First time I've seen him. Does Cascio know how to run? And Portland scores...my second comment was going to be...this back line is SLOW
Didn't see anything exciting. We know what we have in last season's starters. None of the new guys impressed me. IMO...Omar isn't the answer to any of our questions. We still need an actual striker. And we still need a "True #10!" (Channeling my inner Juvie)
That game seemed like the normal Dynamo game....pretty good play overall, but never creating any good chances in the box, then giving up a couple of goals on the few chances the other team had all night. Ugh!
I thought that We looked good with Ownby, and Alex playing. Seone had some decent set piece kicks. Alex looked good in creating, and passing, but sucked on the other side of the ball.
Not sure how to view the game in it's entirety as many starters like Boni and Clark seemed to be just putting in the minimum. Bruner takes out his own player and then gets his pocket picked for the first goal. oof. No one looks dangerous running forward on our team except Cascio, Ownby, Sito, or Barnes. Th old Omar with the gleam in his eye seems to be now just another poacher in the que. Barnes is still better at forward I don't think he is our solution at AM. Portland is well coached and press really well when they want to. It sets up their whole attack which is just fast break, We have no fast break version of our offense. Good news is Lopez looked better but he definitely is NOT an attacking forward - his field persona seems to be more of a holding midfielder. He makes good passes going forward but he stops and watches instead of sprinting forward to get in the final third. Anyway better attitude from him today.
I don't envision Brunner as a starter on this squad anyway. Dom brought him in for much needed depth at the CB position last year and what foresight that turned out to be. I see him filling that same role for us this season as well.
Match should have ended 0-0. Two shitty giveaways. Boring match with the reserves playing for 60 minutes on each side. It reminded me of the Dynamo from last preseason. And they made the playoffs. So I don't know what I'm seeing.
I'm pretty sure i saw sigi Schmidt in the benches behind the goalkeeper . Dempsey for Cummings #geterdonezigs
These early preseason friendlies really can brutal to watch, and they don't say anything about a team as a whole. Players are trying to get fit, or make the cut. What did you think of the players? Anyone standout?
Your seeing a bunch of guys on the pitch that will likely never be on at the same time and two teams that have been back at it for only about a week. So pre-season.
i've slept on it, Alex Lopez isnt playing as badly as some are saying. i think some of you are expecting a Stu Holden run after everything kind of midfielder but that aint him. not too worried (yet).
I've come to the realization that we will see what happens when something like a DP comes to this club. You build nothing but a running negative opinion about a player. The expectations for this player grows with the negative opinion and he, in most minds, will never satisfy the opinion you've already built for them. Lopez has something the Dom sees will blossom and its up to the player to produce. If he doesn't we know it was for lack of motivation on the clubs part. We've seen it first hand with Davis and OBG. Others just didn't or couldn't match the drive this team demands. That's one thing over the past 8 yrs this team has been here. The staff, plus the fans demand A LOT from our players on the field and when they train. It's a hard working, putting in a full shift every single time you step on the pitch and nothing less will be tolerated. Not every player is cut out for this kind atmosphere and the pressure can be immense for those without that kind of strong spirit.
This last scrimmage for him was much better than the one against Colorado. Nobody should be drawing too much of anything from these two games though.
I agree with you. I actually think he has looked pretty good - but he is a different type of player then we have had in that role. We went from Dero to Holden to a collection of defensive middies. He reminds me a bit of Beckerman when he plays well: Composed, relaxed, and looking for the right pass but is not going to wow you with one v one or speed. Listen whatever you think of Beckerman, I would take him now.
Cascio looked good - not quite as good against Colorado because Portland plays defense better but he had a nice run ad pass to Omar for a chance in the box. He got open and had good chance in the box that he went to the endline and put a dangerous diaginal ball in. So still looking good. Live stream made it tough to tell the three apart in midfield but: Carrasco - I just could tell him apart from Sito all that well and he seemed to be on the other side of the field frm the camera alot. I don't remember any feats of remarkable skill. I thought Lopez held the ball better and made some good passes and turned it over less against Portland than he did on Sunday. He isn't very fast so likes to use his body in possession to shield off opposing players instead dribbling out of pressure. He seems to lose some tackles this way because he is a little smaller or slower than players like Nagby. He did that a few times in the middle of the park which led to counters (and we all know how we hate defending counters). However; an equal number of times while diddling around he made some nice simple short movements that drew midfielders toward him and he was able to slip some nice passes to others. He needs to get forward more (sprint some will ya?) after combining on the pass though. Sito made one or two very nice passes and he does get forward quickly after combining with others I think he made one nice difficult pass over the top to a player running into the box that dropped just perfectly. Another time he recieved a pass nearthe top of the penalty area and made a nifty move to get space for himself for a shot /pass? dificult to see from the camera as he was on the other side of the field. Ownby - dude has some speed and he's a littler bigger than last year. Technically he has a good touch and likes to challenge defenders. He looks good a right midfield. Holden - looked decent. Very strong player and has a confidence about himself. The kind of confidence that says I am not worried about you when I have the ball at my feet. A couple of times of times he lost the ball and tackled it right back to himself to keep possession. I can not tell if he is as fast as Chabala but the contrast and compare betwen the two may need to start. Holden was on the other side of the field from the Camera so again... Sherrod - hold up play was good and he is willing to challenge guys in the air. He seemed to always be alone up top with no one close to him. Hard to play in a position like that. You can tell he wantsto make the team really bad. He wants it. I think his touch is good and he uses his body well and in one instance suckered a defender in to body him and then spun him away to get in behind him with acres of space. I think he is a smart player and may eventually give Bruin a run for his money. Scoff at me but what the hell, I'm just goofy today. Cochran - looked good with Horst but not so good covering up for Bruner. Very confident the first in the first sixty but a little shakey when he replaced Arena. Horst - pretty good but he was in when we were dominating play for the first 60. One of these guys had a nice cross on their CB heads inside the box but they didn't get it on target. Arena - not alot of minutes in and man, did he get leveled by Bruner. I was worried about him - hope he is OK. I still would like to see him as an outsideback like he played in college. Hope these observations of the newer / trialists players are of interest to you....
#14 was the only player that I was critical of during the match. Tally Hall was one of the two standout players. The other was one of the defenders (I'm assuming the captain). Loudest person on the field.