By all accounts we "won" the transfer window but we're still stuck on Hamid and Hope. Yeah I know it's still early and Stieber hasn't seen the field yet and etc. but still not a good look.
Give it time. Nobody with realistic expectations thought we would turn it around overnight. It takes time to build chemistry
True but the knowledge of chemistry needs to exceed the belief that there are only three elements; earth, fire and water. These guys keep stirring a turd slurry expecting to get diamonds
I was scared when Jeffery entered. Surely Ben wasn't gonna let us watch Colorado 's own goal with one of our own.
I remember the good old days from the very first season where it seemed everyone was trying to see how many passes could be made inside the box and try to walk the ball into the net.
My favorite thing about shots by Simms were that they rarely got off the ground and were mostly on goal. His shots didn't end up in the mezzanine.
in some ways we've always been a team that tried to pass the ball into the goal. In the Olde Days though we had better players doing the passing. I was not surprised it was Mullins instead of Miranda. Olsen is Olsen after all. But my guess is that Miranda will play Wednesday.
I didn't know what to expect from Canouse, but I thought he had a good game. He actually attacked the goal.
Yeah, he looked decent. Otherwise I don't have much other brilliant analysis because, honestly, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open.
We've also gotten 0 or 1 point when playing well. Overall our point total for the season pretty much fits our actual play. We weren't good, but given how horrid Colorado was, a point would have been a fair result last night. But we got a gift... like we've given other teams quite a few times this year.
It's not like we have a top level roster right now though, so I'm not sure that's relevant. I will say, his substitutions yesterday were confusing at best. I think it was Acosta and DeLeon nominally as the most attacking players at the end of the game. Not that he had lots of great options on his bench and maybe the Birnbaum injury got in the way of a planned Bruno Miranda sub or something... I wouldn't call Olsen a fraud of a coach. He's not a very good one.
The team is selected by drawing straws before each match. No other thought or planning is used or even considered. Or so it would appear
Right! That's why I wrote it's still early. Just wanted to indicated that, given enough time, this current squad is still pretty shitty and there's still a ton of work to do in the next transfer window. Hope the team's brain trust [sic] is on the same page.
I don't get coverage of the post game show and haven't read anything about it, but did Olsen say why Miranda wasn't subbed in? I thought at one point he was even considered in the starting lineup.
Olsen's not really in the habit of subbing in forwards with a lead on the road, unless they're going to generate some ball control like late-era Moreno.
All three of our substitutions were defensive-minded for defending the lead. If we'd been behind, I think you could have put money on seeing him. I might have subbed him in, but I wouldn't have started him - if only to save him for Wednesday. We have three games in an 8 game stretch, and we tend to hurt Atlanta on the counter.
I wonder if he was the third planned sub before Birnbaum's injury. On the road with a lead is important here too...
Yes. That's Ben. Never go for the second goal. I remember Arena talking about that "crucial 3rd goal" after games...
The overall strategy on the road for a team with little offense and not a lot of firepower on the bench was the right one. It's just our roster (with Nyarko, Steiber, Brown, Harkes, Kemp and maybe more...) not available for that game was pretty weak. Still won't be great even with those guys back, but we are really thin right now. Going hard for the second goal would have been a mistake. I'm not saying the first two subs were the right ones, just that I'm not sure his overall plan was bad given the game and roster circumstances
I didn't advocate for it, but soccer is pretty dull when you try to win 1-0 every game. Ben's had years to formulate a roster that could do different things. This is who he is. I'm afraid that with all the money he's getting now will just bring more of the same. Even with the new money, he won't have enough to play the way he wants. There will still be too many holes to fill.