This point may prove really useful, we'll have to see how things shake out. I sadly may have to root for SKC next week. That's going to be weird.
Well done to get the point. Losing seemed in the cards, for sure. Great energy by the team. SKC was up for it, too. So, entertaining match. The quality of play was not great by either side, but damn they were charging and tackling with abandon.
KB5 has been playing well. It helps a great deal to have Sunny beside him (though today Sunny had a couple of his old giveways that almost doomed us).
Imagine SKC fans and that truly inexplicable miss from Nemeth. That tap-in chance in half one is probably the worst miss of the season across the whole league.
Glad someone else noticed Tyrone helping waste time with his fake ball whiff - about 94:50 iirc. He even looks down at his hands as if they had betrayed him - just hilarious! Feisty gritty battle. I wanted more countering late but the legs were clearly spent. Borderline heroic effort. Too bad we wasted so many late counters with unnecessarily bad giveaways, but - you take chances. Watching SKC fans losing their shit in the stands and on social media made me rethink my own raging when opponents kill time at The Riot...
I watched the game on TV. I thought we did ok. We were not outrageously good on the attack or defense. That said, we also did not have our best 11 on the field so, maybe things will be fine later in the season. We are not world beaters this year. Maybe with a striker, a new D mid, and more experience among the defense we could be. But not yet.
Not going to make 15 points, but a few observations: While I'm not going to say Baird is the answer at the 9 spot, it is interesting to see just how good he has been in his minutes this year. Especially considering he's a rookie. The kid has been mentioned by A LOT of people as their top choice for rookie of the year. Meanwhile, the fans of his own team don't want him on the field much. It's a strange mix. Along those lines, anyone upset that he hit the crossbar on his chance in the second half needs to take a hike. Melia closed the space down really well and that was the only real option Baird had. It was nearly clinical. Just an inch or two lower and we're all talking about how amazing it was. Give the kid credit for the run and the touch. Sunny is a game changer for this team. Watching us play with and without him is night and day. Petke's refusal to give Sunny minutes is one of the most under talked about parts of this season. Besler at CB needs to end. The guy offers some decent enough depth in the middle of the field, and does an admirable job playing in a position he's obviously not as comfortable in, but it needs to end. Along those lines, we need to sell MSilva at the end of the season. These injuries are adding up and seriously hamstringing this club. This feels a lot like the Schuler situation we dealt with a few years ago. Yes, the guy is talented, but if he's not on the field it doesn't matter. I wouldn't be upset if the club parted ways with him at seasons end, honestly. I have no idea how we didn't give up a goal in the dying minutes but it was awesome that we didn't. This is a massive point that could legitimately be the difference between us making the playoffs and not. Kudos to Petke for a plan that was executed.
Doyle called him the "presumptive rookie of the year" here. That was eye-opening to me, as I think we fans had all gotten aboard the Kreilach-as-false-9 bandwagon and forgotten the nice things Baird has done this year. I wonder what a midfield pairing of Sunny and Mulholland would look like. Early in the season while we suffered through the Beckerman-Kreilach games I kept wishing Luke wasn't injured so he could take Beckerman's spot. Now Luke has been back on the bench for a couple of games but hasn't seen any time. I'd love to have him spell Beckerman assuming he is ready for game time. Admittedly, Beckerman has looked much better since being paired with Sunny, but I'd still be curious to see what it would look like if we had someone in there that can cover more ground.
My biggest problem with Baird’s miss was that he veered away from the goal after striking the ball rather than crashing the box to get the rebound. That said, many strikers do that and I hate it when they do.