Pre-match: DCU vs. the Scum of the F'N Earth

I agree with earlier posters that Acosta is becoming an on-field problem with his antics.

I lay this blame squarely at Olsen's feet for several reasons- by never naming a team captain, nobody is 'in charge' on the pitch. Someone wearing the armband on the pitch could have the 'seniority' to bring him in line. Off the pitch it would help with respect and discipline as well, as would the coaching staff not allowing this behavior to occur. Frankly, if its occurring on the pitch- its certainly occurring in training- and thats on Olsen and staff.

Just another reason why Olsen needs to be shown the door.

 

I think I might trot out a 3-5-2.

Durkin is my center defender.
Birnbaum on the left.
Opare/Robinson/Fisher/Some New guy on the right.

Canouse and Segura/Harkes/Stieber at Defensive/Holding Mid

Arriola on the right.
Asad/Stieber on the left.

Acosta at AM

Rooney and Mattocks up top.

This gives you some flexibility

If Stieber doesn't start he can come in at multiple positions to relieve someone who's tired or having an off-night.

If we need a goal, you can put a more offensive oriented player in for one of the defensive/holding mids.

If we're protecting a lead, you can put someone like Mora or Fisher in for one of the wingers.

I don't know. Might be a total disaster. But what we're doing right now just isn't working...

 

So are those SG seats or someplace else in the stadium. <$400 a STM seems overly reasonable for a major metro area like LA or DC.

 

I think some people have it backwards. Acosta isn’t generally good and underperforms, he’s average and occasionally overperforms. He’s young and wasn’t highly recruited, he has upside but he’s not a real long term #10

 

I couldn't disagree more.

Acosta has shown the ability to be a game changer in this league on a regular basis.

The biggest issue holding him back right now is that he isn't involved in the play enough. And I don't think that's coaching. From my view, the 4-1-4-1 we roll out was designed almost explicitly to free him up - to let him move around the field without much defensive responsibility and find the space to change the game. And you can see his teammates defer to him whenever he is near - they almost always give him the ball.

The problem is that Acosta is taking the freedom he has, and instead of going out and impacting the game he's spending half the time sulking around pissed off. He hides out on the wings way too much, especially when he gets frustrated for a moment.

I want to see him tracking back and demanding the ball. I want to see him moving the ball and making our attack dynamic. He's a guy who needs touches - even if it's just a guy 5 feet away who passes to him and then he passes back.

 

For me the problems are all tactical. I absolutely HATE the 4-1-4-1. Even looking at it on paper, the first thing that jumps out at you is that 1 DM between the two lines of 4.

I've read articles and excerpts from tactics books on the 4-1-4-1 and the way it's described is a defensive tactic. The most successful application of this tactic was Spain in 2010 who won most of their games 1-0.

The way the system is supposed to work is that the midfield line of 4 plays deep so the one DM doesn't get isolated. One forward is supposed to stay up top by himself. Not necessarily for a long ball, more for a quick outlet when the opportunity presents itself. When possession changes, the idea is that the play gets built through methodical possession (think Spain's tiki taka) so the lines move up in unison and the striker is no longer isolated.

What I see from Ben goes against everything that is commonly understood about the 4-1-4-1. Either Ben is a groundbreaking genius who is creating something brand new, or he's in over his head and doesn't understand his own formation.

What I see from Ben is the defensive midfielder being completely isolated. Going back to the Spain example, while Busquets was theoretically the lone defensive midfielder, Xavi and/or Iniesta would always drop deep to start building a calm methodical possession out of the back. In DC I see Asad and Stieber staying high and wide and Arriola making runs into the box trying to get on the end of things. This leaves a massive gap between the two lines. Last night every time Red Bull got the ball into the Durkin zone (which they did easily since our attackers are too soft to win the ball in a high press) they had a 2-1 or 3-1 numerical advantage. Brillant and Birnbaum were too scared to step up. And Durkin is only a teenager ... what do you expect him to do when he's not only outnumbered but he's dealing with the league's leading assist man (Kaku) ...

 

This is spot on. Anyone with a decent footy IQ can see what you just described- but for some reason it seems to be escaping our coaching staff. Which tells me they have no tactical nous.

I wonder what the over/under is on Rooney losing his mind on the tactical/coaching stupidity at DCU before he just says 'f*ck this I'm taking over...sit down and shut up Olsen'

 

Please send your resume to our ownership. We desperately need a new coaching staff.

 

I actually wonder if part of bringing Rooney over here involved him transitioning into coaching full time.

 

I don't know that any coaching tactics would have changed this outcome. I have a hard time recalling any time in the first half when any one DCU player outplayed his man.

 

Birnbaum is the captain. If he needs to pound that malignant dwarf into the ground, so be it.

Our problems with Acosta are not due to lack of an armband-wearing captain who is announced last during walkout as “And youuuuuuurr CAPTAIN...”

 

It's hard to outplay your man when you're put in a position to fail.

Statistically, DC has the worst defense in the league. Coaches have a large enough sample size now to understand that this is not an anomaly ... it's a systemic structural flaw. When faced with such a dire problem, you have to adjust something. Never mind my last post about the 4-1-4-1 ... It doesn't matter to me if Ben sees it the same exact way I see it. All I care about is that at least they acknowledge the problem and attempt something different. Either the formation or the personnel (Durkin at CB, Robinson, Arriola at RB). Gotta do something. The definition of insanity is rolling out this same formation with that same backline and expecting different results.

Of course the criticism should go way above Ben as well. This is why I criticized the Rooney move ... Not because I thought that Rooney would be a terrible MLS player. I just didn't feel like it addressed any of the problems on the team. In fact the roles that Rooney can play, are exactly the roles where DC was already at its best. What we needed is power and quality down the spine of the team ... a goalkeeper, a lockdown center back, a string pulling deep lying midfielder and a pure power forward. Rooney is just another one of these attacking midfielder/forward hybrids that DC is so in love with that we always stockpile more than we actually need.

 

So I am mostly with you.

Rooney, I thought that was some real marketing fluff when it was first gaining steam. So far he's got 15-20 good minutes vs a very middling team a long way from home, a poor showing vs Atlanta and below average showing vs a pretty good team last night. We're going to have see something from him before the end of August.

I would contend that there might not be a single MLS grade starter on our backline, healthy or injured. There are some arguments to be made, but the fact that we're in a place where they're all up for debate is concerning.

While he's given up a shit ton of goals, the thing that tipped it to Ousted, for me was that he wasn't showing a howler waiting to get out. That changed last night. Another frenetic outing like that and its time for Clark to get his run ... until his howler comes out, because its always there. I am not sure a keeper can maintain confidence under the kind of deluge our defense gives up.

The midfield, I can't put my finger on it, but I am wondering if its a matter of having pieces that don't consistently go together.

 

I feel like the lack of build up from the back hindered the midfield last night (unlike the Vancouver match). Too often there are high balls played forward to a midfield with a 5'3" Acosta and a 5'6" Arriola. Not that they don't have hops, but i saw a lot of clearances played up the middle and too often the headers won by NYRB as well as possession.

 

First Game from Rooney was Great.
Atlanta was terrible.
Last night actually I thought was better than below average.

With an impressive piece of skill (fighting for position in a very effective way and attempting and pulling off a chest trap that probably no one else on our team would even think about) he earned a PK that should be called 10 times out of 10.

And he showed (maybe too much) unselfishness and smart soccer when he passed on a tough shot to set up Asad for what should have been a tying goal only to see Asad meekly pass the ball to the keeper instead.

Just sayin, he had two individual moments last night that should have resulted in a tying goal...

 

Damn I love it when you hit your stride!

 

Couldn't agree with this more!

 

Why the end of August?
Is That 2018 or 2019?
Why does he have to put up when Olsen only has to fuk up?

 

Nothing about history suggests that Ben Olsen will be changing. Just last season he was plugging in over the hill guys like Sarvas when he could have been giving Durkin minutes in a lost season.

 

Birnbaum has a glass chin (along with the rest of his mushy head), he ain't pounding anyone Probably would have to talk to him calmly in a dark room.

 

Because I think thats the time he needs to settle show that he's of deep value to this team and late August would give him a month and a half or so to really demonstrate some consistency.

 

I deeply hope you are right and that he gets paired with someone on this team who can compliment and feed off his skills and strengths. I'm not optimistic

 

I haven't been posting a lot late but after several matches I just have to say something..jesus..

How does Brilliant even have a job...

He is slow, a giant pylon, error prone and a total own goal magnet. He shouldn't even be on the field its ridiculous.

 

I assume because Opare is injured (he better be injured or I have no idea what anyone's thinking still playing Brilliant).

Maybe he's better than Robinson in practice? I really can't explain why he'd start over anyone good (and for the record I think Jalen Robinson is good, or at least good enough).

This question should be asked at a post-game news conference - I mean it's rude, sure, but it needs to be asked. It might receive a smirk and side-eye as an answer, but maybe it'd get the coaches thinking.

I was really excited about Opare's growth last year; I thought he'd be a pretty good part of our back-line this year and that would help Birnbaum calm down and get better as well - I figured Brilliant was a decent pick-up for depth and as a good mentor in practices and hoped he wouldn't be automatically started over the other two simply because of his "experience" - and I hope that's not what's happening, but I don't have the confidence in what I'm seeing to believe that's true right now.

 

Because some other team had figured out that he was done and dusted, so they got a little GAM from the league's recycling bin, out of the deal.

I predict that Freddy will be playing in Lichtenstein's 2nd division next year, after getting bought out by DCU.