Not counting the scrimmage played against the college team, this Saturday will be game #20 of the one goal cap. Is this a MLS record? Even DCU, the worst team in the league last year, didn't approach this streak. It appears DCU's worst stretch was 11 games. So that being said, when does this team actually score more than one goal in a single game? Is this team realistically a playoff contender when it can't manage more than one? First option should say March 29.
I'd pick the option that the "Union won't sign a forward who had finishing ability the rest of the season."
I think they have a good chance this weekend. I could see them break the one goal cap, hold the lead for most of the match, give up the tying goal late. Because. This is the Union. (Actually I think they win this weekend. With or without two goals.)
If 1 goal = 3 points, then I'm good. No point in making this a bigger deal than it really is. The midfield has been completely retooled, and we're only 3 games into the regular season with these new players, so put a big fat asterisk next to that 19/20-game streak. Mountain, meet mole hill.
I'm kinda with Dills on this one. While I'd love to see them score more goals, I don't give a rat's behind if they score a half a goal, as long as they win the game. 3 points is 3 points!
If you expect this team to grind out 1-0 results in the vein of the '11 Union, then it's not a problem. But do you realistically see this happening between MacMath and another reshuffled back line?
MacMath has his fair share of howlers. And yet he also has his moments of brilliance. What's his record like over this 1-goal 20-game stretch? Namely, how many shutouts? One new player does not a reshuffled back line make. Seeing as Williams, Okugo, Gaddis, and Fabinho have been playing together for a while now, yeah, I think it's pretty realistic.
I'm willing to wait a few more matches before the sky is falling. Despite how well we played in Portland, our new attack has only played 2 games together and 3 games total.
We don't need to think about the fact that this is a new midfield since they aren't the ones scoring goals to begin with! This is not just an important issue but it is critical to the success of the Union. They must start scoring multiple goals a game. How else is Jack going to get to Europe? This isn't the PED era of baseball so we don't need asterisks here. Doesn't matter how many shutouts he has, we must score!!! And who needs stability in the back line since they don't help us score goals (except headers on corners, or William's long throws which don't happen often). I have decided to randomly select a poster and disagree with everything they say just because.....and this week you were the 'winner'.
Jack wants a "through ball every once in a while", or some shit, so he's blaming his (lack of scoring) on the midfield. Hack can call this a 4-3-3, but it's clearly not ... something more like a 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1. Either way, Jack is the tip of the sword, and he can't be expected the shoulder the load all by himself. If we only score one, and they score none, guess what, we win. Damn, I am special.
During this 19 game "streak", the Union gave up: 2013 Regular Season Shutouts: 4 games Single Goal: 3 games Multiple Goal: 3 games 2014 Preseason Shutouts: 1 game Single Goal: 4 games Multiple Goals: 1 game 2014 Regular Season: Shutouts: 1 game Single Goal: 1 game Multiple Goals: 1 game Total: Shutouts: 6 games Single Goal: 8 games Multiple Goal: 5 games The "Multiple Goal" games are all 2-goal games, except for the 5-1 loss to New England last August. Meaning the Union are also on a 17-game streak (if you count preseason, which you shouldn't) of not allowing more than 2 goals. Do we give that its own thread, too?
So our record is 6W 8D 5L 26 points from those games.... 1.4 points a game...good enough for the playoffs!
1.4 won't be good enough. MTL snuck in the 5th seed at 1.44, every other team was 1.5 and up. In 2012, the top 9 were all 1.56 and up VAN made it at 1.26. It was good enough in 2011, but remember THE MLS broke open an expansion pack after that season, skewing the statistical sample. Next year will be even more difficult to predict with 2 additional sides entering, but the trend is, more teams = more points needed to qualify.I'd say the days are gone where you're a playoff team under 50 points.
You're right, I was using a different number of regular season games. I still think we are playoff team this season.... We just need to score more