Honestly don't really have too many complaints about this one, the reffing was fair, our back line only giving up 1 goal is a win(it was a heck of a goal), nice to see Rusnak get on the board in the first game of the season, I thought we looked pretty composed out there. I liked seeing our new signee get subbed into the game, and for the most part I liked what I saw, obviously I would have liked him to have a shot on goal but it just wasn't in the cards. Nick did get away with one, which I hope happens in less frequency in his last season. Lennon looked like he was struggling a little bit, couldn't connect on some of his passes and couldn't get around the defender. But other than that, can't complain about a road point in Texas.
I thought this was a promising start to the season. More composed than I was expecting, fair reffing, decent chances. I give it a thumbs up.
I liked our defensive effort in this match. We pretty much stayed composed most of the match. Glad is going to have some trouble finding minutes if the two center backs keep playing like they did tonight. Anyone know how bad Baird’s injury was? We really did not get a clear view of the goal that was called back, offside?
Those 2 CBs will get better as they play together more. Baird was mostly taken out as a precaution. We should learn more by Tuesday. The Dynamo player was clearly offsides.
Watching the Utah Warriors rugby game being played in the snow. Their opponent came from Mardi Gras to this.
Enjoyed the game. I'm still not sold that this team is anything other than a borderline playoff team. I would put the odds at 60-40 they don't make it into the playoffs this year. I still don't know if they know what it is they want to do on offense but on defense we know they love to panic. Overall it was a better game than I expected and a point on the road is better than a kick in the butt or something. The only bright side to Baird have to sub early was Petke was forced to sub early. I thought Johnson was pretty solid and I look forward to seeing what he brings and if it would change my mind on the odds. Can't wait for Saturday.
Lennon getting consistently smoked defensively worries me much more than anything he does on the opposite end of the field.
On the scoring play Kreilach made a nice post run to give Baird options and drew two defenders away - creating more space for Rusnak. Everton moves constantly defending off the ball. He’s fast, a little reckless but his positional instincts are - on first glance - good.
He doesn’t have much future as a winger. He’s in the spot with his highest ceiling imo. I hope the light turns on soon and he begins to show noticeable improvement.
Herrera was getting torched all night. Not very bully on either Lennon or Herrera really being the answers out there. I'm not very impressed with this team. I am keeping very low, and I mean very low, expectations for this season. It has disappointment written all over.
All I know is Lennon was in la-la land on the build-up to that goal. Not sure what he was doing. He was also waaay behind Boniek on the goal that was disallowed. Can't really think of a quality shot coming from Herrera's side.
I thought Herrera was doing a good job. I was somewhat impressed/hopeful/happy with our new striker, but then he didn't play all that much. We'll see how things look going forward.
I had to listen to the first 20 or so mins of this on the radio as I was driving up from Utah County (people pick to live there?!) and I gotta say our radio dudes SUUUUUUCK. Bill was doing Utah stuff so it was on the other guys and they would go like 3 mins without talking about the actual game. Just random shit. I thought maybe I was listening to a podcast and then all of the sudden they would be like "oh good ball from Rusnak..." Everton Luiz should have been sent off in this one. Not sure why he wasn't given a second yellow on the multiple occasions he earned one. Especially since the Houston player (rightfully) got his. Speaking of which, it was a fun reminder that Dunny and DJ aren't actually at road games when that played out. Dunny, even when it became obvious the guy had been sent off, was going off about how that should be a second yellow. The tactics of RSL in this game were interesting to watch unfold. In possession we spring players to almost play a 3-5-2. The outside back on the side of the ball pushes up, Rusnak becomes a false 9, Kreilach plays high, etc. I liked how this looked for most of the game but when we gave the ball away cheaply it looked really bad in transition. Which is what the last page or so is highlighting - especially with the wing backs. This is honestly a worse defensive setup than Kreis's diamond was for the outside backs. Not only is Petke putting them on islands, he's doing so while they're having to retreat. It's also worth pointing out that the best players for Houston are their wings. So, yes, Herrera and Lennon got beat a few times, but it's not like they were getting beat by scrub players. Those guys are why Houston has a dark horse shot in both CCL and MLS. I'm not crying wolf on the outside back situation just yet. I would give the CB's a solid B. Especially Silva. Onuhoa struggled at times and was exposed for ball watching on the goal. Had he kept in contact with the forward that goal has a much lower chance of being finished. Rusnak was impressive in the first half. A lot of the game was specifically going through him. In the second half, though, we resorted to last season's "GET IT WIDE AT ALL COSTS" approach far too much for my liking. Baird is legit. Granted, he should look better than the other players with the USMNT camp, but he still looks really good out there. It's hilarious to watch this in contrast to what Waibel said about how they rated Baird. Makes you wonder just how off we are at our own academy talent evaluation. I've never seen a Houston game where the stands were more filled than not. Is the stadium in a bad location? It looks really nice, but it also looks VERY orange. Just a random side note I liked Sam Johnson. I honestly don't think this group is used to a number 9 like him at all. instead of playing the false 9 approach and dropping in, he's constantly looking to make angled runs to get in behind. Baird did this a little bit last year, but not at all like Johnson was showing. Johnson's touch looked a bit heavy, though, which I'm hoping was just nerves of his first truly competitive game with the team. I'm not a fan of the Robbie Findley 2.0 idea, especially since I don't think it would work as well in today's MLS. Still, having a forward that wants to play in behind the defense will only help this group, IMO Did anyone else notice that the team was actually playing a high press at times?! This was fun to watch for most of the group. Once Houston broke it, though, the legs of players like KB and Kreilach were exposed. Still, I liked the idea. It caused Houston to turn the ball over quite a few times. If you offered me a 1-1 draw before the game I'd have said yes please and ran home. With the game played, I think it's a pretty fair result. Neither team really generated much in the last 15 and especially after the red card. In fact, Houston had the better run of play after the red, in a way, with the counters they nearly pulled off. I'm really curious to watch this team at home against Vancouver this week. I'll be out of town watching on my phone on a golf course like last year. Last year was the LAFC embarrassment. Hopefully we don't have that again.
EMBRATSU! Color me pleasantly surprised. At the end of the day, RSL's D, playing against an offense designed for speed in the wide areas, held the Dynamo to only one shot on goal. (And a heck of a nice finish at that.) Thank you AR for getting the call right on the offside. I'm afraid that had he been called ON, VAR would not have overturned it. One of those clear and obvious issues. I share the concern that Lennon was nowhere to be seen on that play. At times RSL's attack flowed nicely. RSL still doesn't get enough players into dangerous spots in the area though. Sava tends to pull up outside. Rusnak is trying to force himself to get into the box, but it is not natural for him. Neither Kyle nor Luiz get into the box. I do think this will prevent this team from scoring nearly as much as they should as GKs in MLS tend to be very good shot-stoppers, especially from outside the box. Let's all plan on RSL's duel 6s missing 2 or more games for card accumulation! Teams are going to hate playing against those two. If they can time it correctly so they both miss the same game, Petke can just slide in Besler and Luke as those two do play well as a tandem.