http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2012/06/30/goal-early-equalizer-daniel Let's put the Daniel issue to bed. Corey is ball-watching while his man is INSIDE of him in a dangerous spot near the 18, and so far away his man can SETTLE THE BALL AND TURN ON GOAL WITHOUT PRESSURE TO THE INSIDE and whack a shot on goal UNTOUCHED. There are so many defensive no-nos there it's not funny. Kind of looks to me like Hall was screened. He probably still needs to react better but IMO the original sin(s) are Corey's. [FWIW I'm not a fan of Davis' defense on the play either, similarly vaguely in the area of his man....we did not come out of the locker room in the right frame for the second straight game. But Davis not always playing defense is a known known that you accept in trade for the offense.]
This is good info. I had the same angle on it as Kinnear and it was not obvious at all that it deflected. Just looked like Hall caught got napping. I can't see how Hall does more with a deflection like that. I just watched this goal several times in slow-mo and stopping it second to second. It is just a weird play. Yes, Corey lets a guy turn goal-side . But Camargo has gotten himself stranded up out of the play. Cameron was out as well. Too much space in front of the D line. Boswell is free. Ashe is cheating to his left which gives Daniel too much space to his right especially with no MF help. Really a weird play. I'm pretty sure the Defensive shape is not what Dom wants but I don't know exactly how it should be different. PHU switch the point of attack from their left to their right and the Dynamo are just slow to get shifted correctly. What exactly correctly is I'm not sure.
I was at the game and but I was sitting on the rail at the South end end line so you may have had a different view but I saw the shot taken well outside the box, with the player's left foot striking the ball towards the right of Tally. The TV angle isn't conclusive to support your claim but I can imagine that a deflection could have happened. although it must have been slighter than you describe. If there was a deflection, it wasn't obviously a significant alteration of where the shot was going by my view or the TV view. The replay also showed that Brad was not in position to cover his man (Brian Carroll) wide left who put in the assisting pass. If there was a slight deflection, it had to happen right at the top of the box and there was time for Tally to make the save. Maybe more difficult than what I had described before but saveable. At least worth a try since Tally had not left his feet. IMO Tally deserves more of the blame. Fans just need to be objective about the performance of all the players on the team's defensive breakdowns instead on laying everything on Corey.
Camargo really doesn't appear like he is ever going to be comfortable as an attacking midfielder. He passed backward mostly and doesn't like taking players on the dribble going forward. He did pass well out of the back when he switched back to more of a defensive midfielder. I think we alternate him with Moffat and see who wins out. I liked Kandji the first half but he really lost the ball and had alot of bad give aways the second half. I think despite his mistakes that we can continue to improve him through playing time. Boniek was a great boost where ever he played. Ownby continues to show well just needs more experience and growth defensively. I also think Brian has two or three more years playing the the club as a late sub. His hold up play and passing are better than Bruin's right now. His experience shows. in his play and was one of the keys to our win. Give the team and the coach credit for another hard earned result.
I didn't have a good view of the goal. I was thinking there might have been a deflection since Tally didn't move, but I was guessing too that Tally was shielded and couldn't see the shot. He looked surprised by it and I heard them say the same thing on the radio as I was leaving the stadium. The scary thing was how quickly we came close to giving up another one just after that. We looked clueless there for a while.
I am 100% sure it was deflected. I do see on the replays that you can sort of see the ball change rotation when it hits Taylor but since the team/FS Houston is too cheap to man an endzone camera (a huge pet peeve of mine but most MLS teams do the same thing) you can't see the change in direction. The breakdown in defense starts early and continues until Ashe is on the wrong side of the attacker. We seem to have this problem coming out of the half and after we score a goal.
I am not disputing that you may have seen a deflection - but from my angle, the TV angle and another poster's angle there was not much change in the flight path of the ball. If it did change the flight path slightly at the top of the box, then Tally had enough time to react rather than watch even if he was leaning the wrong way initially. He did this against Toronto as well - he is paid too much to not try. The Ball did roll in abut 6 feet away from him - even if he fell over to his right he could have stuck an arm out and touched it. Ashe is not the main problem on defense, it's more collective. It starts in the midfield and goes all the way back to Tally.
-OBG look pretty dang good. I loved how when he got the ball he wasnt looking from some safe pass or an easy way to get rid of the ball like is so typically houston. He dribbling into space and attempted some balls that were good ideas. He had to been tired from going the full 90. As much as i want to see him again, I am not sure he can go 90 on tuesday; he was wearing out towards the end. The guy is small. Do the dynamo have any specific strength and conditioning program? We need to get that kid down to Plex. -ERob even pointed it out on the broadcast, Ashe was cheating for the pass and not goal side. Ashe needs to do what he used to do. Take the ball almost to the end line then bounce it off the defender for a corner. That way he can drop back and Davis can take the kick. -Hopefully Mac got some glory out of that assist and now realizes that passes can also work out well. -I am really liking what i see from Ownby. -With Ownby looking promising and OBG here, where does that leave Clark? Its nice to finally have some depth. -The monkey is off of Chings back now. Look for more goals to come. Although the PK was only 1 foot from keeping the BBVA curse alive. -I like the Ching for Bruin sub. I like Ching off the bench plus we need to cut his minutes midseason so it still got plenty in the take for final playoff push. I would say only use the Ching and Bruin combo for road games when we can play more conservatively and just try and capitalize on our set piece game.
Last post on this for me. One Shocktop on draft did not impair my judgement or view of this. Shot taken deflected off of Taylor's leg with overspin/sidespin and went right of Hall vs. left of Hall (as Tally read it). Tally may have overcommited a bit but the shot did not lose much pace and he was not nearly as close to it as you may think he was. I was generally in-line of the shot from behind in the lower sidelines. I was not bothered by Hall not saving it at all as it was just a bad break from a deflection.
I think the defense is frightening, but Ashe will literally cost you goals by himself, like, practically every weekend. He will get outjumped, beaten to the line, faked out of his shorts, stripped of the ball, short a backpass, or not even be close to his man. As bad as the defense looked last night, a relatively punchless Philly team didn't get practical results until at the expense of Davis and Ashe (the initial issue is they changed fields and Davis didn't get to the ball quick enough.....which is Davis' problem and not the other midfielders'......and then the telling mistake is Corey is not within yards of his man). Now, big picture, I agree we have a collective speed issue, but any one of the backs composing the speed problem would be competent -- in contrast to Corey -- by himself, were their sheer numbers reduced. The problem is using too many slow guys together. The 10 issue was when like Serioux, Boz, and Hainault played together, and this is Taylor for Serioux. I've always felt you can ony get away with being "SO" slow as a defensive unit before teams can expose you for speed no matter how good of Old Man Soccer you can play were the attacker/ ball to come right at you....witness Boz's important tackle on an island last night.
I like watching Ownby fight because sometimes this team seems a little too controlled, drilled, positional. But he's headed Ashe's end in terms of sloppiness, half the time he's fighting to regain a ball he lost. Gotta work on the touch. In terms of how he relates to Clark, like I said during the recent games, the fact that an energy guy who's sloppy as all get out outplays the technical Clark, indicates how limited Clark's contribution is (and Carr's as well IMO). I shouldn't be, "wow, a decent right side cross for a change...." Because Carr couldn't do anything but wormburners and Clark for some reason can't even get open anymore. Maybe people figured out he's an inverted lefty and his shtick is no longer effective. I think Boniek will be the primary beneficiary but I think Ownby will also benefit as a sub from the same DK affection for sheer effort that results in Ashe starting. Far as I am concerned, better for all of us that the Clark/ Carr/ etc. era is moving on.
I was right behind the goal when Daniel took the shot. The ball MOST DEFINITELY deflected off of Taylor's leg. Hall was already leaning left until the deflection. The deflection caught him. The problem was that Corey Ashe let Daniel turn inside, which should never happen. Look at his positioning before the play starts. He is not even goalside of his attacker, which is something that is taught to 9 year olds. If he can't get that right, he doesn't need to play left back for us.
There were no shows in my section as well, but I know many people were getting a jump on the Fourth and headed out of town. And the Dynamo ticket exchange program makes it a lot easier to be a no-show! If I am going to miss a game and can exchange my tickets for a future game, I'm less likely to give them to a friend, or sell them. And I know this is sacrilegious because we all want sell outs every night. But last night was the first time that a game at BBVA felt "normal" to me. The people who were there, were not there to see the stadium. They were there to watch the game. Personally I'll take 17,000 (or whatever the actual number was) soccer fans, over 22,000 "tourists" every time.
Word. Looking at the empty seats i knew there were less people there, but for everything else it was business as usually. Not much of a drop of in atmosphere. I am relatively close to the SS though.
Do yourself a favor and go onto MLS Soccer and watch the highlight of their goal #1 Ashe is way off HIS man he does not know the meaning of shirt tight #2 He is completley the wrong side of his man allowing him to turn inside towards the goal #3 He makes NO EFFORT to put in a tackle or get close #4 He makes NO EFFORT to block the shot Its not going to get any better he was a U17 National team player and played at North Carolina he's had good coaching its just going to go downhill from here. So take a look and let us all know what you think On a lighter note who is the joker who puts the 5' 5" 11 year old to walk out with CA every week!!
actually did you see the kid that came out with Valdes? Or was it Farfan? The kid freaking towered over the Union player and he was probably 10.
Err, like the 3-4-Cameron-2 we played to get the draw against Toronto? That was about the best practical example of Dom tactically varying formation you can find. I'd think we could run the same formation with Davis - Camargo - Watson in the midfield, let Camargo drop as more of a holding mid. I do think that formation fit Kandji very well, I also thought Taylor was solid at centerback. While I'm going to hate to lose Cameron (whether it happens sooner or later) Taylor has been one of our best defenders this season, and while he doesn't have Geoff's pace he's no doubt faster than BB.com or Hainault and I think is the best complement to either Bobby or Andre (as opposed to the two of them together).
I took some photos, CLICK HERE TO SEE THEM In this photo album Costly makes an appearance, the front row is empty, and Dom cheers
I'm amazed how many people actually thought this was a "Good" game from the Dynamo. If you want to say it was a "Better" game than being behind to some bad teams from North of the Border then you may be on to something there but what does that really say against another bottom tier team that happened to play a Midweek game? Dom thought it was such a "Good" game that he cancelled the Off Day and had the team practice yesterday. That should tell you all you need to know.
I'm just about to jump on the "bench Ashe" bus. The only problem is that I don't know who would do better from the subs. I'm not sold on Ownby yet. He has been great at times, but is pretty raw like Cruz was for us in 2010. I'm missing the smart possession game that the Dynamo used to have. The last few minutes of the match against Philly were terrible. Hall has seemed off the last couple of months. I'm not sure if it's due to the terrible defending or what. He is lacking intensity, visibly.
Why all the negative stuff? Forget the b*tching, this team ain't perfect, but we have many reasons to celebrate, pick the one(s) you want: We won! We have improved our attack! We scored on the run of play! Boniek may actually be the real thing! Dom changed his formation! We have a DP (sort of)! We have a Honduran player in our team (again)! Dom gave Kandji and Boniek a start! Ching is a great forward coming off the bench! Boniek to dancing bear (sort of) to Kandji to Davis -> GOL! Ching scored his first goal at BBVA! Crevalle and Ownby got playing time! SGs were rocking and so were the rest of the fans. Atmosphere was awesome! Rain stopped and let us enjoy our game! Hydro's Pupusa Truck offered 33% more curtido for free this Sunday! Philly could have scored one more against us and we may have gotten lucky! We finally get a PK that favors us! We won, we won, we won! Of course, y'all find many reasons to argue and many reasons to bring me down, but I am going to enjoy this happy win and hope that we do it again on Tuesday!
I think Corey might have been benched if Moffat hadn't been suspended. We had Geoff at DM and Taylor in the middle. If Taylor was able, he could have been at LB and had Corey benched. I am not a Corey hater but he needs a wake up call to get back on track. He has had a horrendous year. I still think his greatest strength is to get by his man on the first touch and cause them to foul and get us a free kick in the attacking third, something he just does recognize or is not trying to do.
I think you're overrating Ashe's contribution if you don't think we have bench material to replace him. Creavalle might be worth trying out there, because he seems to have defensive instincts, some speed, and some composure. I believe he was partly responsible for a Vancouver goal but the defense in general has a lot of "he was responsible" going on right now and at least Creavalle would have an inexperience excuse. I also think we're sitting smack in a transfer window where we can deal with the defensive issues if we prioritize. I can't be fatalistic when we just worked on our wing mid problem by signing someone from abroad. It's not sexy but if we retain Cameron might be enough to make us competitive. I basically agree about Ownby, he's kind of Ashe with fight, but used properly energy off the bench is a good thing. Rather have him fighting and occasionally getting balls to people than Carr and Clark doing nothing. I like having speed and fight off the bench, as opposed to just a second-rate version of the technical players in the first team. I mean, you might want one technical guy who can deliver a cross available, but Clark can't even seem to get open. In terms of the possession game, it was weird to me that we'll back pass all day but not so much when we need to keepaway. And a 433 might be spread a bit for keepaway. But I think the big issue is talent, whatever people think of Clark he was pretty slick for what he did, DeRo, obvious, the defense wasn't weighed down by an Ashe-type (compare with Barrett). We've trended defensive in terms of recruitment so it should be no surprise they're more accustomed to long shots and home run passes than incisive possession. Hopefully Boniek is a step in the right direction, although he's not perfectly sharp so far.