I certainly appreciate his coverage of the change in DCU's ownership and the potential Hamid trade. I don't see anyone else breaking these stories.
His proclivity for picking up yellows will reset? Explain how that happens. I’m saying he’s gone from solid to reckless. Two yellows his first 15 games, 5 and a red his last 10. Yes he’s been getting amongst the goals, but does his production outweigh the lack of discipline? Once he gets the yellow is he rendered ineffective or subbed out because he can’t control his play? He was averaging one yellow every ten games in Mexico. Granted he wasn’t scoring as much. Is this the trade off we need to make with a team that actually isn’t hurting for offense right now? Thx, Jay!
Goff has said in the past that his projected lineups are just a guess, so don't read too much into it. I think Arriola will start, but we looked OK without him last week.
Apologies -- good point. I thought you were just referring to being on the bench from all the yellows. I agree with you on the broader issue of him picking up yellows -- but maybe he is picking them up because he thinks he has to work harder and be more tenacious because this team is so bad. But agreed, he needs to figure out how to paly and not end up getting carded every other game. Hamid learned that lesson.
While I have misgivings about the 4-1-4-1 alignment in general, I'm fine with the starting lineup. Having Arriola and Durkin (and Segura) available as subs is as good as we can get right now. Montreal is a relatively weak team and we need to get some points. But I'm going with a tie where somebody scores late. We can worry about a Plan B without Acosta later. Not this game.
I see the same problems as the last game. Leaky defense and lack of poaching in the box. If Rooney is going to drop so deep, I want to see Mattocks come on sooner rather than later.
I'm worried that we're playing with fire in terms of Piatti and the number of times he's been one-on-one with Fischer. Hard to imagine we make it the whole game without Piatti winning that match-up emphatically at least once. Otherwise? We could be playing better, but we've put two off the woodwork and created some other chances. Could be worse.
Yea, so it was just a mediocre night It's pretty amazing how the East is so noncompetitive. Outside of the top 4 no one has any drive at all.
...also, Orlando takes a last-minute red card to Yotun, who assisted on all three OCFC goals. And if there was justice, they'd be missing Dwyer, too.
Apologies to Goff, he had it right. in a normal season, this is a good result, but since United has no margin for error, it's a bad one.
It might continue like this, because we have an over abundance of providers and not enough bodies in the box. I noticed that DC really started to dominate after Montreal's goal until about the 30th minute. Montreal adjusted and started sitting in a low block, and conceding possession. Once they did that, the game turned into a bit of a stalemate. We may look cute in possession, but it doesn't mean much without penetrating the box. Most of our chances became low percentage long range shots. "Possession without penetration is just masturbation ..." Ben needs to mix in an element of power into the team to break through the low block. Colorado and Red Bull also frustrated us with their deep defending. Sometimes the key to unlocking a deep defense is being productive on set pieces. Something that has almost completely disappeared from DC's game plan. I remember in 2014 we were one of the most dangerous set piece teams in MLS, and now I can't remember the last time we scored on a corner or a free kick. The two elements we need to salvage something from this season are set piece offense and an improvement in defense. At some point we need a shutout. To go so long without a shutout is very unfair to our attackers. If only we can find a way to score the first goal on a more consistent basis, our attackers will be be infinitely more dangerous. Get the opponent to chase a goal, and Acosta/Stieber/Asad/Rooney will murder you on the break with time and space.
To Bo!oni - the last set piece goal was Stieber off Asad's face. But to your point, United sucks at set pieces, for and against, and that boils down to coaching. The inability to break even in set pieces, never mind come out ahead, is a huge knock on Olsen in my book.
Remember a few years back when we went significantly into the 200s-straight of corner kicks without a goal? We had a pool/thread. Tradition.
I thought that this was a pretty decent effort where we can come away from it feeling like we had a really good shot at all the points. Still a good point away from home.