Take two. Here's the lineup I'd like to see: Russell - Salloi/Shelton - Gerso Espinoza - Ilie - Felipe Sinovic - Opara - Besler - Zusi Melia Croizet, Rubio, Lobato - In Kansas City
I know its your wishful thinking, but you know its not going to happen. This is probably the best lineup that SKC has for any hope of success in Chicago. And please....please...don't let Zusi take any more free kicks. I know the people in row 23 love to get a game ball kicked to them, but it is just a waste of a potentially good opportunity.
If PV is going to change left back, I would prefer to see Medranda. We need all the help going forward that we can muster. We can bring in Seth if somehow we get a lead and need to bunker late in the game (when Seth's lack of speed will not be exposed as we will not be pushing high).
so where's the last place you'd like to play away after a disappointing game #1? if you're skc, the answer is chicago... so yay for us.
Despite it taking forever for us to get a win in Chicago, lately San Jose has actually been the tougher location for us to get a win (our win their in 2016 was our first there since 2000).
No idea what to expect out of Chicago. They're coming off a bye, right? I'm not as opposed to Lobato as some, but I definitely want to see Gerso get the start. Salloi over Rubio feels fair and earned as well. Who knows what to expect.
Going back to last season, over our last 7 games we have a record of 0 wins, 2 draws, and 5 losses, with 3 goals scored and 9 goals allowed. That's right, 0.43 goals scored per game over the last seven games. Our last win was September 24th, 2-1 over the Galaxy at home. Our last road win was June 24th, 2-1 over the Galaxy at Carson. Our only other road win last year was April 15th, 1-0 at Portland. In our only game against Chicago last year, we beat them on July 29th at home 3-2. Goals scored by Salloi, Feilhaber, and Blessing. The Fire's goals came from Accam and an OG by Besler.
I just watched the first half over again. Eurosport forgot to put up the second half on their replay list. No idea how that happened. MLS is probably handed to interns. In any case, the Eurosport announcers are usually pretty good, quite sharp and are always critical of poor play. They didn't see much from SKC, but during this first half, the SKC player who comes in for the most praise is Croizet. Granted, his last second disaster on the free kick was the last thing they mocked, but watching the game with a positive spin being put on his play makes him look okay. He certanly doesn't look in sync with the team, but he wasn't that bad, and what he was trying, and often failing at, made sense. Also, the NYCFC game plan looks to have been to push us wide, to limit Ilie's influence, and that hurt. When we managed to work through him, we looked better. but a lot of the, well, first half, was us having to go over or around him.
I think Croizet will pan out. I'll be patient. But I am still very disappointed to see Gerso losing his starting spot. I really like that guy and what he brings.
I don't disagree with making Croizet earn his spot, though i think there might be interpretations of his play that say he did. I hate sitting Gerso, esp when he's feeling it, What Gerso brings: Speed, decent touch, a really nice left foot, crap-ish right, aggressive approach around the goal and strength. Is there any reason on this side he can't do what he does in the center? On the high pressure side of things, he'd be better than Salloi and miles better than Rubio. He's strong enough to hold up play, but with Russell, certainly, he brings the ability to get behind defenses ( and stay behind them until the shot), which would be a really nice extra. I know it is not his role, he was never a scorer and last year was huge for him at 6 or 8 or whatever. But really is 9 a good role for anyone on this roster?
Because he doesn't give us anything on the 24+ crosses we play into the box (Shelton is probably the only 1 attack wise on the roster who does). He also doesn't look like the type of player that would offer any hold up play at all from the number 9.
One thing you can say about Dwyer - you never forgot he was out there. Even if he wasn't seeing much of the ball, he was still making life miserable for the center backs and the goalkeeper, yakking in their ears, running around like the Energizer bunny, being a general pest, disrupting the other team's attempts to play from the back. We either need someone like that OR a goalscoring machine, one or the other. If Rubio can't do either, he needs to go, period. More to the point, I don't know that we have anyone on the roster that can fill either of those roles.
That was the most frustrating part of Rubio and last weekend, just how completely and totally non-existent he was in the game. Forget the fact that he had zero shots, he attempted just 8 passes (completely 5), was only fouled once (something Dwyer was good at, at least winning some free kicks), and was offside 1 time. I know the joke is you "forget" someone is on the field, but I literally forgot he was on the field until he was subbed out.
A guy who had six goals in 54 appearances with NYCFC is our best option at CF. Meanwhile, Chicago has Nikolic with 24 goals in 34 games.
Apparently I will be getting a very different match on TV than you all will. This is what Eurosport is offering (midnight start): LIVEFUSSBALL - MLS / Chicago Fire Soccer Club - Kansas City Chiefs (2h:10min) I admit, I'm kind of looking forward to it. I mean, Schweni is known for his ability to take a pounding, but this will be an extreme version, I'd think.
Salloi - Shelton - Russell Espinoza - Ilie - Gutierrez Sinovic - Besler - Opara - Zusi Looks like PV saw the same things we did. Time to see if this forward line can do any better than last week's (and if Seth still has his mojo.)
Quick review, 15 minutes in: Shelton: tall, strong, fast. Holds the ball and wins battles in the air. Everything Rubio is not, so far Salloi: involved, seeing lots of the ball, making good passes, connecting well Zusi: can still bring a ball down out of the air and control it better than anyone. Making runs and passes like the old days, that was a great touch to Russell to set up the first goal Sinovic: calm, cool, collected We look a hundred times better this week. Thankfully the Fire look really really rusty.