A nice confident strike from Harkes. Now for the rest...... Again, our high priced defender allegedly known for aerial prowess can't keep his mark in the box and gets burned by a journeyman vet. Nice way to steal money Birnbaum. The second goal highlights the difference between a well coached team that passes with purpose and Ben Olsen's latest nightmare. The FCD passes have purpose and when the attack is on, the players are moving into channels, attacking the goal. When DCU is on the "attack", it's usually a one-on-one by either Nyarko or Acosta as they vainly look for someone, anyone, to make a run into a channel. Either these players suck donkey balls or they are poorly coached. The collective timidity in the attack is why DCU has 13 goals in 18+ games. What a ********ing train wreck.
Ugh. I've got to work tomorrow, so I'm not wasting any more time on this shitshow. Congrats to Harkes on a great goal. Worra's decent saves in the 1st half are erased by that absolute howler. You can build a thousand bridges, but you suck one dick.... I'm OUT.
The plan of having truly, deeply, shitty forwards and old, slow wings - i think there's enough empirical evidence to say that plan is really not working. Ugh.
We are an incredible 11 points outside of a playoff position with red hot Seattle (away) on deck. Basura
Great goal by Harkes. Congrats to him. I like the second goal better, though, mostly because it looked like a competent soccer team putting together a smart run and pass rather than a great individual strike. As for the rest: Oooof, Worra. Oooof, Birnbaum. Just ... ooof.
That miserable goal conceded right out of the half finished it. Just awful from Worra. Olsen was hot after the match, and he was right. This shouldn't be frivolous, every minute, every moment is sacred, particularly when you're a last place team. Still, you're down two goals, sub out Jeffrey for Buescher and friggin' try. He never bends with those two deep mids, it's very irritating.
Would it kill United to mix up the formation a bit, or throw more than two guys into the box when on an attack? Ugh. At least that was a nice wonder goal from Harkes, and a great run by Brown for his goal. And I shudder to think where United would be without Acosta and Nyarko. Otherwise, blergh.
Just for some context ... We didn't get schooled by a bunch of 7 figure DPs. We got schooled by Roland Lamah, a 30 year old journeyman who any MLS team could have scouted for a sub DP salary. Michael Barrios who was brought into the league on a 5 figure salary from Colombian 2nd division. Maxi Urruti and Atiba Harris who were recycled after several MLS teams discarded them. Hernan Grana who is a Crew reject. Even their big star Mauro Diaz is basically on the same pay scale as Acosta. The rest is pretty much drafts and homegrowns like Ulloa, Hollingshead, Zimmerman and Jesse Gonzalez. The difference really is a system and a willingness to play soccer correctly. The difference really is Oscar Pareja, Fernando Clavijo and Clark Hunt. They're all on the same page. Everyone's rowing in the same direction. The club philosophy is clear.
I think a big part of the difference is good coaching. But we're struck with Olsen as coach at least through the first season in the new stadium, so get used to it. So yeah, even with DC United's current austerity program, we could've put together a side at least as competent as Dallas' -- but we'd still need someone to coach them to get the most out of each player for each game. And that ain't happening with Olsen. On a related note, did anyone catch the long cross-field pass Dallas played -- sometime in the first half -- where the ball was passed from what looked like just past midfield to a player on the far side of the box where he trapped it dead at his feet? Fabulous skill. I don't think any of our players can actually do that. If it had be Letoux on the end of that ball he would've kicked it halfway back to the midfield stripe.
Worse, of the 10 teams above us only Columbus has played more matches, Teams with 3 games fewer lead us in points, I doubt this team could break the redline with 10 extra games above everyone else. has
Well had he been on National Team duty as some felt he deserved, some other inept defender would have screwed up for him. That's what's so great about this group, there's enough depth to keep the howlers coming Reletter his shirt BURNEDBAUM
Pay Ben NOT to do something? Maybe there was a typo in his coaching contract that only he read. It seems that he's certainly being paid and definitely not coaching so that might explain why he hasn't been fired
Having thought about this a bit more, I'm even more convinced than ever that the coach is the problem. You can say what you want about having crap to work with, but truth is that many if not most MLS teams are mediocre in terms of quality. And budget is certainly not the determining factor. We're cheap, but we're not alone. We've had injuries, yes. We've had challenges. But we have no system, and that is obvious. And getting... wait for it... DeLeon and Vincent back from long injuries... this won't make this team any better. If Ben were running the team into the ground in practice such that they were fitter (albeit, less deft) than the opposition, ok. That's a plan. If we were built around some sort of quick (or even clever) counterattack strategy, ok, that's a plan. If we had the ability to change our shape to move to 3 in the back (with Korb and our new guy being fast enough) and clogging the middle, that might even be a plan. But let's face it. Ben is pissed. Boo hoo. He's always pissed. Moaning about effort is the opposite of a strategy. Its the way you talk to your pickup team when they're having an off day. We play like a slightly more sophisticated pickup team. Christos without the charm. If "they need to try harder" worked as an approach, we'd have won the league multiple times in recent years. Not having good enough pieces -- that's on the the FO. Not getting the best out of whatever pieces you have -- that's on the coach. Free up some cash. Sell whoever we need to. Please god cut Neagle and some of the other deadweights. Give Ben a job in management if that's in his contract. But we need to rebuild desperately, and that starts with a good coach.