Thanks, that was double what I saw without the intro showing the 3rd highest paid player on other Denver Pro teams. Don’t get his “formation change” comment, sorry I’m not buying anything from Hudson on this.
Just finished watching the Switchbacks' 3-0 win over St Louis from last night. Hamilton and Jackson (as well as Ceus) started. Hamilton played 90 and had a decent match. Jackson was subbed out ~70 minute and had a very good game, always pressing and giving the St Louis defense fits despite having only one practice this week with the team. One other item of note, didn't realize it but along with Hamilton, the Switchbacks have three DU products on the team. The others are Taylor Hunter (Defender) and Jordan Schweitzer (Midfielder)
I went to the match. Fun atmosphere. Good team that responded in a HUGE way after rough patch to put themselves back into playoff contention. Second match I’ve attended this season. The first time I had to make a decision Rapids or Switchbacks. I made the right decision. Well worth the drive from Westminster. Jackson looked very lively and did have a good game. He makes intelligent runs and eventually it’s going to pay off with goals. Very encouraging player. At 36, Luke Vercollone is the hub of that team. He’s had a storied and productive USL career and still has it.
Given how little both Hamilton and Jackson practice with the Switchbacks (according to the broadcasters, about once a week), they contributed well. I try and get to Switchback games when able and there isn't a conflict with a Rapids game. The atmosphere is good and based on the jerseys, there's overlap with Rapids fans.
Currently the Bodmer Line stands at 1.65 points per game. If we lose to Vancouver on Friday it goes up to 1.72 pts/game. The whole 2016 season (our best season ever) we played at 1.71 pts/game. So I'm calling it. If we don't win on Friday, against Vancouver, at home, the season is essentially over on June 1st. It would take a miracle run to make the playoffs. A team that can't beat Vancouver at home should have no expectation or making a miracle run at any point in the season. (For those of you unfamiliar, the Bodmer Line is the pts/game average we'd have to play the rest of the season at to reach the average number of points the 6th and final playoff team has gotten in each conference in a 34 game season, 46-47 points. Named after C38's Grand Poobah Mark Bodmer)
I am kind of feeling that 1.65 pts/game is already a lot to ask from this group. Not going to go too far out on a limb but I think 2018 season is already lost. I’d like to see Hudson take some responsibility for this just not being good enough.
Yeah, I was going to start taking a look at that. Hadn't heard it being called the Bodmer line, but we're getting dangerously close to already being...
https://www.burgundywave.com/2018/5/28/17403392/colorado-rapids-practice-notes-may-28-2018 🤔 #Rapids96 https://t.co/4TfW6r2lEI— Burgundy Wave (@Burgundywave) May 29, 2018 Aigner turned down a request for an interview by 9News' Cealey Godwin as well.
Guys I know that Hudson isn’t on the hot seat that we know of but I’d just like to point out some dude name Zidane is now a free agent. I bet he could turn water into wine or more appropriate in our case...turn shit into sugar.
Zidane would have to bring Len Beavis out of retirement to be his assistant coach. . . . . . . . . . think about it for a minute . . .
Apologies if someone linked this already, I had not noticed this long anaylsis article by Rapids Rabbi between the Timbers and Whitecaps games: https://aroundmls.com/archive/f/backpass-stupidity-is-killing-us There's some good stuff in it. He did ask why the ref blew the whistle after the PK at the end of the Timbers match. PRO gave him a response that there should have been a kickoff.
Anybody attend the STH event today? Looks like there was a Q&A with Hudson and Smith. I’d be curious to know what they were asked and how they responded.
Anyone else excited for more "Oceania" soccer tactics Guess we know why no one else has tried this in MLS before. Biggest concern for me is the Rapids/ KSE have opened the pocketbooks for this crap. It will get truly ugly if we drop back to bottom 5 spenders from this crappy multi season run. Then again, it's not like the coaches play the guys making top salaries anyways.
I've been thinking about when things went so wrong for the Rapids. It feels like we haven't been consistently even average since the clean out of the Front Office and staff after the Gary Smith era. I decided to take a look. I decided to start with 2012, since that was when Hinchey took over and all the talk about #OneClub and other various concepts about "attacking soccer" and things like DPs, one system, partnerships with Charlotte, etc. started. Really that was Colorado trying to move into "MLS 2/0" or whatever you want to call it. Since 2012 the Rapids have the least points of any MLS team that has played every season. Colorado - 256 points Philly - 263 Montreal - 266 DC - 271 TFC & Chicago - 275 San Jose - 287 . . . RBNY - 355 We're 99 points worse over the last 6+ years than the best MLS team. We're 31 points worse than the next worse Western Conference team. MLS 1.0 might have been boring, but at least we were competitive.
I've been thinking about this as well Jason. Gary Smith ball was boring but it was competitive. You also had a group of guys like Drew Moor, Pablo and Koz that bled burgundy. Afterwards, you had Pareja's "exciting, attacking soccer" and the rotating cast of odd pick ups, supposedly found by Bravo's "agent-based" acquisition strategy ... most of them were busts. I think TH did some good things (DPs, shirt sponsor, and that cool jersey with the supporter's names in the hoops) but on the field results sucked. Look now at where we are: worst front office communications seen (glad I missed the event this weekend), odd player acquisitions, very poor salary management, and the third/fourth new system in six years. I also believe we'd be better served by a partnership with the Switchbacks rather than Charlotte as both teams play at altitude. The comparison with SKC is telling. They were a similar, flyover state MLS1.0 team with poor attendance. In 2011, they rebrand, open a new stadium, increase attendance from ~10K to ~19K, and build an integrated academy system. It is impossible to prove the negative but it illustrates what could have been. Hopefully the RFO is doing some soul searching ... it can't get much worse.