Blechhh. It's a shame half the season was a total waste. Get this team some shooting boots and they're no joke. But alas, a day late and a dollar short.
Okay gotta add this one. Game just ended, he says to me, "dad I hope DC gets their trophy sometime when I'm alive... so i can see it.. like you did."
We were lucky to pull out a tie in the dying seconds against a better team. Hey, what can I say, MLS rewards mediocrity with a sudden death playoff slot.
It felt like a win for like 2 minutes, until you look at the table and realize that this is another 2 points pissed away at home. Let's see how the table ends up at the end of the round, but in the end we might have fallen further behind with fewer games left to make it up. Unfortunately our crap season so far doesn't allow us the luxury of celebrating moral victories.
Everyone was appalled when Raul Dominguez starting red carding coaches in year 1 of MLS. It was rather unique then, almost as common as a PK now. And as for Ben, his contributions are of questionable value lately. Maybe he should take a few seasons off to rethink his true calling.
Two goals from two defenders. For reference sake: How the top ten goalscorers were acquired, and their current salaries: David Villa – DP, $5,610,000 Sebastian Giovinco – DP, $7,115,555.67 Ignacio Piatti – DP, $425,000 Bradley Wright-Phillips – DP, $710,000 Cyle Larin – Drafted, $177,00 Fanendo Adi – DP, $712,500 Dom Dwyer – drafted, $618, 750 Ola Kamara – Discovery, $457,500 Kevin Molino -- ??, $121,400 Diego Valeri – DP, $550,000 To get goalscorers, you either have to draft them or, more likely, sign outside the league. No one wants to get rid of a goalscorer. And if you're going to create as few opportunities as we do, you have to have a clinical goalscorer. So until we take that seriously, we will always depend on Hamid and getting, for lack of a better term, "random" goals from elsewhere.
Chances at top 4 after tonight I think are pretty slim. Top 3 teams are functionally out of reach for us. It would take BOTH Philly and NYRB dropping off quite a bit. They are 7 and 8 points ahead of us respectively. One might go on a bit of a losing streak, but I really doubt both will. AND of course we'd have to start finishing a lot better. We played pretty well for the most part for the past two weeks, but 2 points ain't gonna do it. Home games ARE must win games at this point give our road record isn't great.
Agree except United is creating ample opportunities now. It was a case of 'another United attack fizzles out' to paraphrase DJ.
Well, yeah. We were totally outclassed by Philadelphia. They have better players. Period. I am happy for Pontius, Carroll & Stewart.
We did not deserve to lose and it's an acceptable tie, but at the end of the day the reality of things say 4 points in the last 6 games. Where do you want to go?
They aren't very good, but they don't stop trying. That about sums this team up. Hamid with a howler on the first goal -- set a two man wall (one of whom was Acosta) and didn't read the flight of the ball, broke way too late on a very stoppable shot. Cut him slack because he made a great save in the second half, but when you have a mediocre team, everything has to go right to win, make a mistake and you are ********ed. I thought Acosta was fouled on the play leading to Philly's second goal. Looked like a shove in the back. The $64 question from this game is about Pontius. He's been indestructible this year, but fragile as glass the previous 3. So, was he just a head case that needed to get out of town? Or, do the Philly trainers actually know how to keep him on the field? I don't think this is just a random result because it is such an outlier. I really would like someone to interview Pontius after the season about this and hope he answers truthfully. This team won't make the playoffs. The real moment of truth for the frauds that own this team is Acosta. Will they pick up the option and transfer him to DCU permanently? If they don't, you know this will be Shit City until at least 2020 after this group finally flips the team, if they actually build the stadium.
As unsatisfying as this result is, I think we were better without Marcelo. Leave him on the bench or in the locker room. Maybe he and Ben can chill out in there and play some backgammon. And playoffs or no, I'd be shocked if Olsen was the coach next season. How many seasons do you get as a coach, unless the owners honestly know they aren't going to give him any tools and figure if nothing else his DC United pedigree counts for something -- and that connection prevents him from telling them ******** off if they can't get him players that can win? This whole situation smells. Like a urine soaked mattress in the basement of a house where everyone just got arrested for incest.
Excellent point. I think that this season is a moment of truth for Chris. He has to know that if he fails or gets injured again, he's going to be on his way out out of the league. I think that Philadelphia has put together a very likable team. I don't know if Earnie has much to do with it, actually. Karma?
I would be shocked if he wasn't back unless we really fall apart the rest of the way. The ownership knows they give him very very few resources and they know that he has a guaranteed contract. It's way too expensive for their wallets to pay two coaches. As far as tonight's game, I don't think we got outclassed at all. We made a couple of mistakes and again struggled to shoot. We led in shots, shots on goal, possession (although it was very close). I thought we controlled about 42 minutes of the first half really well. We made mistakes on a few plays that mattered, but didn't get outclassed like we did last time vs. Philly.
Philly is just letting Pontius play to his strengths. Ben was sticking him out as a winger in our 4-4-2 which is something Pontius will never be again. He's not going to be that guy that plays both sides of the ball. In Philly he's allowed to stay more stationary in the attacking third and just ghost in on the far post and focus on finishing plays. Having a big bruising center forward like Sapong will occupy the center backs which opens things up for Pontius to poach his goals.
No way ... I'm not the biggest Sarvas fan, but when your alternative is Vincent you really have to start Sarvas. Sarvas is good for one or two boneheaded plays per game but it's because he's trying to be proactive. He tries to press the ball, he attempts tackles and when he wins the ball he tries to keep it and make forward passes. Vincent just basically tried to not make any major mistakes, but he basically let the game pass him by.
You're kidding right? He has something like 3 more years of contract, if I calculated well. We'll never get rid of him, unless he steps out spontaneously - but you have to have dignity for that.
Well, no, I'm not kidding. Who ********ing cares how much is on his contract? How much does he make? Since this team - if nothing else - isn't pissing millions away on salaries, it might be a bargain.
The painful truth is the last two at home DC has played pretty well and gained 2 points total. If the best we can do AT HOME is get draws playing our best, this team is going no where. Ironically, if Pontius stayed here, he could play a similar role to what we ask of Nyarko right now, but Bolonie is right he was being wasted here for the last couple years forced into a role that didn't suit his capabilities and in my opinion it's just the change of scenery and playing style that did him good. I seriously doubt the training staff of either team had anything to do with his getting hurt here and not getting hurt there. I believe Mullins has passed Saborio on the depth chart, but he's likely a 8-10 goal a year scorer, which means maybe 3-4 goals down the stretch. If he's going to be the starter, Sam and Nyarko and Acosta (or Neagle and Kamara and god willing Igboananike who really looks out of his depth) have to start scoring or we will only win when we play shut out ball on defense, and even then we'll probably draw more often than win. This team is solid, but without a go to scorer or setup man that consistently gets points every game, we will lose more than we win or draw. Simple as that.
- Despite suggestions to the contrary Philly did not out play United last night. Philly got two chances and finished two. Philly shooting aside from those two was poor - Vincent was fine. Not great, barely good but he made no big blunders and was serviceable. - We put 4 past Blake, not two. But that Ass clown Marufo and his crew screwed us twice. Jair should have allowed the advantage when Acosta put away is chance. Then when Nyarko scored, I was where the AR should have been, not 5 yards uo the field as he was, Nyarko looked onsides to me. I have yet to see a good camera angle as all where focused on Acosta's service and were not wide enough. - I repeat for the 1237th time ok you want replace Olsen, who you bringing in. For the first time last night I heard someone come up with a legit replacement. No I'm not telling you guys who it is, you gotta think for yourselves. - If United makes the playoffs it will be in 6th at best. I'm not feeling like it will happen but hey why not. - I do have to appreciate the teams moxie for coming back. I will be honest I had given up on us getting the tying goal. Shame on me. That is all