I'm trying to take this one calmly, but SJ is really good at pushing my buttons. I don't think there is any argument, we dropped 2 points. Maybe we didn't expect to actually win this one, but that doesn't mean we should be okay with the tie. To be fair there was a lot that was out of our control like the referee and Maund getting injured. There were a lot of positives in this match, if the match ended after the first half we'd be giddy as hell right now. It's what happened in the 2nd half that stings right now and as you guys have said we made a bad decision by bunking. Hopefully we learn a lot from this one.
Against a team that plays a very physical game we cannot bunker since we will end up conceding fouls that lead to set pieces. We were a lot faster in the attack than last years team Sabo was stopped twice by the quakes GK. Usually at least one of those goes in The subs did not work out this time but hopefully the learning curve is not too steep We got tired towards the end - potentially this can be addressed Gil is not as defensive minded as Morales
Last night's game (obviously) was a tale of two halves, and the difference was that some of our young and inexperienced players simply ran out of gas. I don't think the problem is necessarily fitness, more like a lack of the wisdom and experience necessary to save some of yourself for the end of the game. Four players in particular showed this, and the rest of the team suffered as a result. First, Luis Gil. If you watch only the first half you can see that Gil is RSL's future attacking mid when Morales is done. Gil was pulling the strings of an effective attack that scored three goals in 45 minutes against a tough conference opponent on the road, and he was heavily involved in all three goals. In the second half he showed that he cannot yet keep that pace for a full 90, but I am fully confident that he will be able to if he gets a handful more opportunities in that position. He did not play poorly enough that he needed to come off at 60, he just needed to be moved back to the side of the diamond. The ideal sub in my mind, if it had been available, would have been Velasquez for Mullholland and Gil moved out to the side with Seba taking the point. Perhaps the best option given the available players would have been Jordan Allen in for Mullholland and playing the top of the diamond with Gil out to the side. Allen played that position once in the preseason, right? And came in for Morales against LA? Next, Luke Mullholland. Mullholland has proved his worth in both games so far this year, but in the end he is a rookie in the league and that was his first MLS start. I think it was the right decision to sub him off rather than Grabs, simply because Grabs is a known quantity and you KNOW he will still be solid enough at the end of the game, while Mullholland would have been a gamble. He may have caught a second wind and made a difference in the outcome, but he also may have fallen apart late and cost us even more than the last second equalizer we gave up. Joao Plata. He has certainly been the best forward in both of our games so far but he has never been a 90 minute starter. In an ideal situation Findley and Plata will split time at the position every game this year, and having Findley up top to provide a threat late in the game last night could have been the difference. Jordan Allen played well, but at no point did an Earthquakes defender decide not to go forward because they were afraid of what Allen was going to do behind them. Last, Aaron Maund. The guy has been lights out. But I can't help but think that he was simply getting tired just like our other young guys. I don't know the nature or extent of the injury, but I suspect that he would have been much less likely to get hurt if he wasn't as gassed as he looked, and he may have stayed on and played through it if it wasn't serious. I think RSL wins if he could have stayed on the field. The effect on the rest of the team was quite obvious. Nat Borchers is no longer capable of putting the whole defense on his back and carrying the team. As soon as we give him a starter that can play 90 minutes game after game, no matter which player it is, our D will be fine. Saborio had no service or support at all in the second half. Say what you want about his energy, but when he is the only guy up front and the only balls coming his way are long clearances from Borchers and Rimando, there is not much any forward could have done. If you put another theat up there with him, like a healthy Robbie Findley or Olmes Garica, I think he could have done something. If you had a creative playmaker in the game in the second half like a healthy and fit Morales or subbed on Sebastian Velasquez, I think he would have gotten something done. The same applies to Grabavoy. he disappeared because there were simply no attacking players left for him to combine effectively with, not because the quality of his play decreased. The outlook is good though. The story of the season is going to be the youth movement. Our old stalwarts are going to starting missing time with injuries, it is inevitable. But last night we earned a tough road point and got our young depth a lot of experience. If our depth continue to get this experience, and continue to earn results while they are getting it, we will be in a great position at the end of the season.
Jordan Allen was poor even before the injury. Having him get the main responsibility for defending Salinas was nuts. His positioning was poor and he was easy to beat. But with Morales out and Seba out, we didn't have any other midfielders on the bench; we would have needed to go to five in the back (Mansally or Stertzer) or keep two in front (Olmes) if the Plata sub was to be made (and I think he was more than gassed).
Matthew Doyle's regular MLSSoccer.com column "Three Things" after yesterday's games are here. Thought three: Luis Gil is becoming a playmaker.
Now, now. Lenhart is the classic guy you hate when he is on the other team, but are glad to have when he is pulling the shenanigans for your team.
I think you missed the point I was making. Not OK at all with giving up another late goal and bunkering extra early. Keeping the way the game ended as an aside, I'll take 4 points in 2 road games any day.
One thing I hadn't seem before from Sabo was that he got frustrated very easily when that ball wasn't immediately passed to him when he thought he was open and calling for it. Saw this a couple of time which was probably out of camera view since the ball was on the right. The right midfielder failed to recognize the play forming and Sabo threw up his hands and gave up progressing. In one of those plays the ball eventually squeeze through and if he was prepared, it could have been a good opportunity on goal. I know that kind of thing would eat at me after a while.
Being down 3-1 with only 1 starter on the backline and coming back to get a point in epic fashion is reason to celebrate.
Then do so?!? Like, i dunno, but my idea of celebration isn't spending time on some other team's boards. That seems boring to be honest. I'm just joking, as much as I'd like to believe it wouldn't be the case you're probably right.
He's a guy that doesn't deserve to earn a salary. I wouldn't want him on my team at all. If the refs grew a pair, he wouldn't get away with his antics. Sadly the MLS loves the overly physical play, so players like him get away with it.
But honestly, you can't blame the guy for working the system if he keeps getting away with it. Someone like Lenhart brings something we really don't have; the a-hole that gets under the other team's skin and draws cards. We seem to get more PKs against and more reds against by what seems like a fairly wide margin that have continually cost us points. It would be refreshing to at least even out those points lost. If you remember when we first started that Mastroeni and Beckerman were persona non-grata more so than probably any other players in the league. I remember when we traded for him that I mentioned how much I think we got over on Colorado; and there were a number of people who thought I was wrong and that we would regret the trade. I also remember the first few games he started for us that there was some lusty booing going on. I really liked him from the start though since he brought a little bit of that A-hole with him from Colorado.
I like young players getting minutes but Allen should not have come into that game. He just looks scared out there. He aint ready to play important minutes yet.
Given the weak PK's/Red's against us, do you really think a guy like Lenhart would magically make those go away? Look back at the last few years and how often we've had PK's and Reds given against us, and how often they were actually legitimate. Lenhart would only make that worse. He's a guy that should flat out not be in the league. I can't blame him for gaming the system, but the refs should actually call him on it instead of buying ti game in and game out. I'll say flat out, that I don't care if getting a guy like Lenhart wins us a title with his antics, I don't want him. I hated when Espindola would flat out dive, and Lenhart is easily 10x worse than that. The sooner we get that shit out of the league the better.
I looked it up. I just looked at regular season matches. Since Rimando came, RSL back up keepers are 5-7-8 when Nick does not play.
There broadcast crew is still horrible. In fact, I thought the color guy was the same one from last year just trying out an English accent. Pure homerism. Just watch the foul on Allen late in the game to get a perfect example. According to them, that was Allen knowing when someone was behind him and then going down rather than him being tackled from behind dangerously and getting hurt. They are still the worst broadcast crew in MLS.
Let's see how you feel coming into a game and having to deal with people that look like this... And they get to thug away, getting other players yellows for fouls while guys like Lennie get one for being a smarta**. Not to mention, having to come in cold to cover Koval, who was ripping up the RSL midfield isn't exactly a winning proposition most of the time.
He played important minutes the week before… so, that's not the issue. The issue was he was in a different type of game that he was not well-suited for. The coach may not have known that, but hopefully now does.
Hmmmm... Once I got over the whole "we blew it" feelings, this game wasn't particularly hard to evaluate. The Goonies are and were who we all thought they were. They play the ugliest soccer in the league and goon it up at every opportunity. It's not like the RSL coaching staff didn't know this. Further, with a keeper who cannot control his box on high balls late with tons of traffic, this becomes a match-up challenge for RSL. BUT, we didn't have the pieces available to counter the route 1 ball that we knew was coming late in the game. Nat has lost whatever vertical he used to have (which wasn't much). Maude is only average in the air. Once he went out, our first option off the bench was Salcedo, who is poor in the air. Without Shuler, I'm surprised it took as long as it did for them to score. As to Sabo, well, he was left in the game for 2 purposes: 1) find a goal on the counter (which he should have had which would have iced the game at 4-2); and 2) to help defend set-pieces (which he screwed up completely by letting his mark get free by 2 yards on goal #2.) I don' think it was an error by the coaching staff to leave him in as, right now, we don't have another forward who can perform #2, but, damn, he f$%^ed up his responsibilities and cost RSL the game. Other quick thoughts...Plata has learned how to keep out of tackles...he bounces off of them now and keeps the ball - a huge improvement in his game. Mulholland is going to get a bunch of goals this year. His timing crashing late is impeccable. That is a gift, not a learned skill. Nice pick up by RSL. So, based on the players we had available and the way the game played out, I think we take the tie, learn the lessons, and get ready for the Galaxy counter-attack.
I expect a crew to show a little bit of homerism. While I didn't agree with everything their new crew said, I thought they were heads and shoulders better than last year. Last year's crew (I think they were there for more than one season) didn't even seem to know the laws of the game. There were far too many times that they would object to a call simply because it was against SJ without understanding what the referee may have blown his whistle for. At least this year, the guys understand what is happening on the field.
The first thing I thought of when I saw that picture was Ric Flair - Wooo! Man, I hate the Earthquakes.
There is only one Douchequakes player that should ever be considered one I would want to see on RSL and that is Salinas, the rest are completely out of the question. Salinas is quite a talent in terms of taking players on, going 1v1 against defenders going towards goal. We could REALLY use a guy like that as I don't think we have anyone on our roster right now with those capabilities (even Morales). Right now I wouldn't be opposed at all to trading either Wingert or Beltran or both for an outside back who is capable of being even somewhat of an offensive threat. It was flat out embarrassing watching Wingert get the ball with half the field in front of him and only one player to beat and him having absolutely ZERO moves to get past the defender. His service was lousy and he looked completely brick footed trying to get forward. Beltran was marginally better going up the right. I long for the days of Robbie Russell.
This picture makes me want to punch my computer screen sooooooo bad. I've never seen a soccer picture that makes me want to smash my monitor like this.