Well he has already nearly coughed the ball up already.. What is up with Canouse the last 2 games is he suddenly past expiry date??
Wow this sucks - couldn’t go so am watching from home. The team looks awful. The commentary is inane. The broadcast is cutting out like a high school feed. Where’s the professional part of this? Philly isn’t that good.
They play like this vs Atlanta and it will be a bloodbath. Oh, and the Feed is out for the 29th time. Is this mercy?
Hate to agree with this but it’s true. I am enjoying sporadic moments of good play from United but that’s it.
You may want to take it back. With tonight, they have 7 wins in the last 10 games, not to mention reaching the USOC final. They are on fire.
Hard to evaluate anything after minute 60, when United's legs collectively gave out. One of these times, when Acosta or Rooney get a step on the defense and start heading to goal, I want them to actually go at the goal. Especially against a young centerback pairing like tonight, that's a recipe for drawing a penalty kick. Seeing them in a "who can chip the keeper" contest is fun, but not overly productive. Having Rooney drop all the way back into the defense to collect the ball was a bad flashback to Acosta having to do that in seasons past. Atlanta may not be pretty on Sunday, unless these guys can seriously get their wind back.
lol ... that's already two home losses in the stadium that is supposed to change everything. And two losses to two of our biggest rivals in general, and more specifically in this year's playoff race. The design of this team is absolutely terrible. We have a ton of creators who dazzle with no look passes, but nobody to get on the end of the play. We need like 5+ perfect passes just to get a shot on goal. Other teams are figuring out that we're not a threat in the box. As long as they play us honestly and retreat into the box, we have no way to break them down. Makes you wonder why the team's leading scorer is on the bench, perfectly healthy and was in form up to the point he got benched. This is another example of Ben's tactical inflexibility. He's trying to squeeze a square peg (Rooney) into a round hole (#9 striker). Need to realize that with the summer moves the team has changed, and now Ben needs to change his system accordingly.
Just couldn't get that goal. Too many opportunities in the box without a shot on goal. Philly was very professional killing the game, credit to them. But this seems like three points were there but not taken. I'm a little disappointed that Rooney hasn't risen to the occasion with a big goal these last two games. He's had chances, but hasn't taken them with full confidence.
He's really good at one or two audacious attempts per game that make the audience gasp. Maybe he doesn't respect this league enough and thinks he can win with chip shots and no look passes. But somehow the last few games he forgot the basics of just getting a hard shot on goal when the chance arises. And Acosta is also falling into this bad habit. Sometimes in soccer you need to be direct. Get straight to the point before the defense adjusts ... kind of like Philly's first goal. Just get a hard shot on target, and in this case it led to a rebound. No chip or backheel needed by Sapong ... just a simple tap in.
Should he have just buried that ball or was his only option to pass it 6 inches right to be intercepted? Oh well.
Some observations: The game was over after the first goal. In this heat and humidity, you just can't chase the game. That coupled with DCU's fixture congestion because of the AF construction, the game was over before the end of the half. Particular observations: 1. Curtin flat outcoached Olsen. He knew that without Mattocks on the field, DCU couldn't beat him with a quick ball over the top. So, he clogged the middle and dared Birnbaum and Opare to move the ball quickly and creatively. They failed. Birnbaum is, at best, below average in ball movement. Opare is OTC, he is just not starting material because he can't move the ball forward to save his life. Curtin knew that and "forced" the ball to Opare time and time again. Putting Brillant in was the right move, just way too late. This was one of the rare situations calling for the Tom Soehn first half substitution. Opare was lost on an island, he needed to be put out of his misery sooner rather than later. 2. Olsen failed to adjust to the situation. Canouse has played in the last two games like someone who just came back for a long term injury. He has hit the wall and needs rest. This was the perfect opportunity to put in Durkin who moves the ball very well and would have helped break down the Philly defense. This also was a game that probably would have required Rooney to sit. Philly was playing for a point. Playing the ball over the top to Mattocks might have led to a goal, at least it would have helped open up the field. 3. Arriola and Stieber both were poor. Arriola's decision making and service has been awful for the last two games. Tonight early in the first half, he kept his head down and missed a simple diagonal pass to Fisher who would have been in on goal unmarked. I couldn't figure out what Stieber was doing. Most of the time he appeared to work centrally, leaving Acosta on the wing. Problem is that isolates Acosta and takes him out of the game. Was that the players? or was that Olsen's doing? 4. Earnie Stewart put together a good team in Philly before he left. He picked players to fill spots whether or not they were "names." Going into this transfer window, DCU needed: 1. a backup left back; 2. a starting 'keeper; 3. a goal scoring traditional forward; and 4. a lockdown CB with some ball skills. Well 1 and 2 were filled. As for the rest, DCU got Rooney, who is good, but not necessarily something the DCU team needed because he isn't the type of forward that was missing here. As for CB, that was a complete whiff and it cost DCU dearly tonight. 5. That is 6 of 9 possible points squandered. So far, even with Hamid and Rooney, DCU is playing like all Olsen teams -- beating those below them in the standings (or pasting teams on their ways down), but incapable of beating "better" teams. After 9 seasons of this, I believe it is time to move on.
that was sad. Who would have thought that playing the same 10 guys every 3 days during the dog days of summer would tire them out? Sunday could be a bloodbath.
There were two clear hand balls in the box that were not called or reviewed by VAR. I just don't get the referreeing in MLS. We could have had a draw, at least, but now don't even get a point. And I must concur, Ben was indeed outcoached again.
On that Elliott handball, the ref was definitely communicating with VAR. I think VAR just told him it's not worth reviewing. I probably agree, although I have seen that called a PK before. Elliott's arm was in a "natural position" IMO. Yes, it may have been moving towards the ball, but at that distance, it was purely accidental. Normally when you run you move your arms, unless you're Molly Shannon ...
If you (defender) gain an advantage by a handball in the box, it should be called, just as an attacker should be called if he gains the advantage, instead. There was defensive advantage on both defensive handballs.
That hurts. This was a home game against a team we should beat at home. Those were 3 points we should have been able to count on. We're now on track for a four game losing streak, killing our recent momentum. This was the game we needed to win during an especially tough stretch. Losing to the Red Bulls on the road was to be expected. Even at home on Sunday, we're likely to lose to Atlanta (with Josef Martinez with 28!!!! goals in 26 games). And we're likely to lose again next Saturday on the road against NYCFC. Winning this game would have said that maybe we're not yet at the level of the elite teams, but at least we are MLS playoff-caliber--but we lost. We needed to demonstrate we could manage this congested schedule. But that was one tired team. In his post-game comments, Ben conceded the schedule was a problem for the team. For me, the central defense failures are my biggest worry. After so much recent improvement, tonight was really disappointing. Especially Birnbaum. On the first goal, he overcommitted at the top of the box, trying to poke the ball away, leaving Canouse to scramble back trying to cover the goal scorer right in front of the net. On the second goal, Birnbaum over-compensated and dropped too far back into the six-yard box , leaving the the goal scorer unmarked near the penalty spot. Maybe it's Opare too--I missed was what he was doing. Bottom line: In neither case were our central defenders marking the eventual goal scorer right in front of our goal. PS I'm still happy with Rooney's performance in the last two games as a striker. Skimming the cross-bar in the last game and hitting the post in this game is, to borrow a hockey term, just bad puck luck. If his shot tonight goes in rather than hitting the post, then it's Philadelphia chasing the game in 90 degree weather.