The reffing has been atrocious but at some point Inchy needs to acknowledge that by and large this team has looked like shit this season. The truth is if the team were actually playing well some of these decisions probably don't have any effect on the outcome. The last 2 games in particular have been brutal.
I disagree that the team has looked poor. This last game was bad, but I think that was Inchy messing with the lineup and going with the 4-4-2, especially on the road. Poor decision. The best the team has looked was with Carrasco in the middle of a 4-3-2-1, allowing Higuita and Ceren to wreak havoc up and down the field defensively and offensively. That is the ideal system for this team, especially on the road. But the team has actually looked good other than not finishing well the first couple of games. The team is far and away better than last year, that is pretty obvious.
I would argue that aside from the penalty in the first 15 seconds, New England went on to badly outplay us for almost 70 minutes. We looked better late in the game.
We dominated the last 30 minutes of the New England game. We were outplayed in the first half. But in the previous five games we were pretty well in control of the middle of the field each game. So I don't see a crisis.
A few quick thoughts..... 1) Finally, a good referred game....said it was only his 4th MLS game, hope we get him again. 2) I though Nacerino had his best game for us so far (granted he blew a open shot in the 1st half), but either he is starting to understand the abilities (this is not Serie A) of the OCSC players around him, or the players are starting to understand him. Gives me hope he might make it here. 3) Great to see Rivas get his first goal....looking at the replay a few times, the run he made for the goal was impressive. 4) Starting to get a little frustrated with Kaka...5 out of 8 games missed. My concern is his injuries are minor injuries one gets as they get older (boy do I know ). Hamstring, groin....I know he doesn't use the OCSC training staff, he has his own personal one...maybe he needs to replace him. Going forward, I'm starting to think if we get 15 games out of him this season we might be lucky.
Agreed with your other points. Nice to see a reasonable referee. This is kind of what I expected out of Kaka last year. The guy is reaching his mid-30s, seeing him play 30+ games really isn't realistic. Last year he played through some injuries and ended up missing a good chunk of late season play. This year the depth is such that the team can be more cautious with him, and that is what we are seeing. He insisted he was good to play in Game 2, but Heath sat him. I think this is more about Heath making sure he is ready for the final stretch and playoff run. Look at Drogba in Montreal. The guy just now showed up and will likely miss most if not all games on artificial turf. That is what we can expect from Kaka going forward, I think.