Had we won one more of the home games in the recent home stand, I'd not be too upset at a close road loss.
Abu and mensah starts and we lose. Manneh was invisible minus one cross early in the game. Good goal by ola and trapp, but ola missed a sure second goal that is unforgivable and trapp lost the ball for one of NE's. Never thought I'd say this again.... we need finlay back.
We need a real defender on the right side. Jimenez is a terrible defender. Bad 1 v 1 (not seen in this game, but he is), and he didn't track Fagundez on the back side goal. Mensah is barely average, certainly not good. It wouldn't be so egregious if he were on a low salary. Also, will he ever put a header on frame? Good size but clumsy, prone to foul, and can't jump. I wish Ola had more pace. He misses so many chances (not talking about the sitter that he blew) because he is a step away. There was a bid difference in team speed evident in this game. We looked so slow.
I don't feel like looking up the stats now, but have we won a match Abu's started? I'm thinking we haven't.
Trapp's turnover for a goal was infuriating. Not only losing the ball in our own end, but then the entire team decided to jog back in defense. We were literally beaten at every position in the race back to our own goal. Just sad.
I was yelling at the TV for Trapp to pass the ball there. But in the end he basically assisted on a goal for both teams.
As someone who has hated Abu (quite rightly), it looked like he was close to getting his first goal today. Announcers said he was wildly offside, however this was the NE announcer. Abu finishing wasn't the problem. Ola's sitter goes in, or Mensah actually heading on target, and this outcome is different.
13 games played overall: 6 wins, 6 losses, 1 draw. Goals For: 20 Goals Against: 19 Goal Difference: +1 With Abu starting (and I'm counting the NYRB game since Artur was injured 30 seconds in): 6 games started: 0 wins, 5 losses, 1 draw. Goals For: 4 Goals Allowed: 9 Goal Difference: -5 With Mensah starting: 8 games started: 3 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw. Goals For: 12 Goals Allowed: 12 Goal Difference: 0 With both Abu and Mensah starting: 4 games played: 0 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw Goals For: 5 Goals Against: 8 Goal Difference: -3 When neither Abu nor Mensah starts: 3 games overall: 3 wins, 0 losses, 0 draws Goals For: 6 Goals Allowed: 1 Goal Difference: +5
We should print blu-ray/DVD copies of this game. Put it up for viewing Apple/Google/Amazon/Netflix/Hulu. This was a prototypical Crew game. An embarrassment of riches on early opportunities that we squandered like drunk frat boys during their first visit to a casino... Then a sublime goal from Ola on a beautiful Trapp pass... Only for us to piss it all away like last night's free cocktails from the aforementioned casino, by letting NER get two goals unanswered for the lead and the win. Throw in the usual atrocious MLS refereeing who can't/won't control the match... Anybody who hasn't seen a Crew game and wants to get a feel of what it's like, just give them this game to watch as a primer...
Mensah and Abu weren't the issue but Kyle Crew likes to get out his excel spreadsheet in an attempt to prove some kind of point.
Mensah isn't part of the defense? He isn't the one who had one clear header from a corner and put it out for a field goal? Artur bosses the midfield at best, is a gigantic disruption to the opposition at worst. Would you ever use the word "boss" or "disrupt" to describe Abu? No. I agree they aren't the main culprits this match, but shit is a trend.
I guess these are/aren't compliments but Abu is better than Duka. I used to think Mensah was worth 10% of his salary now I've come around to the face he's worth 15% of his salary. So, yes, it's improvement. Fact is we didn't deserve to win but neither did NE. Pipa, Ola, Meram and Steffen were the only ones who acted like they gave a damn but NE matched us in their indifference. When folks say MLS sucks, this is the match they are talking about. Ref was terrible on both sides. I don't think he had any bias just isn't good at his job.
Sarcasm or not I actually agree with this. We could have buried the tie in the first half. Finishing was our problem and then individual mistakes. I am not going to excuse the result though. This was not our strongest 11 but it should have been good enough to get the result.
I thought we lacked intensity the whole game. It seemed like 8 guys were playing and 14 guys took up space.
Abu may not be the issue, but he plays a very important position in the middle of the entire team, and has yet to win as a starter. Could you answer this: what number does he need to hit as a starter before you would consider him the issue? 0-? Assuming we can win when he doesn't start. Right now, when he starts we don't win. When he doesn't start, we are significantly better. If he was playing somewhere like LB or RB, it's pretty hard to be able to affect each match. However he plays a key part of the team. He's right in the middle of it all and if wins are the most important stat, we don't get them with him in.
I think everyone is failing to realize Abu completed over 90% of his passes. Trapp too. You plebes are just too dense to understand the Berhalter system. Did you not see the possession? Did you not see the chances created? Sure, at the end of the day we lost 2-1. But did you not notice New England had 38 clearances? Fear not! The expected goals usually are not reported till 24-48 hours after the match! We got this! Stay strong!!! We have more expected goals than actual goals? It's been that way for over 12 months? It'll even out at some point!!! Yes, Trapp had a giveaway that led to the goal, but were you privy to the leadership council conversation afterwards? No worries, Corporate Shill Andrew King or Pat Murphy will tell you what Gregg says happened verbatim! The spin is in!!!! This is a mid table team. It always will be. The emperor has no clothes. Jay Heaps made adjustments, and outfoxed Tactical Genius Gregg Berhalter. It's time Columbus fans accept our fate. You are the Stoke City of MLS. Comfortably mediocre.
I'm sure Adam Jahn is a nice guy, but what does he offer? One shot right at the keeper? ggg is trying to get away with 1 starting caliber forward and then a usl player in reserve. He's been burnt, we've all been burnt by this multiple times. If you have no goals, 12 games into a season, time for someone else to have a try.
It's understandable why Jahn got re-signed in the offseason. The dude scored a handful of nice goals. Of course, he's not lived up to that so far this season though.
When he was coming in tweeted "Adam Jahn comes in to take up some space for a while.. Nice." That's about the fear that his substitution entails on other teams. And then I forgot he has some cool polls and surveys "oceans or a river?" So, deleted because that's helpful.