Regardless of the Red..Mike C is our future on D. Corey needs more PT. Out D will be fine, and let's pray AA is our savior.
Barrett, for all the heat he's taking, did well. Leave him alone. The offense on the other hand... Posession OK, Finishing? Oh my... HD never really threatened NYRB's goal (with some kid named Dufty at GK), except for Ching badly trying to imitate Raul of Real Madrid. Mulrooney missed key passes, and Ching was just not clicking tonight... I'm being generous. The next-to-last-pass... HD couldn't do it. Definition (shooting on goal)... nope. The O was not really testing Dufty. This is ONE game where YOU KNOW WHO would have won it for HD. This team lost its SWAGGER when YOU KNOW WHO got traded... oops, did I say that? Imprecision and doubt on the passes, no killer instinct towards goal... this machine is missing something. Yeah, the confidence and swagger YOU KNOW WHO added. Trading away YOU KNOW WHO... will it cost HD the playoffs?
Ching had chances but couldn't finish. Kamara was working his tail off but didn't really seem to have a nose for goal. The midfield needs to be shaken up, not stirred. Ashe played great but do you bench Holden, Davis, or Mullan to get him into the starting eleven? Same old slow start. At least this year we don't have to wait until week seven to beat down the cRapids.
The Sounders are doing well, they have a cool uniform and a great stadium, I hear they are looking for more fans and will give you a cool scarf, so please go the (insert your favorite expletive here) away. We suck, we won 2 championships, lets see, 2 championships, one great season in which we had a horrible playoff run and a season in which we suck, even by Manchester United, Barcelona or Yankees standards we are some lucky fans, so shut up, be a real fan for once in your lifetime and support or buy that green jersey and go the Sounder´s forum. I was there today, I was there in the opener game and I will be there next game.
To me its better than a loss. I wouldnt lose a wink of sleep if we had ONE off season. As long as they get their ish together when the stadium is opened. If it happens before, I wont argue either. To me its just us getting our feet back from under us. We arent exactly known for coming out of the gates swinging for the fences in the beginning of the season, we win when it counts, just ask the revolution.
Jeez, that game set soccer back 10 years, or at least back to the days of Ted Eck playing for the Dallas Burn. 1) Ching has to bury that chip over the keeper in the 1st half 2) Apparently, we could not complete more than three consecutive passes in a row 3) The Chabala Era got off to a great start, eh? 4) 8 shots on goal total - 5 for Houston, 3 for NYRB 5) Holden needs to be more aggressive in shooting 6) Another wasted opportunity to get 3 points, although its hard to say that we really had that many good chances
We are off to a slow start again, but I am not in a panic over it yet. If after about ten games into the season we haven't picked it up, then I will start to worry. By the way I saw Andrew Hainault and Ade Akinbiyi walk together past section 215 and toward the locker room maybe 15-20 minutes before the game started. Oh and Julius James' cousin sat behind me during the first half.
Houston were the better side. Ching needs to bury that one-on-one with the goalkeeper in the first half. If he does it's a different game. Here's your match report and player ratings from AmericanSoccerNews.net.
All of the above is correct - Here is what I observed as well.. 1. FO need to be more creative to bring in more fans..If we have to..gave free ticket to elementary school kids and their parents will have to buy tickets. Maybe it time to bring in that special price point- $9 ticket. 2. The field is really suck..the grass look like someone had tail gate party all over the spot .. My yard look better than that..C'mon UH !! 3. EB did redeem themselves..they did make more noise than TA. 4. Glen has a nice stage - but the sound system suck !! 5. Mambo Seafood did not have a booth ! I wanted some of their coupons. 6. I like the T-shirt phase - "where we fly to , it's called FUTBOL !! 7. Richard - who !!
guys lets think about this, we have proned to slow starts in the past, and this year were handing the reins of "el conductor", the driver of the offense over to Holden who is still young and needs time to delevopement, did you really expect us to start off faster than we had with a new man running the show. What is important is that we are atleast getting points out of these games, that way come the fall when we are clicking we have enough points to put us at the top.
I'm waiting for OTH to come in here and troll about how bad Barrett was before I get into how dismal and embarrassing a game that was.
How this league is, I'd rather start off cold and finish hot rather than start off hot and finish cold. I can't wait until Ade plays his first game. I'm not counting as him being the savior but I do believe that he will relieve some players from trying to compensate or cover positions that they are not used to handling. Can someone explain to me Chabala's red? Was it warranted? nOObie mistake? I couldn't make the game since I was at work. Also, I threw this out there with a coworker of mine. Why not CAM as a CAM?! Bring Holden back to the Rt Wing where he is more comfortable and suited. and since CAM likes to dribble up, place him there at least for a half. Let's see what he does? I'd rather experiment early in the season than later.
It was a better performance than last week but that's not much consolation considering it was a home game against a not very good team. Credit to the defense for not getting burned on the counter attack too much. There were a few times when I though I was going through deja vu but nothing truly threatening materialized. Sadly, the same can be said for Houston. Lots of possession (in large part because NY conceded possession...especially in the second half) but little in the way of truly dangerous opportunities. The final ball was always lacking and often miserable, especially from the wings when a player would get into a good position and then fluff the cross. We could have won the game but it's not like we were pinging balls off the post or even forcing routine saves out of the backup NY goalie, let alone spectacular saves. I though Barrett played pretty decently actually. There was a time or two where he let Richards get behind him (why oh why was Khano Smith playing on the right for large portions of the game?) but he generally recovered well and never allowed any truly great opportunities. His passing left something to be desired but there were a number of Dynamo midfielders who could say the exact same thing. Watching Corey Ashe has to be the most frustrating thing in the world. He has so much speed and so much talent but sadly, none of that talent resides in his right foot. Late in the game, when he absolutely schooled the make shift RB, he had an open opportunity to either put in a cross or shoot from inside the 18 with his right but he couldn't/didn't take it. Instead, he decided to cut back to his left which brought the defender back into the play. Chabala's red was warranted in my opinion. It wasn't Ben Thatcheresque but it was a red. He was late, reckless, and I'm pretty sure that his left foot actually tackled the NY player's nuts. That's all I really have to add at the moment. Just have to wait and see what happens next week.
Chabala hit the ball squarely on the tackle. Definitely overly aggressive, and he did foul the guy with his second leg coming through, but I just can't see any justification for a red when you hit the ball that cleanly. A yellow maybe, but the red was just an overreaction because the ref was worried the game would boil over. Not that it matters, it was very late in the game and I doubt Chewie was going to play next week anyway.
How does the line-up compare to last seasons..?? sometimes there can be a tendency to stay with players who've done it for you in the past but aren't up to snuff in a league that seems to be getting better every year. When you have won two of the last three titles it can be tough for a coach to jettison players.
different topic - who is the PA announcer? man, does he suck! He sounds like a different guy from the the past 3 seasons. He can't pronounce any of the players names. all he can do is pep the crowd for chants. Is he the guy from the Aeros?
I asked this to Glenn after the Crew game. He is young and makes mistakes. Though he will learn, we would have to be in a rebuild state if we did something like this. We have good young players who need playing time together, Ashe, Chabala, Cam, Holden, CRUZ, Hall, Kamara, and hopfully someday Garcia. However, we still have able vets at the ends of their career. It's not so good a position to be in when your vets are still good though maybe not as good as the league has become, with potential on the bench. Rico is still a beast, though if he leaves I can see Cam in his position or Holdens should he leave. The game was terrible all around till the Dynamo started picking it up in the 2nd. Bad field, bad play for both teams, too many deserved cards both yellow and red, and no goals. I was hoping no one was watching this game. I was hoping that there were no first time attendees in the stands, and watching on television. I was hoping the county commissioners were not watching. Worst all around game i've ever seen. But I think we'll be OK. We get a new striker next week, and Cam will be back cause luckily he didnt get a red for kicking that redbull on the ground.
Other than the departure of DeRo to Toronto and the injury to Robinson, it's very similar to the team that ended 2008. Your theory (and one that is shared by some Dynamo fans) could be an explanation but the fact is, it's just too earlier to tell. It's difficult to read many teams after the first 4 games let alone a team that has a history of starting slowly. I'm reserving judgment on this team till early to mid June given their history and the fact that players are playing in new roles. One thing that is interesting that I don't think people realize is that this team is getting some good, youthful options to challenge and eventually replace some of the older veterans on this team. Sometimes it's easy to claim Houston is a dying team that's too old to do anything but young players like Boswell, Holden, Cameron and to a lesser extent Ashe are proving that the transition is well underway in Houston.