Soooo...when is RSL going to finally address the the true problem with this team and hire a GM who does more than shovel millions of dollars into a burning dumpster behind the stadium?
I'm just not impressed this year with RSL's midfield and front line. While Baird and Savarino show lots of sparks of talent, both have issues that prevent them from being real threats (spotty tech skill and inconsistent passing respectively). Saucedo has definitely been on the upswing, but he's not able to bring the ball into the middle well like Plata (historically) has been able to. Then Plata...injuries are his big problem. They keep him out too often and then it seems to take him 2-3 games before he's back to being dangerous. All combined, the team has a palette of dwarfish, moderately talented outside forwards - but totally lacking a decent hold-up player. The Luis and Ricky show just doesn't cut it - the team needs a Urruti, Bunbury, or Adi sort that can hold up and move things towards goal well themselves (and actually win a header). In the midfield, Sunny and Kreilach have been showing improvement over prior games - in the latter case probably because he's been able to do more going forward. Unfortunately that still leaves them as average MLS players. KB has been clearly dropping off and Rusnak just not as effective as last year (as if his heart isn't into it as much). I think this is one of the biggest reasons that RSL has struggled - the midfield can't control the ball, doesn't consistently get the ball back, and struggles to move things forward. Without a good midfield, the back line gets too much pressure and not enough help. The forwards are left running around, trying to make something happen themselves. The defense has made good strides over the last month with a consistent line-up. But the problem is that Rimando is just not the same this year. Did he officially get the assist for Zlatan's first goal? He's slower to react, seems to be punching the ball more than he did in the past, and his distribution is a notch off too. I'm not looking forward to the LAFC, Atlanta, or repeated SuKC games. I think Portland's getting into a form where they'll be able to pickup a couple Ws versus RSL too. If RSL does make the play-offs, they'll need to send give baskets to Minneapolis, San Jose, and Denver - because those teams generally are struggling more than the Cobalt and Claret.
To be fair I think that besides the attack the team was doing enough to get a result before the missed call. Mentality needs to be a lot better than that when something doesn't go our way.
Here’s Rimando on that first Zlatan goal: Thatballiscominginginhigh itsZlatanhe’s6’5andwilloutjumpmyfullback i’mgoingtohavetojumpwayyyhightopunchit okjumpNOWashighasicanAndItsGone.
This drove me ********ing nuts. Dunny really, truthfully, thought the game up in Seattle was some kind of blueprint of success. As if saying our offense sucks for an entire half is a good thing. Note on that Seattle road game: it was VERY much like this one. The differences? We didn't have someone hit a ridiculous golazo and LA, unlike Seattle, actually took the point blank chances.
He should have just focused on the facts that we were even at the half and that the opponent had not scored. They are achievements that can legit be defended as blueprints for road success.
Totally agree though at Seattle, the game was scoreless because Seattle couldn't finish, not our stellar defense. That was more of my point.
Yes, there was a blown call with Baird. That happens. What Rimando then did was so comically bad, I actually laughed once I stopped swearing. I won't even call that a rookie mistake, because a rookie doesn't see the field again after a howler like that. Sorry Nick, but that is inexcusable and typically would land a keeper on the bench. Then Glad got his a$$ handed to him by Zlatan and Acosta forgot that they were playing with a flat 3 when he went for and completely missed a D-header under pressure and there you have it. Coach will find some things to be happy with. Sunny has given the midfield some necessary bite. Had Nick not crapped himself the team "may" have recovered mentally from the blown call. Luckily LAG is not dangerous at A-mid because Kreilach didn't suddenly become faster. My only disappointment was in the choice to bring it Luis and take out Brooks. All attacks stopped dead...as you would expect when you crowd the front with an immobile player who can't win a header. It looked like the team had 0 clue of how to play in that system. Everything that had worked previously ground to a halt.
I had to mute the TV after the missed call. The ever nasally Dunseth "The Apologist" just wouldn't shut up about it. One of the many things that I don't like about his coverage. The dude just won't let things go and drones on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and... What a shitty game. I had to ask myself, again, why the hell I wasted my time. Oh yeah, I wanted to see Zlatan. At least that panned out.
I'm still curious how there was no VAR on this. It seemed pretty cut and dry. Nobody else was close enough to challenge for it. I do agree that one thing about Dunny that is annoying is that he sticks to a topic for too long. We don't need a 15 minute rant about a topic. Keep it short and sweet.
The Instant Replay derps both agreed that it should have been a red card, for what it's worth. Corey said that Unkel told him his touch took him away from goal which is why it wasn't DOGSO. It's hard to disprove that with the angles available, but I think Baird would have had a legit chance on goal if he wasn't fouled.
I might be the only person who didn't think it was cut and dried. It was a heavy touch away from goal and there was time for other defenders to get back. I'd probably still call it, but to me it's 50-50.
Man, I was so stoked when I saw KB wasn't in the XI. Then people had to ruin the level of excitement with the "well he has an injury or would be in" talks. ********, Petke, just admit this lineup is better already Not enough is being said of Rusnak missing from the ********ing 6 with an empty net in front of him. The team actually made a really great move on offense and the end product was a throw in. A THROW IN Sunny was good in this game, but man does he want to keep possession sometimes in the most dangerous of areas. Bro, just launch it out and clear our lines. Keeping possession in our 18 when LA has EVERYONE forward ain't cool. Robbie Findley would have destroyed LA. Anyone with legitimate speed would have. I like a lot of what Baird brings. Speed is not one of those things. 0-0 at half was an accurate reflection of the game. Nick made the solid save on Kitchen and Rusnak blew the aforementioned best chance. I thought the start of the second half was promising from RSL between the boxes, as well. There was some really good possession mixed in there but, like so many times this year, once we were in the final third we lacked the run or ball to be lethal. To that point, I thought Rusnak had one of his worst games of the season. He wasn't terrible by any means, but he wasn't out there giving us the amazing pass or taking a crack on frame from 20+ out. He looked a bit off from all the travel. Then the red card foul happened. It should have been red, at least. I'm not sure how you can watch that play and say it shouldn't. Baird is in on goal, the touch was light enough that the GK doesn't have a play, and the rest of the defense is not catching him in that limited amount of space, no matter the lack of pace. I agree with Dunny that its absurd VAR wasn't used there. I mean, what is the point of VAR if not to review that play? A decision I just can't understand. But the game goes on. That happened with nearly 30 minutes left in the game. It wasn't the last kick. It wasn't the ultimate moment of the game overall. After that blown call, Dunny wouldn't shut up and RSL seemed to have forgotten that they were playing a game. Nicky's distribution has been suspect this year but his saves have been good to great. That wasn't the case here. His distribution was average and after the red card he had a howler of a game. You know what was the real breaking point in this game? When Nicky assisted Zlatan. The second LA goal was well created by them. Yeah, Glad gets muscled off the ball a bit too easy but come on. Zlatan has done that to the best defenders in the world. To use that as some sort of "this is why he isn't a good CB" metric is ridiculous. Then Petke took what was working in our offense (outside backs providing support) and ruined it with Luis Silva. Luis Silva does not work with how this team wants to play. He's not a bad player, he's just not the right player for this setup. The third goal was comical in that Kamara didn't do anything overly special yet you would have thought, based on how our defense played, that he was ********ing Brazilian Ronaldo out there. ******** this notion of "losing 1-0 is the same as losing 6-0" The second tiebreaker, after wins, is goal differential. I'm gonna laugh my ass off when we tie on points with someone at the end of the season for a playoff spot but lose out on possibly hosting a game because we have a negative 57 GD.
I agree with most of this completely. Baird isn't fast? He seems pretty fast to me. Maybe it is due to being used to watching Yura/Silva out there... but the guy is the quickest attacker we currently have in my opinion.
I think that didn't bother me much because it looked like an unlucky touch of some kind happened. Ball skipped, hit the defender's foot just before Rusnak's foot, something like that. I didn't feel that it was really a mishit by Rusnak, maybe because it was so horrible that no professional should do that. If it had been hit high over the crossbar, I probably would have felt Rusnak had more responsibility for the mishit?...
The week before there were 3 VAR red cards overturned by the committee. I wonder if some of the fallout might be more reluctance for VAR reviews and actions and the Baird issue simply got caught up in all of that.
I agree with this. Baird seems really quite fast. He just lacked the skill to put away his fast break opportunities.
He's not slow, but I wouldn't use the word fast when describing his game like I would a Robbie Findley or pre Euro trip Yura.
VAR was used on the Baird foul. VAR is used constantly. But the VAR referee only signals for an on-field review if s/he deems it a clear and obvious error. If the VAR agrees with the call on the field, then VAR was used but the next step where the official goes over and watches on the monitor doesn't happen.
Kevin Terry Jr. Some of the VAR officials are centers or ARs who work around to VAR, while he is typically a 4th (57 MLS games as 4th, one as AR) who transitioned to VAR last year. Here's a NYT article about tests he was part of last summer in Park City.
I still don't understand how it's not a red. The next defenders are a good 5 yards away. Sure his initial touch isn't towards goal, but that's because he's trying to get around the player. It was the right thing to do, and had he not been fouled, his next moves are going straight to goal. It's too far away for the keeper to get it.