But you have already conceded he is no better or worse than Silva. So it seems weird to me that playing a guy you think is as good as your proposed starter would mean that they are essentially throwing the game. As for Neal, I think he is overrated. When you take into account that his turnover is the reason we ultimately lost the game, I could make the case that leaving Neal on the bench entirely would have left us with at least a point. Let's face it .... we have a team of guys who are all around the same level in midfield. We could nearly pick the lineup by random draw and it wouldn't make a difference in the midfield. That's why I disagree that the choices we made show that we were not serious about winning this game.
I groaned once I saw our starting line-up tonight, and am inclined to be as cynical as Shammypants as to exactly what went down in deciding who started tonight. And all 4- 2 AR's, the Ref and 4th official ought to be reviewed by whatever board monitors their integrity. It wasn't enough that every hand motion- foul for United vs. NE was to be called, including EJ's straight red-yet every defensive attack from behind our player's was to be ignored- But for Cristian to take a forearm shiver to his lip right in front of the ref, then to demonstrate the blood to an AR and be routinely ignored by both- That being said- what the hell happened to our dynamic midfield from Wednesday? You mean to tell me all that success the team had was : 1) the lack of 2-3 Houston starters Wednesday 2) having all 3 of Rolfe, Neal and Espindola on the pitch from the start 3) the lack of Mr. Johnson's enthusiasm up top weighing down the morale of the team? I'm hanging a specific problem once again on whoever's responsible for coaching the offense. Why can't we find wings or any midfielder who can consistently turn from the wing and make a pass up-field to the middle or opposite side of the pitch? Is it positioning, lack of preparation, lack of vision, lack of skill- all or any of the above? We seem to invite the opposition to pressure this specific situation which provides them ample opportunities to turn turn-overs into scoring chances. One would think any amount of serious film study would scream "this needs to be fixed!" With this problem in it's perspective, it's clear I think- the distance between where this club sits currently and where they need to grow. For them to become once again a club we all can believe can sit atop the tables of MLS,and contend not only for MLS Cup, but reclaim this franchise's rightful place being able to contend on the world club level once again. We are a deeper club than last year, a hungrier club for sure, and so far defensively proficient. I hope the coaches realize that while these are things to be proud of, it's not what the heart of us long-time fans yearn for. We've seen the glimpses of some exquisite offense this year-We desperately need to see it progress to the point where it shows up regularly, at home AND on the road, ESPECIALLY when a shot at 1st place in the standings is up for grabs.
I personally think it's bull shit that the Revs get to pad their points week after week playing teams on short rest. WTF? Overall the loss was expected. I was pretty critical of Olsen committing too much effort towards the win against Houston. Houston was totally depleted ... we could of gotten the 3 points there and kept Espindola's minutes down to around 75 so he could of potentially started tonight. Also I'm not sure what the deal is with Franklin. If he's healthy enough to take a spot on the 18 he should be healthy enough to contribute. Franklin has a lot of experience in this league playing wing. I'd feel much more confident with him out there over Martin or Caskey. I won't touch the EJ incident. I've thought from day 1 that he was an abysmal pick up. There's so much you can get on the open market with a DP slot. You can get a Boniek, Valeri or Higuain for about the same money. As if it wasn't enough that he's pretty ineffective in our system, now he's costing us with cards and suspensions.
Written Response from Referees “Eddie Johnson was issued a red card for violent conduct for kicking at an opponent while on the ground, while (the ball) was not within playing distance.” There you have it. That's exactly what happened, it was a dumb move and I have no problem with the ref's call.
That's absolutely not true. In fact, fantastic crosses and balls into the box are really the only thing Cristian Fernandez has going for him.
Except it isn't exactly what happened. He didn't kick him, and after watching it in slowmo on my DVR 7 or 8 times, he didn't kick at him. He did, however, do a stutter-feint like he was going to do so. Whether that crosses the line for VC, I have no idea. If gesturing to try to make someone think you're going to kick at them = VC, then that's all that matters, and end of discussion.
The stupid Revs taking cheap shots off the ball all game and then the moment anyone tries to get the least bit physical back they throw their hands up in shock as if it's the greatest injustice in history. Hate, hate, hate. EJ is not a good guy. No argument there. Although I think the league is wrong for trying to judge his intent on Perkins, I agree he probably knew exactly what he was doing by dragging his foot. But for now he's on our team and he got screwed. We supported Kovalenko and Stoitchkov and DeRo and Aunger and McKinley and plenty of other hacks and jerks and a-holes. EJ is definitely on the precipice of spiraling into self-pity and petulance and could become the anchor that pulls us down after a great start. Until then, though, I'm not ready to cast him aside, at least not for this stupid referee call. From what I saw he was 1) obviously fouled, 2) started to wind up to kick in frustration but then didn't actually do it and 3) got kicked by the NE player in retaliation for being knocked over. And before we relegate him to the bench it seems like he was the one whose run caused the ball to bounce to Espindola for the goal. EJ is definitely not a volume effort guy like Espy. You get a couple good moments from him a game, but he's contributed to the offense pretty much every game that he's played. Enough to warrant a DP salary and a guaranteed starting spot? Of course not, but we had to take a chance. Regarding the game as a whole, there were flashbacks of last year as we lamely tried to attack in the first half, but the defense really did a pretty good job of shutting down a NE offense that has been on fire. Both goals required fortunate bounces (and some unfortunate mental errors by midfielders), but we easily could have still taken the point if not for a goal line clearance and the referee.
Just send the Disciplinary Committee the tape of Brad Feldman admitting it was a harsh red and it will be an open and shut case that it was a terrible call. When was the last time Brad didn't complain about his poor, innocent Revs being handled too roughly?
Yeah, I just watched it again, it was a kick/stomp that was sort of aborted mid action. There was intent, but then he tried to pull up, but it was too late. I mean, I already said I thought the card was ridiculous, but you can't give a ref an excuse, especially when the game was getting crazy at that time. I'll give him credit for trying to control himself at the last moment though. Still a miserable effort from him tonight.
The reality is that there is a relationship between fines/suspensions in a previous game and subsequent yellow/red card/fines in future matches for that same player. I would bet that EJ being fined/suspended a few weeks ago had something to do with the perception he was intending malice.
Except if the ref calls the two handed shove Johnson gets right before he feigns or actually kicks at the Revs player no red card. As many have stated before, the Revs as usual thugged it up and United gets stuck paying the tab.
This happened a couple of times, where the ref played advantage when there was no advantage to be had. There was the incident your referring to, where EJ kept the ball, but he was right outside his own 18, there's no advantage there. On another occasion, one of our players was absolutely steamrolled right outside their 18, but we kept possession so it was play on. In that instance, a free kick is preferable, right after it's apparent the play was going nowhere.
Yep. To be fair, after the keeper Blake, it was a consensus that Mullins/Birnbaum was a toss up, yet Mullins didn't go until the 11th pick. So there are a few teams that are kicking themselves about that one.
I couldn't get the game from my local pub in Poolesville (blacked out). Looked like Benny was going after someone there at end of the MLS highlights package. Anyone see that?
That's true, but at the time DCU needed defensive help (the draft was pre-Parke) and EJ already had been obtained. Also, if everyone is being honest, there were doubts regarding Mullins' ability to move up to MLS. Remember Casey Townsend? and before that, Marc Burch? The track record of Maryland forwards making a transition to MLS was not good. I'm glad he's been successful so far. Let's see what happens when NE plays teams at full strength and not on 3 days rest to see how effective he is.
Thing is he's a different player than either Townsend (big body, some skill, no speed of foot or thought) or Burch (big body, big left foot, no speed of foot or thought) - he understands how to move as a forward, has technique, a shot, some speed and has soccer IQ. Somehow the NE GM has picked up good, young American talent. Aside from my love of the US national team, it means a less expensive contract structure. I know, this is a dead horse and I hate when the board get's too full of bitching. It's a beautiful day and I'm heading back outside to do more digging and gardening with my trusting pack of two...
It's also possible we played roulette, anticipating trading him and it didn't work out. We instead pulled the trigger on some old timers and Birnbaum never sees the pitch.
Yeah, not sure how we evaluate our pick until we've actually seen him play. If Parke and Boz were playing bad and Birnbaum still wasn't seeing the field then I'd be worried, but you don't casually switch up your center backs unless there's a good reason. NE already has some creative players on their team so a guy who works hard up top and is a good finisher makes sense for them. Not sure Mullins has four goals playing for us (though Rolfe and Espy might have worked well with him).
I don't agree. While Christian can cross, we need midfielders who can cross for EJ to be effective. Relying on the couple of times that our left back can get forward enough to put in a cross from the run of play is NOT going to make EJ effective. It takes more.
That's what I saw and commented on in the MLS play by play thread. It appeared to me that EJ *thought* about doing something, started to move to do it, and then realized how stupid it was and didn't go through with it. As I said there as well, his reputation for being a jackass is preceding him. Yaaaaayyyyy us.
Oh, I agree -- I was merely taking exception with your comment that "we have no effective crossers of the ball." Christian is an effective crosser of the ball. But I agree that that's not sufficient to make EJ himself effective.