1-0 win. I look forward to hearing from Hang how shit Cbus is and how great Dallas is, but until then my take: Defense looked really good. Sauro and Mensah were great. Afful was solid. Francis has been pretty good so far IMO, looks like 2015 form. Steffen is Steffen obviously. Midfield was meh. Artur was decent, Trapp had a couple nice long passes, but he had some shocking moments as well. Someone needs to give him a kick up the ass. Attack was meh also. Zardes had no service, so no comment there. Robinho was alright, earned the start over Meram next week. Santos was good, not great. Pipa was trash. How he lasted 90 minutes I’ll never know. COACHBOT 9000.... three games in a row of the same stale looking tactics. Three straight games of incredibly late subs. It’s a transition year, and Porter hasn’t been able to bring in any new players yet. He’s stuck with an over-the-hill Meram and (a rapidly improving) Santos, and 80 year old Pipa. I won’t making sweeping judgements about Porter yet, but the play has left me less than stimulated. TBF though, 7 points out of 9. 4 goals scored, only 1 conceded.
That's the distilled primary note folks need to remember. Yes, room for improvement but two clean sheets in a row both home and away. Good start.
Porter said post-match he started Robinho because he wanted width. If that’s what he’s looking for, I think Meram should prepare for a long ride on the bench.
I think if you're going to bench Meram you might as well trade him or cut him. Getti g left out of the side in Atlanta last year seemingly dea.aged him psychologically and if you do it again he may end up being useless.
Looking at some stats. Not only did Robinho have the most successful tackles on the team with 5, he also had the most duels attempted (19) and duels won (9), ahead of Mensah (8), Artur (7), and Sauro (6). That’s fantastic workrate. Offensively, Robinho completed 23 passes, though only 1 was a forward pass. He made the most runs forward (6) ahead of Santos (4).
MOTM was Sauro and it's not even close. Steffen was BMF, Mensah solid, Francis and Afful had their usual games. Trapp was below average and much slower on the ball than usual. Artur was much better than week 1 and you need solid performances like this. Robinho was a ball of energy, Santos better than normal but held the ball way too long at times. Pipa was great until he ran out of gas and Zardes worked hard but has nothing to show. One thing I noticed is Trapp and Artur were getting upfield a little more than they did under Ggg and we were actually shooting from outside the box a little bit. Dallas player Pomykal had a great game. I've heard about him and the USMNT fan in me really liked what I saw. Plus, he was on the losing team. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Santos had no one on him just inside the box and could not put the ball on frame .with his left foot Besides one corner he added nothing offensively..dribbled until three defenders surrounded him...then keeps dribbling
1) He has zero trade value. 2) We are paying him regardless, so might as well see if he can play his way into being a contributor. At least he gets into dangerous spots. Robinho was OK, but almost all of our attacks came down the right side (Afful & Santos). Especially in the first half.
I’d really like to see Artur or Trapp make a run into the box once in awhile. We often are caught with the defense set just fiddling around with the ball near the corner while everyone else is kinda standing around waiting for something to happen. Santos had a great (by his standards) first half. Second half was the same old shitty Santos we know. Meram = trash Our back line is solid AF. Robinho looked really good. Give the kid more playing time and I’m sure he’ll be something special. Honestly, I would have liked to see Clark come in for Higuain. Pipa didn’t add much of anything that second half. You could tell he was trying but I’m afraid this league is passing him behind.
If he wants width, stop playing the wingers inverted. Play Santos on the left. Or at least switch them at times. So, next week, we have 6 out on NT duty: Steffen, Trapp, Zardes, Francis, Meram, & Keita (youth national team). Best guess: ----------------Bendik--------------- Afful--Mensah--Sauro--Jimenez ----------Artur-----Clark----------- Santos-------Pipa------Robinho ------------------Mullins-------------- Bench: Kempin; Josh Williams; Argudo; JJ Williams + Abubakar/Maloney + 2 of Hansen/Sosa/Opoku.
Am I the only one who thinks Meram would be more productive as a second forward? He doesn’t have a ton of speed or stamina, and his defense isn’t anything to write home about. If we brought him off the bench and put him close to goal as another target and just let him poach, it might be worth a shot. Certainly wouldn’t be any worse.
I have thought so for years. Centrally and near goal, the threat of him shooting can open stuff up. He should come on for Pipa late, and Hansen/Opoku/Jimenez should be the wide subs.