I thought it was a dive and a yellow card instantly. No penalty. Once I saw the replay, I thought that maybe, MAYBE there was some slight incidental contact in the back. Not enough for a penalty, but enough to justify a straight no-call. But it’s not clear enough to overrule. There was a VAR check, but ultimately it confirmed the ref’s impression. Waiting until the check was done to show the yellow card for the dive — that was a little different. Perhaps he thought he would be avoiding confusion by waiting for confirmation, as opposed to giving a card, having a review and rescinding said card.
Weeeeeelllllll... For the most part, I agree. But last night, I actually thought we did play well. In the previous games, I never felt like a goal was coming. In this one, I can’t believe we DIDN’T score. We had one cleared off the line, we had shots that missed, shots that were blocked at the last second, we were sniffing around the DC box — the final product wasn’t there, still, but we were at least creating. We got sunk by a Wayne Rooney free kick. That’s a long list we got added to.
Eh, It still shows that most aren't there to watch the match. Other exhibits could include: CAPOs starting the Hey Gyasi chant as the team defends against a set piece Sticking with Wise Men Say when the team is down a goal in the 85th and could use a bit of energy from the fans. Every single post on Facebook defending Meram
The level of certainty on extrapolation around here today is mildly amusing. Meram has been bad all season. Very bad. I am not sure what anyone is saying to defend Meram as I often do not engage in Crew chatter on other social media. I love the guy. I am sure context can be taken so far if you want to argue it for whatever reasons, which I have no wish to do so. Also if you want to partake in dichotomous thinking, then you are free to go back a few posts to the normal black and white painting by our resident genius. As for chant selection? I will leave that to the more hardcore supporters than me.
This was my understanding of the proceedings and this (https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2019-04-24-columbus-crew-sc-vs-dc-united/feed) confirms the card was for simulation. In my opinion, a tad rough for simulation since Hector does get tripped up. Embellishment maybe, simulation not really. A perfectly fine no call that VAR turned into simulation.
The thing is, yellow cards aren’t reviewable. Elfath had to have been thinking of that card even before the check.
I want him to be. I feel bad for Markus in some ways. I think my fandom robs him a bit of the magical-level fandom of being a child and looking at one's favorite team in child-like wonder. I need to be better at holding back my critical lens. But then again, his entire kindergarten building is having a career day next week, and he put that he wants to be a professional soccer player for the Columbus Crew. He will be dressing up as a Crew player sporting the armband from Crewsmas. So maybe I am doing a few things correctly. Also, he dressed in a Crew jersey for spring pictures. When I scan one into an electronic version, then I will be sure to post here (meaning the Saved the Crew thread).
To be frank you don't really engage in much chatter here either. The normal Markus posts, the occasional drive-by Porter apology, and then any time one asks for further clarification on Porter or your feelings of the on-field product you dismiss it. So it goes.
Ah I didn't consider that but that sounds right. He must have been thinking simulation yellow immediately and then waited out the VAR check to award it just in case it might reverse course. When it came back with the call on the field, he proceeded with his initial thought process. Not exactly how VAR should be used but nothing outrageous that caused me to sharpen my pitchfork and gas up my torches. Either way, that's not why the Crew lost and that would have been another south end PK that we might have been "BALL DONT LIE'd" on.
Not sure about all season, but definitely last night, he was by far. Artur also had a quality game I thought (I figure I should say as much since I've been down on him the last year or so)
It’s always tough after a loss. Especially a home loss. Does anyone think Bez and Porter signed up for this? They both know this team isn’t good enough and I guarantee they have a list of players they would like to ship out or bring in. This summer will be very telling as to the future of this club. The ambition level will be obvious. As for the game, how many shots did Trapp or Autur take? I’d say close to zero. How threatening is Hector Jimenez or Waylon Francis? Or even Meram for that matter? Opposing teams know they shut down Zardes and we have no options. Merem’s off the ball movement is pathetic. I’ve seen more running in a Rec league.
Used to really like Dwight, but found my self audibly disagreeing with him a lot last night (and I'm not one to usually talk to the TV either)
The difference between Acosta and Higs was stark. I hate to say that as I think Higs is still sometimes under-rated, but what a difference swapping those two players may have made. You mean (second?) most successful coach in club history Andrulis?
This seems an excellent place to demonstrate why I keep returning to "the fans aren't knowledgeable" trope. I am absolutely sure they knew what they were signing up for, to a degree no one here can possibly imagine. Allow me to explain. Imagine your job, assuming you've been doing it a few years and it's not unskilled labor. Even if you're not all that great at it, even if you're pretty mediocre, a la Caleb Porter, you still know so much more about doing your job than almost anyone who hasn't at least done it before in their life. Not only do you have a skill set and an accumulated knowledge base of how things work in your job, and a concomitant ability to quickly and accurately evaluate what to do in various times of crisis, you have, by dint of your employer knowing you're a better employee for it, information at your disposal that people outside your particular industry simply don't. It's this way with people whose job it is to run professional sports teams. Not only have they been doing it for years, if not decades, not only are things that would take a lay person days or weeks to evaluate and understand something they by now know innately, they have access to information - scouting info, financial info, medical info - that you or I don't and never will. So, when I say the fans (myself included) aren't knowledgeable, that's what I mean. Most of us aren't stupid, but it's not our jobs to do what Caleb Porter or Tim Bezbatchenko do, day in, day out, for many years.
There was one point in particular that is probably the perfect example of this. Don't recall when exactly. Probably mid way through the Second half. I want to say we had the ball just inside the DC side of the field. We cycled the ball from one side to the other 3 or 4 passes. Each player trapped the ball dead before passing on to the next person. Not a single one-touch or even just a quick boom-boom trap-pass. Felt like it took 2 minutes to change the field and certainly gave DC more than enough time to shift over defensively.
In real time I thought it looked like an obvious foul. On the replay I thought it *looked* like simulation but there was also just enough contact that at full speed could have been legitimate. Based on replay I would have gone with the no-call (and no card). Not sure what the ref was thinking in real time though. Hector really seemed to feel it was a foul, and doesn't seem to be the diver/actor in the past.
This is one of the few times that you and I will disagree. I don't think the vast majority of folks that pass through the turnstiles on any given gameday are as knowledgeable about the product they're consuming as we'd like to think. They come out to the game to see awesome goals and terrific saves and cheer their team on to a victory while enjoying an overpriced beer-fueled enjoyable evening with their friends/family/coworkers/fellow Crew fans. But if you ask them why the Crew has been in the Goals Will Come era for the better part of recent memory, or even their opinion of the match that they're watching, you'll get an answer not dissimilar from Porter's "we played really well but things just didn't go our way" or "we need a better player to score more goals." That's not a knock on fans by any stretch, it's just that it's not the job of the consumer to evaluate why the business isn't finding success and as such, they don't look very hard for those reasons. And, before I get flamed all to hell, I count myself firmly among those who understand the woes but have no idea tactically (and tend to shy away from tactical discussion due to lack of interest in that facet of the business) how to improve the results. I just like to watch soccer and hang out with you all.
Worry not, guy giving us a hey is it me you are looking for glance over his glasses, you will not be flamed for your opinion. You might be told that you provide nothing of substance to the discussion. A difference exists there. If you can find it. Maybe.
I don't think we're in any kind of disagreement at all. My point is, simply, Pat Onstad or Hector Jimenez (to name two people at random) know more about this sport and this team than you or I would ever know. In a purely hypothetical example, they might know that the reason why some random left back let an otherwise average opposing winger turn him inside out one game isn't because the left back is overrated or the winger finally got decent service, but that the left back's youngest kid is having surgery next week and maybe his mind is elsewhere. Or, that Gio Savarese and his assistants understand why [insert your favorite tactic here] won't work against Dallas Burn because maybe their holding mid plays two yards more forward than most holding mids in the league... And sure, many fans just want exciting goals and crunching tackles. Or to hang out with friends at the tailgate. And that's fine. But many of us here feel like our success in Football Manager gives us some license to explain in great detail what was wrong with the way Gregg's teams played. It doesn't. On the other hand, I don't need to be an NBA-level basketball player to understand that the Lakers suck this season and they need to do things differently. That's merely descriptive analysis. But once I try my hand at prescriptive analysis I enter the Danger, Will Robinson territory.