I don't really know. Under the old playoff system, I might have ventured a guess. But under the new one? Uh ... I do think, just in general, that any team averaging under 1.33 PPG is in trouble. And looking at the schedule, it might be a long while before we can hope to average above 1.33 PPG. Just looking at the schedule, I suspect April is where our season is mostly decided.
LSP Member's Club Reaction to CJ Sapong's Goal - YouTube Go away troll. +1 I am worried about this team, and this season to some extent, but I am not worried about this result. (about United, not City) (DC not ManU)
I agree. April will be more crucial than any other single month of the season. From March 30th to April 28th we play 5 of 6 at home. The lone road game is at lowly New England. Time to stack the points and build some momentum for a tough little stretch at the beginning of May. More importantly DC needs to build that home field advantage which will come in handy down the stretch. If we just start dropping points in April it'll just become a cancer real quick that'll be hard to shake.
Brought this very fact up in our podcast (recorded yesterday, will be posted sometime today if we can get Martin to remember!) and I was vociferous in my disappointment in not putting a player on the far side post. Especially considering the state of the match. There simply is nothing Ben Olsen can say to defend why they didn't have a player there and make sense. SKC had two players out near midfield plus their goalkeeper. That still leaves it as even numbers marking wise with two players on the post. I guess that closed-practice session of set piece work did wonders.
I hate to be a ray of hope here on BS but.......... when we face LA , it will be their fourth game in 11 days. They also had a mental meltdown in their last game. They let in 3 goals in the last 10 minutes. So who knows, go into LA and steal 3 points!?!
Having looked at the replays, now that my anger has subsided, Maicon Santos was out front of the goal marking space. CJ Sapong made a terrific read, and used him as a pick to shed Woolard. With Woolard trying to get through the screen, Sapong was wide open and scored the header. As JoseP said, hindsight is indeed 20/20, and it appears that Santos should have been on the far post to a) prevent the pick and b) clear the shot heading for the far post. No one person was responsible. Again, it was a team foul-up on a set-piece - very similar to last year - that cost United the point. If this (losing points at the death) keeps happening, then is it the coaches or the players fault?
This is a good analysis and a fair point. If we are 5-10 games into the season and still making this kind of mistake, then yeah, the coaching staff is accountable for that. Worth noting, too that Maicon had just checked into the match a few minutes earlier, and might not have been in sync with his assignment on corners. Earlier in the match, our defending on set pieces wasn't terrible.
Dragon, nice to see a fellow UK person on here! Was DC United a game you just watched or will you aim to follow/keep an eye out for their results?
Tough to say but I see photos from the matches and it appears that you have a strong fan base. That is very appealing. I plan on following the club and staying in touch with the ebb and flow of the season through Big Soccer and Twitter (once I get an account set up).
Yeah Twitter is the best way to keep up to date, I'd recommend following MLS UK on their. Must say too DC United fans are very welcoming and loyal fans
Welcome. Congrats on Swansea's victory against Man City. Your team caught my eye with their play against Arsenal. Then, I liked how they played for much of the match against Stoke except that they put little Britton to mark Crouch - still don't get that one except if the goal was to neuter Crouch for the betterment of the English people as a whole. Nevertheless, my wife (because she heard the Swansea owner on NPR) and I are looking to start following Swansea. When we go to Wales in April 2013, we're looking to catch a match live - if not then in a pub.
It's hard to be an effective possession team when you're statistically the worst PASSING team in the league (which is what we are by a WIDE margin after week 1). Our completion percentage was a whopping 64% ... 6 percent lower than the next worst team. And those two teams were the Crew and Union, who were both playing on the road under tough conditions (altitude and a miserably wet field, respectively). United did this at home, under familiar conditions. Hell, Dallas only had about 35% possession themselves, but were completing 75% of their passes when they DID have the ball. If our plan is to boot the ball and run, we would have needed to pick up more guys with speed, like Dallas has. We didn't, so it's imperative for us to pick up our passing efficiency.
So, forgive if me this question was already asked... but after listening to the United Mania guys this morning, and all the swirling issues and accusations about the players not having been together and having enough time together... Did Ben pick the right starting lineup? I mean, we can all look at the team sheet and say, yeah those are probably the best 11 we've got. But were they really the best 11 we had on that day? It seems like this was the main reason that Dudar was left out. Maybe he shouldn't have been the only one? You can make the argument that several of the players aren't truly match fit, and I think in the last 30 it showed. Should we have put out a more cohesive group that was more familiar and possibly more fit from more preseason time, and sprinkled in Pontius or Salihi later on? If so, why didn't we do that? Bowing to pressure to put out the names you've been advertising on opening day? Or is Ben thinking that he's got to get this team together and the first game is as good a time as any? So are we really still in pre-season? I honestly can't decide. I see the need to get the players together, but I also see a potentially larger need to get out of the gate strong. Would people go home happy if they had won or drawn and they didn't get to see DeRosario play?
Our problems were on the flanks. Russell and Woolard played with little composure and would just launch the ball down field when pressured. Pontius and Najar gave us dribbling exhibitions. Then there was Hamid who would hold onto the ball too long and allow KC to set up defensively. He would then have to punt it down field. Can't play possession in that manner.
My issue was with Benny's substitutions. The starting line-up was obvious. But you take out Bosko who was playing at about 20% and throw on Wolff?! An old, forward who is supposed to impact the game playing as a central midfielder? Then you take off your best striker, the only one hustling? He's midway through the season, he should be the in-shape player. DeRo was woeful, absolutely dreadful. He rated the lowest for me. I would have preferred him pushed into the midfield instead of Wolff coming in. Instead of Wolff, throw on Santos. The Pontius substitution was understandable. Olsen needs to get the team playing together. What we saw was atrocious. God help us now that Hamid isn't in net to keep us in the game, ever game.
The real test and I think litmus will be when we play our third game in Vancouver. I would think by 3rd game, we should hopefuly have some cobwebs gone and rhthym and gelling. But If we DON'T win there then I'll start hitting the panic/someone isn't up to snuff/this sucks rant.
Olsen to Soccer Insider after the KC match: "if we can figure out to play two-touch and pass and move and don’t complicate the game, I think we’ll be in good shape.” My worry is that this is the same thing he said after one of the games in Charleston. I love the sentiment, but it's worrisome that Olsen is having so much trouble getting the team to play in the style he wants.
Anyone else find that they actually like the new jersey more than thought? I felt the look of the increased red accents was refreshing to me, and I like it a lot. Before seeing in action, I thought it was jarring.