Post-match: United @ Crew 4?19/14

Great goal by Jiminez. However, if Espy finishes two of his golden opportunities, it would have been a moot point.

This team is not a possession team, they are a counter-attacking team and they played well tonight. I thought they were fantastic defensively. Sometimes you have to give it to the other guy when they bury a shot like that. Could Franklin have played it a bit tighter? Perhaps, but you give Jimenez that same play, he might make 1 out of 10 - just so happened to be the one time now..

The team, particularly defensively, is playing much better.

 

Overall, I'd say that's probably the deserved result, but the way it went down really didn't feel like it. I mentioned in the BPB thread, but I'll repeat it here: Ben's comment to the sideline reporter that he wanted the second half to be "a carbon-copy of the first half - maybe a little more possession" sounds like someone that just doesn't understand what went right and what went wrong and was just happy to be up a goal.

 

Agree, but if they had started Meram and particularly Arrieta they would have probably started with a 2 goal advantage themselves. Lots of mistakes on both sides tonight. Lots of missed chances and bad passes. Letting a goal go through like that is a clear sign of a lack of depth which is obvious and there is nothing we can do about it.

 

The second one, it seemed clear to me that he was just out of gas. The first, yeah, I dunno what the hell happened there.

They are. Which is weird because they're also a slow team. Which means their counters should be fairly toothless; but they're actually creating some dangerous situations. I don't quite understand what's going on.

I think they played well until two things happened: 1) Rolfe left; 2) they ran out of gas. Columbus may have been down a man in fact, but you'd never have guessed they were the team down a man by what was going on in the match. I think of Ben Olsen as someone who'd put a premium on conditioning; but this team sure looks tired a lot. Especially (to beat a dying horse) Nick DeLeon. He looked flat-out exhausted, gasping for air like a fish out of water, when leaving the pitch at halftime.

 

Sad, but it's what I expected to see before the club begins to take the next steps forward offensively.

By edging the effort on the defensive side, slightly, and not getting the 2nd goal, we got snake bit. Again.
And there were at least 2-4 chances that could've been finished.
Guys, the defense is good enough, keep trying to improve it, but for goodness sake FIGURE OUT HOW TO SCORE MORE THAN 1 GOAL!!!
We continue to look too hesitant entering the final third, like certain players have no clue where to find outlets up field to continue the offensive progress.
Until this team comes up with a way to score multiple goals in a single match, we will continue to struggle gaining points in the table.

 

Surprisingly I'm not that disappointed ... I guess the lower standards after last year help.

Sure the team has no tactical ability to make the man advantage count. But it's also a point on the road against a good team. 4 games unbeaten. Last year we never get a one goal lead to even be in a position to get anything.

I'm most impressed with the defense (even though I've been a vocal critic of the Boswell/Parke signings). They kept things tight all game. Holding the opponent to one goal on the road is a respectable result.

 

What a buzzkill, but overall the team looked pretty decent. The TV announcers kept saying the defense was "well organized," but they otherwise seemed like fools, so I don't know what to think. Just 1 goal allowed in the last 3 games, though. Maybe the Italian guy actually knows what he's doing.

 

Can't be trying to close out a road lead and missing crucial numbers up counters like that.

That said, just absolutely heinous officiating. Johnson didn't exactly get mugged but the referee deemed it a foul and it's a clear DOGSO. There's actually a picture in the LOTG manual showing virtually the same exactly situation with a sending off as the appropriate decision. I know the Crew scored 10 v. 11 but this would've thrown their numbers off earlier and worse positionally, and then had the same reckless tackle come in on Kitchen it would've been 11 v. 9.

All in all, unbeaten in 4 isn't bad at all.

 

They've lost their bite. 2 years ago, they'd be down 3 goals and at least still fight. Now they get up one goal and try to play bunker ball. They're not good enough to play bunker ball and no team should do that when they are only one goal up at the half.

My worries are that by mid-season, Boswell and Rolfe will be breaking down and injured every other week and we'll be back to square -1 again.

 

I thought the red card was an appropriate make-up call for the yellow given to Gonzalez, which was a horrendous decision. Espindola looked like a 2010 Moreno out there after the 80th minute mark. Centerbacks were once again dominant in the air and well-positioned. In general, the team defended Higuain about as well as one could hope.

 

I tend to argue that you have to take public comments from the coach with a grain of salt, even more so mid-game, unless they say something about throwing the ball into the endzone or telling you that they were watching a stream of their kid's choir concert instead of the game. If you mean that this team seems to play better on the counter, rather than as a possession team, I agree with you and I hope the coaches realize that and aren't trying to force this team into a style that doesn't fit it, but the evidence of that will be on the field. Olsen's comment seemed more like a canned "we were good, but not great" statement.

On the game, my first impression is that it feels like a loss and I agree with Cweed that that was a good shot and perhaps not reflective of an overall defensive deficiency. That said, the way that DC played after the goal is, I think, the way they should have been playing after the red card. I think Columbus has a better team than DC, but not so much so that they should have been allowed to control the game like they did in the last ten minutes. Yeah, if Espindola buries his second two chances, a great goal from Columbus isn't a big deal, but all the same, I think sitting back and defending against a 10-man team is asking for it.

Still, it's better than I thought going in. The defense gave away more chances than I would have liked, but was far from the horror show that it has been periodically. The offense functions better in the midfield now, I think, but I thought there was clearly no chemistry between Espindola and EJ. Even before the Columbus goal, I was going to say that DC needs to score more goals because even if they play well, they'll drop points to bad luck if they try to win every game 1-0 and I don't trust the defense to play well every game.

 

I didn't see that as a make-up call at all. Two feet with studs up on both and no play on the ball. Textbook red, just as the one on Johnson should've been.

 

Tonight was my first night using the stream from DCU.com. Maybe there were fewer people watching over the holiday weekend but my quality was absolutely excellent. Much better streaming experience than EPL (NBC) and Champions League (FoxSoccer2Go) has been for me.

For those that have done it a few times, how did tonight compare?

 

Usually I find something to disagree with, but not here!

 

Usually I find something to disagree with, but not here!

 

It was a technically correct call but no where near egregious. Some other officials may have just given a yellow.

 

I thought the red was the correct call. It was a two-footed challenge with studs up. The DC player attempted to dodge the challenge. Contact does not need to be made for it to be a foul. Fortunately, not much contact was made. The ref simply showed confidence in the call that he didn't show the rest of the match.

 

The lack of a DOGSO red on the foul on EJ was a mistake. As was the lack of a PK that should have been given to Columbus when Sean Franklin slid in late.

 

With regard to the tying goal, what was Franklin doing giving him so much space at the top of the box? He's right footed and trying to cut inside for a better angle. Defense 101 is show someone to the outside in your defensive third. Really poor work there.

Nice shot yes, but never should've happened.

 

This was the standard MLS Live stream.

Of course MLS Live is down right now, but it's normally a pretty good product.

 

This result is absolutely inexcusable. Period.

First, Eddie Johnson is a bust. He has always folded when the big bucks are on the table. I was afraid he was going to act that way when he got his DP contract and he has done exactly that. He also has no - zero - chemistry with Espindola.

Second, the Ref should be shown a Red for missing a textbook Red Card offense on Johnson's breakaway. That foul clearly prevented a goal scoring chance and he was the last man back. The other defender was several yards behind and was in no position to affect the play.

Third, how you mix up a substitution is absurd. As an assistant coach on the sideline that's your only job and you screw it up. We end up taking DeLeon off instead of Arnaud.

Fourth, do we not have a strategy and way to play when we are a man up and a goal up? What the F are we doing stretching our defense and giving the entire right side of the field to Columbus.

This team has a low soccer IQ in midfield and up top except for perhaps Espindola. They constantly make poor decisions. Hold the ball when they should attack and attack when they should hold the ball. The number of balls that were given away in midfield were ridiculous.

The difference in midfield with and without Rolfe is frightening, and he is a good but not great player.

This is really, really frustrating.

 

I'd agree with you if I could recall even a single quote from Ben that demonstrates even a little bit of tactical understanding.

 

In all my days playing and coaching, it's pretty well known you don't tackle like that unless you have zero regard for the Tibias of your opponent. Absolutely cynical tackle even if there's not a huge follow through. You just don't show your studs like that.