I dont think its that. We strive to get to the corners but that is where we are least dangerous. Exhibit A is our corner kicks. Minus the miracle goal by Clark and near miss by Artur, i feel like our corners are drink refill time. I know nothing good will happen at best. At worst its a counter the other way. Our corners are barely better than a gk by the other team. At least with a GK there’s a chance we will win the ball. Id be ok if every corner taken went short going forward.
If the system, or style of play, can be so easily derailed by a field a few yards narrow, or the leagues worst team going down to 10 men, maybe our style of play isn't very effective.
MLS loves field turf which is a big reason, at least for me, that the league looks like joke (still). I cringe when I see the ball bounce around like a super ball. Its not soccer at that point.
So, DC got an early goal. Then they stood in the box for the rest of the game blocking every shot. They had a very motivated goalkeeper that played above his head. The game was on turf. It sucked. Lots of games to play yet.
There's no shame in a style of play like that. No style works in every situation. It's our complete lack of any plan B that hurts us and how much we struggle against teams that really try to force us off our game. When teams allow our style, we are one of the best. When they force us to try something new, we are way below average. We need to do more than 1 thing well.
It's not a joke, it's Major League. The optics of artificial turf are just one of the ambitious ways MLS connects with it's fans as proven by A Town or Sounder Nation. The drop count was outstanding and the fan's passion was shown. After watching Schalke today, I understand why the league is on a parallel path of soccer. Apologies if I missed any catchphrases.
I know saying anything positive about MLS is taboo around here, but getting worked up about how much they love turf because DC is playing a couple matches on it while their brand new stadium is being finished seems a bit silly.
They played one game at the tiny Maryland SoccerPlex which is grass, and will play just the one game on Navy’s field turf. Then they’re on the road forever, then play most of the tail end of the season in the new digs. Their schedule is far worse than ours was in 1999.
hahahahha. I just posted on that in the Roster thread. Gave me a good laugh. I love that MLS lists some clubs not in LA or NYC as interested, but you know if he comes he's going to LAFC, LAG, NYCFC, or Seattle.
Crushed that we lost, but I like that Steve Clark played his ass off. Glad we have Steffen, but Clark is a great dude. I'm glad he's having success, though wish it hadn't been at our expense.
That is a very fair point on DC. But that Navy field is really wretched even by field turf standards. Not why we lost obviously, but its a terrible field for soccer. Plus, we are lucky we didn't lose Santos to injury.
The yellow to Pipa was ridiculous. Some stars are more equal than others, I guess. The little exchange where Elfath admonished Santos on ball placement with Santos then pointing to the foam line showing the ball was correctly positioned was funny. Plus Elfath tried to put down foam like it was mortar such that Santos had to keep wiping some of it away. And the ridiculous offsides call where the player who hit the freaking cross was called offsides after getting the clearance by DC. Sheesh. The above glaring errors aside, the game was actually called pretty well. I just don't like the fact that most refs seem to start out with a contemptuous attitude towards Cbus that they definitely do not exhibit towards the favored sons of MLS.
You are right. We do need to door more than one thing well. Here's the thin, any coach worth a damn goes into a game attempting to at least disrupt the style of the other team. If an opposing team is "allowing" your style, they are probably a pretty crap team. And you know what DC United is a crap team. But even last season they beat Atlanta three times because they didn't "allow them" to play their style. They disrupted that. That Gregg Berhalter has coached against Ben Olsen and this shitty DC United team so often and didn't have a plan b or expected them to roll over and marvel at our possession based play and expected goals is an indictment on Berhalter. Figure out a plan b. Or at least a better plan b than throwing on Jahn and hoping another poorly plated cross bounces of his gangly body and into the goal.
Talk to me when Tata Martino has been in the league for four years and making the same mistakes against the same managers.
It’s unlinkely that he won’t go elsewhere. He has a pedigree known outside Scandanavia. It’s unlikely that he’d be in MLS with similar results though since other owners have more ambition than Precourt.