DeLeon, DeRo, McDonald, Neal, Korb, Pontius for first half were all terrible. I put this all on the players. They were giving the ball away, not winning second balls or 50/50's. When was the last good game DeRo had? It had to be back in May.
Another poor effort. We can make excuses all we want about players not being available (Bosko, Hamid, etc..) but they wouldn't have made a difference anyway. They were pisspoor all over the field and they continue to play high lines on defense and Chris Frickin' Birchall of all people scores on a breakaway. let's face it folks, United has hit their poorest run of the season at a not so good time as the continue to fall down the East standings (4th place after tonight) Have to stop the bleeding and it starts at the back. We were fortunate not to lose 2-0 as the Williams goal at the end of the half was very close. Bad marking from McDonald (nothing new there) and Joe Willis' hesitation wasn't good.
Felt like the starting lineup and tactical approach was to play for a 0-0 tie against a crap opponent on the road. That's what last year's DCU did, not this year's squad. Neil shouldn't be playing CAM for the California Penal League, let alone a championship contending MLS team. Highly disappointing. Though if we're going to go into a rut, might as well do it now and not in September.
Well you'd be wrong for the most part about where blame lies (although yea, Neal and Korb and DeLeon are just not starter quality). We totally misplayed our assets and in that regard Olsen is largely to blame. We can't continue down the path of poor decisions and mixing up the roster like this. Neal? Hell no. Long Tan as a last ditch effort? Is that really what we've stooped to? Also, if Payne and friends can't see that to be competitive against the good teams in the league, we need to acquire a winger to mirror Pontius (someone that can distribute and hold) in the range of $100,000 to $200,000 (in terms of quality) and perhaps a right back option, then we're probably out first round of the playoffs (assuming we make it). If we were playing RSL, San Jose, NY or another top team, we'd have been humiliated tonight. We lucked out playing Columbus, but we made them look Playoff worthy.
Well, Olsen is doing a great job of thinking circles around himself. Instead of getting Long ********ing Tan, we should have gotten a center back. Jakovic sucks and his slowness and ability to brain fart at any given moment were on full display tonight. If Dudar can't play or Olsen won't play him we need a real center back who doesn't have the attention span of a domesticated cat and the foot speed of rugby tight head prop.
This team really needs a leader to step up and grit out a game like DeRo did last year or Gomez did in days of old. They looked disorganized, lackadaisical at times and predictable tonight. How frighteningly ironic is it that just following the game there's a commercial for an accident lawyer? Ugh.
Initial thoughts: 1. Glad I didn't travel for that performance. 2. You know the fanbase is small when all of the tweets that are read on the broadcast are from people that you actually know in real life. 3. Starting Neal in the middle? Interesting. Shows you the little regard Olsen holds for the Crew. 4. Trying to eek out a draw against Columbus on the road, United is forced to bring on Long Tan and Josh Wolff. Yikes.
Sometimes games like this happen. Olsen had some hunches and none of them played out. Neal might be useful in the Steven King role of killing off a game in the middle when you have the lead, he doesn't have the quality to lead the attack. DeLeon has fallen off considerably from the start and clearly is behind both Cruz and Najar on the wing. Najar coming back should help in that regard. Korb is a work in progress, but it would be nice to. Have a reliable right back, someone like a 3 years younger Robbie Russell. Going forward, if Bosko can't go, the DeRo has to be in the middle. The forwards are a mix of Santos, Salihi, Tan and whomever. I would keep Pontius on the wing, he's more dangerous and useful out there. Neal really screwed the pooch when he let Birchall run past him.
I don't know which was more agonizing tonight: watching our shambolic performance or hearing the announcers consistently mispronounce "St. Germain." Not that it would have mattered, but I would have rearranged the starting lineup with Neal at LW, DeRo at AM, and Pontius up top. Neal's strength is his crosses.
No teamwork, no ideas. There's time to figure it out, I'm not pressed. I think the PSG game could be a big help with the current lack of confidence. Play them tough and play them pretty, it'll turn around. Every team goes through the stinks, hopefully that's all this is and in a month it will be a distant memory. DeRo is a big disappointment right now. He's losing the ball way too much, looks the opposite of dangerous. I can't believe that will last.
Long Tan did more in 18 minutes than Salihi did in his 72 minutes on the field. He got behind the defense twice (which by the way is twice more than Salihi has done all season long) and created two very dangerous chances. I don't understand why some people are dumping on Tan. Based on what I say tonight, he did well for himself. Granted he should have put his shot on target but he did set Korb up for the post ringing effort. Look, no matter how you slice it, Salihi has not been an effective starter this season (1 goal against Toronto as a starter; 4 goals off the bench, all in the second half) and his role probably should be as a second half sub until we can figure out how to get him motivated and involved in the offense as a starter. As someone stated earlier, I'm glad the swoon is happening now instead of September, but that is what United's cushion of points accrued earlier this season was for. To help sustain the team in a bad period and still keep them relevant. Bad loss, bad performance. Again....
I'm glad that you have so much confidence in Long Tan coming on for the equalizer in his first ever appearance for United. Did he play alright? Sure. I said nothing about his play in my post. I'm just saying that Tan and Wolff as last minute options aren't the greatest. Neal in the middle is where this game got away from Olsen. Hell he even gave up the goal. If Olsen wanted to play for a draw, why not start King? Neal is better sending the ball in from out wide.
Neal played well in his 30 minutes against (a tired) Montreal. People were raving about what he did in midfield. Boskovic was injured. They were playing Columbus. The other option is to play DeRo in the midfield. But DeRo is tired and hasn't played well since May. Neal was a gamble/experiment that didn't work. But no one else available was going to be a better AM. Many players played very poorly. That is what this was. DeLeon did nothing. DeRo couldn't hold on to the ball or pass to anyone.
Generally agree. I would add--I think DeRo needs to sit, just to rest a little and take the weight of self-expectation off his own shoulders.
Neal was poor tonight, but remember this isn't his first game at CAM. He looked good in the other effort. That said, he'd have been better on the wing.