad habit that Petke picked up from Hans, its being too hesitant to rotate the squad and use subs early enough to actually make an impact. Maybe if the team gets a few more wins we'll see some fresh blood in the lineups.
Recovering from an ankle injury, but he's struggled pretty badly so far for us. He conceded two penalties in four games and hasn't provided so much as a glimpse of the attacking ability our management said they were looking for in a fullback.
yeah....general consensus with us is he was vastly overpaid for his skill. Worked hard, give him that. Anyway...enjoy him. thanks for the replies.
That slide tackle Armando made in the box, was so unnecessary. That's how you get red cards in the first half and concede PKs
Looking good in attack BWP had a good chance for a second that was squandered. Defense is not super tight right now though
Awesome game from the whole team, not a single bad performance! Easily Dax's best game of the season, possibly Miller's best game of his entire Red Bull career. Alexander looks like a new man, I don't know what's gotten into him these past two games but I hope he keeps up this level of confidence and aggression. Can't decide if I'm more excited for BWP to get his hat trick, or gutted for Bover to have his first goal taken away...
I really wanted Bover to get that, he was so happy when he thought he scored it. I thought Petke should have subbed him in when it was 3-0 to get him some game time, or even take Olave out since he had that knock earlier
Eckersley will be fine. Everyone calm down. We looked amazing for the last 30 of both halves. Love it. What I didn't love was the Houston announcer constantly showing massive ignorance. I cringed with every erroneous factoid, mispronunciation and reference to The Red Bull. These announcers are so hyperpartisan.......
Especially considering we have another game in 3 days, he really should have made some changes earlier. No need to save your second sub till the 83rd minute when you're up 3-0. Petke himself admits that he's still got a lot of things to learn as a coach, making more effective use of his subs is one of them.
Your location says New Jersey. Why were you watching with Houston announcers? MLS gave Henry Man of the Match. I wonder how many times this season MLS will not give a player with a hat trick Man of the Match.
For the same reason smaller market MLS teams get inferior coverage or promotion by the league regardless of their competitiveness. Thierry Henry's brand is valuable to MLS. Wright-Phillips, not so much. What does a NY player have to do to get noticed over Henry or Cahill? Score more than three goals, apparently.
Alright I concede, Miller is off my bench. He had a great game and has not been making any of those bone-headed mistakes. Hats off to him, I hope this version is here to stay! Also thought Bover looked very good the time he was out there. Although many others deserve accolades such as Robles, Henry, etc... the main highlight for me was the continued importance of BWP, and not just cause he scored a hat-trick. He continues to show why having an out-and-out striker in our lineup is essential. He is making the runs that only forwards think about (I'm generalizing yes). He did this against MTL, and then numerous times on Wed. I'm convinced that he needs to stay in the starting XI, especially since Henry drops back at times, which is ok. What you don't want is both your strikers not in a position to make striker movements, which happened at times when Henry is paired with Luyindula or Cahill up top. Now, the next question is what will Petke do when Cahill is available? Obviously Cahill HAS to be on the field (heck I would start him at CB if I had too), tough answer. While I never thought I'd say before the season started, I'm beginning to think that our best starting XI may be without Dax. How do you not roll out a midfield of: Alexander--Luyindula--Cahill--Sam I'm not trying to bash on Dax, he has been slowly improving throughout the season (maybe due to his back issues?), but he just hasn't shown the same consistency as the last few seasons. And again, it is a good problem to have of having a hard time fitting 5 players like Dax, Sam, Luyindula, BWP, and Alexander into essentially 4 spots in your Midfield/Forwards. (I'm assuming Cahill and Henry are givens) Most of the time not all 7 of those players are healthy and ready to go so it's not usually an issue, but hey we gotta talk about something right?