I may be in the minority here, but I'm of the opinion at that point, when the match is already decided, let the players figure it out. Put the onus on them to "rally the troops". That's when they need to step it up. That's when they need to take it upon themselves. They know what's at stake. Hudson’s tactics were not the issue. Poor man marking on two separate occasions led to goals. That’s on the players. They put themselves in that hole so let them dig themselves out.
Baby steps. I want the snow to melt away then I want it to get above freezing and then I want the sun to come out and then on a glorious spring day I'd like to see a freaking goal!
Just got back, Damn that was cold. Disappointing result but my hope is that this isn't our standard starting XI and Hudson cared more about getting through this game healthy than winning it. I mean, I hate the fact that the organization threw this competition away again but that's the better option over thinking this XI is the plan for the MLS season.
There was some promise in the first half, especially with guys like Aigner, Gashi, and Wilson missing. The second half was pure 2017 dreck though. And I carried the torch for a renewed Howard this offseason and I already regret it. I really hope it was just the cold but if he doesn't get better fast Hudson will have the first big decision of his tenure.
Cold out there tonight. Warmest place to get to was the men's room at halftime. Never seen so many people deciding to drink their beers in there. Rapids looked good all the way up until Badji missed his sitter. The f-up seemed to take some wind out of their attacking sails. Never really got it back, then Toronto found their groove. From the south end those first 30 mins or so looked promising with some hustle, good ball movement, possession, and even several chances with shots on target. Not sure what the discussion was at halftime but it sure didn't help.
That was cool tonight, I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout, the lineups, and even the level of play. I was in disbelief all day that it would happen, but then it did. This roster might have more talent than last year, but still doesn't measure up to Toronto, or ultimately, Tigres. I've been colder on chairlifts, no doubt, it wasn't very windy tonight. The supporters deserve ultimate praise: Dudley Do-right tifo and emergency national anthem duty, double bonus! To those watching on a screen, was Morrow really offside in early minutes? If Badji scores, our snow mojo holds. Echo on earlier comments about our striker situation. The 2nd goal was inexcusable, team ball-watching perfected. If we make playoffs this year, tonight seemed like a preview of our first round.
A bit disappointed that the only player to make an effort to acknowledge the fans that survived the cold was Drew Moor.
Props to anyone who braved that weather tonight. Happy we won, but thought Colorado put up a decent fight before the two goals. I'm not really sure what either side can take from this one, just because of the conditions, plus being so early in their season. I can't imagine what Auro was thinking, considering this was his first match with TFC. Hopefully he doesn't retire before realizing MLS usually isn't played in these conditions, haha. Ironically, it was about 50F in Toronto today, and quite nice for the time of year.
Only found a shaky feed so couldn't take much out of the game. Hard to read too much into this with the conditions and lack of all of our starters. Just wish Wynalda had been there as a sideline reporter. Had a damn good steak here in Omaha though
Big props to all who attended. I just couldn't face it! Did we escape without any injuries? Will the location of the benches be permanently as they were tonight? I have enjoyed sitting behind the Rapids bench and will miss that very much if the move is permanent. I echo Jason's comments above: let's hope Howard was frozen because from what I saw he was simply not up to the task last night.
Can I get an "amen" about that second half looking like Rapids of 2017 (as has been stated)? I don't really get what happened. Much of the first half consisted of good movement on and off the ball, passing, possession, creating chance. Second half consisted of hesitation, panic, long balls going forward, people losing their head on defense. Looked like Toronto was taking advantage of the Rapids at elevation rather than vice versa. With so many new faces on the pitch it was disconcerting to see the team revert to so much of what I remember seeing last year. I'm not all doom and gloom yet however. They do need some time and a few changes in the starting XI: Aigner for Enzo; Gashi for McBean; Wilson for Wynne; Mason for Badji;... McMath for Howard? Individual players - Enzo: fun to watch, apparently tireless, bitchin' slide tackles; but somewhat erratic. - Badji: late super sub has his name written all over it. - McBean: not very impactful - Hairston: lots of good moments and movement; prone to brain farts. - Price: he did manage the midfield well but seemed to *occasionally* disappear. A little more "take charge" would do well. But I really liked him. -Boeteng: kind of hard for me to assess. He seemed strong on the ball much of the time but I can't think of many instances where he was particularly dangerous. Still seemed like a positive impact - Castillo: he was fairly consistent last night moving forward. I think he will be quite impactful when the team finally gels well.
So a couple of points 1. First 30 ish minutes we looked on a par with the best team in the league despite no Aigner, Blomberg, Gashi, Wilson and now Mason. A lot to build on. 2. Jack Price looks fantastic. Holds the middle of the park. An eye for a pass. Good tackling ability. Stood out by a mile last night 3. As has been mentioned Howard look so below par. Why are we paying a huge huge salary for a player that might not actually be the best GK in the squad. Old, tired and the money could be spent in much better areas
My random thoughts on last night: It was COLD. But because there was no moisture, not as bad as I feared. And the whisky helped a lot. Fun to watch my beer turn into a slushy, though. I get the position of putting a team out there to run the game without subs. It would be easy for an injury to occur without proper warm-up given the cold. No reason to sustain a long term injury in one of our core players. First half looked very promising. If we play like that on a regular basis, I have some hope. Second half was tough. Not sure if it was tactical change by Toronto that we didn't do well with or if it was tiring of the team. Hoping for the latter. McBean did not impress. Hoping the next signing (there better be one) takes care of the issue. Badji looks great until he shoots. Sound familiar? I think he looked better last night than last year, though. The first half build-up toward goal was good. We looked like a real team. Clearly there were pre-season "get to know everyone" moments. The tech skills seemed to be there, the formation seemed to be there. Just a bit of off-timing that will be fixed only through playing-together time. C38 was KILLING it. TIFO's were great. Sound and energy was great (lagged at the end, but no judgement there!) 108 was not as strong, but we will get there. Did we really expect to win this thing? I didn't, so was able to enjoy the game for what it was - a pre-season game in frickin cold weather.
https://www.coloradorapids.com/post...anthony-hudson-february-20-2018?autoplay=true Long but worthwhile post match interview with Hudson. He addresses many of he topics we have questioned -- Rapids motivations, the squad selection, his rationale for not using subs. Well done by Hudson. I can't disagree with anything he said. I get it.
What money? Remember, again, the money for Howard is coming from a sponsorship we got because we signed Howard. That's not to say we need Howard or Howard should be starting, but its not like somebody other big name would be on the team in his place.
Going off Hudson's pre-game comments I thought the game was a decent measure of where the Rapids are so far in their, not publicly advertised but unofficially acknowledged rebuilding. First 35 minutes showed promise. The rest of the match showed how far they have to go. The cold. And OMG was it cold. Mitigated everything a fair bit.
We just added 31 awesome photos from last night's freezing #Rapids96 vs. #TFC game. Huge props to all the fans who braved the conditions and to our amazing photographer @hrichardson https://t.co/WWJa5qKzx4— Daniel Boniface (@danielboniface) February 21, 2018
Home debut last night ⚽️ not the result we wanted but another chance for the new team to gel. Never played in -16 before ❄️🙈 big thanks to the @ColoradoRapids fans who turned out in numbers to cheer the boys on!! Much appreciated in that weather 👊🏼 #Rapids96 pic.twitter.com/xvRSchnRYh— Jack Price (@jacko_8) February 21, 2018
Like others, just gonna jot down some random observations from midfield/5th row. Haven't watched any replay yet, so I may have missed a few things. And of course, there's the disclaimer that these guys played in single digit temps... which surely affected their play. The first half exceeded all expectations. Pleasantly surprised. If this team can trend toward that in coming weeks (with some of the bigger names inserted), the Rapids will find success and be much more fun to watch. Really liked the movement, the frequent lateral shifts in point of attack (Price and Smith helping that a lot), and the occasional quick transition from D to attack. Marlon and Edgar make for good wing backs. But the differences in their styles of play and positioning were rather noticeable by watching from midfield. Maybe that's OK. Jack Price was very impressive and essentially all over the place throughout the first half. Really like what he brings. Touch passes, view of play, direction, and grit. Things changed in the 2nd tho. Either way, very happy to have him in the mid this year! The need for new, quality strikers was already glaring before this match. But this match exposed this roster gap in giant, flashing, neon lights! We need multiple new strikers. See next two bullets. Badji was Badji. He's fast and a threat, but he just can't seem to finish consistently. Funny... His miss on the open goal last night reminded me of that clip of him choking on the PK against Seattle in the opening scene of that "Elevate" series. He's had some flash and great shots in recent years, but too often he misses out on the killer instinct. That seemed to show again last night. Nonetheless, he still has great sub potential with his speed and I think can offer a lot more. As for McBean... Man. I dunno. To be a good striker, it seems ya gotta have an X-factor... Either be fast/quick, solid/strong, or crafty/shifty. Yet, his lack of speed was obvious on many occasions; he often tumbled to the pitch when pressured/bumped (doesn't appear strong); and I certainly didn't see crafty play from him. Not sure if he has an X-factor. He adds depth, like Calvert, but I don't see it as too much value added above Calvert, et. al. Wynne... Aside from questioning his start in the last two matches (he was essentially a Vancouver reserve player), I don't yet know how I feel about him going forward. And, maybe I missed something seeing it live and not seeing replay, but he had a horrible clearance from the corner that sent the ball right back to the feet of TFC in the attacking third... which ended up in TFC's first goal only seconds later. Reminded me of some past Watts clearances that led to goals. Again, maybe I missed something that led up to that mishap. Gotta watch the replay to look more at Howard. It was cold as f***, even with 3 layers. Beer slushies would be absolutely awesome if it were summer.
How so? I'll look out for it tonight if the UDeportes thing actually recorded on my DVR. Kudos to everyone to braved the cold! I stayed home even though I wanted to see the new players and new formation.
It was subtle. Will need to watch closer in replay. Hell, the differences may have stemmed from the TFC mids they were guarding. But, generally, it seemed that Edgar was more comfortable cheating forward up the pitch (further up on D adding pressure, or quicker to get forward on O, ... or both when in transition). Whereas, it seemed that Marlon was drifting back on D more, so when TFC tried to swing the point of attack to their left flank, they could make more headway up the pitch than on the right. Again, that may have been planned. It also may simply be that Edgar is much more familiar/comfortable in this role and Marlon is still developing in it... or that Marlon was respecting the star power of TFC on his side and staying further back. Considering this was only the club's fourth match in this system, it's all understandable. They're learning.
I thought Rapids weren't too bad considering the shitshow of the weather and Rapids still in preseason match fitness. TFC had a shorter off season and as part of preseason, went to Mexico City to train in altitude, so the altitude in Colorado wasn't a big factor for TFC. I thought Rapids did a good job with the high press early in the game, evident by a lot of hoofing done by TFC defenders that got swarmed by Rapids and had no real options to try to play out. Rapids also did a good job taking out Vasquez's playmaking skills (part of it was Vasquez had a really off game, but a lot of it was Rapids taking away Vasquez's space early in the game). 2nd half was Rapids got tired and TFC started to find more room. And falling asleep on the 2 TFC goals which should have been preventable. So, I see what Hudson is trying to do, and with a better finishing and match fitness, the result of the game might have been different.
We were the better team in the first half. It really struck me how much more intelligent and purposeful ball movement was compared to last year. I think we'll be pretty competitive this year with more chemistry, and more of our top players available. Vast improvement from last year. We did lose the plot in the second half, which shows that its still very much a work in progress. Really though, the loss boils down to three basic mistakes from individual players. Badji should have buried that 1v1. No excuse hitting it strait into the keeper. Toronto's first goal was the result of poor marking at both posts and a frankly lazy effort from Howard. Toronto's second goal was strait up poor marking. Under no circumstances should Giovinco ever be allowed that much space in the box. He could have built a house with that much land around him.