It was a great, well-weighted pass. And a good, opportunistic run. And a tough play for Francis given that Naess stepped up and left a gap. But that's still on Francis to guard that space.
Two of the goals came through Francis's zone, but the killer for me was the second goal as there is just so much blame to go around on that one. Note that when the dead ball started, Meram almost didn't look aware enough to run with Powell, so Francis had to step out and deal with him, couldn't cut off the delivery, and then it looked like maybe as many as three players (Naess, Mensah, Trapp, maybe even Artur?) didn't clear their lines and it somehow found its way to Adi. Also, I wanted to give a tip of the cap to GGG for his positioning of Afful after the first goal. I'd have to go back and watch from the kickoff, but if Afful wasn't stationed there to begin with, he should've been as Blanco looks as though he is always going to cut in, and usually they'll have Vytas (who reminds me so much of Ignazio Abate it's crazy) flying up the wing. But they didn't have him Saturday night, instead they had Valentin, who isn't a threat up the wing at all, so there was no need to have Afful over there marking space that Portland were never going to use. Again, not sure if that was an in-game adjustment or the plan from the start, but either way it was good stuff from Berhalter.
I have often felt we should have someone hanging on the back side of corners - especially given our struggles to win the ball in the crowd.
You should always have someone behind the back post unless your keeping almost everybody back to prevent a counter.
So, pretty much so close that you can't tell. That is onside in the real world. But anyway, it was pretty horrible by Mensah. He hangs Francis out to dry. He's not offering any support by his positioning, just hanging back enough to make Francis easily exploited. Crow had much better awareness of his teammates positioning in the DCU game. It may only be 3 games, but why is the kid out of college able to get up to speed faster than the DP*? A while back when we were talking about what would constitutes a successful season, one of my criteria was being able to be competitive with the top teams, not always getting a result, but showing that you belong on the field. That really is what I need the most to enjoy the season. I want playoffs and a cup and all that, but the reality is that I sit in the stands for 17 games and if they lost all their home games but won the cup, it would not be a very enjoyable season. Here's to hoping that the oft-spoke gelling is actually happening. Per a previous poster, having a CM, Artur, participate in the attack, is making a world of difference.
Mrs KG is always yelling at the players to "cover the back door" on corners.... She was rather smug after the last game when they actually did it.
I put wrong label - 1.5ft offside, but yes, within a margin of error. Close enough to call it onside to me.