Keep the faith guys. You aren't that bad. Sigi got some real ammo to go after the reserved guys like Gaven, and I think they will finally step it up. Your 2 new guys will get better, and Szetela will be back one day. MLS has that parity thing, and it is a decent gravitational pull for any team. Breaking from its lock is hard. I expect a Crew points (wins/ties) streak shortly
but thats exactly my point. given the situation weve got with the team, it STILL seems like there are folks on these boards who think we should be in first or second place. thats just crazy. like bill posted, what do you REALLY expect this team to do given whats happened. furthermore, knowing that sigi was going to come in and try and untangle some of the dreck that andrulis left us with, did anyone really think we would be all that good this year anyways? sure wed be a lot better without our injuries. weve got some very intruiging new guys playing for us, but the fact still stands that these guys havent been together very long at all, so real success would be more a product of some good fortune than anything else... edit: i still adamantly believe that this team is far better than some other crew teams we have seen in the past, and its getting better as the season progresses. the attitude on and off the field is also something we havent seen in a while, and actually, i dont think weve ever seen this kind of off the field attitude... yet bitching and moaning around here is at an all time high. its incredible.
only the one, where i mentioned the weather report. the rest were replies to other's statements, i just don't always quote!
Lesson here, and a very important one: Sigi is prepared to bench players and risk losing matches to get his point across.
You are an astute and knowledgeable observer of the game, and while there is some truth in what you say I think you're missing the broader view. It's true that he replaced virtually the entire team from last year. I think there are only three players on the 18 man roster who were with the team last year, and two of them (Hejduk and Busch) are out for the year. And with Chad Marshall on the bench last night, there was not one player on the field who was on the senior roster last year. Vasquez was (is) a dev player. There was one starter who has been with the team for ten days. Another one has been with the team for three days. They only alternate forwards we have are one rookie and a second year dev player who was likely on his way out until all the injuries hit. Our National team right back is out for the year, as is his very promising young backup. Sigi brought in a solid veteran left back, who is also out indefinitely. His replacement was cut from his last team. Our defensive midfielder (a replacement for our promising young U20 star) did not play in any professional league last year. The other possibility at that spot, a New Zealand international, is still rehabbing the cadaver-tendon surgery he had to undergo when his intial surgery went south) We traded for two young players from LA, a forward and a solid young middie. Both are out injured. On and on and on. But more importantly, out of the 12 or 14 guys Sigi traded away, who would you have kept? Wingert? Martino? Henderson? Is Edson Buddle tearing up the league? How many goals does Wolyniec have? People talk about how "rebuilding" is so easy in MLS due to the "parity". They point to examples like the "worst to first" KC season a couple of years ago. But KC started with something: they had some solid "core" players to build around. We didn't. We had, literally, nothing at all aside from a national team defender and a couple first-class keepers, all three of whom are out for the year. Hard to build around guys who can't walk without crutches. Players don't grow on trees, and you don't win games with seven starters, and their backups, on the injured list. Sigi is a solid coach, but he's not God. Yes, he picked this team, but it isn't like someone handed him a list of all the players under contract with MLS and said "Here, Sig, pick yourself a team". I have some complaints about some choices Sigi has made, particularly with regard to Sebastian Rozental (who should be playing) and Ezra Hendrickson (who should be selling shoes at a mall someplace) but that's not a lot. To fairly judge the team "Sigi picked" you have to actually see the team he "picked" play the game, on the field. We simply haven't. And until we do, it's impossible for you or anyone else to judge whether he's built a good team or not. I very much hope you're right. But I doubt whether Klinny will see one bad-luck half-season as evidence that a solid, respected coach and tactician has suddenly become a bum.
coiner looked good for alot of the first half, but alot of the time he got stuck with his back to the goal, not a good position to be in. Burch was good too. Actually, there was a lot more hustle from Leitch and Vasquez last night, I noticed. Especially Vasquez. But it was sad to se EZ miss a beautiful header opportunity on goal when he got so many good defensive headers earlier in the game. Someone that tall should be the go-to guy on crosses and corners. But he's not. I'm not calling for Sigi's head on a platter myself, I just noted that some will be soon enough... And I'd like to see Seb, Burch and Coiner in the game together, with Kamara up top w/ Coiner. Sit Gaven. He's tired. * Funny story - heard last night that when Coiner say his jerseys, they both were spelled Conier on the back and thy had to rush him a jersey with the correct spelling for last night's game!
also, we got hosed on alot of offsides calls last night, especially ones where the players were just going for the ball.
What's the word on Danny's return to action? When I was at the Chivas game a couple weeks ago, I saw him sitting in the section next to me during the 2nd half with some buddy of his (who looked like some Eurocreap that might have been an extra in the filming of The Saint). With about 10 minutes to go, he got up, jogged down the stairs and left. Looked like his ankle was ok then.
Yeah, I particularly enjoyed watching Wynne run past Leitch like he was a lamppost. And Vasquez may have been hustling, but it was mostly to try and get the ball back after he gave it away.
Here is the issue though. Chad has NEVER talked or organized. Is he showing something in training that he doesn't on the field? Do we need to give him a magic feather so he's comfortable doing that? Dumbo the Organizational Centerback? Um...that was to illustrate my magic feather comment, not that I think Chad is stupid. I guess what I'm trying to say is, is this something that Chad has done/can do and just needs some coaching, or is Sigi trying to pound a square peg into a round hole? I can understand Sigi benching him for quitting on a play, but if it is for not talking...how many games will he be riding the pine? C'mon Bill. He was just trying to show Sigi that he could play defense.
You know it's bad when there is just a single story about the game in the Dispatch, that being the game wrap-up article - and there is no notebook piece to be found which is typically a staple at all home (and some away) games.
At this point, you may as well figure that the rest of the season will be used to see who is kept and who isn't once our injuries regain fitness. 2007 we're winning every major competition. That's why it's vital to use the allocation this season. We need to get this guy into the team this season so he has 10 months to gel with his colleagues.
That's been the way it's been on television most of the season. The local coverage of the Crew is declining (or dying a slow death) and it seems like sports news directors/reporters could care less. Before long we will get the same coverage as professional bowling and the marbles champions league ...
Regardless of whether he's showed it before, this is the first time he's needed to. There's no Robin Fraser back there to do his talking for him anymore, and that's the big problem. If he can't do it, I'd guess he'll be playing a lot less in the future, or be converted to some other position if that's possible.
Couldn't they schedule these concerts at another time? For the whole year Columbus isn't on national television at home. Now we have two games around the corner with Los Angeles and Everton on ESPN2.
Sigi mentioned in his postgame conference that Kotschau was the only guy back there who communicated well. I think Gonzalez is a better player in the middle than Kotschau but without Busch to organize, we might need Ritchie in the middle with Chad and Marcos outside.
So Richie is starting because he says, "My Bad!" after losing his mark for the 15th time in the game? Three cheers for communication!