Post-match: DCU v Fire

And that's what Philly used to as one observer I talked with after the game.. to troll us non stop for 90 minutes.

Geiger calls back the penalty kick for a re-take, and somehow is OBLIVIOUS to some Philly player running it down the field to put it in play. do do do do... oh what? oh sorry not seeing any of that do do do.. Cause when does a ball go back INTO play immediatly after a penalty kick? after a whistle? ever???

So off the Philly goes and then picks it up, cradles the ball knowing, the only way he's going to give it up, is if someone (this case Bosko) strikes/shoves him... great observation, and we get reprimanded..

AFter that what are the United players supposed to think? oh well screw this all bets are off now.. next time I tackle someone, I am doing it for real.. cause what does it matter.. "he's in on it".

Seriously it was an absolute loss of control, or <insert conspiracy theory here> on that ref I am still at a loss for words...

I don't care if Korb/Mcdonald/Hamid got into a shoving match, heck I've been there after games, how are you suppose to react after that debacle, seriously... it's the heat of the moment, and that is beyond frustration, heck they can't even air brush a Philly player while they hack us down all night so hey Korb.. here's a shove... and rightfuly Korb goes... here's one for you..

In the end they will get past it, that wasn't I hate your guts I shouldn't be playing with you, it was a flat out I am sick of this bull period. THat's what happens... it's not like they were throwing punches cause lord knows we need more people on the injury list of course...

 

Post match thoughts here.

 

If tonight was our response, this thread can be closed emphatically (with a small reminder that you need to concentrate on defense for 90 minutes, not 89:50).

 

How about a post match thread here.

Kudos to many players tonight but first thankful for the weather. Cool and comfortable allowed our guys to go all out after a short rest from an emotional Sunday. Definitely a feel good match. And it didn't hurt to have a ref that actually controlled the game and didn't let it get away.

Tireless and solid play from Andy, Chris, Dejan, BMac, Kitchen, DeLeon, Korb and DeRo.

Can't stand seeing midfielders run at goal with no one stepping up and that is when they scored or came close (hit the post). Saragosa has Palladino running at him, watches him pass the ball and stands there as his man goes in to score the goal. Ugh. No one steps up to Rolfe breaking in outside the 18. Other negative is the set piece defense. Who the hell's responsibility is it to ensure that all opposing shirts are marked? Segares was never watched or touched on his free header goal.

Really thought after not even getting off a shot after breaking in on Sean Johnson and pushing the ball past him that he would have been substituted at the half but Najar's tireless effort to get the ball to the back post allowed Pajoy to stay in... of course that was until he has a sitter and takes more time than Mark Burch to align himself to the ball (again no shot). He also could have gotten to the first Pontius through ball first but a 35 year old DeRo anticipated the ball better. Pajoy should have had at least 2 goals tonite and possibly 3. Ugh. I don't see what we see in him yet.

Felt good to get a deserved 3 points tonight. We can not take Montreal for granted as they are tough at home. Hope the guys have plenty left in the tank for Saturday.

Well done boys!

 

Great game. I hope they're ready for Montreal. That will be a tough match.

Pajoy should be embarrassed for the hack jobs on two perfectly placed passes. At least he got one.

 

Hey folks - I'd like to apologize for the merge error earlier. I was attempting to moderate using my phone, and due to some technical glitches with the new BigSoccer layout, the wrong threads merged. I'm sincerely sorry.


On that note, we (NattyBo and I) really need a third mod to help us, preferably someone who is not local to the DC area and doesn't go to home matches. It's tough for us to mod from RFK. If you're available and interested, please send me or NattyBo a message.

Thanks again for your understanding, and vamos United!

 

Bmac-
On Andy Najar's performance at right back:
"I like to welcome our new player “Cafu" to our team [laughs]. He was unbelievable out there. I don't know where his feet came from or how he gets out of some of the stuff he does. I'm there in the game thinking ‘how in the world is this guy doing this?' So for me, playing next to him is great because I can sit back and watch and don't worry about it coming back down our throats."





I read this as "keep Korb away from me"

 

I was also hoping for some broken Chicago clavicles.


I liked the fact that McDonald got to be captain for a few minutes. He deserved it.

Andy, you got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Olsen needs to tell Najar he's not allowed to go past the halfway line when the team is supposed to be bunkering. Although I do give Deleon credit for covering him.

I wouldn't mind seeing another empty bucket against Montréal.

 

“Based on the performance today, I played very well and I’d like to keep playing right back.” Najar said.
Yes, please!

“Brandon thinks that I play well at right back. For a while now, he’s always told me that my natural position should be right back,” Najar said. “But no one really pays attention to Brandon.”

Ha! And a sense of humor.

 

Strangely, we give up two wide open goals and I feel like the whole back line played very well, while we score four and yet I felt like the offense should have done much better.

McDonald gave us what he always does, very good man defending and a bad pass that led to the first goal. Jakovic shut down their DP pretty easily. Korb didn't seem to get beat one on one at all and held his own when Fernandez came in. Najar was great and gives the offense so many more options.

I barely noticed Saragosa so I don't know if that's good or bad. With that formation all our attacks should be going up the wings anyway so that did seem to take some pressure off Kitchen. Pontius and DeLeon were both average for them. A few too many giveaways from them, but some good attacking.

DeRo was able to actually create some space a few times, but the finishing still isn't what we're used to.
Pajoy has some speed and seems decent with his head and he did score a goal, but I don't see him as our starter.

 

Unfortunately, I think both those goals were on Saragosa. The first, it's already been said, he just stopped running with his man. On the second, I don't know if Segares was his man, but he was standing near the top of the 18 and not marking anyone while Segares ran behind him.

This is problematic, and I'd like to chalk it up to rustiness, but that doesn't really fly. It's soccer, you know you have to mark and stay with your man.

However, his presence had a dramatic effect on DeRo. DeRo still isn't his sharpest, but he was able to play in the position he's best at, which is wherever he wants. The Opta chart shows it, he was all over the opposing half, rarely venturing into his own half. That Opta chart is great. It shows:

-Saragosa and Kitchen had the area between the 18's on lock down.
-Najar was literally endline to endline, mostly right up against the sideline.
-Korb was staying at home, never made it to the opposing endline.
-DeLeon was pinched in and roving the field some, but more defensive, while Pontius was pinched in and roving, but more offensive. Makes sense.
-Much, much better overall team balance. United dictated the play and Chicago was reacting. Chicago's dangerous players either had very few touches or were mostly far away from goal.

 

While I enjoyed the Najar comments, what makes you think this? Didn't Korb see Bmac in the 18 waving his arm and place the ball right on his nogg'in? Let's take it for what it is worth. Anyone who was there could see that Andy was very active in this game in a very positive way.

 

I enjoyed watching this game on tv (what can I say, I live four hours away). After the ending Sunday, I was especially pleased to see the MacDonald goal with a Korb assist. I didn't realize the weather was so nice up there, but knowing that now, I saw what a difference it made in the team's energy on attacks where I saw multiple people running toward the goal from different directions several times over. A good win. Let's carry it to Montreal.

 

Regarding Olsen, I also think that choosing Najar and Korb as the outside backs completely stymied Chicago. Even after Nyarko and Pappa switched sides to get more favorable match-ups, their wing play was stunted (Najar played out of his mind). Also, I asked against KC how the team was supposed to function with the Saragosa - Kitchen combo. . . Well, it works much better with DeRo and Pajoy (who did a nice job collecting and holding 50-50s and long balls). I was pleased to see a non-4-4-2-diamond and one that looked drilled and coherent. Hell, I'd even go so far as to say, "complex" considering all the overlapping runs and defensive cover given by the midfield. However, and I don't want to be too picky, I'm not sure that the late game subs affected the game in the manner that Olsen had hoped and I thought maybe he waited a little too long on some of them. DC does have quite a few games in a row coming up, giving starters rest when possible is probably going to be essential to a strong finish.

Considering the rest of the game: scoring covers a multitude of sins, but Pajoy and Tan both missed sitters. I'm still hoping that Santos rounds back into form as he heals.

Najar was amazing, but he still hangs on to the ball too long, imo. While I'm glad that he's confident, he also missed a couple strikers in acres of space during breakaways, preferring to drive into the box himself. But now I'm just nitpicking.

That was a lot of fun. I hope to see more games like that. . . maybe an away game or two?

 

Not sure I agree. I think, on the first goal, if Dejan steps, he closes the passing lane AND pulls the Chicago man offside. I put the goal on him. The second goal, I saw Kitchen as the closest man to Segares, but I think he misread the flight of the ball. Instead of moving toward the open man, he moves toward the herd.

 

I think Jacovic was a beast out there, and Saragosa, while well overall, is still too static off the ball. My father faulted Kitchen on Chicago's second goal, but to me it looked like Kitchen had to choose between two guys, and chose poorly. I couldn't tell who was supposed to be marking whom. I suppose it could well have been Saragosa.

I gotta say, though, I STILL hate when BMac decides to go with "just boot the ball and hope one of our guys gets it" but props to him for an awesome goal nonetheless.

 

Oh, and another thing: Korb needs to work on crossing from the left side. I almost hurt myself laughing at that moonball he launched to the back post. That hot mess gave the languid Chicago defense time to shift, mark everyone, take a coffee and a smoke, find their marks again, and snuff out the attack.

 

Najar was nice at RB tonight, we should have had 7 goals.

 

I think that was the finest overall performance I have ever seen from Andy Najar...just wouldn't give up. Other random observations from last night:

• The clouds over RFK were anazing, added to the "something feels right" vibe
• The carne asada was in top form
• Pajoy's flub in front of the Chicago net was viewed perfectly by me since, for once, nobody shooed me away from the little railing area overlooking the closk-side net.
• Crowd was small but very loud at times.
• I was happy to sse Stephen King suit up for the match...but seemed odd to me to see him doing warmups with our very high priced DP.

 

I think Kitchen/Saragosa worked against a tired Chicago team. I don't know if it works every week. I'm looking forward to Boskovic's return from suspension (it is just a one-game suspension, right?).

"Embracing the position" is an uncomfortable-sounding phrase. Please don't use that again.

 

Important win, but I didn't think the team was all that sharp. Lots of walking. Lots of poor passing, even from close range. Lots of lollygagging with the ball. Simply not sharp at all. The good thing was that Chicago was completely awful on defense, so we looked like world-beaters on the scoreline. In particular, the De Rosario and McDonald goals were laughable. And then the goalkeeper cluster$&(! on the last goal was a headscratcher. Look, you need games like this in which you play like trash and win, but we can't count on that down the stretch. If this team plays like this on Saturday, it's going to get the business from Montreal (and I cant believe I just wrote that).