The guy isn't going to do it all himself. He needs to be surrounded by players who can contribute to the offense. If he passes to where you should be and you aren't there is it his fault or yours. James
I'm surprised that's not already on the back of a scarf. So this week we find out how bad we actually suck. Thanks.
Three CB's filling out the backline? Take off Woolard, move Korb there, backfill that spot with Pontius and insert a forward not named Pajoy
I will flat out say that lineup changes will make this team better in the in the short(ish) term and especially the long run. I won't go to the extreme and compare players year to year that DCUSA has done, but I will say that a sum of parts is MUCH better than having "better" parts which is what his point really is. This team could easily be better if organized better (or properly as I would say with Pajoy on the bench). There is decent talent on this team, they have been undermined by a lack of vision in utilizing their strengths in lineups, and a serious lack of execution on the field in which they should have been. John Mackay would understand. I am really starting to put the bullseye on Olsen big time. His undergarments are showing. He needs to step up his game and put players in positions where they will succeed, not just put players out there where they hopefully won't fail.
Those kind of structural problems don't get fixed easily. Right now our solution to the foundation being rotten and unstable is changing the wallpaper. And it's a floral print. It's not difficult to say "Olsen is the problem" outside of the "Olsen's Army," "savior from the depths of the toilet nether regions" persona he now holds, increasingly bolstered by his European style and gruff "serious man" demeanor. All but a handful of our losses have been against top 10 opponents in his tenure. Larger proportions of our points earned come from poor quality teams at the bottom of the table than any other team at the top of the table. Scoring? Well, let's not talk about the disparity in goals versus good versus bad opponents. Masking it all has been last year's "success," which, like our early 'dynastic period' create a smoke screen that people can't seem to see through. We simply weren't that good, and this year is the natural progression from a series of results that would have gone another way with another flip of the coin. In the end, I still challenge people to find me a lineup that inspires confidence in our ability to beat a team capable of making the playoffs. One that doesn't put us completely out of our comfort zone, or, realistically speaking, our capability zone. We're not capable of playing a 4-1-2-1-2 or a 4-2-3-1 (not with Pajoy out there). I doubt we even have the proper tools or skillsets demanded for a 4-3-3. We're a creature of habit and when we break our habits we suffer more than usual. Against a Philly, how could anyone think Olsen will take a chance? Philly will run a 4-4-2 with their primary vulnerability being straight up the gut and challenging their CBs. Olsen will see this and either thoughtlessly reach for the empty bucket or return to the 4-4-2 we ran against RSL (most likely), with modifications (Riley, DeLeon, Thorrington out), Rafael in at forward, Pontius at wing because we don't trust anyone else and DeRo takes over for Thorrington. We'll likely spend the entire game struggling to get the ball central, neglecting the wings again. Pajoy and Rafael will likely be marginally better at "holding up" the ball against a Philadelphia team with weaknesses, but in the end, if we don't score in the first 30-40 minutes, we'll struggle to keep composure against a team that continually antagonizes us. Given our lack of scoring, I see Saragosa coming on in the second half to try and "out-work" Philadelphia. However, they are scoring at minimum a goal a game and they are doing so by cutting in the box and off set pieces. We're due for a mediocre game on defense, or at least a lapse of judgment from our defenders who are normally spot on. Then we play Houston, with something approximating a 4-1-2-1-2. Are we going to experiment here either? I doubt it. We'll do what we did when we last met and go back to the solo forward. This will be an especially predictable strategy to figure out if we lose or draw to Philadelphia. So then we get to play Dallas, Kansas City and Portland, who, coincidentally, are playing some of their best soccer and we're left to wonder if we'll figure out a new dynamic strategy in the next 4-5 weeks to manage these more difficult contests. I think you can guess that I am not a glass-half-full kind of guy here. What makes this worse is that the club is obviously examining these games and concluding that losing any more than 2 games in the next four puts us in a pretty awful position, statistically speaking, from making the playoffs. It took us 19 games last year (and 2011 coincidentally) to finally reach loss number 6 and few teams lose 6 of their first 10 games and makes the playoffs. It's just too difficult a climb. Even draws don't cut it. 1 loss and 3 draws isn't cutting it, 1 win and 2 draws isn't really good enough either. Losing at home next week adds another level of stress on a team that was 5W-9L-3D away and 12W-4D-1L at home in 2012. We'll be sitting on a home record of 1W-3L-0D in the first 7 games at home, tripling our home losses of 2012, and expecting better results against Dallas, Columbus, Seattle , Colorado , Montreal and others on the road down the stretch. Not the easiest matches to play away, especially when we turtle down and refuse to play offensive in these matches. All of these issues, compounded by potential diminishing attendance (without student night bolstering sales) following losses is going to make the team risk averse. They aren't going to listen to pundits or bloggers about a X formation, Y, formation, the 4-3-3 or anything else, so long as we lack the personnel to make those adjustments.
Hi all I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but here goes. I was due to be visiting Washington from the UK this coming weekend, but have had to cancel due to illness. I have a pair of tickets for DC vs Philly that I cannot get a refund for, but I'd happily transfer them (for free) to someone who needs tickets (using Ticketmaster transfer). Please let me know if anyone would like them. Roger Dalton Sheffield, UK
Regarding the personnel vs. formation, I think there might be a chicken vs. egg thing happening. I'm a card-carrying member of the Pajaters - at least insofar as starting him, let alone as a lone striker, but simply replacing him doesn't solve the problem. Pontius, DeLeon, and Kitchen have all looked fairly ineffective. DeRosario isn't player that he was, but I'm not sure that means we should be getting as little out of him as we are (I saw him play for Canada this summer and he still looked pretty good). I think there is a tendency to tinker with the formation to try to figure out what DC really has in terms of players. I'd agree that DC probably needs some replacements, but aside from Pajoy, it's tough to tell who needs to be replaced and with what unless there is a formation or strategy in mind. For instance, assume Olsen sticks with a lone striker. Even if DC gets an Henry-caliber (I was going to say, "class," but he does play for NJ) player, this team still doesn't work. I should think that there would need to be a speed threat in the wings or withdrawn forward, otherwise the lone striker just gets double-teamed and dispossessed before there is an outlet. That means also getting rid of or finding new roles for Pontius, DeRo, DeLeon, and/or Sanchez because none of those guys carry a threat to run in behind and it shows in the way teams defend against DC. I think that some people want to find a system right now that at least sort of works and then replace the errant pieces, but that's just a question of priority. Right now, DC isn't getting their tactics, formation, or personnel right and fixing just one of them isn't going to make this team a threat. Olsen needs to tinker with the line-up and formation against Philly because what they have been doing isn't working and other teams know it. DC can't defend for 90 minutes anymore because teams don't have to hold back - they know there is no counter-attacking threat.
I'm not so sure that's true. Henry has created shit out of his butt this year. If we had a player that could get a goal and turn the momentum in our favor, we might rally behind that momentum. I genuinely believe we have a self-esteem problem on this team. We assume we're not good enough to play with the big boys, or on the road, so we don't bother. Right now it's worse since we're not scoring and losing at home after such a long streak. What got the Redskins out of their funk was getting a creative, offensive minded player. With actual offense each game, the defense was relieved of the stress they previously endured. The same thing could help DC United. Whether it's someone to replace Augusto alongside Kitchen (similar to a Dax) or someone at forward who is just flat out good, but perhaps in the 1-3 million range. In the end, I don't think we'll make any necessary changes. We'll roll the dice and hope the salary cap and our opponent's do us favors, a la RSL.
Spot on. I would like tack on that Ben's identification yet lack of acquisition for a play-ready forward and total miss on the diminishing returns of DeRo for a central midfielder pre-season set the current predicament here. I miss Branko. I didn't know bro!!! I didn't know...
I'm still pissed when Chad Ashton got interviewed at halftime during the Columbus game. Instead of praising the nice ass goal Rafael scored he instead criticized him for not holding up the ball more. It's this stupid ********ing system they've implemented that drives me ********ing nuts. Hold the ball and run around the ********ing field like a headless chicken. THAT'LL GET YOU ********ING GOALS AND WINS. There is a whole lot of anger brewing within me and that little rant is just part of everything that's wrong with this franchise. From the very top to that ********ing raccoon at RFK.
Hey, that raccoon never hurt anybody*. *Well, he obviously chewed through some important electrical cables, but still...
Wherever it comes from, if it goes in the net it's better than anything we have going. Seriously, we need a quality upgrade starting at the coaching staff and touching nearly every position but Hamid. Its like we've spread a bunch of hand tools on the ground and are trying to figure out which is the right combination of them to use to build a superhighway. Just don't see how that happens. Maybe we win this Sunday with this combination of coaching and players. But barring a new stadium announcement, it's feeling like 2010 -- despite having a marginally better team. I fear what that will do to the fan base. I'm a die hard and another year of this will be hard to take.
I think the team really wants to develop Hamid. They figure if we actually had offense and a midfield he would not face as many shots. If he doesn't have to stand on his head every weekend then his transfer fee will go down and they will not be able to sell him for as much money. Seriously - this is the only thing that makes sense. James
I used to come to games for the tailgate and to watch Najar play. Now I go for the tailgates. (how sad that drinking with Fatbastard and Jeremy Eritraea is now the highpoint of the DCU experience)
------------------hamid riley-------bmac-------jakovic-------korb --------saragosa---------kitchen porter----------augusto-----------pontius ------------------rafael i'm not going in for the doom and gloom. they suck now but it's a long season, there's plenty of time to get hot going into the playoffs. also i'm a season ticket holder and being optimistic takes the edge off the buyer's remorse.
My mindset is already at 2010 in which I expect DC to lose. I think there is a possibility for DCU to turn things around but I'm pretty sure it doesn't start as soon as Saturday. Either way I'll be at RFK.
We've decided that we're going to come to the tailgate on Sunday and then go home to watch the game. We'll save ourselves $56 that way. Oh, and we can bring our dogs too