Let's get this set up old school in celebration of the old school style whup-ass dealt to the basement dwellers of the west. Great game by our side, celebrating 4 that's right 4 count 'em 4 goals all from midfielders. 2 from Pontius, 1 each from King and Najar. 4-nil and 3 points- first win @ home since May 4 2011. Have at it, let's see our club continue the momentum and go on a roll and ensure some matches in October.
Okay, then... 4-0 to the good guys. - Nice to see DCU go up against a clearly inferior team and beat them around the park. Even though he didn't score today, I think DeRo brings a real killer instinct to this team, too - I see us getting a lot more of those put-them-away type of goals in the future. - Jay Nolly still sucks. I'd be livid if a DC keeper let in two of those four goals. - When Pontius and Najar are each lively on the flanks like today, we're a pretty dangerous team moving forward. - Vancouver is really bad. We can't make any grand pronouncements based on this one, but it's nice to beat a team that we should (unlike last week). R.
Very nice win, but Vancouver is woeful! 4-0 will be a nice addition to our Goals For/Against stats, as will the 3 points to our place in the standings. I was pleasantly surprised by Willis. What a nice sequence of saves off of that free-kick. Woolard did his part, too. Not only did the offense light up the scoreboard, but they managed to play keep-away at the end to kill the game. I am impressed. I felt bad for Charlie Davies, though. He was wide-open, twice - near the end, and both Najar & DeRo went for the difficult shot, instead of passing to him for a tap-in. I'm SOOO glad we have something to celebrate, tonight!
In regards to an earlier post I made in the previous thread... Joe Willis, you proved me wrong. Ben Olsen/Chad Ashton made one hell of a choice in regards to GK. This game shouldve been 5-6 nil. Vancouver's defense was horrendous.
It's about time we got to enjoy one of those. So, is Willis now the #2 goal keeper? Kid came up big when he needed to.
I told you guys when you drafted him that you'd like Willis. Not only is he a fantastic keeper, he comes from a great family here in St. Louis. I know them well. Great kid with a straight head (hard to find in a keeper). I think you guys will be very happy with him. Good luck in the future.
After goal #4, he turned around to watch it on the big screen. Not sure why he'd want to see it again. It's not like he was going to learn anything from it.
Willis Man of the Match. Well deserved. The guys were focused and didn't make any bad mistakes. Good to see Jakovic so focused. Glad to see Pontius learned to get to the back post. He can still take his game to another level. Charlie was looking much better in the 2nd half. Was making good decisions with the ball. Still think that if Wolff was in we could have scored at least two more. DeRo brings it again. And the kid was back tonight. Najar reminds me of Jaime 12 years ago. Wasn't big but could run with defenders pushing him and maintain control of the ball. Has so much composure in front of the net. Wow. A good time was had by all!
I'm so happy due to this win I'm going to completely ignore the headaches about who starts as GK next week and that King scored a goal while Davies couldn't get a shot off. I really don't remember the last time this team scored 4 goals. That's the kind of ass kicking they should be doing to terrible teams. VAMOS UNITED
Now that's more like it! Exceeded Expectations: Willis! And Woolard had his best game ever IMO. Might even have to add Najar to this list, although he is so good that it is hard for him to exceed expectations. In addition to his attacking capabilities, he showed again that he is a terrier on defense. Met Expectations: Everybody else except Davies. I was especially impressed with Pontius, Jacovic, and Quaranta. There were a couple of times when it seemed that Pontius passed up a decent chance to see if he could dribble in closer - and it never worked. This may be a slight touch of the Moreno fever. I think Ben and Chad will get him over it soon. DeRo worked his ass off. Failed to Meet Expectations: Charlie Davies. His touch remains awful; his decisions weren't very good, and there is a reason why DeRo and Najar failed to pass him the ball and took shots themselves.
Willis made more than one big save (he also stopped another tough Camillo free kick in the second half), and generally positioned himself well. I thought Davies had one of his better games from a 'fitting in with the team' concept. It was painful in the early going as he struggled to get separation from markers and passes were not played to feet well enough. But in the second half he was playing with his head up, keeping things simple and making great runs. He was getting the ball caught under his feet in the box and struggled to get some shots off, but he has not played much lately and was a bit short on confidence. With a bit more continuity, those issues will go away. But he definitely showed that he can interchange with Pontius, DeRo and Najar (more than I thought he could). He still offered a lot. This game easily could have seen 6 or 7 goals from DC. Really even more. The last 20 minutes it looked like the team was more focused on getting Stephen King a goal than scoring simple goals. It was interesting watching Burch channel his former forward play in his cup of tea. That nutmeg and pass was supurb. I was also very impressed with the way our defense dealt with Vancouver during the run of play. There were too many fouls leading to the tricky set pieces (although most of those were the fault of midfielders like Najar), but Camillo and Hassli have given plenty of solid teams fits and MacDonald and Jakovic were really pretty assured all night.
Bill Hamid has got some competition... God it was good to put away a team that was absolutely inferior. That was a long time in coming.
I suppose the only player on DC not enjoying this evening is Cronin. Willis's saves on that sequence in the first half was the difference maker. If Vancouver scores there, it becomes a much more difficult game. I figured, correctly, that once it went to 2-0, the floodgates would open. As posted above, DC could have had several more. Not only is 4-0 really nice, but it's also really nice to know that the scoreline was indicative of the game and didn't flatter DC.
Jay Nolly was just plain awful tonight. Is Joe Cannon coming back from injury, or can he just not supplant Nolly in the back. Three of the four goals were on him, and DeRo missed two (or three) that he had no chance to save. Is Tommy wedded to the wrong keeper up there? Or doesn't he care as much, seeing as how they have a coach-in-waiting an TS gets to go back to the FO after the season? Glad to see DC put a game out of reach early. Exactly the kind of win Ben has been preaching that we haven't been getting this year. Hopefully this lesson sticks with the team. Four more important games coming up, all winnable. But the baby step is important: getting that second win in a row. At all costs. With DeRo igniting the passion on the field, players coming back from injury and a confidence-boosting win, signs are pointing up right now. Thx, Jay!
Fantastic performance from the entire team including Davies. Good substitutions that had immediate impacts. The biggest plus goes to the coaching staff that put out what is my personal ideal starting lineup. Also this is the perfect time of the year for the entire team to get healthy. Once Zayner gets back any week now, we'll only be short one player ... Boskovic. Suddenly there's competition at every position. Da Luz, Burch, Wolff, Willis, King, White, Brettschneider all look like legitimate contributors off the bench.
Willis great game, no doubt. If he consistently played this way, it would be interesting. Unfortunately, based upon his college reputation, this situation may not as straight forward. Hamid starts in Chicago. Cronin looks like the odd man out at this moment, but that could change. I wonder if we should trade Cronin for more NYRB bench players (how about Agudelo? - never happen, how about Hertzog, Lindpere, Hot+2012 1R?). The defense did very well for much of the first half, until the free kick hit the cross bar. The determination and energy was up again (Toronto). I was disappointed with Q's distribution in the first half. I'm concerned that Davies doesn't have the fourth gear to separate - he was playing against Boxall - not a speedster. I'm hoping that he's back to his old self by training camp. If not, Davies is going to need to re-learn how he needs to play the game. Really sad about this, because I remember the way that he torched defenses at BC.