The Rapids had 0.18 expected goals in the match against the Red Bulls. Easily the lowest of any team this weekend: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/03/13/what-expected-goals-can-tell-us-about-week-2-mls That's the statistical equivalent of your beer league team. That's the statistical equivalent of playing with 7 men. Hell, some teams last weekend (Vancouver & LA for example) played down a man for almost 2/3rds of their matches, and still managed to create more quality chances on offense than the Rapids did in 90 minutes with 11 men. Thanks, Tim Hinchey and Pablo, for delivering the attacking, exciting soccer you've long promised.
I haven't been commenting much on this forum lately, but have been watching a good amount of soccer. There is some fun, exciting soccer being played in MLS (NYCFC, Atlanta, FC Dallas). And while the Rapids are a tough team to beat, they are painful to watch. My standout player over the first two games has been Azira. I am very impressed with his growth as a player over the past year. He seems more confident, doesn't make many bad passes, disrupts the other team, basically he's looking like the best Rapids player over the first two games. I think Badji, Miller and Hairston are improved players as well. Defense has been good. Goalkeepers look very good - Howard was really sharp in this game. Our attack however... so anemic. Nothing going on attacking-wise in the center of the pitch, other than trying to find a cross, or hoping a deflection or poor clearance lands at someone's feet. In all honesty, Burch and Miller have provided a majority of the attacking play, which is sad in my opinion. Could "Nana" Boateng play the position occupied by Powers? Should Doyle be playing there with Badji up top? Could Gashi play there? Something has got to change, the attack is not dynamic enough and will not produce goals without better attacking play, especially in the middle of the pitch. Almost holding RBNY to 0-0 draw isn't bad, but creating very few scoring chances is.
I saw this yesterday: http://www.burgundywave.com/2017/3/...oateng-the-new-jermaine-jones-pablo-mastroeni It doesn't sound like Pablo thinks its his best position.
I'm not saying signings like this have to replace someone whose already established, but if you are going to lose a player in free-agency/transfers, why not sign a replacement. Both Azira and Cronin played great in 2016. The attacking M is the replacement the team needed, if Nana isn't it, why sign him?
Lets not forget that the RFO likes to talk about improvement but seldom ever provides the players to initiate said improvement. They always act like the shopper hanging around to see what's left in the 75% off bin to see if they can get it for 80% off.
I believe Tim Hinchey has stated that the one thing missing from last season was silverware and that getting some was the goal this season. But he seems to be hanging his hat on being able to improve on last season's results without improving the talent. Three's a lot of faith that the "group" can so slightly better in the attacking end by putting a few more bodies in the box without a real plan of what to do with the ball so that they are more effective in scoring. As for the addition of Adjei-Boateng, at this time it seems pointless. If he is meant for the Cronin/Azira role then he's gonna have a hard time finding playing time barring injury. If he's able to play the attacking role in midfield why isn't he doing so now as it looks to be a big need.
I think signing Boateng could pay off in future years. Young player, could move into Cronin's role as he reaches the end of his career, etc. But I have no expectation that he'll contribute to improved results this year. None of our new signings (all 6 of them, 3 of which are rookies) will help us improve from last year,
So...we lost our most dynamic attacking player (JJ) from last season and replaced him with...bodies. So far we have 3 goals from 3 matches. I am not confident that we will improve on that average.