Wanna know what is driving me nuts lately regarding RSL? No? WELL TOO ********ING BAD CUZ HERE COMES!!!! This team's major problem is not outside backs. I've seen it everywhere lately. People seem to be under the impression that, with the right guy at LB and RB, this team will suddenly be effective. They won't. Here is why: 1. Petke wants his outside backs up the pitch. It doesn't matter if it is Pablo Ruiz or Danny Acosta or even the martyr that is Tony Beltran. By design, this team is aggressive at the outside back position. Saying "well if we just had Tony Beltran" or, my personal favorite "if we played actual defenders at outside back then everything would be ok" IS NOT THE CASE. Mike Petke's tactics are to push those guys up the field. Sure, do I think Beltran would make a tackle that the others miss? Obviously. But he's not going to suddenly be sitting deeper than these guys. 2. The central midfield is destroying this team every which way. On the offensive side of the ball, we lack the speed to play the style Petke wants through the midfield. I watched the second half NYRB/ATL yesterday and it dawned on me just how ********ing slow our midfield is. NYRB plays a similar style to (what I think) Petke wants. Except they have central midfielders that are flying around the field to make it work. Over at RSL we've got KB and his walker next to Kreilach and his Luis Gil impersonations sabotaging the talent that Rusnak has. 3. Our tactics are shit for the players. We don't have a legitimately good 9 yet our offensive philosophy is to build off the 9 (this isn't a slight to Baird, the kid is growing fast as hell). We have decent wingers but we put them into 1v1 situation where they get simply pushed off the ball way to easily. We have an insanely talented 10 yet we ask the ball to go wide wide wide wide wide wide until it reaches the aforementioned 9. We want the midfield to play quick transition yet the quickest thing either of the central two midfielders can do is lose the ball. Then, this is where it really gets fun, we have a rotating cast of CB's next to a talented but still growing Justen Glad. So what do we do? We say "outside backs: GO ON AN ADVENTURE!!!". I mean, it's almost like Petke went "what is the least effective tactical plan with this current group" and has since implemented it. Now, I've bitched a ton and offered no alternative. So let me fix that: 1. Play a 3-5-2 that keeps 3 defenders on our side of midfield so Rimando isn't having to face 50 shots a game. 2. Remove KB from the pitch. At least as a consistent starter who goes 90 mins. This team and club needs a new leader faster than anyone involved with the club will admit 3. BUILD THE SYSTEM TO PLAY TO RUSNAK. Instead of him having to spend 60 minutes figuring out where in the hell he can get the ball, build a system that purposefully goes through him. 4. Though don't ONLY go through him. Please use the talented wingers we have, just don't put them on islands so god damn much. 5. Admit mistakes in player movements and shed some salary this summer. If you're not gonna play Sunny, sell him. If you're not going to play Acosta, move him. etc. The 3-5-2 starting XI I want to see: Baird Plata Ruiz Kreilach Rusnak Sunny Lennon Glad MSilva Besler Nicky Savarino can rotate with Plata and Baird - I guess LSilva can play there sometimes, too Acosta should really have a legit shot at taking Ruiz's spot If Henley can't jump Besler or Lennon then sell his ass Move Bofo to the Monarchs next season, please Give Herrera and Hernandez a ********ing chance
I had forgot about the earlier start and saw Deadpool. Came back in about the 30th minute, just in time to see Philly score again. Turned the game off by halftime. The roughly 15 mins I watched were abysmal. I honestly don't know how anyone can look at this team and thing everything is alright. No, they don't need time to gel. Most of these guys were here last year as well. I think they know each other at this point. KB needs to sit, and we need a formation change to try and get the most out of the talent we do have. It's getting harder and harder to even want to watch the games, since you can pretty well predict what's going to happen.
Stat time! Luke: Averages 0.17 goals per game, and 0.16 assists per game Kreilach: Averages 0.19 goals per game, and 0.28 assists per game That's a very small difference in offensive production. I'd take Luke any day over what we've seen from Kreilach so far. There's a slight drop-off in offensive production, but the fact that Luke RUNS more than makes up for that difference. I was ready to throw my remote through the TV watching Kreilach saunter into the penalty box 8 steps behind the play 3 times in a row on Saturday. 3 times!!! That being said, KB is for sure the player that needs to be taken off first. Totally agree there.
Look, I don't love Kreilach. I had a brief moment of "OMG!!!" to start the season, but have learned my ways. That said, I'd still start Kreilach over Luke. Luke is a below average passer of the ball and honestly not a threat on the offensive end of the pitch - at least not to the degree Kreilach is. Luke should jump KB. That said, if Luke was suddenly healthy and was in the XI with KB on Saturday, I wouldn't be upset.
I was playing in SE Utah and watched the recorded game late last night. What I saw was a decent Championship Division team against a lower Championship Division team looking to be relegated. We were completely outclassed by a bad Union team. The earlier observation that neither the offense nor the defense looked like they had a clue is very accurate. It was the worst performance of the year imo. Nicky had a great game which made the score look closer than the game actually was. Every team is going to pick on Ruiz. Petke has him playing so far up that the opposing strikers are lining him up for an unmarked run. And it works. A lot. Another reason this works is that opposing players have plenty of space and time to see the run and make the good pass. In these situations our lack of speed really becomes obvious. Rusnak didn’t see the ball enough because he was blanketed by markers. I don’t know how we solve that without roster changes. He’s our only truly dangerous player on the dribble. Another game with way too many unforced turnovers. This has become a defining characteristic of this team. After Kreilach’s goal I kept thinking that a red card against Philly might again salvage a result for us. That’s not a good place to be mentally. This team is a hot mess right now.
Time and time again we see an RSL player immediately blanketed by 2 or 3 players with absolutely no outlet or team member anywhere in sight with the opposite almost never the case when RSL is on defense. Truly frustrating to watch.
Dunny mentioned this at one point. The ball was in our half and we had 5 guys forward and he observed ‘All of the forward players form a static line. No one is moving.’
This has been an issue for YEARS now. You can go back to a lot of games and see the same things over and over. A player will make a run, finish it, then just stand there in a static spot. It's been pretty rare to watch a player make a run, then continue to move around trying to stay open and available for a pass. It's pretty easy to defend against a guy that eventually just stops and stands there while the defender easily marks the player and the passing lane.