Considering that RSL did so well with me starting a thread I'll try it again. They didn't win but if they keep up the kind of effort that they did against LAFC then moving forward there could be more "good" games with close scores. Or whatever. I can't remember if it's better to lose by 5 or 1 or something, something. I think everyone will be back minus Portillo. I have no idea on who will be or should be starting but you would think that a couple players from last weeks starting 11 should make it a very hard decision for Petke on Saturday. With, from what I have heard, the stellar wing play from Baird starting him on the wing with a speedier Johnson up top sounds good to me. Sava can sit. Start Bofo. Yes, I said it, Bofo. Go RSL!
Petke wont start Bofo with Rusnak, Kreilach, Savarino, and Baird all available. I don't disagree with that, but after the performances Bofo has had, he needs to be given a shot somewhere so maybe it is here. If I'm betting, though, I see him on the bench. I'm curious what we see across the back after Holt had a solid enough game in LA while Silva is back after a howler and red card suspension. XI I expect: Kreilach Savarino Rusnak Baird Beckerman Luiz Herrera Onuhoa Silva Lennon Rimando Bench: Putna, Toia, Holt, Mulholland, Bofo, Johnson, Schmitt
Last weeks match was a decent showing by some younger guys hungry for minutes. Sadly we will be going back to the excepted starting eleven, let’s hope they understand they to need to perform to keep their starting positions. 2-1 RSL.
I'd be sorely tempted to start Holt again instead of Silva. Having that debut game against Vela, Rossi, and company is a heck of a thing.
Looks like Bofo and Holt get the start. KB, Sava, Kreilach, Rusnak, Lennon, Onuoha, Rimando, Holt, Herrera, Bofo, Luiz Bench: Toia, Besler, Biard, Schmitt, Silva, Johnson, Putna Also, I really hate the way they do the lineups this year. It was much nicer showing the formation and where the players are.
Is that a club record, giving up a goal in the first minute? LOL. Soft give away in our own half followed by unmarked strikes en masses toward our goal. Pretty sad. Less than a minute later we almost do it again...
Kreilach gets baited into a head-butt red card in the 18th. Team has no composure at this point of the game.
And 18 minutes in it's time to turn this stream off. Chalk up another loss. Absolutely stupid by Kreilach.
Watching the replay on this one, it's a mystery what Silva is trying to do. Clear the ball? Trap it? Both? Doing nothing and letting it run past him would have been better than his gift to Pomykal.
Don’t know what the hell that was. I don’t care what anyone says it’s woafully apparent after watching FCD run circles around RSL tonight that this RSL team is SLOW. It’s also obvious this isn’t a well built team. I’m not sold on Petke but damn Craig Waibel has totally effed this team up.
Our defense is not good. Both Onuoha and Silva are very undisciplined and make questionable judgments. Onuoha totally stopped running on the 3rd FC Dallas goal. If he keeps his stride for 2 more steps, he closes the gap for the delivery of that ball. I agree that the team is poorly put together. I'm not sure how much to lay at either Petke or Waibel, but the combo is not good. I'm thinking there is not a lot of honest conversation going on up top, with opposing points of view being adequately heard and debated. I'm skeptical of how Petke wants this team to play also. We've helped crush the souls of a couple great prospects: Glad and Acosta. Maybe they were never going to pan out, but looking at Dallas (who might not have won without the early red card, to be fair), they have a good system set up to foster the growth and success of homegrown talent. (Shame that Holt got injured.) At the end of 2017, we had Rusnak and Savarino on fire, and then team was playing well. Now they both look neutered. It appears to me that Petke is coaching the fun and creativity out of these guys, while trying to impose a game plan that isn't working.
I totally get why PRO has a zero tolerance rule for contact to the head, and in that regard I get Kreilach’s red. Can they also discipline Gruezo for his dive?
@rslfanboy , the defensive problems go way beyond the CB tandem. FCD’s forwards had space in and around our box all game long. Poorly executed shots are the only reason we didn’t lose 8-2. The defensive problems are compound and synergistic. My perspective on them is as follows: 1: the Onuaha/Silva team is still in development. They do not yet communicate well. 2. Silva is just awful on the ball at times. He has terrible touch. 3. Herrera often loses contact with the opposition wing man. He ball watches and the opponent runs behind him unmarked into space to receive the pass. 4. Our backs and d-mids are not athletic/skilled enough to confidently break the high press. They get desperate and careless. FCD’s forwards kept them under pressure the entire night, resulting in several soft turnovers leading to fast counter attacks. This happens in most of our games by the way. 5. When we give up the early goal we really get caught forward too easily afterwards. 6. The backs and mids seem confused as to who to mark. As mentioned earlier, FCD’s forwards had space in and near our box all game long. 7. Herrera at times makes decisions that should have been corrected in youth ball. Specifically, after winning the ball he often dribbles toward the box and/or passes the ball toward the box.
I agree. You can have a foul, week intent but zero tolerance to the face, and still have a dive that needs to be punished with a yellow
Back in our heyday, the defense was well-organized. Defensive tasks were well defined and Borchers/Rimando had really good ability to organize and communicate, as well as Beckerman having a great sense of where to be to disrupt passing lanes and players. Right now, none of that is working. I know it's far beyond just the CB's, but if the anchor of your back line isn't functioning, none of the rest of it will.