Pomykal is a great kid also. Have watched him play since he was under 10 here in Dallas. Nice to see a good kid make it.
I thought Robinho was a welcome addition to the XI. There was nothing flashy but he provided some opportunities and was great defensively. He also was open much of the game and didn’t get the service. I spent much of the game watching him and there was more than a few times that he was visibly frustrated after making a great run and not getting rewarded for it. Overall, it was a great game defensively. Offensive will hopefully come but if we can continue to play well defensively that’ll work.
Really? Must have been short-lived, because I don’t really remember it at all. Cut him then, I guess.
Robinho looked lost most of the game. I don't know what you people were watching. He's not ready for prime time. I thought he was not even as good as Meram. Stats don't show the number of times he screwed up the attack.He was mostly just in the way. We need new wings.
Yeah, it was either Meram's best year back in 2017, or maybe the year before. I think Pipa was out or something, and GB was desperate. It was pretty bad. I think part of it too is his positioning. Look at someone like David Villa. He likes to drift wide left from a central position, then make runs central either behind the defense, or with the ball. He was world-class at Valencia playing this way. Then he went to Barca, and they figured they'd just stick him wide left in a front three, as Messi was playing false nine at the time. It didn't work that well. Same thing with Theirry Henry, when he went from Arsenal to Barca. I think Meram needs to create that space by stretching the full back away from the center back to start, and then he tries to exploit that space with the ball or a run. If he just starts centrally, he can be swarmed from all sides. Also, Meram's vision just isn't that good, and neither is his passing. I'm no Sosa fan, but I'd rather give him time there instead, though I don't even think he's made the bench yet this year. Not sure if injured or what.
I respectfully disagree. I thought he worked hard defensively, made some great runs and really stretched Dallas' D. Definitely an upgrade from what Meram has shown since returning.
With all due respect, no. Based on the data available, Robinho was the second best Crew player on the field. 88% passing accuracy, 5 tackles won, 51 total touches... scored 7.7 on WhoScored which was also the 2nd highest of the entire game. Was he perfect? No. I’m sure he’s not 90 minutes fit and had some fatigue. But anyone with a soccer IQ could see he had a positive impact on the game.
What is odd to me is Meram is the only winger on the bench and you have two strikers on the bench but yet Sosa is not there to spell Higuaín makes no sense . I wanted Clark for Higuaín as someone mentioned because he was worn out tired. Also Meram was a sub and still jogged and looked sluggush I’m thinking he is not 100 % that his ankle is still having issues otherwise you should have Sosa or Opku (sp?) on the bench Sosa was banged up in preseason but not listed as injured . Soon as we have a midweek gm we will have some answers because Higuaín will have to sit out he can’t play 3 games in 8 days
I got to sneak into the game today. (Buddy called 30 minutes before kick with an extra ticket, and I raced right over.) Robinho's 75 minute start was light years better than Meram's minutes. He hustled back on D, made several intercepting plays. Moved the ball on offense, and was entertaining to watch. And most of all no glaring mess ups.
Showing why stats are not worth much in soccer. Almost all our meaningful attacks were on the right side. Our best players today were Sauro, Santos, and Afful. And Steffen with the huge save when we needed it. Next tier: Artur, Mensah, Francis. Robinho & Zardes showed great industry, but failed to produce anything. Pipa & Trapp were shaky. Pipa does not need to play 90 if we have the lead.
Agree with the first sentence but great industry with no production is better than poor industry with no production. Pipa was fine up until minute 65 or 70. He seemed to just run out of energy.
Like I mentioned in the attendance thread, I choose to skip out on this game so this was my first time experiencing the Fox Sport coverage entirely in all it’s glory watching it at Land-Grant while having birthday beers. Currently rewatching it through the roku at home. Love this TV deal. Good/Bad/Ugly. Good: ANOTHER PEDRO ASSIST! How many of our wingers will Sauro outscore? I’m all for a Gaston Gold Boot (or Noggin as it’s been so far). Mensah and Sauro are a great CB pairing. I didn’t expect to have such a clear cut pairing there but I love what I’m seeing with this grouping. Have to wonder what it’s doing to Lalas mentally though as I feel he’s the odd man out. We’ll see what happens when we get into the Wednesday match portion of the schedule. The first half was great all around. I liked what I saw from Robinho even though he was a bit timid or heavy with his touch. Meram’s got a little bit of a higher ceiling but I’m not sure he can get there anymore. Robinho’s floor is nowhere near Meram’s. Ready for Niko to get healthy so we have one more option. More minutes will help robinho start feeling the game better. Another clean sheet for Zack and a highlight save in the 56th minute. Mentioned it in my intro but this TV deal is fantastic. Nordecke sounded great! Bad: Trapp/Artur both had rough games. We need something to relieve Higuain when gassed and obviously not feeling the game like the last half hour. Not to mention match congestion periods. Porter used all his subs but I’m still not happy with the implementation and can tell that’s gonna be a sticking point in my opinion of Coachbot. But I’ll trust in it for now. Spent much of the second half under siege with no offensive possession. Liked what that showed me from the defensive side but would like to not spending 45 minutes thinking the equalizer is coming. Zardes missed 2 not quite but close enough to sitters after being extremely efficient last week. As it goes in soccer. Higuain also had a big whiff. Hopefully Artur is fine as next week would be very rough with both him and Trapp out. Ugly: I know you’ve all been clamoring for it. So here’s my attendance take: it was very bad. I contributed to it by exchanging my tickets out for a later game. Oh well. The Haslam/Edwards kept the team here and we’ll see what they’ll do to fix this. This will certainly be the low point. Doubt we’ll get to point where every mustachioed hipster in Texas and soccer hot taker is happy this year. But show some improvement and I’ll be happy. Table Finish based on Week 3 Performance: 4th - 7th. Bumped it up one spot from last week. I know nothing about FC Dallas and only recognized one name in their lineup but am told they are decent. A 1 goal win is what I expected (yay grouchy point!) and seemed to be the correct result (Dallas might have deserved a second half goal but I think Crew could have and probably should have netted a second too). Crew feel like a middle of the table team and are playing like it so far this season. Playoffs seem likely so far and missing them would be a failure.
The “stats” are worth much is the exact same attitude every sport has gone through before finding value. Teams across the world are using data for all sorts of things. Statistical analysis have become incredible important tool for clubs as they better understand a whole bunch of issues. Now maybe you mean some of the basic stats don’t mean much but deeper analysis using statistics is already changing the game.
Agreed. But you are, presumably, comparing Robinho to Meram, I am comparing him to the other ten starters, who all showed plenty of industry. Save for Pipa, who ran out of gas late.
Decent win on a cold day. I thought Robinho played well for his first start. I'm not too worried about him offensively just yet, he has some flair and I think he will be fine there. I was more curious watching him help out defensively and to see his effort. While Justin's woes offensively have been easy to spot, he's worked hard and helped defensively. One thing that Robinho did was also disrupt a lot of passes and press really well from his wing position. Caleb mentioned how he wants to crew to press more than they did with Gregg. Robinho seemed to have taken instructions. It's hard to judge a guy on his first start, but nothing he did made me think he won't get regular playing time for us. Disappointed that Meram didn't give us anything as a sub. Was hoping he would be motivated by being a sub today. I thought Gonzalez for Dallas gifted us a few chances from horrible distribution from the back, but we didn't capitalize on them. Francis is going to get caught in yellow card accumulation sooner than later it seems. Mennsah playing with short sleeves and gloves looked like a BA back there. He used his body well and dominated. I thought he and Sauro worked pretty well cleaning up for each other. I love this CB pairing. It is nice having two CBs who are both dangerous on corners. Add in Zardes and JJ in the future, and that is a lot to have to deal with when we are chasing a game or going for a win. Zack is Zack. Hope his injury is minor. Trapp...is not having a great start to the year. I'm hoping some time back with Gregg with the national team will hopefully clear his head some. Lots of ugly turnovers already this year. Had we our full roster available, we would have a winnable match against Philly. I think going for a draw wouldn't be a bad result with some of the guys they have missing. Attendance wasn't great. I came layered up with underarmor, a jersey, a hoodie, a thick coat, thick insulated gloves, a beanie and my hood from my hoodie up, two pairs of socks and thick waterproof hiking boots, and I'm dealing with a cold and runny nose I got from the game. The wind was brutal. I didn't even ask my fiance if she wanted to go to this game, though I could have gotten her a free ticket. It was that type of day.