So this stat from the Star is disturbing... Out of Kansas City's last 10 goals in all competitions, seven have been scored by a defensive player. http://www.kansascity.com/2014/03/15/4893548/three-things-sporting-kc-drop.html
Normally when you recover the ball deep in your Defensive side and try and take the ball upfield in the face of opposition pressure, the "safe" play is to go up the sides. That way if there is a turnover, it is off to the side where it is easier to defend than a top of the box turnover. (I'm not talking Offensive 1/3rd, I'm talking Defensive 1/3rd) FCD starting applying pressure on the side passes in our Defensive end, and SKC starting getting "fancy" with trying to move the ball up the middle on our defensive third with FCD players within a few feet of the passer/recipient. I saw some nice cutback moves by Collin, Besler, Uri with good passes up the middle to the attacking third. Looks GREAT when you pull it off. But I myself cringe every time I see it because I know what will happen if we fail. Because many of these passes "barely" were made/arrived in time - I guess if you were an optimist you can call that "calm on the ball", or "the result (a successful pass) is all that matters". But a few of them were bobbled/recovered, etc. which means it was still dangerous - and these bobbles/near misses only gave confidence to FCD that they "would" get that game changing turnover, and also telegraphed to FCD on a tactical level where our passes were going. Point is, unless you are 100% successful on every one of these, sooner or later you "will" turn one over near the top of the box, and have to scramble and or risk a foul (which we get called and burned on seemingly every time - I can think of 6 times this exact thing happened in the last year to cost us a result) I'm not saying to never pass it up the middle in our defensive 1/3rd in the midst of pressure, it's great we have the confidence/mindset to do it - but please mix it up some more. Near the end SKC was like "ok FCD, you make the defensive 1/3rd sideline pass slightly challenging, I'm going up the middle. Ha Ha. Yup, Up the middle again. that worked. Up the middle again, ha ha. Up the middle.... OOOPS, scramble, tackle. FOUL on us near the top of box? What?"
More disturbing stat: Yesterday's 90th minute giveback made it 5 goals allowed after the 88th minute in the last 4 games vs FCD. It's just as bad as against Seattle. Better fix this problem before we get realigned West next year and have 4 more games against both teams. We haven't beaten or tied Portland since 2011 either....
High pressure systems value athleticism in forwards over skill. Our forwards have a lot of athleticism and very little skill.
I'm not so sure that's true. Dom, Peterson, Sapong, sure. But Zusi or Bieler? Saad? These guys aren't really the killer athletes, though they've all put in solid efforts to improve that part of their game.
looking back, i'm glad i didn't know before the game that abbey okulaja was going to be the center ref. that knowledge may have sent my blood pressure spiking.
In October, when we may be lamenting a few points difference between supporters shield or postseason seed/MLS Cup at home, let's remember that we dropped 3 points in the first couple of weeks by playing a weakened squad in these league games to try to advance in CCL. Here's hoping for a result on Wednesday so it's worth it.
Win the CCL Make the playoffs That's all we need. Well, in addition to making a good playoff run, but as far as the regular season goes, those are the two really important things. Though an Open Cup run would be fun too.
You're right, I should have conditioned that statement. But on nights like last night, when we run out Zizzo, Dom, and CJ/JP, there's almost no chance our forwards score.
i didn't get into the stadium until well after kickoff, but i heard that south stand made a mess of another tifo. anyone have any pics/links of the pregame displays?
I am a South Stand STM and wish that they would quit doing tifo altogether. Frankly, I would rather just watch the players come onto the field. If I had any interest in that kind of stuff, or in standing the whole time for non-playoff games, I would be in the Members Stand. Here endeth the grumpy old man's rant.
Actually, odds are good the tifo won't make it down to where you are. Naw, I love the South Stand and all the efforts they're making to show spirit over there. But deef'd has to be the funniest tifo I've ever run across.
I usually sit in about the 12th row, right behind the goal, and I usually get whacked in the head when the tifo goes down, because I forget that it is coming. If only I knew in advance which section would be missing each time ... Philadelphia has DOOP, now we have DEEF'D.
I guess I don't pay enough attention to tifo stuff but what else was messed up? I've sat in the MS and seen a fair share messed up. Those were mostly due to someone forgetting to untie a portion before passing it down.
They need to have a 16-part tifo that looks like a scrambled Boggle board and another typical South Stand screw up. Then while everyone is laughing, flip the pieces to spell something correctly for once. They could really make continued tifo incompetence an endearing part of the South Stand culture.
Love this idea, especially your last sentence. Unfortunately, I don't place a high degree of confidence right now that they could pull it off. LOL. But I'd like to see them try and hope they can. If they did pull it off, everything you say would be true - especially about turning a "failure" into a "new part of our culture". What I'm truly happy of though, is that SKC fans are laughing about it (here at BS, and at least the ones around me in my non-South Stand section), instead of beating up on their fellow fans. Love that.
I'm always thankful we don't have BIMBO in large font across our jersey/player's chests like PHI does.
Love it! Of course, the real problem is that the South Stand stalwarts all sit on one side of the goal, while the other side can be just about anyone from game to game. If they want to keep doing elaborate tifos, I'm not sure how they overcome that.
Are the screwups due to the tifo not unrolling right, or is it just the new people getting all ticked off and not passing down the tifo? It almost looks like people are like "get this crap outta my face" and don't get what they're supposed to do. In which case, maybe some printed fortune cookie sized instructions would help. Although that wouldn't help someone swapping the F and the E section when the whole thing starts.