Not to be a douche or sanctimonious, but anyone find the contrast between my posts and Ups to be a bit humorous?
Johhny Steele was garbage today. Possession is nothing if your not trying to score. Rimando made a mistake and it was the difference. today sucks!!!
In general, when you feel you should start something you are about to say with an apology, you shouldn't say it. So, yeah, it came off as douchey and sanctimonious.
That's not how I saw it. I saw RSL bring in Morales and Saborio who are both not yet game fit and lacking in cohesion with the rest of the team. So, similar to last game, after they came in RSL had less control of the midfield and became less threatening. We owned the first half but couldn't find the net, we were without form or structure in the second half. Credit Chivas and Frazer for making adjustments at the half and taking advantage. They had huge amounts of possession, played aggressively and found the ball more quickly than RSL did. It paid off with several opportunities. But, it shouldn't have resulted in a goal because it was still short of quality. They took advantage of an error (Some say Nick's though it may be Schuler who didn't get out of his way) and cleaned up the junk. Game over. RSL initially responded with improved quality, but it was discontinuous. Some of opportunities came but, again, no finishing. But, here's the thing, after they didn't convert anything, RSL became a bit desperate and lost their collective head. Nothing of real quality ever emerged after that. And, Kennedy is quality. Mackenzie is a loss that has come back to bite us. He owned Espindola. I'm hoping the good news that comes from this is a realization that the team needs to play full bear and not go to sleep when Morales and Saborio come on. And Morales and Saborio need to work hard on re-integration with the team.
I really hope this was just a bad showing by Steele, because so far I'm not impressed. Ugh, what a sucky game. Who's your man of the match? I can't think of anyone who really stood out.
Mackinzie was MOtM... sadly. Steele... overplaying due to over excitement. The game was lost before he came in, the small burst of quality that came after the Chivas goal had already degraded. His lack of quality didn't make much real difference, IMO.
Tony Beltran played a terrific game IMO. Actually he has played three very good games, and I would say he has been our best player since the away playoff game in Seattle.
Whoever picked us for the SS has to be rethinking that prediction after bending over to a team like Chivas at home. How am I supposed to prepare a Sunday school lesson when I'm in a mood like this...
Agree with upinslc - the subs didn't help, just like last week. We lacked quality in the final third. The passes/finishes were just off. Chivas closed out pretty well. Espindola forced and gave away so much. Morales's touch wasn't there. Saborio's finishes weren't and Steele was hesitant. I could have sworn a Chivas defender handed a ball in the goal mouth in the 2nd half, but I haven't watched replay yet. From where we sat it clearly changed trajectory. I don't think RSL deserved to win necessarily, but I don't think they deserved to lose either. No flow, Chivas wanted it that way and sadly Humpty Dumpty witlessly helped them do it. I hope I never see him ref again, sadly, I probably will. I will give the Goats credit for playing hard and closing down passers and dribblers. They killed time like champs.
Think we just witnessed the letdown I feared. Where did Valasquez go last night? Hope that was just a bad night.
Was it just me, or did it seem like the final 10 minutes were being played through Johnny Steele? It seemed like I was constantly thinking, why is every pass coming to this rookie? Why do we seem to be asking Mr. Steele to make the final pass/play we need for the equalizer?
Well, I'm glad the POAP tickets were all sold out by the time I got there... What a hideous game. Thankfully they gave me rain check tickets for a different game (non POAP night).
Couldn't bear to post last night, so I'm in the thread late. The old, tired formula came into play: Full House = Disappointing Result. We played well last night, just didn't have class on the finishes. It's one of the interesting things about soccer. An inferior team can win any night due to a fluke play. Looking for ward to the IMPACT. Oh, and a big Thank You to RSL for the Subway promotion. I got 2 tickets to 5 games for $100. Sweet!
thought the center ref was horrible and inserted himself into the match. in the first half he was blowing his whistle more than a basketball ref. should have been more yellows for time wasting, at least 3 players. he was right to tell a a defender who faked an injury he had to go to the sideline, but when he walked there he should have been carded. the keeper should have been carded long before for time wasting: one time I counted to 16 seconds (16 one thousand) before putting the ball into play, on a goal kick a RSL player placed the ball on the right hash & the keeper picked up the ball walked it to the left for the goal kick. kennedy had some great saves though edit: also it appeared beckerman gave LaBrocca a nice cleat to the chest that didn't get called I agree with moralas quote: "I think we have to relax a little bit. We were a little nervous playing the ball and I think we have to relax and take more time." that seems to happen most of the time when RSL goes down a goal, too nervous, too forced plays. not the case this year against the galaxy
Yeah, I hate that we have a packed house and lose to a bunker team that fakes injury and wastes time. That is what people hate about soccer, the time wasting, the faking injury,the negative play and no goals. Chivas personified all of that last night, Kennedy saved them, without a quality keeper we would have won that game. Not so sure that McKenzie got away, he had one good game against a team that he knows well, Chivas will struggle because they have no creativity and they can't sit and hope the bunker works every game. Beltran is playing amazingly well, his fitness, pace and touch are so quality. Javi isn't all the way back yet, his delivery was lacking. I was totally confused about the Steele substitution, they were playing seven across the back, we didn't need another midfielder, another forward would have been preferable. Throw Bonfigli out there and lets see what he has, he has a pedigree, we just need to see the ball at his feet. In Steele, I see a left-footed Ned. The referee was clearly out of his depth, on our first goal that was invalidated, he asks Kyle if he wants ten, Kyle clearly says no and he marks it anyway. Makes no reference to "on my whistle" and then walks the 10 and marks that too. I mean, the guy shouldn't be refereeing high school games, MLS really needs to rid itself of these over-dominant, "the game is about me" refs. They destroy the game, they destroy the flow and hurt teams that play positive, attacking football. The card on Schuler was absolutely ridiculous.
A few thoughts: - Fraser out-coached Kreis last night way way bad. Like the Monterrey coach out-coaching him bad. Anything and everything Kreis had up his sleeve, Fraser had an even better counter. Not giving Fraser and Chivas credit for what they did last night would be retarded. They played their game plan perfectly and were rewarded for it. - The lack of speed in our midfield and forwards is killing us. We have nobody on this team that turns at a defender and has the ability to get by them using speed and skill. Espy has some great moves on the ball, so does Paulo, but it means nothing when they do the move, go to explode past, and don't even get a step ahead. Chivas defenders owned our attack last night. - Toothless Possession. Yeah, we had something like 60% of possession (which is a bit misleading, but I'll get to that later) but we have a whopping 3 or 4 shots on frame if I remember correctly. That's terrible. That's inexcusable. - Morales is not game fit. Not even close. The guy needs minutes in reserve games and a couple weeks of training to get his legs back under him. I know he isn't fast by any means, but he looked like an old man with how slow he was out there. - The Sabo hate is baffling. While Javi didn't add anything to the game when he came on, Sabo certainly did. Suddenly we had the ability to play the ball through the air. His combination play was wonderful and should have been finished. His shot off the crossbar was ridiculous. - Kennedy might be the best keeper in this league. He has reaction abilities like Rimando but has a foot or so more on his frame. Really solid keeper that we never looked like scoring on last night. - We didn't deserve to win last night. However, I didn't feel we deserved to lose, either. With that said, Chivas took advantage of our mistakes. We didn't take advantage of the few they offered us (especially in the first half). - Having 60% possession overall in this game is WAYYYY misleading. I'd be curious to know what possession was in the second half up to the Chivas goal. It had to be in their favor because we were chasing the game a lot. After that, they were content sitting back because they knew they had us defended well enough. I hate people that correlate possession with control of the game/better team. Chivas went in to this game like teams that face Barca do. They were willing to give us the middle, they were willing to let us complete 90% of our passes because they were in the middle and defensive third overwhelmingly. Once we got to the final third, though, they clamped down and didn't give us any room to breathe. - Beckerman is having a shitty season so far. Last night made his game against New York look good. He was everywhere and not in a good way. The midfield of Chivas had him completely figured out - especially Minda (#8). Beckerman, with a more strict/consistent ref, probably would have seen red for some of the cheap shit he was doing. I am really disappointed in his play so far this season. - Those of you that are hard on Johnson need to watch last nights game again and ask yourself what kind of player could have really helped RSL get on the board. In my opinion, we were missing a solid box to box midfielder that is willing to put in a little more effort going forward to break down their defense. Johnson seems to be one of the only guys who can consistently do that for us. We need him back. - Jonny Steele better never see the pitch again if the rest of the squad is healthy. His play was beyond pathetic in his few minutes. Passing the ball to Wingert 30 yards away on the other side of the pitch instead of crossing it in himself there at the end was what sent me over the edge. The journeyman midfielder needs to greatly improve his play to stay with this team
I think this is part of the RSL problem, they are to relaxed and aren't willing to pull the trigger when it's available. I feel when they have a shot on goal they make an extra pass or two.