Besler is kind of quietly having a really really good game. He’s been perfectly positioned for interceptions and clearances numerous times. Best game of the season for him so far, he’s usually overshadowed by Opara these days.
Zusi needs to quit taking corners. Russell is much better. And PV needs to make a sub. 77th minute and this win is there for the taking. Fresh legs and maybe we can actually close the deal.
Honestly, I’m kind of ticked at PV for not making that 3rd sub. Feels like he settled for the tie which is not good enough against this bad Minnesota team, IMO. Besler for a quiet MOTM performance. Excellent defensive performance on his part. Kudos to Shuttleworth on the other end, he saved that point for MN, I think.
I’m ready for Croizet to see the bench again. I can’t think of a single positive contribution he made today. Put Medranda at CM where he wants to be and keep Seth at LB.
That monkey that has been camped out on Shelton's back has finally vacated. But wow, did he forget about the rest of the game? He missed so many opportunities to snag a pass, make a run, crash the box, etc.... It was exhausting just watching him hesitate to take a chance on making a play. If Croizet gets to moving any slower, someone will need to check him for a heartbeat. As for PV,,,, I just don't get the decision to not bring in fresh legs to try to get a win. It was frustrating to watch SKC leave points in Minnesota against a really weak team.
Croizet seems to be better at recovery/doggedly chasing the ball, vs. offensive distribution, or knowing when to stop dribbling into 2 people and pass the ball. He had a couple good moments today, but it was overall offset by his bad moments. Croizet's "impresses me" vs. "frustrates me" ratio has improved to 30/70 in my eyes, whereas he started the season at 10/90. Of course as a DP, he needs to be at 90/10.... Maybe it's the optimist in me, but I hope he continues improving (but much faster) and figures out how to fully mesh with the team/league style of physical play. Speaking of which, I watched 30 mins of the FA Cup of Chelsea vs. ManU, and the players all seemed to be standing around compared to the pace of today's SKC vs MUNFC game.
Good riddance to TCF Bank stadium. My three trips there over two years have all been very frustrating. Hopefully we will play better next year on grass.
happy for shelton that he scored, but although i've seen it with my own eyes i refuse to believe that it happened while he was in the 6 yard box. dude otherwise has such an aversion to being in said area i almost feel like it must be a deliberate order by vermes to stay out of it. so frustrating to see our fullbacks/wingers time after time get to the goal line but having no one to cross the ball to. imo everyone offensively today just took way too many touches. really wasted 2 points against a bad (though admittedly injury ridden) minnesota team. the field sucked big time - the turf is just sooo slow. was surprised to see though that minnesota struggled with it almost as much as we did - lots of underhit passes on both sides. only positive i take from this game besides shelton finally scoring is that vermes finally seemed to have given up on his short corner experiment.
All of us watching the game were screaming at the TV wanting someone to crash the box for a rebound or just make a run in there. It was as if no one was allowed to cross the line. Frustrating!
Croizet is the 2018 version of Jefferson. You can tell if a player can play within two or three games. You don't nee a half season to evaluate talent and this notion that he's going to improve or figure out how to play in MLS is us as fans grasping at straws. Croizet is missing basic skill sets that a center mid needs to be successful. His work rate is average, his first touch poor, and his passing accuracy is not. He came here claiming Benny's No.10 jersey, but he's no where near that level. More and more I am seeing teammates rip him for making the wrong decision, including Salloi twice yesterday. When a teenager is demonstratively venting frustration at a DP, you know its not just the fans that think he sucks. Medranda or Zusi need to come back into central midfield until Gutierez is back to full fitness. There are other capable wingbacks on the roster to take their spot. Croizet needs to be sat and sold.
oh my tv had to endure a lot of screaming as well. and then, when i finally calmed down a while after the game, another tv at the local sports bar got its share after watching royer and wright phillips for rbny do exactly what they should be doing: GET IN THE F'ING BOX!!!
Okay, been traveling for a couple days, but back home now and looking at the Audi numbers. In fact, looking at the numbers from this weekend and the Atlanta match is quite interesting. SKC played at pretty close to the same level in both games, according to this statistical analysis, overall of 5458 v MNU and 5368 v ATL. In fact, go back to the Col match and they came in at 5326. The NE game was a solid but lesser statistical effort, Vanc was a monster statistical match, etc. The takeaway is less than surprising, SKC is quite consistent and playing at a very high level in MLS. There aren't too many teams each weekend beating 3000 overall points. Obviously, it doesn't mean everything, but it would seem to imply that our place is very solid as the best in the west, and it would be really odd to see that change. We wholly deserve to be the best in the west. It's also interesting on Croizet. On a team that is outperforming most of MLS, Croizet's stats place him him dead on average in among MLS starters, with a couple exceptions. The stats (and usual caveat on all of this) say that it makes sense that he looks bad when compared to our players, because they're for the most part playing really well. If he was playing for, say, MNU, he'd look very much as if he fit in. that doesn't address the fact that he's a DP. He's clearly not playing at a succesful DP level. Ilie remains a question. He's only had a couple games this year when he was played at what was his normal level last season. though he is now consistently playing above what's an average MLS level. V Atl, he was a monster. V Minn, not so much, but he wasn't bad, just not noticeably good, but rather a little bit above average. There's a ton more, but I found those most interesting, although also this. I totally agreed that Besler was fantastic, and thought he's outshone Opara for one of a few times this season. Statistically, according to Audi, he did not, however. Both were in the very solid categoy, Ike a bit better.
Agreed, though to be fair to Audi, very solid was my phrase, not their's. Looking at these things week in, week out, across MLS it seems to be that 250 to 300 is pretty much an average day out for MLS starters. Besler was just about 400, while Opara was a wee bit above that. There are a lot of games in which a single player with a score above 500 is the clear stats MVP. But very clearly yes, this is the sort of comparision that shows the limitations of stats to define the beautiful game.