What: DC United at Montreal Impact When: Saturday, August 4, 7:30 PM Where: Not Audi Field TV: NC8, CW Richmond, ESPN+ Why: Because Audi Field needs another break already. Other big questions: Will Rooney be more like the Rooney we've seen in DC, or the Rooney we saw in Atlanta? Who will sit so Arriola can get back in the lineup? Has Canouse earned another start after making the MLS Best XI last week? Can United get a result on the road to make up for the stinker against NYRB?
Since Rooney has arrived, we have only looked poor/lacking against the TOP clubs (ATL/NYRB). Despite being on the road, Montreal is not a top club- this is definitely a winnable match. I expect Moreno to sit for Arriola. Hopefully Opare has earned another start as well. Saturday will be the closest DCU has ever been to 'full-strength' all season. The squad is only missing NDL from the top11. --------------------Rooney---------------------- Asad------Acosta-------Arriola------Steiber --------------------Canouse-------------------- Mora-----Birnbaum----Opare------Fisher --------------------Ousted---------------------- 2-1 DCU win on the road!
I think this will be a good test and indication of this team for the rest of this year. If they get whooped up on yet again on the road, is there any point in thinking they'll be any more than the mediocre they have been at home for the rest of 2018? Probably not. However, when they go out and force their game on this team on the road, maybe it gives us hope they'll continue to play better and better for the remainder of the season no matter where they play. I want to be optimistic and I don't know too much about Montreal this season so .... DCU - 2 MTL - 1 I still think either way we're not capable of an honest shut-out. I am very curious to see if/how Mattocks plays in this game. Much has been speculated of Kasper having a long discussion with him in this week's practice.
Oddly, yes I didin't think that was possible. We also seem to have a metric shit-ton of Sunday games after this, both home and on the road. Weird.
Depends what Kasper told him. Could have spoken to him like a Dutch Uncle or he could have told him the joke about the old lady trying to buy avocados. Either way it is in my opinion refreshing to see a bit of depth in the talent pool to chose among, The usual "who is least likely to really screw up" selection process was getting tiresome. I see an away draw and a further improvement of the team around Capt Rooney
We've shown an inability over the last couple of weeks to contain the top players of our opponents (Martinez going wild against us, BWP getting the lone one against NYRB). Piatti is a handful -- will having Opare help us in situations where we're focusing our efforts on one major focal point? Since I'm still on "Playoff Watch" (optimism!), I'll say that this is a pretty huge match. MTL is in 5th on points, but 7th on PPG currently. We need a result -- a draw's not awful, but we really can't afford to give up all three in a match like this.
Must win game. United needs to win about 5 in a row at some point just to get in the conversation. Why not now? They must finish chances, really looking at Rooney to show the way. I can see the man is slowing down, he's a teensy bit on the margins now, without going full Arnaud. But any chances he does get need to go in the net. I'm talking like one out of every two. They need him to lead the team to the playoffs with his quality around the net. I only expect a super efficient scorer, that's what the money should be paying for.
I'm not sure they win 5 in a row due to our games in hand. To get in the playoff contention I'd say we need a couple of wins in a row. 11 or 12 from the next 5 games would get us in striking distance, especially if we beat Montreal, Orlando, and NE along the way. They're all teams that aren't that great, but are ahead of us in the playoff push. I think it's pretty unlikely that we'll be good enough to really make a run at the playoffs, but if we do, it'll be cause we have a good August. If we don't pick up a solid starting defender (either CB or fullback) I just don't think it'll happen. We just give up too many goals.
Three after Saturday. 3 home games, then a trip to NYRB. 2 homes games, then a trip to NYCFC. Finally 7 home games, and a trip to Chicago.
Goff's predicted lineup is identical to last match, i.e., no Arriola in the starting eleven. I would prefer to see Arriola in his usual spot, with Canouse playing the Moreno role, but not confined to defending.
If Goff's right, it seems like a red flag to me. Why on earth would you not start Paul, who's one of our top players and coming off a game's rest? Is this how we bring in two top-quality defenders?
I don't think he comes up with it all by his lonesome he may have cut and pasted the wrong e-mail from the team. I am hard pressed to put full faith in either the reportage or the coaching. MLS website reports: "Projected Starting XI (4-1-4-1, right to left) GK: David Ousted — Oniel Fisher, Kofi Opare, Steve Birnbaum, Joseph Mora — Russell Canouse— Zoltan Stieber, Paul Arriola, Luciano Acosta, Yamil Asad — Wayne Rooney" Not carved in stone but seems logical