Sunday, May 15th, 3:30ET ESPN At Kansas City Looking through different WEB pages, haven't seen any injury problems, so hopefully we can start with our best 11 (well, of course not including Higuita). No Itchy, but he will be in the building. SKC is really struggling right now, plus they had a Wednesday night game, so this is a good time to play them, looking to get out of our recent funk. Bendik Ramos/Mateos/Hines/Shea Carrasco/Ceren Molino/Nocerino/Kaka Larin
Maybe a good time to play them. Maybe they are going to be really ticked off. NYRB had a terrible stretch right before we played them the first time, that didn't work out so well for the good guys. Also, hate playing KC on the road. But you gotta do what you gotta do. Go get 'em, lads!
We are headed that way to see the lions play. The Cauldron has invited us to their tailgate ( Viking Army did as well a few weeks ago and it was a very nice event). The SKC front office moved our seats u about 8 rows and sold the rest of the supporter section tickets to locals BUT now we are very close to the Boulevard Brewery stand. Postgame report forthcoming.
Im interested to see how Nocerino plays on a grass field. I wonder if the artificial fields have really had an impact or if he just sucks.
It will be interesting, but I'm not quit as down on Nocerino. I think he is going through the normal growing pains of joining MLS. Coming from Serie A, where players think some much differently than MLS - Italy, known for defense minded, slow build up, where MLS is more up tempo. I have seen what I perceive as improvement each week from him - granted I do not think we will see the best of him into well into the summer months.
I spoke too soon, following Alicia Rose DelGallo in Twitter (new Orlando Sentinel beat writer for OCSC) and she posted Hines missed yesterday and today's training session. Might be a Mateos/Redding pairing in the back center this weekend.
Yes! Though it could be an issue not having a third CB. I wonder if Donovan is ready to be a bench player. And I'm not terribly down on Hines, just think he's a bit reckless out there and I'd like to see what a Redding/Mateos pairing could do.
I know Donovan has play 90 minutes in 2 or the last 3 OCB games (they did a Saturday/Wednesday/Saturday stretch and they sat him on the Wednesday game), so he is playing again.
Has he played 90? Last game I checked in on he only played the first half. But that was a bit ago, so he could be ready for a bench role if needed. Would be great if he's up to 90.
Well, that was pathetic. And then we add insult to injury. Dwyer was clearly offside, no idea how that wasn't called. All kinds of wounded, Ceren doesn't look like he will be back anytime soon. But, hey, at least Nocerino got through the game healthy! Oh wait...
The problem is that he should not be defending nearly as much as he has been. The problem is Nocerino in the lineup.
I lost your train of though there....did you say a defender should not be defending? A defenders primary job is first to defend, and then if options are available to move up field. After over a year at this experiment, Shea as shown no ability to defend what so over. The second half was beyond bad for him. SKC was just toying with him. At this point go with Bolden.
In reference to Nocerino, the majority of his professional career, he has played defensive midfield. The proper lineup would have seem to be, with Huguita out, Ceren and Nocerino, with either Winter or Rivas as the attacking midfielder, but this coaching staff continues to confuse me.
Yeah, except Boden isn't much of a defender either. And, yes, that is exactly what I said. In Heath's system they are wingers that come back to slow down the speedy guys from time to time. They are not truly defenders. This has been true for several years, hence why Heath converts MFs to LB and RB.
The primary role of Nocerino has been to facilitate the attack as a left sided midfielder. Really, he's play the role that Kaka is playing when we we go with three "defensive" mids and play Kaka left of Molino with two attacking mids. Historically, Nocerino hasn't been much of a defender, hence how quickly he lost his job when he no longer had a quality defender behind him. Go back to last year's lineup, with Ceren and Higuita at CDM and Winter up top with the Kaka and Molino and this team would have been humming, with everyone in their proper place. Now Ceren is out for who knows how long, Shea may also be out for a while and the team is in disarray. Shea was the best offensive player on the field for Orlando today. If he's healthy, he should be out there somewhere. We can no longer afford the luxury to wait for Noce to find himself. Time to put the lineup on the field that will get results. That definitely includes Winter.
Not sure I completely agree with that. Ramos is first a defender, who makes runs up field and quickly comes back. But he has been schooled in the art of defending. Even Hines has complained that Shea is slow to get back, at times wondering where he is. And if that is Heaths system, then he either needs to go find someone you can do it, or adjust, because this is not working.
Well isn't that nice. Just finished watching NYCFC win their 4th game this season.....as they pull further and further away from us. Can this day get any better Amazing what a coaching staff, schooled in how to coach, Vieira, can do with a team. Oh well, we have Itchy....and no general manager (Rawlings of course is doing it part time) Time to go to bed.......
The team in disarray? It's not just the team, it's the fan base. They are getting tired of the heartless lack of effort. And it extends to the team giving the away fans the cold shoulder yesterday. At least Inchy went up to meet with the fans after the match. The problem is, there are accusations flying that Inchy is not in total control of the team. Some fans believe the ownership is micromanaging roster utilization, particularly where Nocerino is involved.
Not sure about the dis-function within the organization, but it would not surprise me. I think it started with the Carneiro hiring, but then instead of Fabio going through with the changes (which I assume was a complete make over of the organization, all under Carneiro), he backed out. Somewhat surprising since Fabio, by all reports, is a top notch business man, not someone who goes back on his decisions that quickly. I will say, our next two games, both home against Montreal and Philadelphia (the Saturday/Wednesday thing), IMO are very important in Heaths longevity here.
No doubt, the ship is taking on water. Not everyone is rowing in the same direction. Ok, I've run out of boating analogies.
Im over the whole Brek Shea experiment. Move him up to the wing or make a trade. He is too much of a liability on defense. I used to be able to say, well at least he brings something offensively, but thats just not the case anymore. His head isnt in the right place. I doubt he will even get a call up to the USMNT this year.