That's why I'm no longer a STH after 20 years. The ownership and FO are complete crap. They have NOTHING really in common with the DCU that I knew.
Mishu changed the game completely. NY looked flummoxed and grasping. After the gift, they find the hope they are looking for. If Kemp is out for an extended period, screwed. If Nyarko has another concussion (he looked confused with the trainer), screwed. Redbull without Acosta, screwed. Forget the result, this game was a disaster regardless.
The guys on their team that really wore us down all match were Mendoza and Harrison. We got two guys who used to annoy us like they did in Nyarko and Sam and both of them performed tonight. Too bad we don't have actual quality guys to go along with them like NYCFC
Rewatched that Mishu play and it almost looks like some Russian sports betting syndicate is holding his grandma hostage, because that almost looks deliberate. First of all he picks up the ball in the opponent's half, turns around and dribbles 20 yards back into our field under minimal pressure. Once he made the mistake to unnecessarily turn himself the wrong way he still has at least 4 easy options ... kick it out of bounds, shield the ball and try to turn, pass it to one of the open center backs or pass it to an open Hamid. In the end he slots it perfectly into Villa's stride at least 20 yards away from the nearest United player. Not sure how this Mishu made our team ... this guy went undrafted in the '15 draft for a reason. Not sure why we think we're outsmarting the other 19 teams in the league. Knowing that Korb was out for the season we should have waived Mishu and tried to find a slightly more experienced and proven backup left back. Even a healthy Kemp could use some competition for that spot because he hasn't done enough to prove that he's an undisputed MLS level starter.
With a salary cap... You can spread the money out across the roster and not go after one or two "big money" guys like Lampard and Villa, instead looking to be deep at every position. Or you can get the big name, big skill guys and hope that they cover up other deficiencies. But a backline with Mishu and Robinson tells me that DCU's managed to do neither. They don't have that go-to guy, the one that can rescue points for you when you don't deserve them (in the field at least). And yet we always seem to be one or two injuries away from failure. Good news: These were, in a sense, bonus points. We need to win at home and pick up points on the road against basement dwellers, not necessarily teams at the top of the conference. Bad news: No Acosta next week, who knows what Nyarko looks like. Anyone want to take bets on how many shots we manage without either of them? And get well soon, Kemp. Like, really soon. UGH.
So maybe a blind dog finds a bone every once in a while, but they did find Acosta...but I'm faraid all he is doing is raising his profile enough that he'll get poached by some other team with deeper pockets.
I'm downgrading the family STH package from full to half season. No reason to believe next year will be anything but a limp to the RFK finish line. Too many years of this.
I guess if you remembered Pirlo your head would have exploded. However, you make a strong point unless Thorir's logic is like the West Virginia v Kentucky comparison. West Va says sure we suck but thankfully we ain't Kenucky. Inter thinks they're in good shape compared to United and he dumped a ton of euros on them and they still suck
I'm still fuming about Mishu and his quotes to Goff are even worse as he admits he just lost his mind. I also realized he can't be waived and replaced because I believe the rosters are now frozen, so DCU couldn't sign a one-legged 43 year old former USL player to replace him anyway. That one gaffe may have finally cooked the season. Now, OTOH, I thought Robinson was fine, better in rotation than Opare and with far more upside. Look, Mullins and Sam missed golden opportunities, but that happens. The two big culprits last night were Mishu and NDL. NDL had no excuse to look gassed and nonchalant that ball going to the end line. His laziness resulted directly in the second goal and he otherwise failed to offer any energy or defensive cover after coming in for Nyarko.
That really sucked. Most of what I would say at this point has been covered. But I would reiterate from the last game thread: I like that DC is working on keeping possession to kill off a game - that's a good ability to have. But DC needs to learn when to pass out of the back and keep possession and when to just clear the damn ball. During the last 20 minutes, way too many times were DC players caught in their defensive third with the ball. Hell, there were too many times in that last 20 minutes that a DC player was caught with the ball in the defensive third, somehow managed to escape, passed it to another DC player who also held on to the ball and was then caught in possession. I mean, good on them for sticking to their guns, but clear the @$%^ing ball! Hell, on that fussball table, there was a fair chance that a good clearance also pads the shots-on-goal number.
Well that was a real kick in the nuts...or two...or three. Last night was another example of how important Acosta is to this team, and I guess next game will be yet another since he is suspended. I thought Buscher did pretty well once he got going. I think the squad is fairly solid, those two soft goals were mental errors. Robinson looked pretty good, too, I thought - especially considering it was only his second MLS start. I would rate him ahead of Opare at this point. And contrary to what somebody else said, I was watching and thinking how much I don't miss Perry Kitchen. He's a nice guy and all, but the team is so much more fun to watch now. First 2 goal game on the road in over a year...
The backpass had almost disappeared from United's game until last night. It was always a safe, defensive move, until the Mishu gaffe showed that it could be very, very unsafe.
At halftime the grounds crew were spraying the half that NYCFC was attacking. And only that half. I've never noticed that before in MLS (or anywhere really). Not a big deal, just a bit classless and it makes Mishu's through ball to Villa that much more appalling.
And yet...Mishu actually looked OK in some regards prior to that amazing ******** up. He's rusty, hasn't played much, and just lost his head. I don't think he's a great player, mind you, but I'm not so sure he's hot garbage, either. He ********ed up, big time. But I also saw some good defensive plays and a few decent overlapping runs and balls forward, at least in the first half. NDL has had all the playing time and all the chances with this squad that Mishu hasn't. And look what HE managed to do--and he wasn't tired from running up and down a soggy, half-anchored pitch all night, either.
As terrible as this was (and it was), I have a tougher time saying that the whole season hinged on this game. They have left plenty of points on the table in plenty of other matches. And for as bad as Mishu's mistake was, if Mullins doesn't shoot his sitter right at Saunders, we have a 2-0 lead at that point. So, there's plenty of blame to go around. The backwards passing "style" has been a feature of this team forever. Remember Richie Williams? Perry Kitchen who never saw a forward pass that he liked? This has to be the most backward-passingest club in history. And it's driven me nuts for all of those years. There is a time and a place for it of course. But when it is options A,B and C there's a problem. How a terrible GK like Saunders is on another first place team baffles me.
And yet since the arrival of Nyarko, Acosta, et. al. , the backpasses became few and far between. Until last night....
I agree. The kid has the potential to be a credible backup given time and experience. I would be surprised if Mishu ever makes that mistake again.
Part of the problem is that micro pitch in the Bronx. Passing the ball around in the back is toxic there. Stuff like happens there all the time. Our first goal came directly from them trying to play out of the back. Not to say that Mishu's play wasn't abnormally bad, but just something to keep in mind next time we visit there. Players need to remove that instinct of passing the ball in our own half.
I know I'm being harsh. I agree with you about NDL who was far worse in his limited time and has no plausible explanation for his play. But, I wouldn't equate Mishu's brainfart with Mullins missing his shot. The ball came to Mullins high and he tried to one time and it didn't work. Could he have let it slide down a bit and poke it one side or the other of Saunders? Sure, but is a bang/bang play. Mishu was in possession, felt some pressure and did the one thing he absolutely should not have done. In other words he had time to consider alternatives and somehow chose that one. Rusty or not -- and he has been getting time in Richmond -- there are certain things a professional simply should not do anymore. A wild backpass of over 40 yards cross field "at" the 'keeper is one of those things. If he did that last night, he's capable of doing something equally stupid again because that fundamental lack of judgment can't be "coached" out of a 24 year old player -- a U-10 yes, but not someone at Mishu's level. To use @QBert's favorite whipping post, it's like saying you could make Josh Saunders a good 'keeper and the mistakes he makes today he won't make in the future.
If I was implicitly comparing Mishu's backpass to Mullin's miss based on what I quoted, that was totally unintentional. They're not even in the same ball park. You're likely right--that's a pretty glaring mistake for a player in his mid-20's to make. I certainly can see how even "only" doing that once--at his age--is indicative that his ceiling as a player isn't very high. BUT...I can also see him never making THAT mistake again, and as I said he showed enough in the first half to merit a chance at redemption. OTOH, I don't think he could complain if it's back to the Kickers for him. EDIT: If he made that same mistake on a properly-sized field, I'd likely be less forgiving. I could be wrong, but I think being a wide player playing on such a ridiculously narrow field--particularly one where a sizable portion gets ripped up with practically every step--would be a bit disorienting. YMMV.
I'm both pissed off and shrug my shoulders at this game. We played pretty well for about 70-75 minutes. We got beat by a world class player in Lampard along with some mistakes made by backups (mostly). Mullins definitely should have finished his shot. Sam should have finished his. We were just a tactically without a lot of sub options. Ben made some mistakes himself as well, but we were lucky to get as many minutes as we did from Acosta. There's blame to go around. We still are in ok shape to make the playoffs, although it got marginally harder with this loss. Orlando still has a very tough schedule. It's not like we lost at home to a poor team last night. NYCFC isn't a great team, but they're a good team who can be great when 1 of their 3 big name players step up.
Heck, we could have gotten Labrocca or Michael Stephens from Chicago instead of Igbo. And there are plenty of defensive midfielders around the league who could easily be available. Ceren was traded away from Orlando and Carrasco could be available too as he doesn't play much for them. Grabavoy in RSL, Okugo and Zemanski in Portland, Sturgis and Farfan in Seattle, Nagamura in SKC, Jacobson in Vancouver all are underutilized and not very pricey, etc. But to me that's not really the problem. Our problem is we are always playing whack a mole with not being able to operate with multiple injuries in any particular area. And I believe that is preventable, we just don't actually create a roster that way. We always seem to be collecting parts that don't quite fit and then just rolling the ball out there and saying have at it, play with grit and good luck. We lost Kitchen and Arnaud early on and simply gave up on Halsti too which created a hole. Fine we got Sarvas to plug it, but that's not really his position. Still he can play and makes it work. Jeffrey improved so that he is serviceable too. well and good, but converting NDL? Taking a wing Mid/wide Forward in Vincent and converting him too? That's a plan? And mind you, we don't actually coach tactics or positioning, so I'm sure we're doing a bangup job in coaching these guys up to MLS standard for the position. So here's the thing instead of trying to do the things we don't do well, why don't we go out and get guys who have already been converted and shown they can do the job for similar money? The list I banged out has plenty of guys who have been converted and all have track records in MLS. Probably an unfair rant as not many teams in MLS can field a third string replacement who is MLS quality, but they at least can almost always pull off a like for like desperation move. We can't, except for central defense and perhaps center forward. That's it. A couple of wing players or a couple of central midfielders or wide backs can't play and we are really hamstrung and have to bring in a guy who either has no real experience or isn't any good or who might be good, but he requires a change in the way we play which snowballs into other problems in other positions. To me, as someone mentioned, if we're going on the cheap across the board pretty much, then you have to have quality depth all the way down the bench. And that would be doable if we came into the season with a decent plan on how we want to play and then who we need on the roster to fulfill that vision. Maybe this is the beginning of that, Idk. We do have a solid core of players all in their early to mid 20s to build around. But sometimes I feel like Will Hunting burning a math problem with this team it's so frustrating, it seems so simple to do make a plan and then follow through on it instead of always being reactive. Sorry, long rant, and probably unfair as I'm sure someone will point out. Still, I feel better now anyway.
Fwiw, Vincent days he's a dmid. Is where he had played his best for us too. Igboanike was kinda a dumb move, but when we picked him up our scoring was atrocious. Move NDL to RB next year and problem solved. If he's seviceable as a backup anyway. Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
Yep ... the offseason roster preparation was clearly a failure. Losing Kitchen, Arnaud and Halsti in one offseason is not something you can offset solely by converting players from other positions and the draft. There needed to be one more proven signing there. Bringing Saborio for another season was clearly a waste and everyone saw it coming. Getting Mullins in the summer window definitely fixed one of the holes, but next time we need to be more assertive in getting these players in place before the season. We need a better rounded roster with more depth and more competition for minutes. We likely won't see Rolfe, Korb, Saborio, Igboananike and hopefully De Leon back so that does open up some significant cap space. Of course before we worry about filling the holes we have, we must cross our fingers and hope we don't lose the good pieces we have in Hamid, Birnbaum and Acosta. If any combination of those 3 players depart we're likely in for another offseason of scrambling to rebuild ...
To be fair, Kitchen would not sign a new contract. So they knew he was leaving. Arnaud wasn't clearly out until early in the offseason- he retired in May. And Halsti left in midseason. So it wasn't like they knew they would be down those three guys during the offseason break.