We may have to pick up part of Parkhurst's salary or something like that. As far as which teams would be interested, it depends on how confident their coaches are they can fix his problems. Coaches in any sport tend to think they are just the guy to fix someone's problems or turn potential into actual. That's why talented knuckleheads get multiple chances or guys with great athleticism get looks from multiple teams. I'd think finding a trading partner for Parkhurst would be the easier part of things compared with convincing Torres to come to the Crew.
The last Toronto match may be the downward spiral that is hard to shake. When you know you can score 2-3 goals on just about anybody....yet it will never be enough to win. The Crew's opponents have to be eager to play knowing they can sccore goals almost at will. Playoffs? no thanks. I would rather not see this team I enjoy supporting get humiliated yet again.
I was totally off the Grid this weekend. How delighted I was to tune in early this morning. I still haven't watched the recording.........but given the result and what I am reading here, it may just be too soon for me. Maybe one day.... Only positive I've gleamed from this thread is that GB finally seemed to actually feel some heat here. I think I still like the system, but dam............really starting to wonder. It's either too ambitious for our talent or perhaps GB has other shortcomings. We'll never get it, but I'd love some inside skinny on what the hell the team really thinks is going on. Afful does appear to be what we need at RB, and that is a key position for this system, and I agree that MP is not what we need at CB, and all that stuff, but this seems to be bigger than just a couple of players.....
1. Given his whopping 0 minutes of play so far this season, I think you might be jumping the gun. 2. The very little I've seen of Afful, he appears to be an attacking wing back, which is exactly what Gregg wants.
They're out of the playoff picture right now, but we're not. Dallas and DC are the top 2 teams in MLS right now. They have a combined 3 players making more than $400k. Zero players above $500k. Spending money can help, but it sure as heck isn't everything. We're not going to have a Ballon d'Or winner play for the Columbus Crew SC anytime soon.
Our offense is clicking in a great way. Kamara and Finlay are league leaders in what they're getting paid to do. Higuain would have better numbers than Kaka if you added all the penalties that he has been given and factoring all of Pipa's assists. Maybe all of this offense is leaving our defense exposed. Playing great offense in spite of our defense.
Saying higuain is in any way better than kaka is just plain hilarious. I agree though that we're being too offensive for our own good.
I think the fact that Parkhurst is captain makes him a prime candidate to sit after a game like the last one, especially when that game came after several other recent defensive meltdowns. Unless he was head and shoulders above the rest in terms of performance (which he wasn't, to put it mildly), he sits because he hasn't helped "rally the troops."
I must disagree with most of you. I don't believe the Crew played particularly poorly in this match. In fact, in most of the road games this year, the Crew have played on the road about as well as they play at home. The problem is that their opponents, playing at home, perform considerably better than they do at MAPFRE stadium. And Orlando was outstanding across the board this night. Ceren and Higuita and the rest of the Lions put enormous pressure on the Crew whenever they had the ball, often forcing quick turnovers. They put on a clinic, really. It was certainly one of the best defensive efforts of any MLS team this year. By comparison, Tchani, Trapp, and Saied were rarely winning balls from Orlando. But overall, despite what you will read in the comments below, I think the Crew put in a decent amount of effort. They put in a ton of crosses. Unfortunately, the quality of the crosses, as usual for the Crew, were mostly only mediocre. Conversely, Orlando put in some terrific crosses, and scored as a result. Four of their five goals came from crosses (albeit one was a fortunate deflection). What I don't really understand are all the complaints about Parkhurst and Wahl. It seemed to me they did reasonably well. It wasn't like they were getting caught out of position or were making atrociously bad plays. Let's look at the goals one by one. 17:32 It seems as if Parkhurst and Wahl have Larin well boxed in, with Parkhurst a half-step deeper than Larin. Yet somehow the ball from Ashe gets past Parkhurst while Larin is able to crush it. Still, it's hard to question Parkhurst's positioning. Yes, it is his responsibility to prevent the cross from reaching Larin and yes, he could have positioned himself a few inches deeper, but this is hardly a reason to give up on Parkhurst as a center back. I would more quickly question why Barson practically begs Orlando to send a ball to Ashe into the corner, and I wonder what would have happened if Clark either a) tried to cut off the cross which rolled across 5 yards from goal, or b) moved to get in front of Larin as he was charging goal after the ball was crossed. Instead he did not move from his spot, and simply did a leg split. I'm not a GK coach, but I wonder if he could have done better. 36:53 This goal was scored by a wide open Darwin Ceren. The question has to be asked, who should have picked up Ceren, to at least make a little more difficult for him to score. Waylon Francis had gone far forward, and although only had minor participation in attacking play, was not in any hurry to get back defensively. Meram did get back on defense, and, even though he looked behind to see Ceren just as he began his charge forward, ignored him and elected to block a potential pass. He didn't come close to blocking the pass from Kaka. Tchani was in the best position to both see the potential trouble and to do something about, but chose to watch play develop until it was too late. Even more mysterious, he makes no move toward Ceren when Parkhurst's block pops the ball back out to him. You would think he would at least try to get between Ceren and the goal. 52:50 Corey Ashe centers a ball to an onrushing Cyle Larin. Tyson Wahl makes a hard run to ensure that he stays goal side of Larin. Waylon Francis, who is about a yard deeper than Larin when the play develops, takes a leisurely jog backward, allowing Larin to get ahead of him. Had he actually made an effort, he could have gotten a foot in to attempt to block the shot. Did Wahl drop too deep? Possibly. But of greater concern is that Kaka was also wide open on the play. I believe Ashe's pass was to Kaka, but deflected off Barson's arm to Larin. Had the ball reached Kaka, the result probably would have been the same. Parkhurst drops way too deep to defend Kaka, and even too deep to block the "pass" to Larin. I'm not sure Parkhurst can be blamed for dropping too deep, because he doesn't have eyes in the back of his head to see where Larin is (he might be continuing his run), and he was probably providing "cover" in case Barson got beat on a dribble, but still I wonder. Of more concern is that Trapp doesn't make much of any effort to get goalside of Kaka once Orlando has won the ball. Trapp is not on the field for his offense. Neither Tchani nor Meram make any real effort to get back, despite Ceren also making a hard run up the right side, and also open for an easy shot should the ball get crossed over to him. 76:31 Luke Boden corner kick to Aurelin Collin. I'm not sure what the defensive assignments were. I do know that Hector Jimenez graciously got out of the way so that Collin could attack a ball that Jimenez did not bother to jump for. I also wonder why Steve Clark didn't have his hands already up to help block any potential deflection by Collin. 83:54 Kaka cross to Higuita. Kamara comes across late to attempt to block the header, but he was never in a good position. In preparation for the cross, Higuita smartly stood next to Meram. Higuita knows Meram isn't going to defend, but it appears to the casual observer that he is "marked up". As soon as Kaka is ready to cross, Higuita backs away from Meram and is left unmarked. Kamara reacts smartly but Kaka's cross is too good and Higuita buries it. I would think standing goalside of an attacker would prevent him from making a strong move to an incoming ball, but apparently the Crew defense believes otherwise. In sum, lazy defense from Meram, Tchani, Francis, Jimenez, and I'll throw in Trapp too because I'm not sure he made a play all night, plus excellent play from Orlando, were the reasons the Crew lost. For those of you who want to see Parkhurst at right back -- Parkhurst would make a terrible right back in Berhalter's system. Parkhurst is useless going forward. Has he been tried at d-mid? Saied has been terrible and Trapp hasn't been much better.
At what point do we get really critical of Clark? (I missed watching the game but saw the highlights, so I dunno if he did OK overall, but the 2nd and 4th goals looked savable to me.)
4th was a flick from 4 yards out. If you're being super critical, the 2nd wasn't the hardest save in the world, but I have a hard time blaming the keeper when someone blasts a shot from 7 yards away. Clark isn't an issue.
The first goal is a bit meh. Sure, parkhurst and wahl should have done better, but the ball was crossed into the six yard box. Clark should be dominating that area. He seems very much like a stay on his line keeper though. I think in this system, we need a barca style keeper that isnt afraid to come out and act as a sweeper if need be.
I like Clark, happy with him. Cat-like quickness. But I agree (and have mentioned before) that his physical size and strength are a shortcoming, especially when it comes to crosses in a crowded box. I used to wonder why he sat on the line, but over time realized that he is so quick, that it seems like he believes his odds are better at trying to react/make a save vs. trying to win a physical battle in a crowd. He may be right.... You certainly would hope that your keeper would own the box though.
Your goalkeeper shouldn't have to come off his line and away from his near stick when there is one forward running between your two center backs.
I did say the goal eas meh, plenty of blame to go around. It is a trend with clark though. I dont want to get rid of him just to be clear, but perhaps playing the defense a bit deeper would help close that gap between the CBs and clark.