I told Mrs KG at the game that attendance looked like 8K last night. Guess I was pretty close. I'm not expecting that much more for Saturday. 10-12K. Maybe. Mrs KG also got to see the STC Kit last night for the first time and wondered why it didn't say F* U* Precourt on the back. I'll take the three points, but it was not that good a game. But finally someone covered the back post on a play, which gave us an easy goal. Finally, what was the banner to the right of the goal after the Urso banner and what looked like a Guillermo one? Was it an anti-MLS one? Had two guys on it but impossible to read from 124.
If it was the banners I saw on TV: 1.Guillermo "Lord" 2. Maryland Vice - Steffen and Crognale (two Terps)
This is a decent win against a team we should beat. Get the win against Chicago on Saturday and you create some serious separation from another team that will be on the fringes of the playoff hunt (even though Chicago will have two games in hand, smh MLS). I will say though I am extremely concerned about our lack of goals. 14 goals in 11 games is poor. Nobody besides Gyasi has more than 2. We are getting nothing from our wingers which is desperately needed in this system. Hansen, Martinez, Santos, none of these guys have proven good enough to contribute on a consistent basis. When this team was at it's best under Gregg you had Ethan and Justin both scoring and providing assists. Last year you got great production from Justin. This year we've got next to nothing. I do think Grella is our best bet for production and goals from the wing. He shows a nose for goal and is more willing to take on defenders than our other options. I just don't know how far he is from being a 90 minute player.
If Grella is healthy enough, he needs to be starting. He’s looked great in the limited minutes he’s had so far. I didn’t think Higuaín made much of a difference after coming in last night. He had several passes go nowhere. While I like Martinez, I don’t feel like he’s quite ready to be a starter. I also really liked seeing Trapp get forward more. He had at least one good chance on goal and made some very dangerous passes. I think you could plug him in to any of the three center midfield spots and he’d do well. I’ve always felt having him slide down between the two centerbacks wastes some of his talent.
First off, THANK YOU, ZACK STEFFEN. My other thoughts from the game... GYASI IS A BEAST. Dude did so much work all night long. Heady play to hop onside before putting in the GWG. And, oh my, that little bit of skill at the end to help ice the match? Good stuff from the Crew Legend. Good to see a handful of scrubs get significant minutes (and still walk away with a win). Argudo was engaged in the offense and pestered the Union. Hansen was decent, although he didn't have many chances to get on the ball. Martínez, while not always effective, stayed active, took some chances on goal, and put in work on the defensive side of the ball. I really like how feisty he is. Poor Afful. He does so much work and deserves so many more goals. Pipa... not a good look, dawg. For the most part, he looked disinterested and his play wasn't sharp. I wish that header would have sneaked in. Of course, as noted by the esteemed @hangthadj, our inability to score is concerning. We're going to get scorched by real teams if we can't start transforming those xGs into rGs. Overall, we beat a team that we were supposed to. That's great. Let's get three more points on Saturday.
Fair. He's unlucky. How many times has he hit the woodwork this season? The Gigi Special would have if I wrote it correctly. In my brain I had ≥80% pass accuracy and ≥55% possession, but I accidentally flipped the numbers when I made the poll, so it didn't hit. Sorry @hangthadj, @Dan Milton, and @KHT_Crew!
Not to mention, a decent portion of our early season points were based on the opponents hitting the woodwork instead of the target. You can't give credit for one and not the other. It tends to balance out over a larger sample size. It boils down to what @ZipSix says, goal the ball.
we believe in goal scoring, and goal scorers and those who keep those from goal scoring against us we reject xG and all of its false promises as we understand that points are awarded trophies are distributed, and history is written based on a comparison of actual goals scored and believe us not what those who make excuses say and deliver us from advanced analytics
How...? What? I didn't say... I was trying to talk about... Aw, screw it. ******** Afful. What a scrub.
@chr1st - We posted our posts at the same time. Journalist (W) five. @ZipSix - What are you on about? (I understood the brb, for the record.)
I sent that lovely child with a soccer blogger hat a carrier pigeon expressing my thanks for being around and adding to the forum. Of course you have to bring your special brand of @hangthadj to muck up everything. I try, @chr1st, I try.
This was my favorite run of posts by one of Big Soccer Dot Com's finest scribes. I stand and applaud. "Nail it to PG's necktie." I mean, holy ********in shit. You don't find genius like this on other message boards on other message boards, kids, academics, and lurkers. We are all witnesses.