Tonight's full squad!Go inside the lineup @acmemarkets lineup notes: https://t.co/4DnDreKras#CINvPHI | #DOOP | #ThisIsPhilly pic.twitter.com/VMCYmAherj— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) March 30, 2019
An assist for Accam and a nice goal from Fabián. #Doop Blake with a nice save, followed by five straight FCC corners.
Nice solid game tonight. The Cincinnati team was way overhyped for their early season success, and we have played super tight. The one thing we are finally starting to do is win games we're supposed to win. Unfortunately the previous seasons still leave me with a bit of a PTSD situation, where I will always be waiting for the other shoe to drop on our season.
Comprehensive win tonight for the Union in tough conditions . FCC had those 5 straight corners early in the second half, but created next to nothing. Doop.
The announcers went on about it, but I was half paying attention. From what I recall, it was his childhood nickname, his father passing made him want to make that change, and that's going to be the name on his jersey going forward.
It's both Accam's nickname, and his father's nick name. He wore that name on his jersey when he played in Sweden and will wear it on his jersey for the rest of the season. Oh, and solid performance in touch conditions by the Union tonight.
Who care about the Cinncy game.... Doolsta is the eMLS Cup Champion!!!!! All the platinum marbles now baby. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS Where can I get my 2019 Championship t-shirt?
Aaronson is a breath of fresh air for his linkup play and he’s always looking to press the attack. Fabian looked a little lost early but he’s certainly got skills and a nose for goal. Cincy attacking against Gaddis shows how effing lost he is. Even Tommy saw it. What is Mbaizos issue if he can’t beat him out for the job? Kai Wagner is he shutdown corner we deserve. Plays with a little bite in his game (hold the Suarez jokes). This formation is allowing Bedoya to contribute way more than the last few years. Really want to see how good Monty is with him. Pinging the ball around in midfield, hitting an overlapping wingback (not Ray), connecting to a streaking Accam. There’s potential here. I haven’t been this positive about them for years. Issues: Curtin, will he get out of his own way? He’s still too slow to make a sub. Aaronson gets banged around and that needed Monty or Warren from ~65’ on. Gaddis is bad. Nice guy,whatever,but his decisions suck and he gets caught up field when dispossessed pulling Elliott wide to cover his mistakes. I love Fafafafafa but we need another threat up top. Someone stronger on the ball. Not sold on Burke. Maybe it’s Kacper but we can’t sort the roster to know.
I thought Gaddis played fine (and has played fine). We all know his strengths and limitations by now. I also think teams are targetting him more now that they know how good Wagner is. He's also now the top dog on the US eNational Team. Seriously. And hey, when they have an eSports arena I'll be there to check it out. I can't get into watching at home, but I'd go check out a big Street Fighter or FIFA tourney.
There was at least 4-6 times he lost possession or contributed to losing it and was caught. In the past, his speed would allow him to recover. Against guys like Manneh and Lamah and Maddox, we got lucky. That offside goal that was taken away showed how badly Ray got turned around and lost his man. Yeah, it was offside but it's illustrative of how he's not helping this team. His runs forward are always like "oh! yeah it's my turn to go that way here I come!". I'm not just hating on him to hate on him. He's not good. Even Tommy "Dat was definitely a foul JP" Smith can see it on a monitor in a rain storm "I tink they're going after Gaddis".
With a Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday starting in Vancouver on April 27 (followed by two home games), we'll see Mbaizo relatively soon. If Mbaizo can be as good on the right as Wagner has been on the left, it would lead to a more balanced attack.
Gaddis has been worse in the past. In particular he has upped his offensive/passing game to the extent he is not where attacks go to die, as he used to be. He's better defensively than Rosenberry was and I haven't seen enough of Mbaizo to judge him on that side of his game. Accam aside, what's impressed me most about the last 2 games is the possession and passing. They looked very comfortable holding the lead and were not afraid to keep pushing forward without taking risks.
I mean, you could also say that despite being targeted by one of the speediest groups of attackers in the league, he contributed to a shutout. I don't see how he lost Manneh on the offside, either - Ray was positioned to shut him down outside, and Manneh would have had to go through him in order to get the inside ball without being offside.
I'm also in the "Gaddis was fine" cohort. He's far from the reason they won, but he's not costing them games, either. Keep in mind the owner of the club. A guy that's just mediocre, but generally doing his job well enough (and only on $180k) is probably about as good as you can expect from Thrifty Jay.