No rest for the weary just yet. But we get a little bit of rest after this match. RSL @ DCU Wednesday, September 12, 7:30pm ET TV: CSN Radio: WMET 1180 AM This is a very different RSL team than the one that beat us on the road in June. Since then, Beckermann has replaced Ballouchy, and they've added three Argentinian starters that are making a difference for them. RSL put three goals up @ Houston this weekend. And of course, this is the return of Esky and Rimando to DC; likely Eddie Pope's last visit as well. IIRC, there's going to be some sort of brief honoring of His Holiness before the match. Yellow peril: Fred, Gomez, Namoff, Olsen, Vanney. That's a long list. I think some players are going to have some forced rest during that hellish run we have starting two weekends from now.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread We can't afford to have both Namoff and Vanney or both Gomez and Fred get yellows in this match. If I'm Soehn, I give Vanney and Gomez a night off. ---------------- Perkins Namoff - Boswell - McTavish - Burch ----------------- Simms Olsen ---------- Fred ---------- Gros ---------- Moreno -- Emilio
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread This game has trap written all over it. That said, I'm still in favor of resting some a number of our guys. Dyachenko's best game this season came when he was filling in for Gomez, maybe we can give Moose or Mediate a run out and get Fred some rest. And if Gros plays again, maybe bring Olsen in again off the bench. So we could field our B+ team like this: -----------Emilio----Kpene-------------- ---------------Dyachenko-------------- Gros---------------------------Moose-- ---------------Carroll------------------ Burch-------Boswell---McT-------Namoff ----------------Perkins----------------- We'd get to rest our entire first choice midfield while giving Carroll the start he earned simply off that 50 yard run yesterday. Boswell has gotten a chance to show he deserves to be on the field, I think Brian Carroll deserves the same.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread 2 weeks ago I wouldn't be worried at all about this game... But the way that RSL have in the last 3 matches kinda makes a little worried about coming out slow and halfass the game. We are going to be without Moreno and I wold like it if we could sit some of the guys that are endanger of suspension due to yellow cards. I really like this line up sch2383 -----------Emilio----Kpene-------------- ---------------Dyachenko-------------- Gros---------------------------Moose-- ---------------Carroll------------------ Burch-------Boswell---McT-------Namoff ----------------Perkins-----------------
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread How about we try Fred in Gomez position... isnt that his expected role for next year? -----------Emilio----Kpene-------------- ---------------Fred--------------------- Gros-------------------------------Olsen ---------------Carroll------------------ Burch-------Boswell---McT-------Namoff ----------------Perkins----------------- Subs: Dyachenko in for Fred at half Simms in for Carrol in 2nd half or if we are ahead by 2 early Mediate in for Olsen in 2nd half or if we are ahead by 2 early
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread I think this is exactly what you're gonna see.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread oh, right. I'd put Kpene in there then, or perhaps put Fred up front with Emilio and start Gomez in midfield.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread I have to disagree with making big changes for this game due to perceived tiredness. The players IMO aren't especially tired. We should start the same basic lineup with maybe one or two changes as usual per Soehn. Then let the other starters come in off the bench. No need for the likes of Moose. No need to rest Simms, who IMO is not far from being this team's MVP. Carroll is doing just fine as a sub. No need to rest Gomez. Yes, I know of the yellow peril situation for him and the others. When it happens- when players get suspended- then we can adjust. There's no need to adjust out of fear of suspensions. We control our destiny. Acting out of fear- as several of you suggest- renounces our control. There is no reason to believe the team is in a precarious state due to tiredness. In fact the team has been getting stronger and stronger while we've been playing this very hectic and demanding schedule for the past month or so. Lets keep the same attitude and the same strategy.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread The fact is that this team has done so well lately while rotating players in the starting lineup. With Gros back and healthy, we have an extra midfielder. Two if you count Carroll, but I'd stick with Simms there. With McTavish playing the way he has been, we have an extra central defender. Giving guys a break isn't out of fear or tiredness now, but keeping the rotation going and staving them off from being tired later. Tom Soehn has spent a big part of this season developing this team's depth, and now is the time when he can take advantage and make that work pay off down the stretch where his predecessor failed the last two years.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread If we weren't playing Chicago after RSL, I'd be less worried about cards. But I'd rather keep some of those guys in peril (hell, maybe all of them) and smack around Chicago.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread Yeah, that's too reactionary for my tastes. Looking at RSL as a gimme three points is wrong. Looking at one team (Chicago in this case) as a lot better than another (RSL here) is also wrong.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread I agree with no "a ton" of changes, but please let Fred sit this one (at least the first half) out. He is tired, or did a darn good impression of tired after about 38:00 into yesterday's game. If Gomez wasn't going to play Wednesday and is in yellow peril, he should have got one late right before he came out Sunday
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread Did anyone see the RSL/Houston game? I am surprised that RSL could have put up three goals against the Dynamo. I would be interested in the impressions people have of our upcoming opponent. Methinks they are not your father's Fake Salt Lake.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread I would make one change: Olsen in for Moose. We should always have either Moreno or Olsen on the field. Moreover, Olsen only played ~30 min. last game and we'll have 10 days before the next game after we play RSL. Finally, we're playing at home, so the chances of Olsen getting a yellow are much smaller than if we were playing on the road. -----------Emilio----Kpene-------------- ---------------Dyachenko-------------- Gros---------------------------Beninho-- ---------------Carroll------------------ Burch-------Boswell---McT-------Namoff ----------------Perkins-----------------
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread The recognition for Eddie Pope will take place right after the national anthem so plan on getting in a little earlier. K
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread DVR'ed it, watched it twice for just that reason. Houston was without Waibel, who I think is their best defender. They should not have given up the last two goals. It felt like they took their foot off the gas. RSL's defense was bad. The new defender they added, Mantilla, is a decent defender, but seems frustrated at what he's working with. There is very little communication going on in their back line. Wide open spaces are available for crosses and the like. Lots of blown marking. Talley, Beckerman, and Kotschau looked like veterans doing their best. Problem was, they all looked like holding midfielders with no clear direction. Beckerman was the more threatening of the three, though he only appeared in spurts. Morales looked decent in the midfield, but it looked like he was focused on looking for Espindola. Once Espindola was subbed off, the attack came from the midfield pushing up to apply pressure and win set plays, not necessarily from any creative rhythm. I have a new player to dislike. Their new forward Espindola. His goal came when he fouled the defender off the ball and Houston, instead of playing till the whistle, began complaining to the ref. He dives too much for me while playing dirty himself. He appears selfish, and it looked like his teammates either don't like him either or they just haven't spoken at all in the three weeks he's been there. No one but Morales engaged him after his goal, much less even looked at him. I would best describe his playing style as "everything you ever hated about South American prima donnas".
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread When did RSL sign Guevara? Oh, Espindola...Perhaps he's the love child of Guevara and Ruiz, in which case it's not his fault...It's the genetics...
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread I agree that Fred should get a rest. One of Soehn's quotes on the Insider was he looked tired against Chivas too - I'd say give him a break.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread This stuff about Carroll deserving a chance to get his spot back is utter nonsense. Simms has been light years better than Carroll over the course of this season, and Simms' inclusion as the starting dmid to the exclusion of Carroll was a big impetus in DC turning it around. A single run by Carroll does not change that fact. Unless Simms is injured, he should be starting. This team has 10 days between this RSL game and the Chicago game, in which players can rest. This RSL team is not the same crappy team that people are remembering. This team will beat United if United thinks it's going to go in, roll out a bunch of reserves/2nd stringers, and roll out with an easy victory.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread Considering United hasn't actually beaten this team since their first season (Aug 31, 2005), I don't expect they will take them lightly. That being said, for whatever reason RSL really plays well against us as evidenced by their out of nowhere 2-1 win against us earlier this season. RSL definitely has better pieces to the puzzle right now, but they are still a bad team. Yes, they scored 3 goals in Houston (United didn't score any in two matches this season) but they also fell behind 4-1 and looked terrible in doing so. Their comeback was more a case of Houston's complacency than any real competency on their part. There should not be any wholesale changes to the lineup because they do have 10 days off after this match. Get the three points with your first team and give them the rest they deserve, if and only if they take care of business. For reasons only known to God himself, RSL has become our bogey team. This needs to stop on Wednesday. United is on such a roll right now that any perceived hope given to the rest of MLS based on a "poor" performance against RSL will give other teams that much more hope of catching United.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread You're facts are wrong. The last time United beat Real Salt Lake was October 5th, 2005. You're point, though, is spot on.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread Meh. We don't play well on their joke of a surface. That's fine. The new-look RSL does worry me a bit. They're going to be considerably tougher than I think most people expect.
Re: Official ReAL SaLT LaKE @ DC United Pre-Match thread We suck! Pick your 11 most out of shape people from out of the stands and enjoy your victory against us!!!