Agreed on Josh, but I also want to applaud Lampson for taking responsibility for the goal. It would have been easy for him to blame the wall (Gaven, specifically), but he stood by his guys. I like to see that out of a young player. I happen to completely disagree with him, but it's nice to see.
Home-Grown player winning MOTM.........awesome. Lampson did have 3 bad plays on the night though. He came out on a ball he couldn't get to (1) (a big no-no), and then after that he came out AGAIN on a ball that was even farther away that he wasn't even close to getting to (a bigger no-no). Also, on the one he didn't hold that he made the kicksave on (that was then judged offside), he should've held it. But on the whole, he got beat on a deflection goal (I'll never blame a keeper on a deflection goal) and then didn't concede for the rest of the match. And you've got to remember it was his first MLS start. He went from trying to make a few plays (coming out to a ball he couldn't reach) to trying to just not screw anything up (the reason he didn't catch a couple of balls). But on the whole, I was pretty impressed. Don't get me wrong, Andy>Matt, but I feel a lot better about our situation given Andy's injury history.
I agree. Lampson should not be judged the same as Andy or Will. He's a third stringer making his first start in an away match. Under the circumstances I say job done. He'll learn from some of those mistakes.
Are you ********ing kidding me? I thought he did a pretty good job. 2 or 3 times he didn't look so hot coming out in the area, but he stopped shots really well and distributed decently. For his first ever start, I would say he did fantastic. We are extremely lucky to get down to our THIRD STRING keeper and have a guy as talented as Lampson. And for those wishing we had Wild Bill back, go look at the highlights from NY-DC last night. Both goals let in by NY squarely on his shoulders. Lampson > Washed-Up Wild Bill Homegrown, son! Recognize!
Hoppenot on the incident. Because he doesn't want to say "Yeah I have little hope of getting a goal or assist so I just went in there trying to instigate something. Fortunately for me and the team, it worked again. I've been staying after practice alot working on being a dbag. You know, going to bars and sleezing it up with ho's, talking $#!t to their boyfriends. It's really helped my game progress."
Lol, I didn't SAY we were gonna get Wild Bill back, I just said that it would be just like us to let someone go on a free and then have to trade something of value to get them back
I didn't mean you in particular. I meant generally and from some in person convos with various folks. Some wanted the Crew to go after a Second-Strong keeper when the Hammer become our #1, therefore making Lampson #3 (not trusting Lampson to take over if need be given the Hammer's previous injury issues). Bill's name was one that would come up as someone we could go get.
How many goals do you think Andy or Will would've given up last night? My guess is 1- though we'd never know how they would've reacted on the free kick. It was a freak goal. Granted, I'd feel more confident with Andy in the goal, but in the end Matt only gave up 1 goal and it was on a cheap deflection that should not have happened (DON'T MOVE IN THE WALL).
You know Fid that if Warzycha was on the pitch he'd play it the way ALL OF US would play it. I was happy with getting out of there with a point after the red card. What I'm saying is that it doesn't seem to be in the DNA for Arrieta and Higuain. A few weeks back Arrieta tried a pass that was intercepted causing anxiety on our end and some of us discussed that we always do the cowardly thing and defend the one goal lead. We said the risk was worth the possible reward you get from icing the game. This situation would have been one where you take the ball late into a corner and try to get to the final whistle. Without Higuain, that's what the old team would have done. I was surprised that Higuain hasn't been tainted with this line of thinking and decided to take advantage of the opportunity and get us the extra two points. Based on what I've seen over the last 4 years, it's not what Warzycha would have ordered. The only way we win MLS Cup is for Warzycha to step out of the way and let someone with soccer intelligence take control. Higuain seems to be doing that on the field. Every time he's off the ball and the camera is on him, you see him pointing and talking to teammates. You know, a coach on the field.
It's his first season in the league and he's only 21, but he's already been involved in several fights and red card incidents. It's one thing to be adept at drawing fouls (c.f. Ale Moreno), but starting fights is something else. He'll need to change that part of his game if he's going to make it in any professional league.
If you weren't at Fourth Street Bar here's the reaction as it happened: http://www.thecrew.com/video/2012/08/30/pubcam-eddie-gavens-late-game-heroics
This is bulls**t of the highest order. Let me state for the record -- I'm not a Warzycha guy anymore. I don't see any brilliant genius that he brings, and I don't think he manages the roster well. This argument isn't so much about him as it is an in-general argument. I refuse to accept this notion that defending the lead or playing it safe is "cowardly". Look, I'm as thrilled as anyone that we stole that one last night. And I'm even more thrilled that we have a guy in Higuain who knows what the hell he's doing. I don't want guys who go to the corner flag ten times out of ten. Nor do I want guys who press ten times out of ten. Every match has its own context, and I refuse to make a hard and fast rule about it. The best we can hope for is that the dude with the ball has enough soccer savy to recognize the totality of the situation, and the nature of the potential attack and make the right read and the right play. I didn't always agree with Schelotto's choices, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt because I expected him to get it right more than wrong. And even though it's only been four matches, I can tell that Federico gets it, so he gets my vote of confidence. Great. But let's not lose track of something: Higuain hit the crossbar at 93:21. Philly's counterattack saw the shot go over the bar at 93:42. Twenty-one seconds. That's how quickly it can all go wrong. I'd wager a week's pay that if we had lost that match 2-1, you'd be on here today screaming about how Warzycha can't manage a game late. Nine times out of ten, pressing forward nets you exactly nothing, because that's the nature of the sport. And even then, you can do everything right and still not score. So there are certain situations where you have to weigh the odds and make a more conservative decision. And by the way, I'm not necessarily even saying this one is an example of that. The first attack (the crossbar) started off as a set piece where a lot of us pressed forward. Fine. But this idea that playing SMART SOCCER -- going to the flag down a man, playing keepaway, sitting back and staying organized -- is somehow cowardly -- not dumb, not ill-advised, not boring, but downright cowardly is so absurd that I can't believe you even typed it, and it makes me, frankly, want to dismiss anything you ever say again. There's a reason why teams all over the world of soccer use these tactics every single week: Because they work. If they didn't, it wouldn't be done. You can disagree all you want, and that's fine. But calling it "cowardly" shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the professional game.
Over in the PU forum someone said they saw H kick Josh in the calf and the AR missed it. Then Josh went ballistic on the AR. Also sounds like they're fed up with H. It's frequently the retaliation that gets caught.
Did you even read my first sentence? I said the smart move would have been to take the point on the road, in the 6th match of a grueling 7 game schedule, playing a man down for 30+ minutes. But I also said that the time that Arrieta tried to make the pass in added time that didn't come through and forced a great defensive play was the right play at that time. Warzycha's teams have been defensive first, whether with a goal lead or tied. Heck, even a goal down we rarely see him take out a defender and play three in the back for the last 10 minutes or so trying to get the goal back. That's called "playing scared" or "cowardice". We went through the whole exercise that time where you painted the perfect scenario of three 1-0 games ending 1-0 and with nine points. Unfortunately, it was just before the LA game if I'm not mistaken where the 1-0 lead he was protecting ended a 1-1 tie. Doubt it very much. I actually watch the game and realize that the guy pulling the strings and the one "responsible" for the 1-2 hypothetical loss would have been Higuain. Remember to read my first sentence. I'd respond differently if it's a rookie trying to do the impossible and we lose 1-2, versus if it's someone like Arrieta, Gaven or Higuain. But I shouldn't have to worry about this because the next line in your comments is that "nine times out of ten, pressing forward nets you exactly nothing". So, on the high end, the risk is 10% or even less. Again, going for the flag one goal up with the chance to ice the game is cowardly. I said that "a man down, etc" is a good example where you play it safe but you keep an eye open to see if you can steal one.
Our left back gets a red card and Vukovic still doesn't see the field. He must be way down on RW's shit list.