Good observation, but in all fairness to NDL he is not an attacking player, he is a workhorse. But a team needs a lot of good piano carriers to complement a piano player! This team seems to be clicking with everyone carrying out their roles, Acosta, Mullins, NDL, Franklin, Sarvas, Boswell, Bribaum, Nyarko, Sam, Hamid, etc.. I think this team is starting to click at the right time. They are not the cream of the cream, but come playoff time they should be ready and as everyone knows anything can happen in the playoffs!
Of course, United would crush their opponent in the only match I have missed this year. If you guys can make it worth my while, I'll miss some more (cash only; no personal checks). I was star-gazing at Sky Meadows park in northern Virginia. The NASA employee leading the event asked us to keep our eyes open for passing satellites. I saw none (others did) but I was expecting to see one of Nick DeLeon's low-orbit shots. When I was able to go on line I learned that he had actually put one in the net. Good job, Nicky!
On the replay, after NDL's goal, you can clearly see that he says "Finally!" Hopefully that's a monkey off his back and he can just go with his instincts rather than trying (and shooting) too hard.
Lol ... that's what I thought he said too with my amateur lip reading. It was a Chris Albrightesque moment. You almost want to forgive all the horrible misses leading up to that. Almost ...
This to me is big. I like the idea of using NDL situationally off the bench -- I think it will simplify the game for him. He'll go in with specific orders: "Hold the ball," "track X through the midfield," "support Acosta." Having one big focal point may make it easier for him, and his energy against a tired opponent could help a lot late in the season. And he's looked pretty good in this role over the last couple games -- still a couple of bad misses/touches, but overall "supersub" may be the best role for him.
Most of the good stuff has been covered and as much as I would like to repeat it, because it's nice, I'm not going to. That was the worst team in the league, down a man, for 60 minutes of the game. DC should have put that game away easily and they did, so good for them. I will say that Acosta is impressing me. I mean, I think that he's a skilled and useful player has been evident from pretty early on, but he clearly wants to be scoring goals (although I'm not sure that's where his skill set is) and playing central, yet he is out on the wings, running away from goal, and making himself available and continuing the attack a great deal. I mean, this sounds like a left-handed compliment, but that's professional stuff that we don't always see out of talented attacking players. I hope he's brought back next season because his willingness to work with team and not be a gloryhound is a quality that I think really helps in MLS (I mean, it helps in every league, but the DP-system can make a team so uneven in quality, that the more talented players just play for themselves and except the journeymen to exist to feed DPs, even if the DPs aren't supposed to be the tip of the spear). The Downside: Is this the second or third time that DC has given up a goal playing against a 10 man side? That happens, but it happened to DC twice in a short span and I think earlier in the season as well. That should be worrying. Apparently, Olsen was belligerent after the first half. Granted, that last minute goal irked him, but both he and Nyarko said they thought Chicago was the better team in the first half. I'm not sure I saw that and I saw some good work out of DC in the first half, but they certainly weren't dominant. I'm not sure what Sam's role is in the attack and I'm not sure he knows either (the former not being a real problem, but the latter is). He's getting involved, which is good, and I am seeing a tenacity in his play that I don't think I saw when he was with New Jersey. But he's not fitting well into that side of the field once he has the ball and he looks unsure whether to cross it, trying to take on a defender, pass the ball back, etc. I hope this game helps, but Mullins still doesn't look super-confident in front of goal. Final note: I saw some of the NJ - NE game on Sunday and for the first time in a long time, I noticed that another MLS game looked much uglier and less creative than the DC United game. I don't mean that DC is so much better than either team, but I think they're certainly easier on the eye.
After one of the goals, in addition to the usual beer shower I got hot dogged, mustard and all. not even mad though. also, was awesome to see Jaime in the Barra for the match. Also saw Beuscher riding his bike around the outside of the stadium and Worra walking through the drum circle in the tunnel to lot 8. crazy to see 2 current players and a legend when I don't see any ever
Disagree on Mullins. He looks more confident than any forward we've had in a while. As to NJ-NE, I agree, but it was also really hot at that game I think. NE is definitely a bad team.
On Mullins, I really just mean his shooting and/or willingness to shoot. Which sounds stupid since he bagged three goals, but I just think he looks better receiving the ball, passing the ball, and getting into positions. His finishes were good there were fine, but I think outside the six, the shoots he makes lack conviction. As for the other game, I expected NE to be not-so-good, but NJ looked like a brute force team to me. Everything was up the middle, I didn't really see clever passing or imaginative runs, etc. They were capitalizing on close control and chaos in the box, but I expected more creativity and finesse.
In that context, yes, that's not his game. He's not a guy who will likely score a lot of goals from beyond say the penalty spot. His runs open those spots for others and his passes have been good when he's been outside the box. I've got no problem at all with a striker who looks to get near the goal and shoot.
It's always fun to read the comments on forwards, even productive ones, because there is always something to criticize. Rammel was "only" a poacher; ditto Twellman and Wandolowski. If the goal comes from close in it's "of course he scored, how could he miss from six yards?" There's rarely any appreciation for what you have to do to put yourself in a goal-scoring position. Great anticipation and positioning; and creative off-ball runs are seldom acknowledged as marks of a very good scorer, even though it is precisely those characteristics which set great goal scorers apart. The praise goes to the guy who hammers one in from 25 yards, while those who success comes in close quarters near the goal get faint praise. I loved watching Taylor Twellman. When concussions forced his retirement his goals per minutes played were, IIRC, tops in the league and maybe in league history. And yet he was constantly derided as something less than a "real" forward. What I saw from him was a very canny player who would drive toward a defender as if he wanted to go around him but then stop, open himself up for an uncontested pass, and then shoot around the defender trying to recover. Mullins may never approach a Twellman, or even a Rammel, but he's showing me some of the characteristics which led those two to success.
I will fight anyone who doesn't give Steve Rammel the due respect he deserves as a United pioneer and great goal-scorer. To the pain I think I saw him score with this right testicle once, he'd use any part of his body to beat a keeper to the ball. DC Hero. (even if he's a jersey boy)
I donated it to a Screaming Eagle raffle/silent auction years ago Stupid inability to type properly without extra and missing letters, damned rogue t trying to change everything
Some people earlier think I have a problem with Nyarko for embellishing but that wasn't my intention. I love the guy for it. Hell, I liked Davies as long as he was scoring and Arnaud who was a floparoo but won us lots of games by setting up kicks from outside the box. Nyarko and Mullins are the best thing to happen to this team in a long time.
First, saying Mullins looks unconfident in front of goal after a hat trick seems a bit odd to me, but I may have misread. Either way, putting up 3 should help his confidence. Saying he is the most potent striker we've had in years is a kind of light praise, eh? Third, I thought it wasn't his testicle, but his third leg. But if it was, talk about the "golden ball".