Since @vividox is slacking and didn't start the game thread, I will. No Shelton. Espinoza and Salloi are back. And per Salloi's instagram story, apparently Gutierrez traveled.
I have little hope for a good result from this one. Red Bulls are 6-1-1 at home and we're still banged up. As badly as Shelton has been maligned this year, the team has played best when he started. This is probably Rubio's last chance to prove that he can be the guy. Otherwise, getting a quality CF HAS to be priority #1 this summer.
There's hope. They actually didn't look as sharp in their first post Marsch matach. Maybe it's a downward spiral? Maybe Adams is already reading Goethe to prepare himself for strolling around the old market district of Leipzig (or at least focusing on playing against BMunch and BDort and such, and so dismissing SKC). I am a fan of getting Gerso and Salloi and Russell on the field together, but despite having the skill set for a 9 Salloi sadly just isn't. Still, Roger got a rest and Felipe is back. There is hope. Regardless, finding an upgrade at the 9 has to be our priority right now.
If PV doesn't start Rubio now that Shelton is out, then the writing is on the wall for Diego. Agree that Salloi is best on the wing. It's Rubio or a new player up top IMO. And Gerso inspires zero confidence. Every time I see him on the ball, I know he's going to lose it or miss the target. He "asks questions of the defense" in Brit-speak, but he rarely finds the answer. I would much prefer Medranda or even Lobato as backup wing rather than Gerso, but of course they are both still out.
Halftime... We are playing better than I expected and looking by far the more dangerous team out there. That said... Gerso is crap. Croizet is crap. Salloi looking good but he needs to be on the wing instead of in the center. Lindsey is fantastic. He is locking left back down for his own. Russell looking very dangerous again, like early this season. Take out Gerso, put Salloi on the wing, put Rubio in to see if he can score, and pray Gutierrez keeps getting better quickly. Also, I actually love we’ve got Amor and Smith out there together. I think when either one of them has played with either Besler or Opara, the more experienced guy thinks they have to cover for the other one too much. Amor and Smith have done fairly well together, I think, and we need to start developing them. Besler and Opara aren’t getting any younger or less injury-prone.
Quite a strike from Roger. My guess is we will need another goal for 3 points. Very entertaining game.
Remind me again, why did we get rid of Callum Williams? Nate Bukaty drives me up the wall with some of the bilge that spews from his pie hole.
No one knows. An unanswered mystery, similar to the mystery that is SKC's defense, which has now allowed 13 goals in over the last 5 games. And also why PV doesn't use all three subs in a game which clearly needs them, and why Rubio cannot buy minutes in a game which clearly needs him. Unless all these moves were made to save guys for the USOC on Wednesday...
I was a bit less negative than others on here. I wasn't happy with the collapse in the last 30 minutes, but until that point we were dominating shots, possession and were controlling the field more than we weren't. That's a pretty impressively good NYRB side, and the Audi numbers indicate they were playing well. But the numbers also point out that for a losing side, we were doing a lot of things well, also. The Audi numbers show RB shading this entirely because Rzatkowski came on and hit two bangers, golazos whatever the phrase of the day is for great shots from outside the box. But a 3503 overall number for SKC, on a night when we gave up three goals (and those do cost us a lot) is pretty impressive. Zusi had a great night. The problem with this is that it isn't really news. He tried and missed on a lot of long balls, and had some bad passes, but he had a ton of good passes, intercepted the ball quite a bit, was strong defensively and added a couple assists. An 851 score probably puts him in the weekend's best 11, unless there's a prohibition on losers. Amor was, statisitically, the best cb in the match, and he was very strong. Seven interceptions and six clearances is a good night. His overall score of 598 matches up very well with a good night by Opara or Besler, meaning what I also saw last night, which was that he did a great job deputising. Lindsey had his second straight better than an average MLS performance night. Melia was good, despite three goals.Ilie and Russell were also at the better than average level, while Roger (hell of a goal, 10 bad passes in the opp half) and Smith (yikes, six bad passes in our half, but five interceptions and five aerial battles won) were solidly average for an MLS starter. Croizet, 75, and Gerso, 86, did not have good nights. But against a 5 man midfield, Croizet did manage to cover enough ground that our shape held up well into the attack, and he was part of why we controlled long stretches of the game. He also had a really comical whirling whiff followed by a yellow card, so he does earn some entertainment points beyond the Audi numbers. Overall, that was a solid performance against a really good team, and a great team at home. I realize it's no points, but the level of performance is back to where we should be, just with a bit more bite. And while Felipe, statistically, sucked, (-122) it was great to see him get on the field. Also, FFS, credit to Rzatskowski (?).
Does anyone else think that the only explanation for Croizet being in KC is that he was "scouted" via YouTube highlight videos? Any other scenario is inexplicable to me. I miss Benny.