Critique? This is a great time to practice your mixology skills. Like the old saying, when life hands you a 3-1 Portland loss, learn to make the perfect whiskey sour.
Why a sour? Straight Eagle Rare for me last night. If this team doesn’t learn to finish their chances it will be a frustrating season.
What do Attinella and Pipa have in common? They both have assisted on one Crew goal this year and they're both deserving of more but lack of finishing has hurt their numbers.
9 games, 792 minutes, 1 (secondary) assist from the run of play, zero goals, 1 missed PK. Can we trade this guy to Austin already?
So, last night I brought a friend to the match who had only seen the Crew play once, but is a very knowledgeable soccer fan. When Higuain's name was announced, she turned to me and asked, "wait, isn't that the older Higuain...?" with a look and sound of great pity for my/our current situation. That pretty well sums it up, folks.
I've long said that Higuain isn't fit to carry GBS' water, but I've seen him make some damn good moves at times. The problem is, the rest of the team around him has never been elevated by his play the way that GBS elevated players around him. That's why having Higuain as our cog is not working on our favor anymore. With a better supporting cast, he might not be relied on as much as he is with who we have right now, our essential 2 D-Mids since Artur can't seem to do Jack shit yet is thought of so well. Hell, stick Artur back where Wil plays and let Wil roam forward. He would be the better for it out of the two, methinks.
Hand in glove, the sun shines out of my behind!!! No it's not like any other love This one's different, because it's Crew!!!
I think Pipa's retirement is close. He should be doing more to stay home in the center of the attack, and less time rushing out into the wings. We have 4 guys out in the wings in our standard formation, no reason to keep going out there, and dragging extra defenders with him. Maybe that solid spot in the middle helps, and gives our wing players more room to work. As we are now, our center is too far forward, there's no second wave, and the defense can just suffocate anybody in the box, with little chance of scoring.
It's May everybody!!! Let's check in on the Sad Bastard Federico Higuain Has Not Yet Hung Up The Cleats Retirement Tour 2019! This season to date.... 10 games played, 10 starts. 857 minutes played. Zero goals scored 1 Laughingly bad PK saved. (I'm told this was the rain's fault). 1 secondary assist from the run of play. 2 set piece assists. Zero goals or assists in his last 473 minutes. He is now averaging 1 assist every 285 minutes. Since he has not scored a goal yet we can't make that calculation. However, on the bright side, he may have been named to Coach Porter's Super Duper Secret Leadership Council. What a season. Just absolutely brutal.
Pipa is just one of several players who, on the offensive side at least, could be replaced by a traffic cone with little change in our results. The unfortunate thing is that seemingly we have players in our squad who might even be worse than a traffic cone.
So whatever happened to the Guzman trade? I thought it was a done deal based on the "inside information". It could have a positive influence on the team if we replace Artur with him allowing Higuain to move up further.
He posted a picture on social media watching the Crew match over the weekend. There is speculation that the trade will be officially announced before midweek. Here's a screencap: 1125020400608583680 is not a valid tweet id
Happy for Pipa. I like the guy and all that he has contributed to the Crew. One great game out of twelve won't do it. Hopefully, this is a preview of a better, happier Pipa.