Is it just me or is Merz really good at gallows humor? http://www.1460thefan.com/tf.php?story=dispatch/2003/10/14/20031014-D7-00.html Craig Merz THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The Crew is in a predicament not unlike the kid who has been summoned to the principal’s office. There’s a sense of impending doom but hope that maybe a fire drill could delay or cancel the inevitable. ... "It’s a bad situation to be in," midfielder Ross Paule said. "We’ve definitely shot ourselves in the foot." If that were the case, it would be one of the few times recently the Crew has been accurate in its shooting.
Andrulis should just stop talking, period. The more I hear him, the dumber and dumber he sounds. Yeah, nice guy, but he must have ate paint chips until he was 25. If he can't realize that he's lost the helm, then somebody needs to take him around back and put him (and us) out of his (our) misery. I mean for God's sake, Paule had more sense about what to expect from the game than Greg did. I'm just glad that the season will soon be over and we can start focusing on the changes that need to be made to this squad.
I'm with you. In fact, the more I think about it, I'd have more confidence on Saturday if the Crew had NO coach on the sideline. Let a couple of the veterans make out a lineup and then go play the damn game. I know zak gets off on it sometimes -it's why we love him. But he's right about this whole thing: if these guys can't show some pride, and play like they have a pair, then dump 'em all. Frankly, there's your reason for firing Greegie now, if you really need one: Let's see who will step up like a professional and "play for the shirt" (as zak says) without that big, hairy piece of dead meat on the bench. As for Andruloseris, the only thing I'm interested in hearing him say is "I quit".
I know many times it sounds like I'm joking, but at it's base it's simple, we are a massive club, and this team has played with no pride over this entire season. First off, we are currently one of two clubs that don't share a ground with anyone. We get more than our fair share of Television coverage. We've started bringing in major stars, look at the amount of Internationals this team has, and once we get Gibbs, it'll be yet another one. As far as the pride issue, it seems to me that this team has just thrown it's hands up and shrugged it's shoulders, I mean how else can you explain a quote where you claim the "soccer gods" were against you? No, it's because you have no bottle, you rarely get stuck in, and you can't keep your focus because of fatigue, which is do to tanking practice. This is the case save four or five players. And for my money, it's down to the coach, he can't get them to play for anyone. It's not like these players are inherently lazy, half of them were u23's so at some point they worked hard. It's down to nobody wants to play for Greg. Bottom line, he's finished, he no longer controls the locker room and when that happens it's done.
Thanks for clarification Zak on how this club just is out of gas after 70 minutes. One would figure the training methods were the same as last year, when the club always seemed to have an abundance of energy at the end of matches. If these people are indeed tanking practice, the ones who are guilty should be sent packing on Oct. 27.
"D.C.’s going to push early to get a goal, then pack it in and counterattack," Paule said. "We have to do the same thing, get an early goal and hopefully hold the lead. They don’t have to score. The longer the game’s tied the more they can bunker in." Dear God Paule........ at least try to go for the 5-1 win. Can anyone say "Bunker Ball"? This game will be boring boring boring. Even if the Crew beats D.C., it would still need D.C. to fall at home to Kansas City on Oct. 25 and then beat Chicago itself the next day. Anyone remember the 2000 season? I know you all don't want to, but it was the same scenario then. We needed outside help on one day, a win the next and we'd have gone in. As it turned out, we lost to Chicago.... 2000 repeat? Just like 2000, we brought in an international player who was supposed to lead the team, we need outside help in the last few weeks of the season. This is not good.
I must respectfully disagree, I can't remember a Crew team in the last four or five years that seemed to have an abundance of energy at the end of games. I could be wrong but it seems that while seasons past may not have been quite as clear, we always seem to fizzle out in the last minutes. Could also be because our legs just keep getting older and older as the seasons pass.
I can't remember us looking like the more fit team in the last 15 minutes as long as I have been going to games. It's made for many long pised off drives home, or to the pub.
"It’s a bad situation to be in," midfielder Ross Paule said. "We’ve definitely shot ourselves in the foot." He should've said square in the head.
I guess I was just thinking of last season's Open Cup semifinal and the playoffs when the club put on this huge offensive push to either tie or win a match. OTOH, it could have all been Dante.
You can all pm MLS Detroit thanking him for restraining me back in July when I could have ended all of this misery. Greggie was at the USOC game between the Bucks and the Metros scouting the game. Great job scouting, Greg.
In the Open Cup semifinals, down 2-0 and desperate, the Crew did put out a tremendous offensive push. They essentially flooded Kansas City's end of the field by going with only two defenders for almost an entire half. I thought Andrulis was doing something similar towards the end of the DC match here a couple weeks ago, but he switched to three in the back rather than two.
Great match... I was there by myself and had relocated with a beer or two up to the upper southwest corner of the stadium to watch; had a birds eye view of the win. Awesome. Man of that match was Perez by a mile... Makes you wonder. Perez was much maligned here last season for inconsistent play and in favor of a "more promising" Martino. He got us into the Open Cup finals but didn't contribute a whole lot to the regular/post season. Who knows if he could (did) make a difference this season.