At least the Phils are in first right now.... They finally won one for me down in Cincy (when I'm in attendance, that is).
I would have been about $700-$1000 richer from not spending that money on a flight, tickets, booze, and ibuprofen. Would I trade that experience to have that money back? Absolutely not.* *The @mmradio13 translation of this post is roughly, "hang is a miserable bastard who hated every minute of his trip to MLS Cup 2015"
Being critical and objective of some things to do with the team while enjoying the good things is perfectly normal. I've cooled a bit on the "Fire Berhalter!" business because we've won 3 in a row. How could I not? I'm still not happy with everything that is going on with the team and how it is being run by Berhalter in his job as Sporting Director. I'm not ready to throw Mensah out entirely as a bust, but his body of work as the most likely highest paid defender in the league leaves a lot to be desired. Sure, he could turn it around, get healthy and have a fine season. MLS best 11? Defender of the year? Doubtful. Pipa too I feel is a problem. I think Meram moving central and dropping Pipa for Manneh may prove to be a better option (I am excited to see how Manneh performs for us and give credit to Berhalter for exchanging a player not in his plans for one that was desperately needed to push for minutes). I've been pleased with the tactical changes and Artur has been growing into his role very nicely. But last season's disasters are still fresh, this season is still young. The flack @hangthadj is getting for saying we have an easy start to the season and should gain a minimum of 10 points seems crazy to me. Of course these teams improved, that's kind of the point. We're comparing those improvements to our own. So far, kind of break even. Dumped home points to Chicago and got obliterated by Houston. We didn't gain a whole lot there. Thankfully, some tactical and personnel adjustments were made (again, Kudos to GGG) and we've looked a bit better in the 3 victories. Though there are caveats there too, as DC is terrible, Portland and Orlando are bad road teams. Gregg's who we have right now. I'm rooting for his success but have no problem for pointing out when his performance in any of his roles doesn't measure up.
For me 3G's system got us to the Final and the system had a very good chance of winning the final. Ensure is a pretty high bar. The system had, at most, 20% of the fault for the loss in the Final. The system did not make Trapp and Clark lose their mind on first few minutes and the system did not blow an out of bounds call and then have the several players stop playing. Now for the 2016 season, feel free to blame the system and the reluctance to change the system.
Berhalter completely tactically outclassed today. Paunovic makes an adjustment in game. Berhalter drinks water, and blankly stares like a dear in the headlights. And before we talk about injuries or whatever, Chicago was without Juninho as well. Both games. And we have scored one goal against them in 180 minutes this season. On the bright side, gaining only one of an available six points against last year's 20th place team does WONDERS for our early season strength of schedule rating.
Starting lineups and subs were shit, agreed. That being said, you're clearly smart enough to know your 'Chiacgo was the worst team in the league last year' argument is just as garbage as Abu. I'm sure everyone said that about Leicester City last year, how that work out? Chicago is better, just deal with it.
Of course. It totally helps playing a team who had won three in a row and only had one loss in five games.
What brilliant tactical adjustments did Bridgeview make? And even better how did those shifts cause Jimenez and Crognale to fail to communicate on the entry pass from Dax? It was a crap game on both sides. There was not outcoaching here, unless the Bridgeview's plan was to have horrible spacing, passing and attack which made the Crew think they should do the same. I am just glad no one this was not nationally broadcast, it was an embarrassing game for both teams and the MLS.
Ummm... It was on NBC. Even if that was only the local affiliate, still too much general exposure for that shit show to represent soccer to the mildly initiated.
Paunovic saw that Berhalter, for some reason, was playing with 3 central holding miss (Artur, Abu, and Trapp), none with the playmaking ability to change the game. This being the case, Paunovic saw the opening, realized he really only needed to play 3 at the back. With that three in the back Kappelhof even pushed more central, up into the midfield as the Fire was attacking knowing that the Crew lacked a true playmaker to counteract this. The midfield was overloaded, and none of Trapp, Abu, or Artur had the vision or creativity to match that. The team had no playmaker. No hope. No plan. Berhalter even said after the match the plan was to "tire them out. " With what? Presumably square passes. Berhalter the coach made no adjustments in the first 45 minutes because he didn't know what to do but tire them out. Furthermore, Berhalter the coach was limited by the personal that Berhalter the Sporting Director provided him, mainly us having next to no plan b for a game without Higuain....despite him coming off a career worst season and injury. Berhalter the coach furthermore has been, and continues to be too stubborn to move Meram into a central role until it's far too late. Other than that, Gregg gets a 10. I'm sure he'll be the manager in the MLS team of the week. A sterling performance.
The game was no tactical masterpiece but we were a bit unlucky to not get a goal with the number of times we had the ball a short distance in front of their goal. If the final is 1-1, we move on with a road point and looking forward to Higuain and Afful's return. I thought Artur was ok at CAM, it was Abu as a DM that caused the midfield problems. The poor finishing isn't really the manager's fault.
Finlay played two balls across the center of the net before the 60th minute that would have been easy tap ins if we had a late arriving midfielder coming into the box. Instead we played three d-mids and had roughly 20 yards of space between the central midfield and Kamara. That's on Berhalter. To his credit, he eventually realized when he subbed in Hansen and looked to move Meram centrally. As was the case with many Berhalter revelations, it was too little too late.
It was clear that the gameplan was to play for the draw. Missing two of your best players on the road, you're happy with a point. That's why we had 3 holding mids. I'm with you though hang, we desperately need a replacement for Higuain. Might as well try Meram so we know if he can be our 10 or not. Meram at CAM, Manneh and Hansen out wide. Why not
That is a good argument if Paunovic knew the Crew lineup before it was released so he could go with 3 in the back. Sure he might have known Pipa and Harrison where in Columbus but they could have gone with different players or formations. It is far more likely that he went to 3 in the back because Juniho was out. So Paunvoic changed his system to fit his players he had. And Kappelhof was not playing an advanced role. See https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1163676/MatchReport. He is #16 under Player Position, the farthest or second farthest back. Now if you want to say that Paunovic brilliantly went from his 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2 when he replaced Campbell for Connor, I am listening (it would be tough sell since Connor did about nothing). I would still not call it out coaching. I am not saying Berhalter was good either. It was a crap show. The team was slow and spacing for a 4-3-3 was terrible. With the available players I thought they would have gone with 3-5-2 at least to get more practice with the formation and this is supposed to be the formation the Crew play without Higuain. It would have taken pressure off the players who have not played as much or together. But I think Berhalter and the staff thought Artur or Abu could play higher. Turns out, they are comfortable further back. Not a big surprise. Lesson learned. It was a crap game. The Fire kinda got lucky with kind of a weak goal. Steffen should've had that ball.
For all the good feelings just a few short hours ago our beloved Crew is only 3 points away from falling below the red line with nearly all chase teams holding a game in hand. Here's to hoping that there expected points conversion in on par with Ola's expected goals conversion, or else we are ********ed. On the bright side, we hopefully have our DP central defender coming back soon. Hopefully they time away with injury has cleared his head of being spun like a top and foolish red cards from horribly mistimed tackles. The Artur injury is bad but at least we have Tchan....oh wait. No we have Abu and he's absolute garbage. Thankfully Gregg's Sporting Director traded Tchani and a shit ton of GAM and TAM for a guy who Gregg doesn't even want to put in the 18 for some reason. Suffice to say, we are entering some dark days my friends. We need to stick together. This is my pledge to be there for you, my Crew family. If you need a shoulder to cry on, or a hug, hang is here. Sack Berhalter.
Until the other pic in the other thread, I didn't realize your avatar was a picture of you. You'll always be "Hang Thad J" to me. Always wondered why you hated Thad Matta. Regardless of your hatred of DJs.