They announced a crowd of what just over 12000 in Columbus looked a lot less on TV sad, however , just a bit over an hour and a half just south of Columbus in Cincinnati in the USL Cincinnati was playing at the same time and had over 23000 at their home game, and how much more really can Columbus tickets be than Cincinnati USL tickets, and even if they are so much more how much of a factor does it really play in the low attendance in Columbus as compared to Cincinnati , come on this is a joke that a USL team an hour a half down the road outdraws an MLS team like that embarrassing! Ya TFC deserved to lose Columbus played the smarter game and TFC is a total joke right now with their embarrassing record, but come on Columbus support your team soccer attendance in a lot of soccer leagues in the US seems to be going up, however, every time I see a game from Columbus I see an empty stadium, the potential is there you have shown it during your last playoff run a few years ago and the MLS Cup you hosted but it seems during the regular season most games the stadium seems to be more than half empty what the heck.
I'd just like to point this out for the millionth time, according to Transfermarkt: Over Manneh's 70 career starts with Vancouver, across all competitions, his breakdown of position played along with goals and assists: Left Wing - 56 starts - 16 goals - 5 assists Central* - 11 starts - 2 goals - 1 assist Right Wing - 3 starts - 1 goal - 2 assists *I combined all central roles of Central Forward, Second Striker, and Attacking Midfielder. Only a couple of those starts were as a striker, which was really just more of a False 9, which GB doesn't play, at all. 80% of career starts wide left. 84% of goals from wide left. 62.5% of assists from wide left. 14% of starts in central positions. 10.5% of goals from central positions. 12.5% of assists from central positions. Vancouver has been looking for a striker pretty much their entire MLS existence. If Manneh were the answer, then he wouldn't be here now.
I agree but tell the Crew to list him as a midfielder. Kamara was never a striker until he came here. So hopefully Manneh is a great player no matter where he plays.
By far the best win since the end of the 2015 season. Easily. Not even close. Crognale is absolutely great. As I've said multiple times, it makes you wonder why we spent DP money on Mensah. If you aren't sold on Manneh, that's the two most expensive additions made by your Sporting Director in the offseason that you have shit on. Since I'm a lifelong Sunshine Brigade member and not an overtly negative fan like you, I'd actually like to see Manneh get significant time with the team before making a judgement. That's just me. To each their own. Meram had been sensational. Ola is still the only top 10 players the league in expected goals underperforming his output. Artur has been great. I called for Steffen to start in August of last year, but fans believed Steve Clark doing a WWE chant in front of the crowd was more important. Steffen has vindicated me. Your apology is accepted. It was a great win. At home. Against a team missing their best defender due to a heart problem. We are taking care of business. It's more than we did last year. With a game in hand over most teams in the East we are firmly in playoff position. I'm thrilled. Long may it continue. If it will we must hope Pipa is consistent (he hasn't been this season) and healthy (he hasn't been all season) and let's hope we get anything out of our DP and TAM/GAM investments. If we do the sky is the limit. It's up to a whole lot of things going right. I am even more hopeful than you on that front if specific players are given the opportunity!
I agree with most of this, but you might want to slow your roll on Steffen. He's already coughed up a ridiculous goal (Houston) off a blunder, looked shaky on crosses, and probably should have had the only goal against Chicago last week. So I wouldn't separate my own shoulder patting myself on the back for that one JUST yet.
What's Steffen's salary again compared to what we paid Clark? Hope Ketter (sp?) is good because Stuver sucks. Just means If Steffen was hurt we would need to go buy a starting Keeper.
I have no problem patting myself on the back for this. In a lost season last year the team went through a publicity stunt to have Clark get his 100th straight start. Steffen made more sense to play last season to iron out some kinks, and at 22 years old despite a few blunders has been among our best performers this season. He's the building block some of us envisioned. You take the growing pains with a 22 year old goalkeeper, you trust the enormous investment your Sporting Director made in the defense to have those pains be minimal.
We are markedly improved from last year. The defense has better players & better depth. Crognale has been a revelation. Naess solid. Mensah has been just fine. Williams gives us 4 quality CBs. Abubukar has talent as well. Sauro was excellent prior to the injury. Plus, the two highest paid guys are not starters at the moment. At FB, Afful, Raitala, & Francis are quality. Jimenez & Williams & Abubukar can play there. Maloney even looked OK. Plus, 3G playing them narrower with less overlaps has helped the D. Steffen is fine. He's bigger & more athletic than Clark. Yes, he's made a mistake or two. As if Clark did not? Please. Hansen is better than FINLAY right now. Better control & much better composure. He actually looks up prior to crossing. Finlay never completes that pass to Ola. Finlay is fine off the bench. Like Robbie, his best spot may be LB. Artur is a better fit for how we play than Tchani. Though I'd have loved to see Tchani stick around as a reserve. Better than Abu. More expensive. Plus, if he was a Kei guy, he probably needed to go. Which is anothet area we've improved. Chemistry. It is evident on the field. Pipa is better as a result. 3G has shown growth tactically. Narrow fullbacks plus the 352. Better D. Better depth. Better midfield. Better tactics. Better chemistry. Plus we haven't seen Manneh or Abubukar yet and we have two guys making $600k who don't start at the moment. We should improve next year.
I don't strongly disagree with you, but only because MLS is so inconsistent on this. But what would the argument be for it being a harsh red? I don't think anybody thinks that he was trying to do anything other than what it looked like. He didn't cheapshot him slyly enough that you could argue there was plausible deniability. It doesn't make him the worst person in the world or anything. But it was a shitty foul and a red card would have been just punishment. I do think its another example of the league playing favorites / protecting "Name" players.
Well....Jahn didn't make the bench so that sub was not available. Manneh took his spot and I understand not sending him on in the situation we found ourselves in at the finish.
Artur continues to be great. I'm really excited by his play. He's confident, decisive, willing to run anywhere he's needed at full speed, and engaged. I was surprised by his size too, he's a bit bigger than I thought which is nice. We're missing $900K in salary cap space in defenders and we haven't missed them. Crognale was very good again, Naess has been steady and they really seem to be working well together. It is worrying that we came out so flat. We were a bit fortunate not to be in too big of a hole to climb out of by the time we started to play. Once we took the lead we weren't able to ice it with the third goal either. We had a better handle on the game though and limited TFC's chances for an equalizer to a minimum. Hansen had a really nice outing, his confidence is growing and it showed. Meram is playing like an MVP candidate. I've been critical of Pipa, but this was pretty solid game from him.
It was nice to see the team comfortably close out an opponent instead of bunkering and hoping. So far 3 of the new starters, Steffen, Crognale, and Artur are upgrades over the players they replaced. Raitala has been ok and Hansen has looked good too. I'm glad Gregg didn't feel compelled to put Mensah back in the lineup. Pipa had his best game this season. Meram and Kamara didn't have their best games but still scored goals. All in all, a great performance by the team.
My stream - Artur is special. Only 21. Skilled, excellent one v one, great feel for the game, quick as hell and I now realize - a work-a-holic! Tremendous effort on Saturday. As much havoc as Sebastian caused, Artur dogged him admirably and was quick enough to significantly disrupt. Very impressive. Speaking of Mr. Giovinco - what a remarkable human being. Truly amazing to watch. Say what you will about the MLS, but we get to see some cool sht. Next up - Crognale. How lucky are we. Incredible performance this year by a rookie at CB, but Saturday may have sealed it for me. Composed and strong. Good skill. Large of course. But I'm surprised at his speed! Did you see him in the chase at 75:30?! And how comical was it running past Pipa. Looked like a grey hound passing a pug. On Pipa. Wonderful! Really strong game. Great effort, great vision. I feel great momentum with his mojo! He can create. Perhaps the most difficult of all commodities to come by. Hey, BTW - he even challenged and won a couple long balls at mid! I thought that Ola was a fantastic backup striker, but only that. But I upgrade him because of his work ethic. He busted his ass on Saturday. Fought like hell - wire to wire. I did wonder about not subbing him. But, I was shocked at how hard he was still going late. Meram has developed into a special player. Is he locked into Iraq? He could help the USMT's roster. Stefen is maturing wonderfully. Hansen is dangerous already and with virtually no experience. I really like him! You could call it an ugly win to be sure. But over all great effort by a team in remarkable physical condition. That game was played at an intense pace whistle to whistle. I call it a great win! I really like this young team. Attendance issue thus far is a hangover from last year, in my estimation. I feared severe consequences from last years' debacle for this reason - When CrewSC hosted the MLS cup, attention from the community was at an all time high IMO. Media coverage, non-soccer people talking about them at work, etc.. Lots of "new" or "exploratory" fans and interest. Unfortunately, they tuned in during a rough time. A couple of more performances like we've had this year, and I suspect things will take care of themselves. These matches are fun!
In terms of attendance, I agree on the hangover theory. However, they need to axe two of the chants. C. R. E. W. F*ck whomever, we are the Crew. And the Sh!t on need to go. It isn't our only issue with attendance, for sure. However, the idea that a large, loud section of fans souting profanity troughout the match does not drive some people away is fantasy-land. It does. If the SS is supposedly trying to support the team, stop doing things that hurt the team. Axe those chants. They should go the way of YSA. Honestly, if you still get a thrill out of swearing, grow up. Get more inventive.
I would explain the intricacies of our stadium with the Upper 90 Club, the playground, mini-field, exhange policies, yellow seats and the two bridges all negatively contributing in their own way, but others said things better than I could.
I get why people like crognale but it looks to me like he has been told to play it simple, no risks, GGG always talks about his players being brave with the ball but I don't think we are there with him yet. You certainly don't want your young CB making an error and possibly losing confidence. Other than that he has certainly shown he can defend.