First half, ick. Most memorable for drawing a missed red and a possible missed red. And oh yeah, the missed foul/probable yellow at 45:50. The second half, they attacked with pace, and it worked. The starting front 3 played really well. As for the subs, Weah was great, Zardes was not great.
Musah - Dest - Pepi 'the attack' If Zardes never subbed in for RP, Pepi would have 4-5. Zardes had 2-3 looks Pepi gets
Pepi was in pure striker mode. Largely invisible but clinical on his two chances. Can’t ask for too much more. Aaronson was our engine. Everything was at a high level except for his set piece delivery (ugh). Zardes doing Zardes things. Arriola doing Arriola things. They both can contribute positively, but I’m not a fan of both of them on the pitch at the same time. Kills too many attacks. Weah was fantastic. Not fair against tired legs. If he had some run with Pepi, he might’ve had an assist or two.
Arriola is a poor mans Mount. Box to box he looks great but I pucker anytime he gets delivery inside the final 3rd because it's always wasted. Always. Holden thinks Pepi is 'starting' to push Zardes.....holy crap. Zardes' clock is ticking as a 3rd forward.
Pepi does what a striker should, finish the chances you get. Arriola is a great runner who struggles finishing, but does all the small things and the space he creates is good. If he continues to flub easy chances teams may start just letting him run free though and that makes him ineffective. Weah against tired legs is impressive, which is a good thing against a bunker. Zardes is what he is. Aaronson was perhaps the most effective complete attacking player all night.
I'm just gonna say my favorite part of this match other than Pepi's goals was the 66th minute when Arriola clearly said F it with these refs not calling fouls and proceeded to foul the shit out of Jamaica to steal the ball and created a great break-a-way chance in the process. Yes it was clearly a foul but much like what Jamaica was pulling it wasn't called and was nice to see that kind of payback.
fast tenacious and ACCURATE arriola is the first 2 but not the last he cannot play the way the team needs to he cant play the style the other players can he's a level below the rest of the team hustle isnt enough
Weah caught my eye... very fast... dangerous crosses. Need to see much more of him. Zardes too.... but not for any good reason. He's quick but he does little
Controlled the first half and had more chances than some are recognizing not to mention they should have, at worst, been playing 11 v 10. Totally dominated the second half.
zardes and arriola can retire in MLS for now, imo. theres just sooo many other options at their positions....donkey touches have no place on this squad
We were good the whole game. Ref screwed us in the first. Good buildup with no final product. I thought Arriola & Aaronson were excellent throughout. Weah was great when he came on as well. Really nice flank play all night. Pepi was invisible/got no service in the first. And we had a couple instances of 2 guys making the same run. Then he gets two chances and buries them both. First was a nice header on a ball iind of behind him from Dest after a strong run from Musah. Second off a nice cross from Aaronson. Can't remember who sent Aaronson through. Thought Zardes was good. Almost scored 3 times (cross from Weah out of reach, header wide, and scrum that Blake picked off the line) and maybe should have on the header down that Blake saved.
I understand what you're saying, and it isn't wrong. But to my eye Arriola was a net plus for the team. On the other hand, his last touch is always his worst.
Weren’t you in the PBP thread asking for a way to watch the game? How much of it did you actually see?
I think Berhalter wants to start him all three and figured he could save some legs. Up 2-0, Zardes is a good move across the board.
I don't really want to hear people being snarky about verticality. The key to the whole game was the off ball runs, constantly getting behind the defense. Team looked like there was an actual gameplan, and they knew exactly how to attack. Love to see it. That first goal was a thing of beauty. Always attacking, filling into space, but as soon as the defense reacts, passed it to the open man. No screwing around, boom boom boom.