Last game of the season. I expect we will be without Espinoza (and I expect Houston will be without Martinez for their game against Chicago). What we need to happen to finish top two (knock out round bye): - Win at RSL - SEA loses or draws COL at home - POR loses or draws VAN at home What we need to happen to finish top four (host knock out round): - Win at RSL --- OR --- - HOU loses or draws CHI at home Worst case scenario (away knock out round): - Lose or draw at RSL - HOU beats CHI at home
Just throwing this out there: SKC after July:2014: 3-8-22015: 5-7-32016: 3-3-42017: 3-4-4Sporting Fit turns into Sporting Flat.— Chris Rifer (@ChrisRifer) October 16, 2017
Just for completeness ... 2013: 7-4-1 One of these things is not like the others, and the subsequent post-season outcomes followed suit. By the way, that run started 1-3-0, so SKC finished out 6-1-1.
Lineup questions. Left back - Seth? Or has he lost his place again? Is Medranda or Lobato a better option? Front 3 - sigh. In my opinion, we've got to have Salloi on the left and Rubio in the center. It's a tossup for me between Blessing and Gerso on the right. I don't have a lot of confidence in either of them right now. GK - Dykstra again? Or do we run Zendejas out there? Any update on Melia's progress?
I think Dykstra earned his spot on Sunday. He wasn't exactly tested much, but a shut out is a shut out. Seth was most likely just being rested. He's played a lot in the last month. Totally agree on the front three. I'd prefer Blessing starting and Gerso coming on a sub, but I can see arguments for the other way around as well. Mostly, I'd just like to see some goals. Would be really nice if Benny showed up for about six games starting about now.
Won't be able to watch. Good luck to the boys. Hope we get at least one home game in the post-season.
So, no reason to amp up intensity in second half. No way we score three. Hopefully Chicago can do work for us. Unlikely.
I think a sniper has shot him three times already. The last two were embarrassing. ... And now as I type this, he misses from three yards out. We need to move on from him next year. Not good enough.
2 points out of the last 15 available and only 3 goals in those 5 games (all goals on the road actually). We don't deserve a home game.
excellent performance from the boys down the stretch. i mean, you gotta give 'em credit. it's difficult to play when everyone has at least one thumb up their own asses. great coaching, vermes. going for four years in a row.
Maybe all those games of using the same 11/12 players with almost no non-injury subs before the 85th minute might have something to do with that? Maybe? Four ********ing straight years with no guaranteed home playoff game. Unacceptable.
we close out seasons the same way we close out games. so many dropped points because of our play in the final 10-15 minutes of games. i think it's time vermes goes back to just being the technical director and letting someone with actual game/player management skills take the reigns. i know that's never gonna happen, but it should.
So what is the deal with Benny? Is he injured? Is Vermes sending yet another message to one of our Best players at a time when we need to be winning games. Yes Mr. Vermes you are the boss and it's your way or the highway. Now can we play Benny the whole game please? We need offense Mr. Vermes in case you hadn't noticed. Anybody else think Benny looked totally pissed off when he finally came in? Maybe I was imagining it.
So many thoughts after watching this season thus far, but it comes down to this: I can't take another season of Rubio, Blessing, Salloi and Gerso, Lobato as our options forward. I mean, that's a decent line up for Swope Park and all, but...... I could maybe tolerate Gerso and maybe Lobato as a squad rotation players if they were eating minutes for the club when needed. But Salloi and Blessing are shit. At least Salloi shows some promise at times but how in the name of all that is holy, is that guy seeing minute upon minute of action for us? How many legit chances does he create per game? 1? Maybe 2 on a really good night? How many legit shots on goal per game? 1, maybe?. That's a sign of being static and not playing off others well. Tell, us something we don't know.........I hear you. Blessing is a complete zero. Yes, he runs around really fast. Terrific. Listen, it's OK to be 5'3", but you damn well better be tough on the ball and refuse to be bullied. Yeah, well, either he puts on weight or ship him back to Ghana. I can't believe FOX didn't show the replay where Blessing had the free header 5 feet from of goal and headed it AWAY from goal. Rubio isn't, and never should be, considered a starter. I wanted him to succeed. I REALLY did. I wanted us to fill that position with some random nobody just to prove that Dom was smoke and mirrors for the most part and anyone could get his numbers. Turns out that was half right and half wrong. Dom is good, but he's certainly not great. Any legitimate threat scores 15+ for SKC every year. Turns out Rubio is not a legitimate threat. Amazing how that sniper can pick out Rubio and Blessing so easily. On another note.... I have no idea what was up with Espinoza this year but I've seen too many halves like yesterday. But yesterday was the pinnacle. That was one of the worst first halves I've seen any SKC midfielder have in years. To his credit, he was a completely different player in the 2nd. But I think he had 4 touches and turnovers in a row at one point. Of course, Benny's first 3 touches were turnovers when he came in......
SKC went yet another year getting next to nothing from the wing play. Gerso started well but faded out. Salloi and Blessing are both very young and not ready for primetime. Selling Dwyer made the problem worse, because you then added CF as a next to nothing contributor. Reviewing the team stats for the season: leading goal scorer had 8 goals (and now barely plays). Dwyer still has more goals than our wings (Salloi, Blessing or Lobato). Our play making No. 10 had 3 assists. Our leading assist man is our right back. WTF are you going to win with that garbage? This is the issue EVERY YEAR. The team can't finish and can't score. At some point, will someone in the organization make an effort to f'ing fix the lack of goal scoring? Or is this just what SKC is?
To be fair to Rubio, he averaged .53 goals per 90 minutes this season. That’s better than players like Sapong .52 (16 goals), Wondo (13 goals). That said, he’s not a lead striker and I’d guess if given a full season as the number 1 striker, his rate would fall, and he maybe gets to double digits, maybe.
And he did that while completely sucking. Just think if we had something anywhere close to a clinical finisher.