Good to know Nate, thanks. It would make me feel a bit better that it wasn't a shoddy connection between here and Ohio. Are you sure the DK feed wasn't the Altitude feed though? The MLSLive feed just pulled from Altitude.
my favorite part... The commentators reaction to a shot by the Crew when watching the replay... it was awesome. happened a few times!
Looks like direct kick is just having a shity day all around. The wizards sounders game has no sound and for a while was not being broadcast. Does MLS really want to build this league? I can't imagine what would happen if the NFL Sunday ticket went down like this.
Just so everybody is clear, it was a header that won the game. Not the ball that Casey shot into the corner of the net. This shows the high quality MLS reporting. Maybe they were watching the same bad feed we were and missed the goal...lol.
I second that...that feed looked like it was shot with a video phone in Africa and then fed through a Commodore Vic 20 on a 1200 baud modem. What absolute garbage - MLS should be ashamed, and Kroenke should be ashamed that an Altitude logo was slapped on it. As for the game.... Rapids looked disinterested for a good chunk of the game. Ugly game, happy to have the point.
Casey was really good. I mean that goal of his was top shelf. Could Ching have done that? I think his play was notable.
One big positive about this Rapids team are the forwards. Both know how to take opponents on 1 v 1 and because of this are extremely dangerous. This has been sorely missing from previous Rapids teams. With Mastroeni in the midfield; Casey and Cummings up front; Pickens in goal; and Gibbs on defense; we are close to having a really good team. If we could get an offensive minded midfielder (use our DP slot... didn't we get it back from DC?), then another 200k defender, we could be unbeatable.
Dude that is so funny! I tried to rep you but I need a butter knife to spread it around more. I had high hopes of rewatching my DVR'd copy and join in some of the analysis but it was almost unwatchable. There's no way I'm watching that turd again. Coror Casey marching toward a golden boot. It can happen, since the line-up isn't rebuilt every week like we had under that last guy...... What's his name again Ace7? -jk No KK! ............. Awesome! Not saying I hope he's injured, I just like the D better without him. I may be wrong but, (I say this without having seen Jasonma's spreadsheets ) it seems like the back line is more aggressive this year when it comes to 1v1 and making tackles, I bet we lose a couple of man games to yellow card accumlations. The post and crossbar don't count for jack squat. Thank God. No corners....... Lets hope Cooke gets well soon and is quickly reinserted to the starting 11. If so, then I'm sure that corners stat will be much better. The team is playing better. Last year was a loss in c-bus. This tie comes after two games in LA. (And it looked like it in the first half) I'm pretty happy with this result. I'm not booking a trip to the finals in Seattle, but I think its safe to come out of the bomb shelter. Now lets see if we can finally beat Houston in my lifetime.......
I usually just lurk and read other's posts but I thought I would comment on the game toinght. I also love to read player ratings so I thought I would give it a shot. With our first 65 minutes of play, we can only be excited and consider our team lucky to walk away with a road point. With that being said, here are my ratings... Burpo 6.5- I know a lot of people do not like him (last year's play did nothing to inspire confidence), but he was excellent on set pieces tonight and had at least one great save to keep us in the game. He can't be blamed for their goal. Gibbs 5- Nothing spectacular. He has been the biggest disappointment on the backline this year. At least he managed to avoid any major letdowns similar to the K.C. game. Harden NR- Didn't get to see much due to injury. I would like to see more of him if it means KK goes to the bench. Ihemelu 5.5- The cross for the goal did come from his side, but I wouldn't put blame for that goal on him. I do think he is more suited for the wing as his mistakes can be covered better from outside. He didn't get involved in the attack much, but I think that will build with more time outside. Harvey 6- In my opinion the most solid component of our backline. No real mistakes last night and I thought he did a good job of supporting our attack and allowing Clark to get advanced. Mastroeni 6.5- Not one of his best games, but there was little attack up our middle and his pass to Casey set up the goal. How people do not love this guy is beyond me. His ability to control the middle of the field and to calm play down is something every great team needs to have (not to say they are a great team yet). LabBrocca 4- Nearly invisible in the attack. He is not a wide player and putting him out there is not good for the team. He belongs in the middle as second holding midfielder. If Smith is going to keep Mehdi in I would rather he play wide and allow Pablo and Nick to just compact the middle and allow the wings to stay up higher. Clark 6- He did seem fatigued from the USOC, but he is still the only midfielder that other teams have to game plan around. Despite being worn out, the attack was almost all built up his side and he did a fair job defensively. Even with his usual tripping over the occasional ball, his speed and desire to take people on makes me believe he should always be on the field. Ballouchy 5- Not a bad game. I know he gets flamed on here, and rightfully so if he is only going to complete 33% of his passes, but he did not hurt the team tonight. He needs to do a better job of just making the simple play, linking up with the forwards and wings, but his defensive positioning is getting better and when Cooke is not on the field he is our best option for set pieces. Cummings 6- Continues to make more intelligent runs off of the ball. I thought he came back to help us build our attack nicely and did the best he could with the little service he got and he did almost have another assist to Casey. Casey 7- Thank you. His ability to hold the ball is just as good as Ching's and his finishing is better. I hope he does not get called up to the Nats as he needs to focus on staying healthy, but there is no doubt he deserves it. This is the best forward tandem the Rapids have had since I have started to seriously follow the team. Palguta 5- His positioning on their goal was awful. After that I thought he really calmed down, did a great job in the air, and his 1v1 defense at the end helped to prevent a goal. I wouldn't mind seeing him again, but that is just because I am not very high on Gibbs. Peterson NR- Not on the field long enough to make an impact. Dalby NR- Same as Peterson. These are just my opinions and I would like to say I am very happy with where the team is right now. We have been very lucky, but we were bound to get some luck eventually. The team seems to have better composure than in previous years and right now is definitely worthy of a playoff spot. They have 4 road points in 3 games. For them to be contenders I think they need to solidify the backline (we may have the players already on the roster Harden/Palguta), give up on midfield diamond, and just go to the empty bucket formation with Cooke on the wing. I think this would get the best players on the field and would help us control the middle of the field while getting Clark up in a more advanced position.
Sorry, don't have a spreadsheet for that one. Best I can do is to say we have 4 yellow cards on defense for tackles/physical play this year and we had 3 through 4 games last year. Gibbs is quickly approaching a suspension as he has 3 in 4 games. I can't let Ugo completely off the hook for the goal. He's not the only one at fault (Palguta) and it was hardly the complete brain lock that we've seen Ihemelu make in the past, but he was too casual about letting his man get behind him to set up GBS.
It will be interesting to see who starts, and where, in the backline next week. Palguta did ok except for the marking in the box on their goal. Although I agree that also Ugo was slow reacting to converage on his man.
Considering how close Columbus came to scoring on several occasions, I'd say Burpo did a pretty good job. The one goal was not his fault. The midfield was a complete dead zone the entire game. This is a serious problem. There wasn't a spell of more than 2 passes that we had control of the ball in the center. We really need someone that can do a better job of holding possession and giving our wingers and forwards a chance to make more dangerous runs. On the positive side of things however, I am perfectly happy with the result considering how we played. A team that can be outplayed for 90 minutes but still manage a result seems like a step in the right direction.
I wouldn't let him off the hook, but had Palguta been positioned correctly the cross should not have been open. Ugo's first responsibility in that situation was to contain Ekpo and then cut passing lanes. He did his first job, Palguta did not take care of his responsibilty in the middle. Of course this is just my opinion. A fair statement would be the right side of the D had a letdown.
I thought Burpo did just fine, he was under some pressure. But, moreso I thought Conor Casey was very good. To me he is starting to be worthy of a Nats callup; he is sort of outchinging Brian Ching. He is the big forward for guys like Donavon to run off of and receive knockdowns, but Casey can also score himself. That goal last night was something I don't see Brian Ching getting done. I am going to go look up their comparitive early season stats. 3 goals and 0 assists for casey, 1 and 0 for Ching. Too early to mean anything, but cc is playing very well.
Don't get me wrong, Casey has played well to start the season. But he scores in two games, 3 against an absolutely awful LA defense and 1 against a Columbus team starting a rookie and Danny Freaking O'Rourke in central defense, and now he's Nats-worthy? I know hyperbole is the name of the game on Bigsoccer, but chill. People orgasming over hat-tricks without considering context is what got Eddie Johnson into the regular Nats starting lineup, and what got Pavon signed by LA.
I'll just say this much, I'd rather be the team salvaging a point on the road than the one that gave up a goal in the last 10 minutes to give away the full 3 at home.
Ya, you make a good point, and it IS early in the season. But cc is playing Ching's role better than Ching right now. I am not saying he is capable of putting Altidore or LD on the bench. Just that if we are going to play with a big forward knocking down balls in concacaf, then right now I think cc is a better option than Brian Ching. But admittedly, it is early.
Respect to the group of Rapids supporters there (although I'm not sure if they were really from Colorado, or some team who's kids are known as the Rapids) Also good to see expats from Jamaica and Japan sitting together in support of Cummings and Kimura.