man, you need to settle down (what the hell, why am i the one saying this, i should be the one posting irrational over the top rants). i never said sabo was the only one to go 180. sabo is supposed to act as a release valve up top, it really isnt his job to be tracking back into the defensive third making 50 yard defensive runs. it IS his job to try and get on the end of balls that are being cleared from the defense/midfield. nobody should be getting pissed because the guy didnt make a 20+ yard run to track a chicago forward/midfielder, thats just insane. you should lay off sabo because, although didnt scoring goals in THIS match, he IS doing his job. he's getting his head on balls, holding the ball up, making runs into the box, being a receiving option on clearances, being a FORWARD. he does things that disrupt the flow of the defense, puts them on their heals, makes THEM work. i'm on steele because he wasnt doing his job, at least very well. he was getting burned, he was planting his feet on defensive assignments, he wasnt tracking back on midfielders like a MIDFIELDER is supposed to do, he was making extremely poor touches that took away attacking opportunities and putting the defense in dangerous positions. johnny steele is NOT a 90 minute starter, he is a guy who can come off the bench, be calm and collected in high pressure situations and be effective late in matches with fresh legs. i'm just an armchair coach, i dont know what's going on behind the scenes and in practice, but IMO velasquez should start on the wing in these situations (not gil, as our esteemed insider has pointed out multiple times, gil is not very effective on the wing). velasquez has shown he is at least as effective, if not much more so, than steele as a starter. then 60-70 minutes in you bring steele in for velasquez which is what he is most effective at. our bench, when everyone is available, is EXTREMELY deep. we have fielded our full strength starting XI 1 time this year, once, thats it. and it lasted how long before johnson got the red card? we have 23 ********ing points through 12 games, our best start in franchise history, and it's taken a very deep bench to get us to this point with some crap ref decisions that have cost us. clearly we are not playing our best soccer, but it's a chess match and we're trying to figure out where to put the pieces right now. if the team can continue this pace we will get 60+ points. it's also very important that the bench be getting these minutes right now because when CCL starts there is going to be even more shuffling in order to advance in that tournament. i'm fine with a point on the road in chicago, it's a good result. the defense was rock solid all night save for the early chance, we didnt generate anything really dangerous, but i'm not about to blame a makeshift midfield and forward combination for being relatively ineffective on the road like that. especially when our best attacking player gets hurt 20 minutes into the game (and in those 20 minutes i thought javi was just getting warmed up, that ball he played into the box for sabo was brilliant, if he doesnt get hurt then RSL would have been much more dangerous over the course of the match).
except that he is now back on yellow card peril and if he gets a yellow in seattle (which i would say is somewhat likely) then he will get suspended.
I was saying he needed a rest before this match. Then he proceeded to be, in my opinion, the best player on the pitch. So I'll eat that crow. All these guys are about to get 2 weeks of rest as we have a bye next week. If KB gets a card against Seattle (which I'd put money on) then he'll be getting a 3 week break,
The ones who should be eating crow are the posters who think that your (and others') prior criticism of Kyle this season somehow equaled irrational hate. Now that they've been proven wrong definitively, maybe they could be adults and admit it.
Point (and shutout) on the road against a good team = fine. I worry about our offense a little. IMO when we've started Steele we've lacked cohesion. I think the Sebastien sentiment comes from there being more flow when he's in the game. It will be interesting to see how composed our possession is against Seattle. If we have a disjointed attack and give it away cheaply we're going to get creamed...but our A game matches up with them.
I am not certain what you guys want any more... it was a mid-week road draw. I thought that they were phoning this one in from the get-go, based on what I saw, read and watched. Maybe it was my impression but I didn't think Kreis gave a shit about this game. Happy we got a point. Seattle is a huge challenge, so let's take from that game what really makes this team on the road. Disappointed to hear Javi had a set back (missed the first half). That could be devastating for this squad. Yes Steele sucked, but he is no Ballouchy (i.e. the quality we once had). Too many negative voices for getting a point against a decent team
It is funny, when you consider how historically bad we are on the road, that we would be upset with this game and the result. While I have much higher expectations now, anytime you go on the road in this league, you're likely to not be the favorite.
I'm with a couple here saying Velasquez should start with Steele being the sub. I think Steele has the capability of being a good player going forward but right now his performances haven't proven it. I appreciate the late goals from him, but aside from that he's been terrible.
I would like to see a midfield of Sabi,Gil,Javi and KB5. Pair them up with Espy and Paulo. Bring Sabo,Ned/Steele/Johnson off the bench.
What on earth has Paulo done to warrant a starting role? I would start Bonfigli over him every day of the week. Im sure he wouldn't wiff on a ball sitting right in front of the goal.
I forgot Paulo is the only forward to ever whiff on a ball in front of goal. My bad. Please disregard my earlier post about Espy and Paulo. We should go with 4 defenders and 6 midfielders.
Not gonna work, iirc they have each made mistakes in the past also. We're just gonna have to get rid of everyone and start over.
as has been REPEATEDLY stated kirsoccer who knows more and sees more of this team than probably everybody else on this forum combined, gil is not a wing player. period. the guy is just not capable of playing that role. a midfield of: -------javi grabs-------tian -------KB would be interesting. or sub johnson in for tian. but this isnt RSL circa ellinger years where we are/need to be playing players out of position. and having both javi and gil on the field would be counter productive IMO. both players need the ball at their feet and in a creative roll. having both on the field at the same time would be defeating as one of them would be largely ineffective for large portions of the match. i really wish this team had some speed up top, some honest to goodness wheels like a nyarko. it would help so much with opening things up for sabo.
We don't see practice. Paulo wasn't afraid to pull the trigger. He'll get more comfortable knowing when to take one more touch and when to fire - as he has more experience.
that team would be terrible at doing anything within 30 yards of goal. Without Sabo, we lack someone to use as a target.
Take out Javi and insert Ned and that's the lineup we started with this year. I remember seeing an attacking team. Just some peasants opinion though.
Unfortunately, it's not a democracy. It would be interesting to see the lineup if the fans got to vote on it one week, though. Hmmm...