I think Montreal had been practicing all week in Dallas to firm up their defense and it showed. That led to a rough first half performance for us asthey pressured us into turovers ad bad passes quite a bit. They spent alot more energy the first half against us that had to fade for them by thesecond half and it did. That opened up the field and gave a little more space for Boniek in the middle and he really profited from it secnd half. Barnes, Driver, Davis, Boniek, Kofi, Tally and Corey had good matches I thought. Quick turnovers in our half right in front of Horst and Taylor led to some good opportunities when balls were passed right in behind them. Wenger looked like Bruin of last year with those missed opportunities. One pleasant surprise was how well the field played despite torrential rain for 24 hours right up til the game. The grass looked great and it was not soggy.
I just finished re-watching the match. He did exactly the right thing there. The Dynamo did not have numbers and it would have been silly to risk conceding possession given the pressure the Impact were applying on the Dynamo defense. In turning and passing backwards he gave a few seconds for players to get forward and the sequence ended in a decent cross from Ashe into the box. Davis ran at the Impact D all night long. He only turned and passed backwards on a couple of other occasions in the 1st half, one of which resulted in Drivers point blank shot on goal (dropped it back to Ashe which gave Barnes time to make a run, Ashe sent it long to him Barnes beats Ferrari to the sideline while Bruin makes an excellent near post run to pull the CB's and leave Driver in acres of space. Just a shame that Perkins got off his line so fast).
I'd add (and someone else said this above), this is the type of match the Dynamo lost or drew the last two years. Getting 3 points was big. Yeah, Montreal had chances but the D cleaned up all of them.
oh I agree-that's why I said he scores when it counts. But I don't like to see wasted chances (the ones he missed have meant nothing so far) but let's hope he gets those out of his system and hits those one on ones when we need for a 1-0 victory in May.
I don't have to, people above already have. It makes me happy to be surrounded by other miserable fans especially after we've earned max points in the first 2 games. Don't ever forget, football like love is pain!
Or Barnes could try to find himself with some more 1 v 1s because we know he is pretty good at finishing them. BTW was Cummings listed as out or just a Dom decision not to get him on the game?
Correct. Dom was suspended and fined pretty heavy for that game. Pat ran the length of the field to stop Dom from getting in worse trouble. Iirc Wingstop offered to pay his fine but that was against league policy so they donated it to a charity of his chosing (don't remember which one).
Speed wasn't something we needed at the end there. Sherrod was a good sub in being a big bruiser to tie down the CBs.
He was on the bench but Dom opted not to use him. Found it odd that Dom used no substitutes until the the final 5 minutes of the match. By that time he'd already subbed out Driver, had to use one to get Davis off and Sherrod was a better option to try and hold possession and kill the match.
OR Originally Dom told Wade to tel him to get ready (I am assuming it was Bruin) but as the match changed late, and he used the sub for Brad he told Omar to hold on (and then asked Bruin if he was good). BTW-we finished the match w/o a captain. I noticed this and asked where the armband was to those around me. I think Brad heard me because he looked at his arm and then took it off and flung it on the bench. Oh well.
this was one ugly game. we were lucky to get out with a win and shows that we still have some major work to do. montreal simply isn't that good, but their bunker-then counter-tactics almost paid dividends. this is two games in a row where we saw the D get exposed, and if not for heroics (horst first game, horst/sarkodie this game) we lose. Taylor specifically had a deplorable game...... OBG had another stellar performance and is quickly becoming the best player on the team. davis and rico were tops as well, but Bony was more complete. its a fact. bruin 1 v 1 with the keeper means keeper wins. all day, every day. stumbledore simply can't score unless its a bang bang blast and he some how manages to keep the ball on frame. his goal this game was as lucky as it gets. of course Wondo made a whole fan club out of poaching goals one year so maybe our striker who can't beat the keeper can do the same. we played yet another team that was less than fully stocked and won. that is what we should do. i look forward to seeing us actually get tested by a real team to see how we react. for a typically slow starting team, 6 pnts to start the year is awesome and i'll take it any year. we may actually get through April with only playing one or two teams that are any good so i hope we make our hay now. Ugly or not, i hope we continue the winning streak and keep adding points!
2 weeks in and i haven't heard anyone complaining about the refs. i've actually have been pleasantly surprised by the replacement refs.
I think you can make an argument that they have been better in some instances. I got really giddy last night when there was a foul at midfield but he allowed the advantage, but came back and properly showed a yellow card to the offender after play had stalled. I've seen the real MLS refs miss the call, not properly give advantage or forgive a guy a card (or sometimes all 3 at the same time).
I've not had a problem with any of the refs in either Dynamo game, but have seen some questionable calls in other games around the league.
Collin comes to mind. Most I saw was that instant replay video saying we had arguments for PK's against the Revs but honestly those look like calls the regular refs wouldn't make either so I wasn't too miffed. Luck of the draw I guess.
The midfield battle was pretty even during this match for long periods of time. Felipe, and Bernardello really tested the Dynamo. I expect that some changes may be needed going forward for certain teams. I think that the defense did well, but the midfield struggled at times and turned the ball over and the Impact were able to use speed to move the ball quicker than the midfield or defense could recover. I'm sure that Dom is talking to the team about ball-watching, and making sure that the passing in the midfield is a bit crisper. One of the positive things about the match is the maturity to close out the match, and not get too much into the off-ball drama. I did not want to rate players last week because NER looked very poor, and the MTL match was a better test for the Dynamo. Better finishing from both sides would've changed the complexion of the match greatly. I'm excited to see how we do on the road against a decent team like Vancouver.
Dynamo are sitting on the top of the table. They haven't conceded a goal. They have the current golden boot leader. So I'm predicting the MLS Power rankings will list us 5th or so.