Yeah I think that's probably more an indictment of BC/Elliott/Tribbs inability to pass. Although BC's short passing was on point tonight.
I agree with all of this. I don't understand why Medunjanin is at the 6. Why not put Creavalle or Carroll at the 6 with Medunjanin at the 8? He plays much more like an 8 than a 6. Herbers was excellent but Pontius has a firm hold on LM. Other than the two beautiful goals from outside the 18, I have not been very impressed by Ilsinho in preseason. But, he had two beautiful goals from outside the 18 which should open up space for him to pass. It's a very difficult decision for who to play against Vancouver at the wings. I would lean towards Pontius and Ilsinho with Herbers to come in for Ilsinho around the 60th minute for a change of pace. CJ did an excellent job on the goal but he missed a sitter a few minutes earlier. He also missed a pretty easy goal on Saturday. Those are goals that Morris, Altidore, Adi, etc. score. Those misses are the difference between winning and losing games. I'm not convinced that Simpson is any better though. On the other hand, Blake is a difference maker. He made three huge saves in the first half. The average MLS keeper lets at least one of those in. Those saves are the difference between winning and losing games. And, Onyewu is better than Tribbett. Tribbett did an excellent job on the second goal but Gooch is a better defender which is the greater need.
Because then the club would have to admit that they did nothing to address one of, if not the biggest hole they had in the offseason. Some of those "A" grades Earnie got for his work might thereupon be compromised......... Never fear though, Haris will open the season at the 8. It isn't like Jones is going to start there ! Deep down, we all know Curtin is gonna start who he always starts unless they happen to be in a cast at the time......... Tribbett scares him enough now that Gooch wins by default. The only question is how many games you get out of him before he sees red or breaks down. Philadelphia needs Auston Trusty to be the goods from Toronto on. They are odds-on to end up a worse team defensively this year if he's not.
Herbers is a solid serviceable backup for Pontius. I don't want him to start. Ilsinhio > than Herbers on the right.
Didn't see the game, but interesting to see Tribbett can equally mess up against lesser opponents than Altidore & Giovinco. If Curtin is experimenting with others at CB then I hope... hope... that indicates some skepticism about Kenny boy. Herbers' good reviews are not that important when Pontius is our starter at left mid. The right side is becoming a question: Ilson starts, but who comes in? Or does Bedoya start out there?
Eh, I'd have to disagree. Herbers produced a lot more on the right than Ilsinho did. Ten goals and assists vs four goals and assists in only 4 more total minutes played.
I have to disagree there. He makes bad decisions when clearing in front of goal and it doesn't seem like that's changed. He headed a ball across the goal earlier in the half and was really lucky there wasn't a Montreal striker there to head it in. I think he should have trusted to McCarthy, who was in position to grab that ball, to make the stop instead of just sticking out his foot in a kneejerk reaction.
If he didn't try to block it, and it went in, we'd be roasting him on here as well. It's natural for a defender to try to block a shot. He just got unfortunate it deflected it. I don't want him starting, but I won't blame him for the OG.
You see defenders do that shit all the time, and goalkeepers freaking out behind them like McCarthy did, because the GK had a read on the ball and their defender screwed it up. If Tribbett lets it go and the ball goes in, that's on McCarthy.
And this has been my point about Yaro, he's not THAT much better than Tribbett. Ken lost the job more than Yaro won it. I think Gooch is going to be the surprise of the of the season. Yeah I know he's old and brittle, Yaro is young and brittle. I think people put a bit too much stock in the idea of developing young players. I don't want the team to play the youth, I want them to play the best player available ( if that happens to be a young player fine). The academy and Bethlehem are for developing.
Amen, it just doesn't work that way. Unless you're sitting in a room covered in Successories, you really don't have unlimited potential. Just for kicks, go read the PSP preseason reviews for the last few years. Every one relies on youth (2012 predicted "young talents like Michael and Gabriel Farfan, Keon Daniel"), to improve. I missed where Barcelona signed Mwanga, and at this point Freddy Adu has gone full Pokémon and evolved into pure light. The ceiling on a lot of these kids is maybe MLS18. If we really don't develop youth at the U8 level like Europe does, sending a kid to Soccer High won't magically make him better against the flood of imports who have been pros for much longer.
If you're waiting for Freddy to become a Dyson rep, I don't think they endorse athletes. It's not really his fault.
I saw it. I'll refer you to the artist's renderings of Seaport drive and the bustling shopping/dining/condo community about the differences between announcements and realities a decade later.
Hahaha totally fair point. I also haven't read any articles about it yet, but since it's pre-academy and not actually part of the academy makes it a lot more underwhelming