92' Rodriguez with another shot with a 1v1 look. 6 chances now? Losing track of how many chances she has missed.
93' Mattias takes the ball and charges 3 defenders in the box and then losses the ball. This is what frustrates me about Mattias, why go against 3 defenders? Your not beating them, hold the ball back and pass back if you have that many defenders against you, play smart. Your only turning the ball over if you force it and Mattias just doesn't think when she has the ball at her feet.
Buz and Richmond were getting completely out muscled by Zerboni so I was ok with this sub. I thought LeP settled things down nicely, but perhaps Buz should have been subbed out instead of Richmond Buz had a few too many turn-overs for my liking.
I was speaking of this season. Also everyone seems to forget she has just returned after 1.5 years in rehab and has only played two full games. Cut her some slack.
Silva makes her presence known every time she takes the field. I'd really like to see her get subbed in earlier (and more frequently) to have a chance to make things happen.
I like Silva too, just a guess but she may have been chosen over Gorry bc of her ability to deal with the physicality. But any way Silva just has a uniqueness about her similar to Tymrak last year. Hopefully, this sub will make Ledbetter happy....
She was a much more positive and encouraging presence on the field at DM. I got the exact opposite impression when she was at CM last week, she look terrified she was going to make a mistake at any moment, and of course she did. A lot.
I understand that, but the problem is FCKC gave up a first round pick for a 30 year old player coming of an ACL reconstruction injury. Its something you never see a club ever do in professional sports. Why give a first round draft pick when you could of given up a 3rd or a 4th in a draft that will be the best the NWSL has ever seen? It was foolishly short sighted to do that. They could of gotten LePeilbet for a lot less. And now? LePeilbet has to perform. She can't have any off nights or any sympathy, FCKC paid a huge price to get her on the roster so she must perform or she is toast. There is no leeway for her since the cost has been so high. If she performs, then all the credit to her, but if she fails and like she did against Portland and the previous match before that, then she has to deal with the fall out. Maybe its not fair to her since she is coming off an ACL injury, but you know what in pro sports, this is the life, you have to deal with it and she has to play like a stud on the field or the knives will come out. There is no in between with LePeilbet, sadly for her she has to perform.
FC Kansas City 1-1 Western New York Flash FCKC goals: 17' Sarah Hagen (3rd) assisted Lauren Holiday (5th) Flash goals: 22' Samantha Kerr (7th) assisted Carli Lloyd (3rd) FCKC Substitutions: 71' Amy LePeilbet (Jenna Richmond), 76' Frances Silva (Erika Tymrak), 84' Merrit Mattias (Sarah Hagen) Flash Substitutions: 45' Adriana Martin (Vicky Losada), 59' Amy Barzuk (Angela Salem), 74' Sonia Bermudez (Jazmine Spencer) Starting XI for FC Kansas City: 4-4-2 ---------------------Amy Rodriguez---Sarah Hagen -------------------Erika Tymrak---------Lauren Holiday -------------Jenn Buczkowski-----------------Jenna Richmond Kasey Kallman---Nikki Phillips--Becky Sauerbrunn---Leigh Ann Robinson Starting XI for Western New York Flash: 4-4-2 (Diamond Midfield) ------------------Jazmine Spencer---Samantha Kerr -------------------------------Carli Lloyd -------------------Vicki Losada--------McCall Zerboni -------------------------------Angela Salem Haley Palmer---Brittany Taylor---Kat Williamson---Kristen Edmonds When I watch any match on Sahlem field, that field looks so bumpy and hard to play on. The first half the Blues did have most of the possession and built through the middle and provided quite a bit of pressure into the box. Finishing though would highlight the problems for the Blues since they had many quality good 1v1 looks and could not finish on them. Lauren Holiday and Erika Tymrak provided much of the impetus of Blue's attack, switching, pushing the ball up and providing quite a bit of linkage to the forwards. In the 17th minute Holiday would switch the ball from the left side of the field, all the way to the right side with a running Sarah Hagen would get to and get an 1v1 on Kelsey Wys who would be off her line. Hagen would chip her and score easily for the first goal. The Flash in turn would quickly come back and get a free kick and Salem would lob the ball in that Carli Lloyd would get her head on, who would flick it to goal and then Samantha Kerr would outleap everyone to head the ball into goal past Barnhart who couldn't not react in time. A double header goal. Not much the Blue's defense could do against that. The second half would turn around for the Flash as they would start building more possession and start putting more pressure against the Blues, their pressure in the middle would force several turn overs and would allow the Flash to mount several good attacks that Barnhart would have to be careful on. She would tip 2 shots over goal to prevent the Flash from taking leads against the Blues. The Blues for their part would continue to try to build through the middle and many of their chances would come through Holiday linking with Rodriguez and getting her open for 1v1 looks for goal. Rodriguez would have 6 1v1's over the course of the match and either through clear break aways on on through ball from Holiday or Buczkowski or just open looks inside the box with no defender in front of her. Rodriguez simply could not finish and missed several glorious chances to score. Rodriguez in stoppage time had a 1v1 on Wys inside the box and could of ended it but shanked the shot wide. Frustrating day for her but also for Blue's fans watching. Breakdowns from the match: Nicole Barnhart: Played a very good match. Had to be very sharp for several free kick chances that could of lead to goals. She tipped 2 shots over the bar, one of them a rocket shot from Lloyd to prevent a sure goal. Becky Sauerbrunn: Had a fantastic match, defended well but also made several forays into the attacking third to join in on the attack. On one play, she intercepted a ball and attacked up the pitch and sent a through ball to Rodriguez who would have a 1v1 look on goal. Lauren Holiday/Erika Tymrak: Played brilliant football together. Constantly hooking up together to bring the ball up the field. Holiday was constantly getting forwards free for good looks on goal and Tymrak was constantly trying to attack the box on the dribble, which I loved to see. Both provide 2 different styles but complementary as well since they both feed off each other with their play style. Jenn Buczkowski: Had a bad night. Too many turn overs, was constantly on the attack which she shouldn't be. When she was too far forward, her weak ball skills were exposed and she would be constantly turning the ball over in the Flash side of the half which caused several run of plays against the Blues because of the turn overs. Did sent Rodriguez on a through ball for a clear break away but Buczkowski should be sitting more deep defending, not moving up so much. Amy Rodriguez: Had 6 1v1's, 2 clear break aways where she beat her defenders. Those 1v1's are not simply shots taken outside the box, they were all inside the box, whether Rodriguez was given a through ball by either Holiday or Buczkowski or when she was given the ball in the open, she would have open looks for goal with just the goal keeper defending. Several of those shots were either flubs or directed right at Wys, who isn't a good side to side mover. Rodriguez never tested Wys. Very disappointing performance. And what is worrying is how much effort the Blues were trying to feed the ball to Rodriguez, I don't think the offense should be going through Rodriguez, Holiday needs to either spread the ball around, get her other wing players involved on the run or at least take the ball herself more and not rely on Rodriguez trying to finish since she is so hit and miss. I guess a 1-1 draw is well deserved. Since the Flash could of scored on some of those tipped saves by Barnhart, but Rodriguez's finishing was very poor today. When you get that many chances to score, you have to finish better.
LOL, yes. Did you not see 4-5 straight up drives forward, right through loads of defenders. Then on the times when she picked up too many defenders she held the ball up and kept posession. (Made 1-2 bad passes though. Not perfect but pretty darn awesome.)
KC could have been in the hunt for Killion (or Brynjasdottir) with a first round pick, but KC doesn't have a first round pick.
Your resentment is incorrectly directed at the player instead of the people who are really at fault. Hold it against the owner and the coach who decided to buy her in that condition and at that price. She made no deception about her age, her readiness nor that it would take time for her to get back to full form. If they still decided to give away a first round pick to get her anyway then that is 100% on them, not her. Your argument would hold water if this was a true professional sport where the player in question was being rewarded with a multi-million dollar contract and was taking up a huge portion of a salary cap. Certainly expectations go along with those rewards. In this situation LePeilbet got nothing except a place to play, and as an allocated player KC doesn't have to pay her a dime. Thank you for explaining that your unhappiness with a business decision clouds your judgement of a player on the field. I'll keep that in mind.
Agreed, I thought she did well and brought a new dynamic to the game. I think she should be the 1st attacking player off the bench. Still hard for me to take.
A couple of things: 1. I actually don't necessarily think Phillips is a better player than LeP. We have been critical of Phillips play in the past and many including myself called for her to be replaced. But I do think Brunn/Phillips is the better pairing probably bc of their history playing together at Virginia. 2. Erika Tymrak has got to make better decisions I'm surprised her turn overs haven't gotten attention here. Offensively she is exciting but it seemed like she had just as many turn overs Buz. 3. I'm hopeful with this long break that KC can either figure out the spacing in this 4-4-2ish creation or find the right players for a 4-2-3-1. 4. I love Buz and Richmond and think they are some of the most cerebral players in the league but...are they athletic enough to play a 4-4-2 effectively in this league? I'm not sure. 5. It's been written all over the place but Arods finishing has to be better. No excuses.
If anyone has a link to the game that shows more of it than the one on the NWSL website, please pot it. The one at NWSL is missing about half the match , from around minute 12 to around minute 65. Interesting comments here. Please carry on.
We are going to have to agree to disagree since LePeilbet regardless of her status as an allocated player or even her injury status, the fact remains the Blues paid a very high price for a player in her 30's and is coming off a very serious injury. For a fan, this is not a smart move. You don't pay a first round pick for a player this age or with that injury. The issue is you still remember LePeilbet for her past contributions as a national player. I don't, to me the player must be contributing on the field now. It doesn't matter what she has done in the past. LePeilbet is not the same player as she was in the past, in fact I was saying before recently that we should be trying LePeilbet out as a center back with Sauerbrunn, now my opinion is that she has more problems that has been exposed. She doesn't have the same movement that she had in the past, she can't defend against the dribble. These have all been exposed. People think, that as a national team player, they have a free ride to on the starting roster. I disagree, they have to earn it and they have to be willing to play within the system. If they can't, then they should come in as a sub. In LePeilbet's case, its unfortunate that she was traded for a first round pick because of her injury because now its pretty much demanded that LePeilbet has to play like a stud. That first round pick is a huge lose to this club. It means there is a good chance that we can't draft Shea Groom, who happens to be one of the best Kansas City local products that has been produced in a long while. And yes I rate her above Morgan Marlborough. The Blues have needs in this coming draft, they NEED a left wing back and with the loss of the first round pick, it leaves the Blues with fewer options now. They almost are now forced to draft the left outside back now with their pick instead of Groom and Groom, clubs are not going to be blind to how good this girl is. She will get drafted and Kansas City will miss out on this girl. So again, LePeilbet would of been given a lot more leeway by me if she wasn't traded for the first round pick, but she has and your right she has no control of that situation, but never less, she has to produce now because Kansas City gave up a first round pick. There is no in between with her now. Losing out on Groom is a huge blow for Kansas City and LePeilbet has to be better regardless of her injury history.
Yeah the turn overs by Tymrak are an issue, but for the most part, her turnovers aren't so dangerous that it causes good scoring chances by the other team. With Tymrak if she does turn the ball over, she does try to back mark the player. The Buczkowski turn overs are really problematic because they were inside the Flash half when she was attacking so already the Blues were down one defensive midfielder so the Flash had space to counter and create dangerous chances. At least on a Tymrak turn over, you have Buczkowski and Richmond providing support, its why I don't want to see Buczkowski going forward, she isn't good with the ball at her feet like Richmond is. Richmond can at least shed tackles, keep the ball and move the ball forward.
After Chicago's tie with Houston, the magic number for KC to reach the playoffs is 5. To secure homefield in the semi-final, the magic number remains 9.