Columbus Crew vs hangthadj's Northern Weekend Getaway | Match 23 - July 20, 2019 7:30 PM ET

I’m still shocked we sold him with no option to keep. He has been a proven MLS starter and has the tools that Porter likes and is only 28 years old. I personally think he is the best winger we have had in quite a few years.

 

An undefeated streak! Here is your West Ham Sandwich Good/Bad/Ugly Presented by BigStern for Match 23:

Good: Two more goals! If this keeps up, we might surpass GP with GS and that would be downright gnarly! Going to take some better defending and Gyasi working on his accuracy to help the GD though. Argudo has really grown on me and he just might bring more to the attack than I was giving him credit for. I still think he's more of 6 and I think I'd like to see him paired with Trapp with Accam/Sosa/Pedro or Diaz in front of him. But I'm fine with him getting more wing time. Keita's distribution is fun to watch and he's got the athletic skills to really become something. Let's get Mensah back and see that pairing. Room made a great save on the free kick and was really let down by his defenders on the goal. I'm ready to see Diaz get a full shift even if I'm not sure who gets demoted to bench. Maybe Argudo heads to advanced D-Mid, Pedro stays in the middle and Accam/Diaz on the wings. I'd prefer to get Pedro out of the middle though.

Bad: Williams and Waylon going off with injury concerns is bad. Josh got son'd on the Montreal goal, and it was either because he got outmanned or the team wasn't playing the requested type of defense which reflects poorly on the team's leadership. Bad look.

Ugly: Didn't want to give an ugly but the attack hasn't elevated itself to Bad quite yet. Despite 2 goals per game in this undefeated streak, the attack still leaves me wanting. A tying goal was there for the taking for the Poutine eaters and luckily the Crew didn't give it up. Gyasi missed 2 golden chances which lead to him taking the ball to the corner to time waste on a third.

Table Finish Prediction based on Match 23 Performance: 11th. It's not the convincing I was hoping for but it was enough for me to move the Crew back in front of FCC. We're 2 points behind the Fire and 9 points out of the Final Playoff Spot. 10th is on the table (the fire in Chicago Fire stands for Dumpster Fire) but without results in New Jersey and San Jose, I just don't see much more for the taking. I'm thinking the Crew have 10-15 points on the horizon which puts them at around 34 points. That's typically good for just outside of the bottom of the conference. Moving the goal posts for final opinion on the season, I'll set the lines at <30 points - Object failure all around, >30 to <or=35 avoided the dumpster fire but did not impress. >35 the upswing has started and we got 2020 vision!

 

The pass for the red card came from Afful. The second pass to Zardes should have been cleared. The defender kicked right into Zardes. Diaz had two great passes in just 20 minutes or so and was consistently a threat. Argudo was consistently involved. Santos had two great passes and got a lucky bounce on another one. He was nowhere to be found most of the game.

 

Usually when a good player seems invisible the other team is doing things to make him so. They are marking him and cutting off passing lanes. It's not neccesarily because they aren't playing well. A good team will adjust and find the open man or lane. The Crew did that.