Sometimes whether "it goes in" has to do with the talent of the team. I watched US, watched highlights this time, and I see a bunch of our chances not even put on net. This was a problem in recent years, and, hmmm, we had to field more of a 2016 team last night. 2016 isn't any better than MN apparently. This kind of shows how much difference just a few players who can execute make. Games like this should be kept in mind in the offseason when it's like should we re-sign x bench player. OK, how did he do starting against MN or KC in USOC? What was his bench impact on a regular night? We have a tendency to get complacent when our record improves, but based on what I've seen we didn't have enough roster competition for the bench.
Most of the 1st half was Dynamo domination outside of the last 10-15 minutes. Could and perhaps should have scored 2-3 goals. Missed some really quality opportunities and Minnesota's defense looked an absolute mess. Didn't see the 2nd half.
I tend to believe early season results are foretold in the offseason by the efforts of the GM, the team is either well composed or not and to some extent the results are just those efforts playing out. Along those lines, I think yesterday reflected the lack of effort to address the bench and road issues. This was one of the first radically different benches I have seen and you can't run the same people out there on the bench for dozens of games and suddenly expect Memo to produce and Wenger to change. This to me is the product of not expecting more from the bench and then having to start those players. If it took goal and assist production to make it into games then maybe I might expect more when they are forced into action. I am not too upset at this game on its own feet because I didn't expect much. But as a general premise that's kind of brutal, writing off expecting much away to the 20th-T best team in the league. It's the general pattern and the lack of table flipping about it that p*sses me off more. We have upticked to getting some ties on the road but that's a pretty pathetic achievement. As home and away even up we are sliding to 4th and within one game's glitch of dropping below the line. I am concerned the personnel and road game efforts have not been more aggressive. On home record we should be one or two in conference. I still think we play out, on average, above the line. But letting this level of schizophrenia continue 2/3 of the way into the season and drag us down the table is getting close to foretelling how the postseason will go. You wouldn't even have to be a better team or higher seed than us to like your chances, and I don't get how we can just giggle along about this, I mean, years???? I'd be interested if this goes beyond the team strictly understood to how road travel is handled by the FO, etc. But I am at a loss how you can win a couple road games last season and this isn't fixed the next year, particularly with a team improved in other ways. They need a top-down clearing of the air about how this happens over and over, nothing off the table, tactics, personnel, trip arrangements, how far ahead of time they travel, how long they practice, etc.