We just need that final ball. Of course, that's basically what we've been saying after home matches for years now. I still like a lot of what I've seen so far though. Hopefully the goals will start coming.
With the help of the post and a great save by Melia, SKC avoided an embarrassing loss last night. With almost 70% of the possession and 14 shots, SKC could only muster 2 shots on goal. Early in the season, yes, but still the same problems plaguing a team that supposedly added youth and speed to the attack. I don't know if Pareja came in with the game plan of bunkering with selected counter attacks knowing that Vermes would use the high press defense, but it worked and he didn't have to use his preferred starting line up he wanted to rest for the mid-week CCL game. There were some good things to like about what SKC did last night, but other things that point to a frustrating season if not fixed.
That part is amusing, because while we have gotten younger, over half our starters the last two games have been 30 years old or older (Melia, Besler, Zusi, Sinovic, Espinoza, and Feilhaber). The only "young player" to play in both games is Medranda, who is 23. Average age of the 12 players last night was 27.58. Our starters were 28.27.
This is by now way a comprehensive list, but a few things: Liked what Latif brought to the game. He's fast, seems good on the ball, added a spark. Zusi can work at right back. Good enough on D and adds to the attack Gerso looked better in the Dallas game...at least more of his movement looked ultimately dangerous Ilie is simply a good addition at that dmid spot Besler a couple of times and Ilie were too nonchalant on the ball, bad giveaways We had a lot of long diagonal balls to gets players into open space and attack, really liked that
We are so close to being L L on the season. Right now, I liken us to a little dog barking and scratching at a bigger dog that just doesn't seem to be too bothered. Outside of Melia, nobody has played terribly well, but nobody has played poorly. I am critical of not only the lack of finishing, but just how terribly wayward the finishing efforts have been. Could make a decent argument that Dom has missed two snap headers vey badly in back to back games , Blessing's volley attempt was way off target last night, and Guso is channeling Hallisey inside the box. I mean, this isn't exactly a Sean Johnson on his head routine we are witnessing. The pregame show was the highlight of the night.
Last time I looked up the aggregate league totals, Kansas City was way ahead of every other team in shots taken in league history. They were also way behind the other 8 originals (9 if you add SJ1+HOU) as well as Chicago in shots on goal.
I had a mixed reaction to the game. Gerso has a lot of movement, but not much in the way of accomplishment. Medranda tries too hard to be Lionel Messi and loses the ball a lot, which in turn, makes him a prime candidate for a yellow card as he tries too hard to get the ball back. I think they didn't take enough advantage of the runs that Zusi was making to push the ball down the field. In the first half, I saw him making all sorts of runs behind the defense with little effort from the Mids to get him the ball. The possession was impressive but lacked the final push into the box. It reminded me of a puzzle that is missing too many pieces to get the complete picture.
Is Gerso different or better than Halisey? This team so far looks exactly the same just with two new outside "forwards". They don't look any better than the old ones. I take that back. The new holding mid is very good. It's a simple turn and shoot Dom. No one is near you. You don't have to fall, or dive or jump when you shoot. Dramatics don't make it go in the net. Turn and shoot. Calmly. Neimith buries that 10 out of 10 times. Why oh why does dom take free kicks? In the stands or in the wall. I have never seen anyone more consistently bad at free kicks. Benny on the other hand is pretty good. Doesn't seem like a hard choice. Can't PV make this call? If anything was learned last year it should have been that possession doesn't mean crap for this team. And it is not a great accomplishment if you have possession because the other team wants you to have it.
My biggest takeaway about Gerso at the moment is that the team looks perfectly built around him to completely negate any unique or effective skills he brings to the squad.
So. Much. This. Edit: He's the second coming of Omar Bravo or third coming of Herculez Gomez. "You're great and all, but I need you to play exactly the way I want you to play, not the successful way you've always played that made you desirable"
I had no problem with Dwyer taking the first one, Feilhaber's bread and butter on free kicks are the close ones where it's just up and over the wall and back down. From as far out as it was I'd rather have had Dwyer give it a go simply because he's shown to get more power behind his (and he has scored from free kicks before). After the first one went into the wall there's no way I let him take the second if I'm Feilhaber though.
I'm not sure I've seen all the stats, but isn't the knock on Gerso is that he doesn't score enough goals throughout his career as an attacker? If so, I don't think he meets Bravo and Herc comparisons.
He's a very different player to Herc or Bravo. Those were strikers forced until wide mids. Gerso is a true winger being forced to play on the wrong side a lot, with little to aim for in the middle, and with a game plan that completely compresses all the space he could have to counter into.
One more bit of info on the anemic attack by SKC... is that FCD had a 17 year old high school kid playing midfield for most of the game and SKC still had problems getting anything going on his side of the field.
Illie is the best addition by far. Watching Atlanta vs Minnesota right now I can't help but just cry BS toward sporting about saying we have one of the youngest teams. We don't play our youngest players and we don't spend on quality at all. We always bargain bin and when we get a gem we lose them within a year due to a clash of ego's or to make some money (because we want to let the players go instead of hold them) We have to spend money and Atlanta is doing it right. You can only spend as much as you want on 3 guys. Pay transfer fees and get real young starters who can dribble the ball in the box and pick out their shot. Taylor Twellman said it best. Atlanta is fun to watch. If you want people to become supporters of the league the team etc. it has to be fun to watch. We are infuriating and annoying to watch.
So frustrated. Passing wasn't crisp. Couldn't switch. Possession without focused advancement. No serious attempts to pressure defensively. Seth takes 30 minutes to get going. He's a below average defender and brings just about nothing of worth forward. Hell, we don't even try to use him attacking. That dude ran free at least 10 times looking for a nice diagonal over the top and our guys only tried it once. FCD didn't even try defending it after awhile. Either use him, or get him out. Because trying to go 10v11 is what gets you zero goals in two games. Gerso. I'm officially calling him Gerzo2/3 from here on out. Because he doesn't have a final 1/3. Benny. Got to have more effort than that this year. Dwyer. I'm not even going to waste the space here. You all said it already. I'm not a big fan of Dom normally and games like this one are the reason why. Simply, I didn't like any aspect of his game. Nada. Medranda. I can see the potential. But he's got to show more going forward than what we've seen the past 1 2/3 games. Zusi. Love him at fullback. Can't believe it. Is he our best player per position this year? Ilie is giving him a run. More Blessing please.
Honestly I'm ready for Medranda to just find the bench. I'm afraid he's going to pick up a red card every time he plays LB because of the way he tackles.
I was so happy for him last year, because I felt like after years of looking lost out on the field, he'd actually found a position he had a part towards succeeding at. He wasn't the best left back, but he's still young enough that I think he could make progress there. Poor guy. Shuttled off to the wing again, where he's good for two decent crosses and nineteen dribble-into-dispossession scenarios every game.
At the rate others are chipping in, Dwyer could score 20 and we'd score a total of 20... Upside, Blessing really should have scored (downside, he didn't), but maybe that's down to first time jitters. Aside from that moment, who else put themselves in a situation where you were thinking goal before the shot? We were not only holding the ball, but holding in decent parts of the field. We had the right people on the ball again and again. And yet... I find this odd, but I'm not that worried as others about Dwyer, I think he will get his 12-18. He won't be fast, but he will score. But I have no idea where the rest of the team comes up with another 25 or so this season. There were times Saturday when we looked to be toying with the B side Dallas put out, but I really wasn't sure what we were trying to accomplish around the goal. IMO, this was the second game in a row in which we were the better team overall, but also the team more likely to lose. I never really thought we were going to score.
It actually was a disadvantage to us that Dallas decided to play their B team, saving their starters for the CCL. They totally packed it in, 10 or 11 men behind the ball, and did as much time wasting and injury faking as they could starting from the opening whistle. I thought they would come to play; their starters would have, but the reserves were more than happy to sit back and defend the entire game. For whatever reason, we just cannot break a team like that down. DCU was the same way. If the game opens up and gives us more room to operate, I think that gives us the opportunity for Benny and Gerso to work their passing game through to each other and to Dom. I can only think of two things we can do: 1) take some long-range shots; quit trying to thread the perfect pass through 4 or 5 or 6 defenders 2) take better advantage of our set pieces (hey Dom, quit kicking it right into the wall) We better work on those things this week because San Jose is coming to town and I'd be surprised if they play us any differently than the last two teams did.