Thanks Franklin. Standard DC United ball trapping skills are on display. Shit like that is exactly why people think MLS is a shit league -- and it is. Players haven't mastered the most basic of soccer skills.
those early misses really hurt. No finisher. there's absolutely no reason for Franklin to still be in the line up. Even DevoMcT talking about the poor defending. Has anyone in the so-called press asked Olsen about this philosophy of putting these over the hill guys out there instead of playing the future? I'm sure he'd just do some coachspeak about not giving up on this season. Everyone but him seems to be able to see what needs to be done.
More of the usual bullshit. Listening to Olsen's post game interview. What an idiot. I'm sorry. "They're big boys." Seriously? They're big? FFS. Well, I hate to break it to you, Ben, but our marquee player is a saw-offed little shit. So how the ******** does that work into your game plan? I guess it doesn't, you ********ing retard.
Acosta, Arriola, and Steiber seem to be the only ones that give a shit. They aren’t the problem. DeLeon is also all in. The rest of the team is basically rubbish. James
Yeah - that was an oversight. Also Opare and even though he adds little talent and is an actual liability Sarvas. The talent in this team is in midfield. We have no striker - Brown either can't read a cross or isn't on the same page as the rest of the team. He is our Zardes. Miranda can't come back fast enough. I haven't seem much of him but I know Brown and Mullins can't get it done. James
I want to see Adoi-Atsem in place of Franklin for the rest of the year. I'd like to see Harkes in place of Sarvas for the rest of the year, but I fear he's still too "green." But the only way he's going to gain experience is to get starts, and to play full 90s. I don't think Ben/Chad is going to do that. I hope Bruno Miranda isn't out for very long, because we desperately need a scorer, and we need to see if that is him. If it's not, we need to spend some money to bring in a real scorer. Or two. I think we've got a little bit of depth in defense with Korb & Robinson.
Does anyone have Levien's email address? I'm usually an introverted fan and I don't seek interaction with players, front office or owners. I'm satisfied with being a fan from a distance and letting these guys do their jobs. In 21 years I've never contacted the club, but I want to now. I'm sick and tired of this sub par idiotic soccer "philosophy". You can't throw money at this problem. You need to think your way out of it with a brain. Even an amateur tactician can tell that the system is broken. The same mistakes are repeated over and over and over and over. Sub par players being kept in the lineup stubbornly ... sometimes for years. Even after every other observer can clearly see that it's not working. I call it the Pajoy syndrome. Or the benching Boskovic disorder. An inability to stay ahead of the curve and adapt before the problems cost us. A refusal to turn the page on things that don't work. And a failure to put players on an improvement curve. This disease is afflicting the club at every level. This stubborn commitment to Chad Ashton. Levien's stubborn commitment to Ben despite the joyless soccer. The only thing this club wants to turn the page on is us the fans and the culture and tradition we created over 22 years. They'll dispose of that, but they won't dispose of the bad soccer.
If Will Chang was involved, you would have a receptive audience. With Levien you won’t get any traction. James
I did this last year. Was actually promised a conversation with Olsen that never materialized. They have no vision for how they want to play. A 4-2-3-1 without a true target man is a recipe for disaster. You also need at least one winger who can cut inside and finish. We have none of those. You can play any way you want but you have to have the players who can do it. There is no club vision. There is no prototype for each role.
I'd argue that Arriola and Sam can do that (perhaps not the finish part) but without strikers overlapping they aren't going to be very effective. james
Arriola is the real deal and I actually like Sam. He's not great, but he's MLS-level "good enough" and brings some pace on the outside.
I agree for the most part, except Arriola has never been a goal-scorer. Ne showed that again, last night. Sam is good, but is starting to "age-out." He just doesn't have the wheels to go all out for 90 minutes, anymore. He brings a lot, though, as a super sub around the 60 minute mark.
No love for Stieber as a winger? He is starting ahead of Sam and taking most of our corners and many of our free kicks. As for Arriola, I agree he's not scored often, but he is coming inside more where he gets a decent view of the goal. And he had the assist on Opare's goal.
I think we all knew that our major offseason acquisition prior to this season was an out and out striker (speed, pace, accuracy). That didn't happen, Mullins was injured early and Brown, while fast, isn't very good at making the right run at the right time. Acosta pretty much figured this early. A strong striker should be our primary offseason priority. Defense (when healthy) is fine with Opare, Birnbaum, AA, and Deleon. Canouse was fine in the midfield but needs a more dynamic pairing than Sarvas can provide. Acosta, Arriola, and Stieber are more class than we've had in over a decade. Up top - no one. That's the problem. james
From what I saw from Miranda in his very brief and only appearance suggests he might just be that striker, but we need more than one we can count on. I'm not yet ready to count Mullins out, in part because I've never considered him an out-and-out striker but more a setup man who would be more useful playing behind a front runner. As for the rest of the lineup, I think Benny should concentrate on playing the guys who are most likely to be here next year, such as Harkes, Odoi-Atsem, and Robinson, and sitting Savras and Franklin. Savras will be 36 next season, and Franklin simply isn't better than several younger defenders, IMO.
Adding insult to injury ... https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017...e-fines-dc-orlando-panel-rejects-hines-appeal
https://www.mlssoccer.com/mls-disciplinary-summary/2017/week13/vancouver-dc-mass-confronation Looks like it was for Vancouver's late penalty kick