Returning home after a couple of weeks on the road. The standings at the top of the West are tight, so every point counts. Five games to go - including matches against Dallas and LAFC - means our destiny is still in our own hands. If we want a game at home in the playoffs, now is the time to claim it.
Was gonna put this in the all MLS thread, but here seems good too. Wins against opponents currently (right now) in the @MLS playoffs:ATL- 8RBNY- 8LAFC- 7Galaxy- 7DAL- 6NYC- 6POR- 6CLB- 5PHI- 5RSL- 5MTL- 4SEA- 4DC- 3SKC- 3— Bobby Warshaw (@bwarshaw14) September 24, 2018 We're 3-7-3 against playoff teams right now (1-2-2 at home) with 3 of our final 5 (vs RSL, at Dallas, vs LAFC) against current playoff teams, and the other 2 vs teams just outside the playoffs.
Either that or we are getting to the playoff teams as our roster has improved and injuries behind us, and that chart will look much different at the end of October.
That’s a fair point, 4 of our losses came in that horrid July run (though the argument is that we were horrid because of injuries or we were horrid because of teams we played were just better than us).
Okay, stat that matters is that it was a point, and while not three, one is better than zero.Still, annoying. One stat to ponder. If you look at the five minute possession breakdowns, we controlled most of the game, despite having a 51-49 edge. But between 65 amd 70, we barely touched the ball. Which was when Nemeth and then Russell were subbed off, after which we were in control again. The observation on that, Nemeth is not Sporting fit. He was game and chasing down the ball all night, but he dropped off the table in effort when he tired. That said, while the tap in that wasn't pisses me off, a lot, Audi says Nemeth was good and his 309 pt day for a striker who doesn't score was very solid. According to Audi, his biggest negative was two offsides. His late SOG was the firmest strike he's had for us since returning, and it was nice to see him run at someone for once. That said, 60 minutes is kind of his effective top right now. Overall, Audi didn't love SKC in this match. Our team score of 2898 was dead on an average MLS performance, about 400 pts below RSL. We had six players at or above the average player score. That's obivously right around the league average, but for us this year, that's bad. The player furthest below that line was Ilie, one of our bell-weathers, at -76. Teams that have controlled games against us have focused on taking him out of the game, and well done to RSL. He had 58 successful passes, 11 off target, and while not a bad ration, the numbers well below where he is at his best. He did have a key pass and 3 interceptions, but he just wan't involved as much as he has to be for us to succeed. Or, at least, if he is at this level, Espinoza and Felipe need to have stepped up their games. The numbers indicate that RE was OK, but FG was poor. He did have 46 completed passes, v 12 misses. but he just wasn't involved enough in this game. If you look at his game map, it's a decent game map, about what and where you'd expect him to do, but we need more of that, and he just wasn't getting on the ball enough, either. Question, how on Earth does he get the only yellow in that match? Not saying he didn't deserve a yellow, but lots of folks could have gone into the book in this one. Other problems for us, Zusi was just below average for an MLS player in this game, and not the best player in the league at his position. Look at his map, and it's a Zusi map, very active in both halves of the field. But not on the ball much. 44 complete passes, 17 missed. He was 1 complete on 6 long balls. Oh, and here's a huge wasted number : 4 key passes, that means four passes that statistically could.almost should have, led to goals. I did think overall we were less long ball reliant, Ike aside. Ike was our second highest ranking player, btw. His score was 485. However, take away the goal, which was counted twice because it was an equalizer, and his score for the rest of his game was a very poor 106. Fourteen long passes, four connected (not bad percent but a lot of long balls). In summary, damn. The stats say we deserved more from this game, (20 to 8 edge in shots, 6-3 SOG, 51 percent possession) but the Audi numbers indicate we didn't really earn our stat advantage.
Interesting break down of the game numbers. Just watching the game, my man of the match was Seth Sinovic. I don’t know what the number say, but Seth played a heck of a game. I thought Nemeth was out of sync with the rest of the front line for most of the game. Missing the sitter in front of the SLC net was painful to watch and a sign of his lack of confidence. When Ike scored his goal, I turned to my wife and said “that is the first good thing Ike has done in this game.” I like Ike, but outside of that goal, his game was really substandard. Maybe its time for Fontas? What I do have to recognize is SLC came in and played a very good organized game. They stayed compact in their defense and hit hard on the counter attacks which should have yielded a second goal if not for the ping off the crossbar. Yes, they did a lot of stupid delay tactics, but most every team does the same. Props to them coming into CMP and getting a point.
Nemeth has had more than his fair share of chances, and unfortunately he hasn't performed up to what Sporting needs. Looking forward to Rubio getting back the starting nod. Saturday's game is massive before the team goes on the road.
Issue with Fontas vs Opara is Fontas' lack of pace, Opara's recovery ability defensively is a very big thing for our defense. My issue with the way they played wasn't really with them, it was with Stott for allowing it more. I was surprised he didn't pull a single card for PI on RSL, especially after the first half.
Nemo hasn't looked anything like the Nemo of 2015. He's had a lot of chances with the first team and just hasn't done anything. Right now, he doesn't look like he deserves to be a starter over Rubio. Going into the playoffs with Rubio as the best option at the No. 9 is a bit concerning, but it is what it is at this point. Baird and Savarino were impressive.
I agree on the props to RSL. On Seth, his Audi numbers put him in the exact average MLS player for the game, 231. He completed 45 passes, missed on 10. He pumped out 10 long balls, connected on 2. I do find it interesting that he was 10 for 10 on passes within the final third. He had a key pass, an int, a clearance and tackle to go with a block and three aerials battles won. In Seth's great games, he's up around 400 pts, v Orl for instance, had 74 completed passes with six misses, while still having a little bit of everything else, key pass, int, S, clearances. So the numbers would not say Seth played particularly well, at least not for him, but they'd also say we had players with much worse nights.