Exciting but disappointing. Went to the Arepa Zone before the match -- jeebus you get a mouthful. Tasty, but a real gut bomb. I think I'll stick with the Cuban sandwiches -- as someone said you really need a fork to eat the arepas. They must weigh a pound each. As for the game --- Hamid had a bad game. First goal he kicked the ball out of his hands through lousy footwork. Third goal, he let BWP beat him short side when that was BWP's only angle. He had to do better. Nothing he could do on goal #2, that was a clinical finish. Fisher should not have been beaten on the cross that led to the third RBNY goal. But -- he was light years better than Robinson. Robinson couldn''t/wouldn't cross midfield. That let RBNY cheat to cover on the left side because only Arriola was making runs. Once Fisher entered the game, the offense became more balanced. He had a beautiful assist to Rooney and would have had a second if Rooney hadn't hit the crossbar. That was a hammer and tongs game between two evenly matched teams. The draw is disappointing, but nothing to be ashamed of.
Bill handles that ball that bounces off of him, and Rooney puts one of the wood balls into the net and it's a strong win. Fickle game.
What an enjoyable game. So pleased to see Ben mix it up with the 352 until NY adapted. Hamid had a bad game. Fisher gave and took away. I’ll watch these sorts of games and won’t complain too much. I like to see the team take the initiative.
I wouldn’t say he is superfluous. I think he recognizes the value Rooney brings and is utilizing it as a good manager should rather than just dictating. He even said as much in a journalist article.
We went from outplayed last time we played RBNY to "should have won" this game, with a terrible schedule. I'm not happy we only came away with a tie, (particularly when the ref was letting RB run free with their elbows and cheat 20 yards on free kicks and throw ins). Rooney was right to be pissed by some of the non-calls and advantage calls that weren't called back. Sometimes it's a &^$^ing mystery what they will and won't call, and that's never good. But at least they got the out-of-play calls right, so that's one (well, like, eight) up on the last crew. Doesn't stop me from yellin' at the AR, though.
Ha! Yeah I got some stares when I yelled out that the referee better blow the whistle from the parking lot.
I "rewatched" the match after returning from Audi Field. Twellman couldn't stop talking about Rooney's crossbar shot, and made it sound like he lost the match for us by not burying it. Technically yes, I guess, but really....No one, not even BWP, connects with every shot.
That's what makes it a game not a sure thing. Has Rooney had a match in DCU kit where he hasn't hit the woodwork? Big improvement overfthe usual pre- Rooney diet of "shots" that hit empty seats in the 12th row of the stands.
one of the worst ref matches in a long time. just awful. On the other hand, we cant let BWP get the ball anywhere near our end.
I was in 119 for this match. Agree on the poor officiating- he allowed the play to be too rough. A few yellow cards in the 1st half would have stopped all the elbows and shoving nonsense. Everyone on our end of the field was upset when the apparent handball occurred in the box by RB at the end of the match. It happened right in front of me. Certainly looked like he played the ball off his arm and not his chest. What was even more ridiculous was the official NOT going to VAR to look at it. Whats the point of VAR if you never use it? Are you not allowed to use it in that situation?
The MLS officials would improve from 'atrocious' to simply 'poor' if they were able to get in proper position more often. Many times during the match this guy is either WAY out of position or WELL behind the run of play, so he cannot see and make the correct call when needed. Lose some weight and get fit FFS. Or get someone who is.
Yet televised replays clearly showed it was chested, not touched by a hand or arm There was method in the madness to institute VAR rather than rely what on non-mobile, quasi experts sitting in the stands enjoying their 5th beer thought they saw. He may have been less than stellar but that call was correct
NYRB Defenders vs DCU Defenders This was easily the story of the match. Their two central defenders were taller, faster and more physical than Rooney. No way we could win headers in the middle of the field up top, or have break away goals. They just physically outmatched him all game long. And still he scored. And their flank defenders rarely got beat Our two central defenders - OTOH - are weak and slow and lost BWP many times. And Fisher got owned on two goals. Upgrading at CB is definitely Priority One in the off-season.
We won a couple, but with the elbows going about it was definitely hard to come away from one NOT having been beaten. I kinda wish we had started responding in kind, but I just know the CR woulda ejected one of our lads on the first offense, because that seems to be the way of it.
Kelly was brought over from Ireland. He has always let way too much go and somehow PRO loves him. I said to the people around me that it was going to be physical shitshow when I saw he was the ref.
Make that lower slower Delaware. I want him to have to cros eastern shore Maryland and that parking lot they call the bay bridge of hwy 50/301
Referee Assessors give too much credit for when an official "gets out" of a situation without giving cards. It's how I got good reviews. However, I only refereed amateurs and that was in the 2000's before the Red Bulls style of play was invented. Kelly is an expert at not giving cards and always errs on the side of talking to the players. Before the Red Bulls (and other teams around the world) starting using the high midfield press, it was a good refereeing strategy because that would help keep the players cool and keep the game flowing. It was a proper implementation of "letting the players play." However, that entire strategy of refereeing has become detrimental to the sport since 2014 Germany's high midfield press spread around the world. The Red Bulls employ the midfield high press most proficiently in MLS. Under the high press, the strategy is to throw numbers in the midfield to break down passing lanes and cause turnovers. However, that comes at a cost where if the other team breaks the press, they're off to the races. Notice all the breaks against both the Red Bulls and Atlanta. In order to mitigate the risk of the other team breaking the press and being off the the races, the Red Bulls have to strategies: 1) employ very speedy backs like Lawrence and #33 2) lots of tactical fouling in the middle third to prevent the break-out #2 is where the traditional method of refereeing where you want to talk the players and "let them play" suddenly shifts from being a strategy to facilitate a fair game to unintentionally favoring the team with the high midfield press. Teams that don't employ a high midfield press tend not to foul in the midfield on purpose except in specific, obvious incidents. They have no reason to because they are more focused on containment and getting numbers back. However, the Red Bulls (and Atlanta, and SKC etc.) do the exact opposite. Rather than trying to get numbers back, they throw more numbers into the middle when they lose possession to try to win the ball back immediately and counter from the middle third. DC United now has many skilled and speedy players that can break that press. Also, since the Red Bulls have so many numbers forward, they will make tactical fouls in their attacking third at the slightest hint of the other team breaking out. Their entire team does these tactical fouls. However, they do them in different spots on the field than where non-press teams do tactical fouls. Because the tactical fouls are higher up the field from what other teams do, the referee doesn't recognize them as such. Consequently, referees such as Mr. Kelly end up unintentionally cheating for the high press team. The Red Bulls then: 1) get away with tactical fouls without yellow cards so they can keep doing them over and over again 2) frustrate the other team's efforts from breaking the press unfairly Mr. Kelly then did something even worse, again unintentionally. He would call advantages for DC United players who broke through tactical fouls in their own defensive third. With rare exceptions, there is no advantage in your own defensive third. The attempted foul slowed down the DC United player enough where the Red Bulls would be able to get back enough to apply the press. Rather than running off to the races with numbers up, DC United then had to work the ball through the press in the congested middle third of the field. The attempted foul gained the unfair advantage as intended and Mr. Kelly enabled it. I can remember a specific incident in the second half where Arriola won the ball at the top of the defensive box. Three Red Bulls players tried to press him and he touched it around them and was ready to go off to the races all the way down the field. I wouldn't want a talented player like Arriola running at my back line if I was playing so the Red Bulls #10 first grabbed his jersey then his arm. #10 let go right before Arriola went to ground. Mr. Kelly had two choices that would have retained some sort of fairness: 1) blow the play dead and card #10 or 2) allow play to continue and come back and card #10 at the next stoppage. Instead, Mr. Kelly allowed play to continue (Arriola was delayed enough where he no longer had the lane to run at the Red Bulls so there was no advantage) and did not come back and caution #10. The Red Bulls lived to foul another day. Because the tactics of the game have evolved where multiple teams employ a high press, the referees also need to evolve to treat any foul by a pressing team in the middle third as a tactical foul. The Red Bulls do tactical fouls constantly and dare the referees to call it. So far, none of the PRO referees have figured it out.
Huh? The worst central defender, BY FAR, in this game was Tim Parker. It simply wasn't even close. Parker was the direct cause of 2 goals and, if Rooney could have shot a bit straighter, would have been responsible for 2 more goals, directly. Parker was absolutely horrific.
I agree with all of this, but MLS has always been a thug league where you just kick an opponent or knock him down. Then you have coaches like Olsen saying "we have to match their physicality." Bullshit. It's supposed to be a game of skill. But the MLS suits figure this is the US, so we must want thug ball. We're too unsophisticated to appreciate skill.
I've seen a number of posts say Olsen started in a 3-5-2. If so, it was most weak-assed 3-5-2 I've ever seen. Certainly not a Peter Nowak 3-5-2. If this means Mora was the left wingback, it wasn't a real 3-5-2. Mora is a traditional left back, nothing more, nothing less. So, essentially you had what functioned as a hybrid type 4-4-2, where Mora occasionally overlapped and Robinson just stayed home. It didn't work because the personnel on this team don't fit that formation when properly executed. If Ben had wanted to be adventurous, he could have put Durkin out wide left with Arriola his complement on the right. Now that might have been interesting, but so was the Hindenburg disaster.