You know that thing people say about not knowing what is going on at practice when a coach does or does not play someone. We know now what PV has seen at practice from Igor and Ellis, hence them not seeing the field until today. All the talk about how Ellis was not really the problem when he had to be a long term stand in at CB. Well, let's just not start that up again. He's not a good CB. Perhaps not even near league average when you're really in a jam. Please bring in EPB. Igor is basically the same guy he was two years ago when I wanted to cry watching him 'play defense'. Nothing against the guy, but he is just miscast as a FB. Watching him give us the space for a wing to just run into felt oh so familiar; not in a good way. Let's not trade SAS just yet. Soony is bad. He's slow, slow, slow. And doesn't seem to get into dangerous spots. That PV saw fit to bring Igor and Soony back into the squad creates a meaningful question as to whether PV is losing his technical director chops. He's got Ilie, which is a lot. But Soony and Igor smack of laziness. It's like he got into preseason and just had to find bodies to fill the roster, so he made two easy phone calls. Is anyone else really bothered by this...just me? Ugh. Blurg. Bleeccch.
What was with that turf? It's what, half real, half fake? If SAS is worse than Igor I have a very bad memory. To be fair, he nailed one heck of a shot. Yet another baffling cameo for Salloi. I don't get it. Despite the fact that it was a step down in quality, I'm glad we gave Ellis the start over Opara. I really don't want Opara to break this season. Ellis was Ellis, he's not a center back but he works hard. Saad had a couple nice moments, but he's a huge step back at that role. Bottom line: It's going to be painful but this outing proved we need to give the squad an occasional run out, because we cannot count on them to carry the team at the end of the season, we need the starting group to be healthy and ready to go. They need the occasional rest. Next up? Can we see Blessing as the striker? I know we're gonna see Saad, but I think we know what we can get from him and I would really like to see a very different look. Just out of curiosity, what did SAS do to Vermes? Getting slotted behind Zusi is easy to understand. But being forgotten about in this says he will never play for SKC again. Would be nice to get something for him.
salloi, saad, and igor all seem like dead weight on our roster. i haven't seen any positives out of any of them... well, other than being a warm body with a name to write on the lineup sheet. it's time to let blessing get a run out in place of the time that salloi keeps getting and doing nothing with.
Blessing at striker I think would literally get broken in half going against MLS back lines. We'll likely see Saad start again in Orlando since Dwyer is suspended.
Salloi, too. They both need to start drinking protein shakes or something and get some bulk on their frames.
I am not the first person to say this on here but I have yet to see Salloi do one thing on the field that makes me think he is a professional soccer player. That side ways shank on an attempted cross was down right embarrassing. He hasn't shown speed, shooting, foot skills or anything else. I bet there is someone else better on SPR. Maybe several.
oh, i agree, but i think he can do some damage on the wing ... in theory, at least. he certainly can't do any worse than salloi or saad.
I never want to see Igor Juliao in an SKC uniform ever again. We knew exactly what we were getting when we re-signed him. A defender who can't defend. How he can get time on a team coached by Peter Vermes is a question I'll never know the answer to. The turf was its own character in this play. I don't know if I've ever seen a ball bounce like that before in my life. If we're going to lose 0-2 to Minnesota, I'd much rather do it running a full b-squad out there, seeing what they can do, and giving our starters 100% rest. Throwing our starters back in at half and telling them to work their ass off to try to make the comeback happen isn't rest. We need much better squad rotation. Why isn't EPB our third CB? How does he not see minutes when we play three games in 8 days? How isn't SAS over Juliao? I mean, Salloi and Saad are warm bodies, but no MLS team has quality striker depth. At least they don't actively cause us to suck. There is no reason to start Ellis and Juliao together on a back line when you have EPB and SAS on your squad. Strike that, there is no reason to start Ellis and Juliao together on a back line, period. That yellow card to Dwyer was lame. The referee obviously had no clue what happened and decided to solve the problem by giving both players involved a default yellow. Bad officiating, and now we go to Orlando without Dwyer. At least someone will be getting a full game of rest, I suppose. It's frustrating. This loss isn't the end of the world or anything, but it feels like a direct result of our own stupidity. Results don't always go your way, but I at least want to look savvy when we lose. Yesterday we did not.
Also, props to Minnesota. They have completely turned that team around and they have the pieces for a strong squad. They are playing smart and exploiting teams well. I would love to have Ibarra on this team.
Then why the hell did we sign him? Is our plan to take him to Wendy's every day for the next year so he can play against MLS defenses in 2018?
He gets back up, though. He's aggressive and wants to make something happen. He's probably not able to hold up play, but he did score 17 in 21 games last season, against players who were probably a step down in overall quality but a sideways step in physicality. The African league football I've seen is not non-contact.
vividox, you and i aren't usually on the same wavelength, but i agree with every word in this post. vermes half-assed it.
I thought EPB was hurt or off with the Us again, or something? I worry that we will regret, for years to come, the way we handle EPB this season. If he's healthy and not playing, he's taking a step backwards and he will soon believe he has to move on. Also, it does not appear that we traded SAS. SAS was a bright light last year. You could count on him to be solidly professional, and sometimes he was a bit better than that. I am a huge fan of Zusi at RB, but when he gets a night off I don't understand SAS staying on the shelf.
I've been having a daydream all day that sas was set to be traded, but then igor played and Vermes panicked and nixed the deal.
well, has Igor been released today? Here's a thought, with Dom injured, SAS at striker next week! Seriously, how long until Rubio is ready?
So .... Is he not playing well? I get that Ellis has more experience and there might even be an expectation that Ellis better at this point than EPB, but we know Ellis' ceiling at cb, and he's at it. With a decent amount of time, EPB has fantastic upside. There may be growing pains, but if KSC are ever going to see anything from him, those will have to come in MLS matches. Bottom line: I think we'd feel better about a loss in which we took a look at EPB than one in which we saw Ellis again. I have nothing against Ellis, and he's a great bench option. But next year he's a bench option, and the year after that. EPb projects as a not just a starter, but a star.
My son and I made the trip up to Minnesota for the game. With the changes PV made, everyone seemed out of sync. I agree with what everyone else has said here-the changes killed our chances to win that game. I know we have better quality on the team. I would have rather seen Blessing play vs Saad. Soony might have a hard shot, but he seems even slower than before. As for the back line, I just can't say anymore than what has been said. My only other comment is about the turf. That ball bounced so many different ways on that surface, I can't see how anybody could judge it. I even saw a few times that Minnesota players couldn't judge the bounce. I seriously think the turf had its part in the outcome. Watching this one in person was not fun.
I attend the SPR games and watch all the young talent play. Both EPB and Didic are really good center backs. In their most recent game, they basically owned Vancouver giving them next to no chance to score. I think that either one would be a good option behind Opara and Besler. And, if PV wanted to gain some speed up top, both Belmar and Meloto could be options.
Not saying it's right, but maybe with the u20 World Cup coming PV wanted to keep a cohesive unit for much of the 18 man game day squad? And not fully integrate a player into the 18 when he'd be leaving for a month 10 games into the season? Not saying it's right (cuz I see EPB as better than Ellis now), but throwing an idea out there.
You may be right. A cohesive gameday 18, though? is that a thing? If this is PV's thinking, it's left field-ish
This just pisses me off: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mls/sporting-kc/article149516399.html SAS was held out (allegedly) strictly due to performance at practice last week. Sorry, Peter, I'm not buying it. We've seen SAS play, we've seen Juliao play; outside of injury, there is simply no reason to ever play Juliao over SAS. The fact that PV - a coach who demands all of his players play two way soccer - doesn't consider Juliao's defensive challenges to be a concern is laughable. Seriously, SAS should be Zusi's backup and I never want to see Juliao ever again.