He can really play. Just for fun, here's a goal Gregus scored for Slovakia, assisted by Albert Rusnak. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6l1yvj
I forgot to put it in, but the one he rang of the post was beautiful. From my seats at the top of 14 you could see the full bend on the ball. Nicky could have been 7'8", he was never getting to that ball.
My opinion of Gregus is that he’s a whiney-ass punk. He took cheap shots on defense and complained every time an RSL defender got near him. Sadly, RSL defenders didn’t get near him enough. Give that guy a little bit of space and he’ll make you pay.
His tackle on Sava was pretty dirty and, in CCL play, would be borderline red. That said, we have one of the dirtiest teams in the league this year so we can't go talking shit on other team thugs. Marcelo Silva damn near killed Valencia on the sideline with his tackle. Luiz isn't a clean player by any extension of the memory. KB is KB. I don't think Bofo knows how to tackle without either (a) grabbing a shirt and/or (b) diving himself. Kreilach has the smallest feet I've ever seen for someone over 5 feet tall. etc
No. Nope. Nada. RSL needs an experienced coach from somewhere. Anywhere. I would put money on Bruce Arena turning this team, with this "talent" around in a New England minute. No more lateral moves. Spend some money and find a coach that knows when to push his team and when not to push. Like the first game of 3 in 8 days or something. Just a thought.
helps when you have a team with an idea of how to play and special players that perform. For as much of a punk as he can be, Quintero (who I have been calling Valencia for some reason...) is legit, Mannone has the makings of being the top GK in the league, Gregus was the best player on the field, the CB's were really good. Hell, I just described the spine of your team - something RSL, in our glory days, had an amazing cast in. Now we have a lot of our weaknesses in the spine with focus on the wings.
Which is weird, I feel like our "spine" is individually talented: Rusnak, Luiz, Glad. But as I think back, it seems rare that a pass is played between these players. its always out wide.
You need depth as well. We played without arguably one of the best Defensive Midfielders ever to play in this league (you hate him when he's not wearing your jersey) in Ozzie Alonso, plus our hold-up / target forward in Angelo Rodriguez. Mason Toye and Hassani Dotson were able to step right in (though our offense looks completely different with Toye up top). It's a new feeling for us, this having depth thing. The last two years all we've had on the bench were bargain basement wingers from Scandinavia and Heath's kid. I still have a soft spot for RSL, btw. You were my MLS team until the Loons made the leap...still have a Xango kit with a #56 (it was a birthday present), though somehow it seems to have shrunk a ton the last six years...
Our spine disappears. That's my biggest gripe with Rusnak, in particular. He simply doesn't take over games nor does he seem frustrated that he isn't more involved. I've chalked this up to Petke's tactics - which there is a lot of truth to - but at some point I'd expect a top end player to say "******** this" and take over a game regardless. Rusnak has only done that one a handful of occasions.
I’m surprised you included Glad. He’s barely MLS starter quality, and that’s being kind. None of our current CB combinations come close to the Borchers/Olave combo that anchored our spine. And Rimando isn’t nearly as good as he was at that time. Also, Rusnak and Javier have vastly different styles. Javi had wayyy more touches per game than does Rusnak. Of course, back then we complained that RSL didn’t utilize width and stayed in the center too much.
My biggest gripe with Glad is he hasn’t really improved. He’s a decent player but really he should be our best CB by now and he isn’t.
I’m fine with that. In his last couple of games he has played like a MLS starter. Lower half of that pool imo, but it’s a very good sign. If he can consistently play at that level or better for the remainder of this season I will be pretty excited about his future.