MLS Regular Season Match Columbus Crew FC at Montreal Impact Saturday, May 13 05:00 PM Stade Saputo, Montreal, Quebec TV: FOX-28 / Spectrum Sports / BCSN2 (Spectrum 311/1311, AT&T 028/1028, WOW! 008/208, DirecTV 028/896, Dish 028/7203, Antenna 28.1)
My best guess/hope.... ------------------------Steffen------------------------- Jimenez---Crognale---Mensah---Francis ------------Trapp---------------Naess--------------- Finlay--------------Higuain---------------Meram -----------------------Kamara-------------------------- Williams for Crognale or Raitala for Francis would be acceptable.
Finlay is questionable with a left knee contusion. With Afful sounding like he's still out I think your lineup is mostly correct with the exception of Berhalter starting Raitala over Francis (cause he hate's Francis) and Hansen over Manneh in Finlay's spot (cause he hates me).
Going out on a limb for this one. ------------------------Steffen------------------------- Raitala---------Mensah---Naess-------Francis ------------Trapp---------------Abu-------------- Manneh-------------Higuain---------------Meram -----------------------Kamara-------------------------- Williams - Crognale - Jimenez - Hansen - Jahn - Martinez - Ketterer
For someone that was slated to "make an impact", its anyone's guess. My guess is he and Berhalter do not see eye to eye on something like work ethic but I have no real clue.
Could be he is a attacking player who doesn't help on defense . GB system demands the outside mids help on defense. So either Manneh learns to defend just enough or maybe only plays up top and in that case GB might still view Jahn as a better team fit. Just seems odd that we gave up so much to get him and yet he isn't getting any PT. Might have been a mis evaluation of talent and how it fits in our system by our sporting director.
If this truly is a misevaluation of Manneh by GB or whoever his scouts are, it's unforgivable. Misevaluating a guy that plays in the Honduran, Costa Rican, or Panamanian league, that's fair enough. Manneh was playing in MLS for 4 years though. Plenty of tape on the guy. Maybe GB should hire me as a scout, because here's what anyone with two eyes and half a brain could tell you about Manneh: Pros: -Phenomenal pace and acceleration -Fearless going 1v1, able to beat guys on the dribble Cons: -Bit of And1 basketball about him, $100 moves with ¢10 finishing. Final ball and finishing is erratic (to put in mildly) -Plays zero defense -Makes almost no runs off the ball. If he doesn't have the ball at his feet, he is disinterested -Runs with head down, very little vision -Workethic is questionable, eventually fell below 16 year old Alphonse Davies, Brek Shea, and Marcel de Jong on the depth chart -Only comfortable playing on the left during his time in Vancouver (HE'S NOT A FORWARD) I could have told anyone who asked any of this last season or the one before. He's a poor man's Fabian Castillo. Sure, he got called into USMNT camp cupcake, but so what? So didn't Tony freaking Tchani in 2016. People get excited about Manneh because of his pace and dribbling. Say what you will about him, but mull over these stats: 2013: Ethan Finlay: 3 appearances, 0 starts, 0 goals, 0 assists Kekuta Manneh: 20 appearances, 6 starts, 6 goals, 2 assists 2014: Ethan Finlay: 29 appearances, 21 starts, 11 goals, 7 assists Kekuta Manneh: 29 appearances, 13 starts, 4 goals, 2 assists 2015: Ethan Finlay: 34 appearances, 34 starts, 12 goals, 13 assists Kekuta Manneh: 32 appearances, 28 starts, 7 goals, 6 assists 2016: Ethan Finlay: 34 appearances, 27 starts, 6 goals, 9 assists Kekuta Manneh: 17 appearances, 13 starts, 5 goals, 2 assists 2013-2016 totals: Ethan Finlay: 100 appearances, 82 starts, 29 goals, 29 assists Kekuta Manneh: 98 appearances, 60 starts, 22 goals, 12 assists While I appreciate some people being super excited about Manneh, in terms of actually production with goals and assists, he's Ethan Finlay level at best, and at the moment not even. Add into that, Finlay works his ass off, while the knock on Manneh has consistently been about his work ethic. How GB and his scouts can know all this, when the guy plays in the same fvkcing league is beyond my comprehension. Only thing I can think is that GB was ridiculously desperate to get rid of Tchani, and he felt this was the best he could do. All that being said, Manneh should start today, just because honestly. Anyone thinking this guys is a top player in the league though is sadly mistaken and has been fooled by YouTube vids. Same thing is going on with Alphonse Davies. Every time I watch him, I just don't get the hype. Players like Ballou Tabla in Montreal and Raheem Edwards in Toronto are far superior wingers IMO.
I appreciate Kyle saying multiple times over the past few weeks that Manneh "makes almost no runs off the ball." Saying it multiple times, doesn't make it true though. When looking at Manneh's goal and assist totals, it's also important to consider a few things. First, he's four years younger than Finlay. Second, he played in a system in Vancouver that has not had a 10 goal scorer in several years under Robinson. It's just not a fine tuned offensive machine, and never will be under Robison. Third, last season he was doing very well and had eyes of many around the league as someone who was finally "putting it all together" before injury. Berhalter loves to consider himself the smartest guy in the room. He was snippy when asked about Manneh earlier this week, "It's a long season, I'm confident he'll contribute...." National media has been puzzled by his lack of time. The Crew has had a disastrous home stand losing games they have no business losing. Meanwhile, Manneh has 8 minutes in 6 weeks. Look, this team is embarrassingly mediocre. We will likely hover in this malaise as long as the Berhalter/Precourt axis of power is in place. Manneh alone won't change that. But he definitely CAN add an element that we don't have. He can help this team. His contribution can be worth a few points to us over the course of the season. For this team those points can be the difference between 7th or 8th place and 4th or 5th. He can only do that if given an opportunity. There is abrasion he's been top 5 in the 24 under 24 rankings at MLS.com the past few years. Multiple talent evaluators see how he impacts a game beyond the stats, and further see how with more growth he can be a top winger in this league. If GB gets nothing out of him, it's a huge swing and miss from him. He didn't just give up Tchani he gave up GAM and TAM. He can walk at the end of the season. Given the scenario, every Crew fan should be wishing to see what he can do in more than 10 minute cameos.
I wouldn't have Hansen as first option off the bench, that's for damn sure. I would think that in the six weeks since he's been here (which hasn't exactly been glory days for Columbus) he can get more than 10 minutes. Sitting Finlay us the most obvious option, and Finlay has gotten a TON of crap on these boards this season. I personally think Finlay has been way better than many other people do. I actually think he's been one of our better performers this season. But, at some point depth is just a word if you aren't utilizing it to rotate players. In a situation like this week, if Manneh doesn't get 90 minutes over these three games, there is a deeper issue here. We've lost 2 games in 10 days to two teams without their best player. In that time Meram, Finlay, and Pipa have played virtually every minute. Ola's position seems unassailable despite the fact that he has the lowest goals per 90 of any of the top dozen scorers in the league. Gregg's supposed lesson learned from last year was that he allowed players to be to complacent. Well, we are in a dark spot of the season now where performances haven't been good enough. Give others a chance. You can switch formation and sit Pipa, starting Meram as the 10 and throw Manneh on the wing. You can do a straight switch for Finlay. This is where Gregg should be making his money. He can either accept the mediocrity we have seen. Or he can try something different. He's supposed to be one of MLS's greatest tacticians, and brightest minds. He's traded for one of the consensus best young players in the league. He needs to figure it out. We're a .500 team now. Shake it up.
@hangthadj Manneh is a guy who waits to get the ball before he does anything. I don't say it in a mean or angry way, that's just his style, similar to guys like Fabian Castillo, David Accam, Darlington Nagbe, Burrito Martinez in RSL before he left, and a certain Emil Larsen who GB wasn't too fond of either. I agree Vancouver is crap. However, that doesn't change the fact that over the last 2 years Vancouver has brought in 3 left wingers to replace Manneh: Barnes, de Jong, and Shea. And then you could add Davies to that. They gave up on him, its just a fact. You don't give up on a guy that young with potential if there isn't something wrong. All that being said, Finlay has been crap this year. Put Manneh wide right. If he can't play wide right, or refuses to because he always plays on the left, then either start Hansen wide right or put Hansen on left and Manneh on the right, give Meram a rest. GB has to play Manneh today, if not start, at least give 20 mins (though I'd hope more for 30, or *gasp* a halftime sub). I agree that Manneh can potentially help us, as he offers us something different from our others wingers. And GB hasn't been shy about giving new guys time this year (Raitala, Crognale, Maloney, Abu, Artur, Hansen), so I don't wanna see anyone right that shit any more this season.
Ask and you shall recieve... MANNEH starting on the right. No Finlay. Hansen and Martinez on the bench. ARTUR is back and starting with Trapp. I dont like Jahn starting this game but whatever. Maybe hell surprise us. No Mancosu is good. Oduro as the #9 today. Dzemaili starts as well.