Official DC United vs New England POST Match Thread [R]

[norfcath]

Pardon my not being up on United happenings, but where was Moreno?

[type_32]

Originally posted by norfcath
Pardon my not being up on United happenings, but where was Moreno?

Strained hamstring. Out 1-2 weeks.

[Freestyle2000]

Good lord, how did we lose to that crap team?

Forget the road losing, forget the injuries - this is rock bottom. We give up a goal to JAY FREAKIN HEAPS. We can't beat Adin Brown and his Ducttaped Knees of Doom. We can't create room to shoot, and when we do the ball's heading far over the bar anyway.

Yeah, it was good to see Olsen and Pope, but dammit, this is getting really hard to stomach.

RS

[GlennAA11]

No breaks at all for us tonight. NE gets one lucky break and scores a goal. And we get no lucky breaks at all.

As much as I don't like McKinley on defense I thought he played pretty well in that d-mid slot. How about getting rid of Richie? He goes backwards almost every single time. I like a good back pass as much as anyone, but he's just soooo predictable.

Q2 looks like Mini Moreno. Looked great in the first half but disappeared for most of the second.

It was nice to see Olsen back, but the rust was evident. He completely blew that golden chance by squibbing it off the outside of his foot instead of an easy instep finish. He was trying too many cutesy little backheely things too. He should concentrate on keeping it a little more simple for now.

No arguing with the effort the boys put out tonight. Convey was working very hard and Etch clearly wanted it tonight. Nelsen is a total stud, and frankly I feel much better having him back there than Pope right now.

The Pope to forward move was a bit of desperation, but why not? The team is desperate! He's a big guy, putting Curtis in just adds yet another midget. It's a shame Eddie doesn't have much of a shooting mentaility with the ball at his feet though.

I agree we should have gotten at least one of those handball calls. But the Villegas thing was just him falling down, the replay seemed to show that pretty clearly.

Lassiter is a complete waste of roster space. Waive him now and put him out of our misery.

I'd say a playoff berth is not too likely at this point. At least tonight's game was entertaining and the crowd was really into it.

[odg78]

I, too, would like to take part in this group hug. If we could just put some decent forwards up top consistently then we wouldn't be stuck in the nether regions of the mythical MLS single table. The defense and midfield look good but then it gets into the blackhole up top and it's a lost cause. Hopefully Q2 can build on the solid outing that he had today and start banging them in for us b/c god forbid someone else should.


P.S--What's with all the Bobby-hate? He's not going to notch 10+ goals a year so don't dwell on his lack of finishing. Hell he may be one of our best finishers. He gets balls into dangerous situations really well and it's not his fault that Rocket Roy and the others in our dangerous arsenal of strikers find new and exciting ways to ************ them up every game.

[nick]

Cweedchop,

Thanks for responding to crusader, I was about to write up a similar response. Although Ray's move was a little unorthodox, it certainly made sence given the tactical situation and the fact that he doesn't have a big targetman type of forward.

DC sqandared so MANY chances in the game. It just shows how little depth we have at forward after Moreno and Q1. The good news is Ben Olsen is back and Q2 seems to be a pretty good although its way too early to see if he's really an impact player.

I think United's game tonight probably increased the chances Gazza will be a United player by the middle of next week. After a performance like that Ray will be more willing to take a chance, and the large crowd and atmosphere will sweeten the choice for Gazza.

[bofahey]

Originally posted by GlennAA11
Lassiter is a complete waste of roster space. Waive him now and put him out of our misery.

I bet Lassiter is waived on Monday. Hudson has no confidence in him or Curtis... there is simply no point in having either on the roster. When I saw the official hold up the sign with "27" on it at the start of the second half, I expected to see the initials OTC displayed next to it. Instead, it was Benny... and with our other lack of options, he might as well keep playing striker for the foreseeable future.

Hudson is quoted in the Post tomorrow as saying that the team may have to pass on Gazza because of its obvious needs at forward. Roy Lassiter and Ali Curtis... thanks for the memories.

[LuvinSantino]

We just lost to the worst team in MLS...oh wait we ARE the worst team in MLS.

[Hal]

Yellow Card to all the whining posters who overcriticized United's performance tonight.

This was the best soccer they have played all season, period!

To those who were glad they stayed home and missed it, and then gloated about missing the game, stay away and go support another team. You missed a whale of a game that United totally dominated with fast paced and attractive football.

Multiple props to Coach Hudson:

1st, for playing a back 3 with Reyes on the left to shut down Ralston, and with McKinley and Williams as d-mids in a 3-5-2. With this formation we controlled the midfield.

2nd, for putting Benny in to start the second half in place of Roy. Added lots of energy to the team and many give and go chances.

3rd, for often having 5-6 players crashing the net and pushing into the penalty area trying to create a goal. New England was on their heels the entire night.

4th, for subbing Eddie for Benny at the 77th min and having Eddie play a target forward. He showed quite a bit of skill with the ball at his feet, made some nice diagonal runs. New England was very confused. Too bad we couldn't get the ball to his head for distribution enough, but a great sub.

Villegas was the first to excite the stadium with a long range rocket about the 19th min (after we were already behind on the deflection goal by Heaps). Brown tipped it just wide for a corner, but it was a laser.

Props to the El Salvadoran fans who were vocal and supportive of the entire team.

The new Salvadoran teenager is for real. DC has a find.

I was marveling at the attractive and pressuring football we were playing without Moreno, Quaranta, Olsen until the second half, and Pope until the 90th minute. With everyone healthy, we'd have the excellence in depth that we had the first few years at DC United.

I would think Gazza was suitably impressed at what he saw. I'm not sure where he'd even fit in. But I'd like that problem.

Our soccer flowed up both sides, nice triangles all over the field, Williams and McKinley helped funnel the ball forward through the center frequently as well. Yes, Ritchie made a few poor passes, but overall, he played well. Too bad his chest trap was a little strong when he was through 1V1 on the keeper.

I know Ralston got the assist on their goal, but he was basically a non-factor all evening except on a couple of plays.

Unlike those posters who couldn't find enough to like about tonight, I'll give them the score, but there was tons to like about our game tonight. We fought for and won most of the 50-50 balls; we closed down and pressured them into making many, many mistakes.

Well done, DC United. I'm looking forward to squeaking into the play-offs and then making a statement.

[Hezbolt]

BENNIE'S BACK, a little rusty, but he's back

DC was only seemed really dangerous while Bennie was in

Heaps goal was BS!!!! the ball went off his hip, he swung his arm forward (about 2 feet from his body)hitting with the inside of his arm, then he shot. poor Nicky never had a chance with the deflection.
I guess the &*((*&^ in yellow thought it was incidental contact.

Also Kudos to Stephen Zack...before the game security was giving us crap about sitting down when the game started...we informed him and he informed our little security friends to let us stand and also pointed out to not mess with SE or BB.
Afterwards he said if they give us any crap about that stuff to let him or his staff know and they will take care of it.

I'm in on the group hug, it think my wife may be too PO'd at this point.

[Jose L. Couso]

Originally posted by Hal
I would think Gazza was suitably impressed at what he saw. I'm not sure where he'd even fit in. But I'd like that problem.

In McKinley's place in the midfield.

[DCUPopeAndLillyFan]

Originally posted by grumpydcu
What the f*** was Ray doing by putting Pope in at forward? Were Curtis and Ludwig sick, injured or in a coma? I know he wanted to play to his head (I think there was one oppurtunity) but the ball was at his feet numerous times and he had no clue what to do. If nothing else, he could have put him in the back and brought up Nelson, a proven goal scorer.

I had to laugh at this one. Nelsen is a proven scorer? Not any more so than Pope, who has only scored what are arguably the three most important goals in DC United history (Inaugural MLS Cup winner, lone goal in CONCACAF final vs Toluca, tie-winner vs Vasco de Gama to win Interamerican Cup).

How did they not score tonight? Thankfully, I'm a Freedom supporter as well, so I 've got something to smile about at least, otherwise I'd need the group hug as well.

[FlashMan]

Don't know how they could hvae given Ralston an assist - McKinley headed his cross right to Heaps.

Etch had a pretty good game but quit around the 75-80 minute mark.

Frustrating all the way around for DC fans. Total domination without the finishing.

[Riverdale Goalie]

First off I must say I didn't see the game nor have I read this entire thread so I'm just going off topic for a second.

I've heard a number of you say that Perez played great today and I really have to wonder what your definition of great is. He was absolutely dreadful. He had nothing to do, as The Metrostars put absolutely no pressure whatsoever on him and when going forward he looked like a fish out of water. He is the absolutely worst crosser of the ball I have ever seen on the professional level. That said, Ziadie has been looking pretty decent since he was dealt. Not great but decent.

[sebakoole]

Originally posted by geordienation
What was up with Villegas' f-ing pigtails? I thought nothing could look worse than the corn row mullet he had, but WOW was I wrong.

Did you notice he was wearing colored barettes?

[DigitalTron]

Originally posted by Cweedchop
speed at the forward position when playing against a bunkered defense is almost useless It still amazes me that some people don't get that. Our aerial game consists of Nelsen, Pope, McKinley and occasionally Moreno. Albright and Conteh could get their heads on balls, but rarely scored (OK Conteh scored a few that way, but neither did what they could or should have).

All of our aerial threats are back liners, and rarely is more than 2 in the game at a time. We have ZERO target forwards. A guy like Eddie Johnson, Edson Buddle or Dante Wasington would really add a dimension to our team in those situations.

Unfortunately, I think most teams will bunker against us, get the counter/fluke goal and then bunker harder. This is not just this season, I mean next season also. When Moreno and Santino both are healthy and we can add Eliseo into that rotation, we'll be a much more dangerous team. Until then, we're mediocre with a good defense and an atrocious offense (because of our finishing).

-Tron

[sebakoole]

Did anyone else notice that on the corners Richie was getting up in the 6 yard box? I'll buy the explanations for Pope playing forward, but somebody tell me what the *%!@ Richie was doing up there on the corners?!? Was he supposed to distract Adin Brown by biting his ankles?

[luvsuperbobby15]

i don't know if this was mentioned, but i would just like to thank the good people working for mls/dcu/and revolution for webcasting this game and/or putting a match tracker anywhere on the web.

[JAnderson14]

Depressing is right. We couldn't score in a brothel.

We did pretty well once the Revs got the first goal, but quite frankly we just aren't good enough to score, even against the worst defense in the league. Outside of that, we did well.

Someone mentioned Dante Washington...I would give up almost anyone on the team for him right now, simply because he has size and a nose for goal. He would be made to look amazing playing for us.

I never once felt like we were really about to score at all tonight. Ben Olsen was by far our most dangerous player, and he's been out for almost 2 years! Good lord.

Ratings:
Rimando-7 He had no chance on the deflected goal, and came up big later on.
Prideaux-7 Very calmly dealt with Twellman. Excellent play from him, showing that he's better in a back 3.
Nelsen-7 Another very strong display. If he stays around for another year or two, I would love to see him captain the team.
Reyes-7 Adapted very well to the left side. As was posted before, he and Convey had a good rapport.
Villegas-5.5 Good first half (including the destruction of Cloutier in the corner), but a far too quiet second half.
Williams-5.5 Gave the ball away more often than usual. Other than that, played his usual game.
McKinley-6 Played much better in a role where his speed deficiency was minimized. Should have looked to play longer balls over the defense more often.
Etcheverry-6 Did alright, but needed to have more influence. Seemed out of step with others a couple times.
Convey-7 Another good game for Bobbito. He's the one field player who's done reallly well recently.
Lassiter-4.5 Made his runs at the wrong time or to the wrong place. How is he chosen ahead of Curtis?
Quintanilla-6.5 Fairly impressive. You can tell he's got the quality. A better indication of his talent will be when he's paired with someone else with class up top.

Subs:
Olsen-7 Despite his lack of fitness, and some rusty moments, he was very dangerous. It was so good to see him back on the field.
Alegria-6 Pressured in midfield, and played some decent balls. Still not aggressive enough in his passing.
Pope-6.5 Didn't do too badly. He is probably a better striker at this point than Lassiter. Performed the job as well as he could have, considering the lack of service.

[Z010 Union]

Originally posted by Hezbolt


I'm in on the group hug, I think my wife may be too PO'd at this point.

I've never heard my wife say I can't believe we drove 2 1/2 hours to watch this ************ until tonight.

I thought we played decent.

High points
Quintanilla
Olsen
Reyes

Low Point
Lassiter
NE Goal

Lassiter you suck - don't steal anything on your way out.