PBP: CONCACAF Champions League QF : RSL vs. Crew : Leg 2 3/1/11

O'Rourke would be a big help tonight keeping the midfield in check. Missing Chad goes without saying. Did we really expect to look like world beaters early in the season after so much turnover?

 

No but I would like to see a better effort. Our forwards are ineffectual. They are getting stood up by the RSL defenders time and time again.

 

W/out Hesmer, Marshall, Francis, and O'Rourke we are missing 4 starters via injury. 5 with Renteria. Hard to judge Robert on that.

 

yeaaaaaaaaaaah Rogers

 

Didn't Robert try this whole "Ekpo in the middle" experiment for the first few games last year? So far I haven't seen a difference.

 

I just hope RSL doesn't brag about beating this lineup. Please. And MLS will be on their nuts of course...

 

Good point by the commentator, I forgot Ekpo was even playing.

 

I don't ever want to see mendoza paired with cunningham again. They both give up on the same ball. Repeatedly.

 

the colorado playoff game he was outstanding there

 

Shit, weve talked Reds baseball, and college football in PBP threads before...Didnt mean to give the cerebral assassin a headache.

 

I agree. He was solid that one (1) Uno game in the middle.
Remember early 2009? He was a walking disaster in the middle.

It just pisses me off that for 3 straight f'n off seasons the FO and Head Coach has refused to address the issues that this squad faces...Lack of quality CM and talent up top.
Instead we are re-hashing things that didnt work 3 years ago hoping it will work all of a sudden. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
WELCOME TO INSANITY CREW FANS.

 

It's so painfully obvious that we need an honest to God CM that can spearhead our attack. Ekpo doesn't cut it, Gaven doesn't either. Dilly Duka and Dejan Rusmir probably aren't the answer either.

 

We're getting picked apart by the best team in MLS right now. It's no consolation, but this is where we're at right now; especially without Marshall, Francis, O'Rourke, or much of a presence in the center of the field (not a knock on Grossman or Ekpo, just we miss someone like BC right now).

 

Fire Robert.

I said before the game Cunningham was shit....hes been utter shit. Took him 28 minutes to get his first touch and hes always offside.

I said before the game we should've come out in a 4-5-1 with Duka on the field and a short leash on schmucks like Robbie who spend more time reading fashion magazines than practicing. They're tearing us up down the middle of the field right now.

Dreadful Robert. You've caused us this heartache for far too long. I refuse to buy another Crew ticket until hes gone.

And none of this "we're rebuilding". Nope. FO had their chance to say that. Too late. I want results.

 

You have to think Willie saves at least one of those shots, maybe both of them. They didn't seem to well placed.

 

I think we miss Renteria more than they miss their defenders.

 

So is it just me or are Gaven-Ekpo-Rogers-Mendoza-Cunningham playing like 5 individuals out there? One of them will have the ball and there is no real connection to the rest of the guys. Each one of them seems to be out on their own personal island.

And I know what we have been practicing so far this preseason, shooting from waaay out.

 

Right now, Hesmer would be getting lambasted by those in the know about what a horrible keeper he is to let in either of those on top of the clearance mistake.

I would like to see RayRay make either of those saves, but the reality is, he's not a world class, or even league elite keeper. Those guys only make those saves 2 or 3 times out of ten. And RayRay had two in a 20 minute time frame.

The clearance? That was horrid. But I'm not going to lay any blame on him for the goals. Last week he was pretty solid on his defensive organization, but I obviously don't know what instruction, if any, he was giving here. You could hold him accountable for that, maybe.

 

Well, Ray Burse got unlucky with our absolutely terrible defending, so I can't really blame him.

 

I think Hesmer may have gotten to one or, possibly, both of those. That said, you can't really fault Ray Burse for those. Defense just got picked apart and they were pretty decent goals, IMO.

 

It was a bad first half, but we will get our first real glimpse of what this team is made of in the second half.