Believe it or not, it wasn't even the worst score in the league this week. FSL had a player below -1000 and as a team was just slightly better than Blomberg's score.
Do they appear to have improved offensively? Sometimes they do. However, one goal against two teams and the big offensive output was against a team who's given up 10 goals. Also, there are aspects of the game other than offense which look, at best, equal to last year. So far, I feel no reason to move the needle into the optimistic territory. Too early to make any judgements though.
Number of goals seems slightly better, but the eye test is way better. We just look better. I will be curious how it goes when we play easier competition. That is when the results should come if we are indeed better than last year. Rod
I agree. The results haven't been going exactly our way, but we look a lot better and we've put up a good fight in each game this season. Yeah we gave up 2 early goals against Seattle, but we've never done well against Seattle - especially in their stadium - and we had probably the worst pairing of CB's the league has seen in a while in that game. We had some good chances that with better finishing could've gotten us a goal, or even a tie out of the game - I'm thinking Mesquida and Acosta's long range efforts and then Shinyashiki's attempt late in the game. And that's the difference between 2018 and 2019. In 2018 would we ever had though that there was a way to climb back into a game after going down 2-0? The answer of course is no. Last year, the hope was in the gaffer bringing on Nikki Jackson to change the game because McBean and Badji can't score to save their lives. This year we've got the talent up front and in the mid to make some serious chances in a game. And we've shown it so far too. Have we closed out games and played lights out yet? No. But we look a lot better than last year. Yeah Blomberg was an idiot but I can't fault Hudson for giving him a shot in the game. The game had become a little stagnant, and he's a veteran who's shown flashes of brilliance in the past who's also hungry for gametime. I can hear it now "Go get em Blomberg. Make a difference. Show me you deserve a spot in the MLS". If he scored that beauty of a shot that missed the post by a couple of inches we'd all be singing a different tune right now. But he didn't and lost his head. Overall, we actually look like we're fielding a decent MLS team now and we've gone toe to toe with 3 of the best in the west. Yeah Portland is struggling so far this year, but it's nearly an identical team to the one that took them to the cup last year. Seattle looks scary good so far. Kansas City always looks good - and their loss to LAFC (Who also looks really good) was smack dab in the middle of CCL. Are we going to win the Cup this year? Ha! No, not unless we have another miraculous 2010 season. Is Hudson bound to make more headscratching moves? I'm sure of it. But the team is gelling. And the team is actually threatening to score regularly throughout the game now - as opposed to the last couple of years, 2018 especially. This is a different looking Rapids this year. We look different. We play different. Just look at Kei and Rubio up top for example. Last year if the Rapids didn't score first there was no way anything was going to happen. Heck, in 2016 when we shocked the entirety of the MLS if the other team scored first it was a problem. Aside from Gashi playing out of his mind that year, and in the games that Jermaine Jones was healthy, who did we have that was really a threat to opposing teams? Who could change games - Doyle and LeToux? The results are bound to follow with the team we have this year.
I thought there was some debate about this. Oh well, maybe we can this year. I didn't see the game so it was not meant as a cynical remark. I'm still optimistic about the season, at least they got some new players.
I didn't see it on TV and it caught Celo and Fleming by surprise. Their guess was that he'd said something to the ref
*Folds* True that. IIRC Nasco hadn't even been announced in the stadium when he took the long red march of shame.
There's some talk in N&A that the 48 hour rule is no longer in affect and games are permanently blacked out in the home markets.
I guess I'm canceling my ESPN+. Wish the Altitude app actually worked. I'll have to settle for the condensed games on MLS app.
The Altitude app works fine for me - do you have a cable subscription? Pretty sure that is required. Also, home market games were always blacked out, even back when one paid for the MLS Live subscription. Didn't realize they were blacked out indefinitely now, though. That is pretty crazy.
I cancelled ESPN+ because of all the ridiculous delays that ESPN started imposing on recorded broadcasts and the overall uselessness of their service as well as their anti-soccer attitude. I had a feeling they would go downhill quickly, and they did. The MLS made a mistake by signing a contract with a network that repeatedly Tweets about the "four major sports," excluding soccer. Yes, Garber did it for the only reason that motivates him - money - but it was a betrayal of soccer fans by rewarding a network that hates the sport.
Somebody is going to have to explain to me how making MLS Live cheaper by going to ESPN+ was a bad thing. Better production values, cheaper price, and you get a ton of extra soccer content on top of it. The only issue I see so far is this extended blackout policy, which we haven't even confirmed is a real thing yet.
I’m with you. I’ve had zero issues. None. I can watch all my MLS games. I can watch USL, Eredivisie, English Championship, Serie A, danish Superliga, Swedish Alesvankan, international matches.....shit I’ve even watched a few Chinese Super League marches. For a junky like me ESPN+ is gold. I love it. Luck of the draw, I don’t know, but I watched the Rapids replay and didn’t have a blackout issue.
I have a cable login, the problem is that the altitude app stream freezes every 5 minutes. It’s unwatchable.
Was at the match. Thought the biggest ongoing issue was getting good passes in the final third. For the most part, the Rapids back line did well dealing with the Sporks. I really though, until the free kick, that the Rapids were going to earn a shutout. Wynne, yes Wynne, played a tremendous match. He was frequently able to intercept passes rather than having to panic defend. Also, of course Serna was very good both defending and in the attack. Rosenberg had his moments as well. The Rapids still need to improve with possession and that final pass. Oh, and I continue to be impressed with Bassett's maturity on the ball. No doubt many of us will continue to have PTSD as Rapids's fans, but the team is most definitely better in terms of play and personnel than the last two seasons.
I'm with both of you, I like ESPN+ but still get Comcast for family reasons and because I don't think there is any other way to get Altitude Sports. Only complaint is I can't watch the Rapids live when in the mountains because ESPN+ says I'm in region, but Altitude does not work on the Comcast app when you are not at home.