I don't know...I'm not saying Accam's goal SHOULD have been saved, but Hamid got a lot of it and it still got under him. It's tough to see because Hamid out of form is better than 3/4 of the keepers in this league, but I think an in-form Hamid keeps that one out.
United isn't playoff caliber to me. I was on the fence, but tonight clinched it. Pretty feeble performance, and there us no reason that should be the case. The team actually looked better a month ago. Why have they gone backwards? So frustrating. United is all talk and no action. 'We need to win, turn it around, blah, blah, blah'. Shut up and do it on the field.
The first one, I'm not sure. Mishu decided to allow Cocis an unmarked header on a really good corner. The second one, I agree, 25 yards out, in the center of the field, low, but not really near the corner. I still think Hamid is carrying some mystery injury that will require rest/surgery in the offseason.
ACosta was not sharp, but Chicago was quick to double-team him...quicker than most other teams have been. And where Acosta has had to come back to receive the ball hasn't been all that great in terms of allowing him enough support in space to quickly offload. Credit to Chicago for being high pressure on him, and bad form for our guys not stepping up to that level of pressure. Neagle and NDL were the two best options he had at any given time, and those were late game subs....so. Not sure what was up with Sam...I thought he had good runs last week, but they weren't there this week. Also, for god's sake, why do we have such a problem making far post runs? So many times with a wide player looking to cross, we had two attackers making the near post run and the remainder hanging out outside the box.
Ben needs to rethink his player rotations right now. At this point De Leon is being moved all over the pitch with very little logic ... For such a confused player you really need to simplify things for him so he can learn how to play a position correctly. Last week during the Red Bull match broadcast they were talking about how De Leon never looked ready to play centrally. Too much movement and traffic for a player with poor decision making skills. He's really only a wide player where the movement is more straightforward up and down the flank. Hopefully that's the last we see of Mishu and De Leon can become sort of a backup hybrid right back/right wing player. I'm also getting frustrated how we seem to burn a defensive midfield substitution in so many games. Buscher has 14 sub appearances. Vincent has 8. Jeffrey has 6. De Leon has 5. Sarvas has 1. That's an average of one sub per game that doesn't really do anything except reshuffle the midfield without changing anything in attack. This is why we run out of subs and players like Saborio and Igboananike are rotting on the bench. Say what you will about those two players but they at least can bring an element of danger in the box later in games.
I would argue that Buescher is a more "attacking" option, sometimes he replaces Acosta, or like yesterday is added into the mix. The others, however, are interchangeable D-mids.
Not arguing with you, but Vincent is the most "attacking" option, his low cannon shot is deadly. Yesterday the other team was aware of that so he put it top-shelf. While I don't think he is an incredible player, he is certainly above average on DC United (and at this point I rather see him instead of all the other options). Even the foul he committed was a hard man's foul and he just shrugged it off, I like that! Hopefully the goal will increase his confidence and lead to more!
True, but of course while a win is pretty much necessary, it's not enough to make the playoffs. They'll still need to create some space in the next 3 games OR get some/all points in Orlando.
First goal was 95-97% Mishu. 3-5% Hamid only because he could have been one step forward and maybe have gotten lucky and it hit his hand and not gone in. Second goal, probably was saveable, but far from easy. We are used to him sometimes getting those. Still, Birnbaum was clearly the one at fault on that goal.
One guy who hasn't been mentioned much is Mullins. Is the guy who played in this game, the previous Fire game, or somewhere in between. We really need him to at least be in between. He missed some chances last night (as did other guys too of course). Our finishing overall just has continued to be not that good. Good enough to get us right near the playoffs.
Once again coming back at the end to snatch disappointment from the jaws of defeat. I agree our finishing hasn't been great, but three road games in a row scoring 2 goals is a big improvement...bad time for our defense to collapse, though, so we only get 2 points from those 3 games. NDL should just start at right back. Put the best 11 on the field. If you use a sub on a defender, that's one less option to bring in an attacker. I also think Neagle (our leading scorer) should start over Sam, based on recent performances.
THIS! Hopefully Ben sees this! Also Nyarko has been underwhelming lately, maybe some rest will help him.
His positioning was off on the first one. He should've saved the second. That was an extremely soft goal. Birnbaum did nothing to help though.
Confused players moving all over the pitch with little if any logic is the "magic" that makes Benny Ball everything that no other team can imitate. This team learns tactics by watching film of the squirrels in the park during peak acorn season
I scream when no one crashes the box. When we do they usually run to the far post and are double teamed or two of our guys run to the same area leaving our guy on the touch line waiting for a defender to get close enough to boot the ball off his leg and earn a quarter since nothing promising developed. They are scoring goals off these set plays, but I just wish we could score more from the run of play .
Vincent actually is good at those late runs from midfield. He just missed on such a shot against Chicago and his long range shot is better than Jeffrey's (which also is above average). If Vincent keeps playing and the team integrates his movement into the attack, those long range shots likely will result in goals or lead to goals by opening up the defense to cover him.