Kansas City vs LA (Wed May 29th, 7:30PM CT) [R]

I don’t understand the DISCO tacking on another game for a straight forward red card offense. SKC just can’t seem to catch a break. Tired legs and few subs vs a well rested team will be a tough challenge for SKC. They pulled it off Sunday, but without Besler and Nemeth I can’t see a good outcome on Wednesday.

 

I hope you are right. He was grabbing his hamstring before he limped off the field. I would think that to be cautious, Smith would start and have Besler on the bench. SKC will probably need Besler rested for the Houston game since they have a more potent attack.

 

F4 tornado heading right toward CMP.

 

Don't you mess with my church Mother Nature. We've put up with enough bs this year.

 

They may want to take a bus. It’s more relaxing and safer.

 

Yeah, this game could go so many silly ways.

 

This team is very predictable. With a few exceptions the games all pretty much play out the same way. Or they play out along a couple of predictable patterns. Sporting posses the ball the entire first half. The other team sneaks in a soft goal in the second. Sporting never scores and gives up another goal because we have everyone forward. That's one. The other is back line plays high and we get torched because Zusi, fontas, and others are way to slow. We loose 3 or 4 to 1.

Sporting needs to start hasler and medranda going forward. That will help. As soon as possible Rowe needs to be back on the bench. This will help but probably won't make enough of a difference. This year is toast.

 

Yeah, as soon as I saw we were starting Zusi, I knew we'd lose. Maybe not a rational knowledge, but a kind of acceptance.

I'd much rather see Hasler take that spot and Zusi fight for relevance in the midfield right now.

 

Why, because the April/May MLS record was 1W-4T-4L? Or because we're 20 pts out of first place after about 1/4 of the season? Or because this year is the year that MLS changed the playoff format? All of the above?

Fontas got torched in a sprint by Zlatan last night. Torched! And we're paying that guy $1M! No wonder Opara was so pissed off. I've also said this before, but Fontas has the athleticism of an average player in my over 40 league. Great, he can pass, but as soon as he has to turn his body he's lost the battle to 99% of the players in MLS. I don't get it.

The worst part of this season is that all the talk last year was about how the roster and those acquisitions (Guti, Croizet, Russell) were made with this season in mind. Of course that talk came about after the playoff loss to Portland. Best laid plans....

 

Yeah, I liked Fontas for a while but his weaknesses are too easily abused by the other team. He's definitely overpaid for his depth of contribution.

Vermes early on seemed to value athleticism too high, but in the last five or so years has moved further and further away from that. I think it's time for a return to that priority, just to a degree. Too many teams can absolutely torch us. We win way too few second balls. Teams know how to overpower Vermesball these days unless they're brutally incompetent. The team dynamic really needs a little shift.

 

Yeah, its too bad that in MLS you pretty much need to pick between technical ability or athleticism, especially in your defenders. Not many players have both. I agree that we've sacrificed too much athleticism in the quest to get better and better technical players. We look pretty and pass the eye test, but the results are starting to look more and more like Spain 2018.

 

See, I think that is shifting a bit. I'm seeing more and more complete-looking defenders show up on rosters. I mean, Besler was way ahead of the curve years ago, but the curve keeps moving. I think Fontas would have been amazing a decade ago.

 

It would have meant more shifting of people out of their "normal" spots but I think we might have been better off last night with Hasler at RB, Zusi at the right wing, Russell on the left wing and Rowe on the bench.

 

Extra bodies sure would be nice. Any idea why Alex (SPR) doesn't get a callup? I think he's a real bright spot at LB.