My thoughts after watching the game from the Nordecke last night, and the replay on MLS Live this morning. Berhalter - Two straight games showing tactical flexibility? WTF? 3-4-2-1 last week, back to the 4-2-3-1 this week, but with tweeks. Afful, other than the cross that lead to the third goal, didn't get wide at all. He played nearly the entire game as an auxiliary third defensive midfielder. He was playing central a lot, far too often not to be by design. Also, I noticed both Artur and Trapp dropping deep, giving Mensah, Naess, and Steffen more options. And as mentioned on the broadcast, Pipa seemed to play higher up the field. When he plays higher, we always play better, when he drops deep, things get iffy. Steffen - Willing to come of his line, which I like. He seems to be a bit erratic about picking his moments though, this will get better with time and game experience. Very happy with him. Francis - Lackadaisical defending on the first goal. Other than that, did ok. Naess - Solid. Mensah - Freak athlete, good an making emergency recovery tackles. However, his marking and spacial awareness are terrible. Adi had one chance early where he made a run near post, stopped, then just took a step or two back. Mensah never noticed, left him wide open for a chance. For the second goal, Mensah, our biggest defender, HAS to mark Adi. Instead, he just stands off him five yards. It's not like they were way outside the penalty area, it was on the penalty spot. This isn't a fitness or speed of play issue, it's a soccer IQ issue, it's worrying. Afful - Solid in a more central role. Artur - Showing great potential. Rugged and tough, scrappy as hell, box to box. I was fine with signing Martinez because of his potential, Artur is much further along the process, so I'm sure he'll be made permanent. Trapp - Solid. Meram & Finlay - Both were peripheral figures really. Pipa - Best game in a while. He always looks better when camped out higher up the field. Ola - Can we stop saying he doesn't fit the system? Sure, Kei has better hold up play and is better in the air, but Ola just scores, and we seemed to move away from endless crossing this match. Afful was more central, Francis only had one cross really early on. By the way: Kei with Crew - 31 goals, 6 assists in 46 games, 0.69 goals per 90, 0.13 assists per 90 Ola with Crew - 19 goals, 6 assists in 29 games, 0.78 goals per 90, 0.25 assists per 90 Hansen - Made two great tackles after coming on, I was impressed by that, then he went and scored. Dude has pace and is willing to take players on, and seems to have that knack for being in the right place at the right time from what I've seen in preseason. High energy guy that is desperately needed for our bench. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Capos - They were great. Even Morgan ate some crow on Twitter about this. I'm glad to see most everyone gave it a fair chance, and it worked out spectacularly. Couple hiccups for sure, but it went just about as well as could have been hoped for the first time out, if not better. I haven't seen anybody say anything negative about it really yet.
Trapp and Artur stepped up. Mensah hesitated as he thought Asprilla might intercept the cross. Adi gave Afful a little push to clear space for himself, but it was Afful's decision to go all traffic cone instead of stepping up to Adi. Poor decision by Afful IMO, but the Crew did have four defenders in the area. In Afful's defense, he probably anticipated a possible one touch shot from Adi, and felt he needed to have his feet set. I don't blame Trapp for his "pushing foul", he was in a good position, headed the ball, and was slightly backed into by Chara, who then jumped away making the "push" look worse. The Portland commentator even complained about the weak whistle from the "feintest of contacts". On the Asprilla goal, Francis would have been able to play Asprilla offside but Mensah quickly, and unnecessarily, IMO, dropped back a few yards, keeping him on. So I would have to blame Mensah for the goal. Steffen might have been able to save the shot if he had his feet set--he probably still has a lot to learn. Higuain had a good game but his corner kicks seem to be getting worse. Finlay finally got a chance toward the end of the game, and it was a definite improvement.
Yeah. Steffen (and a lot of keepers) tend to have issues with footwork. He had his feet off the ground when the ball was struck so could not react until he landed, which was too late. That is a mistake. Still, real good save on the corner to open the 2nd half. With some more experience & polish, I think he'll develop into a fine keeper. Still, that was a good win against a real good team. We surrendered an early goal, took the lead, gave it up, & won it late. Pipa looking generally improved despite the corner kick malaise (we did score off one). Ola proving that wasn't a one year thing. 3G with some tactical flexibility. Artur seems to have some promise as Trapp's partner. Riatala is pretty solid. We have solid defensive depth with Francis, Williams, & Crognale + Jimenez. CM depth with Abu, Naess, & Tchani (if 3G lets him out of the doghouse). Hansen with an inkling of an offenisve spark off the pine we need. And we haven't even talked Abubukar or Maloney yet. Still unsure on Mensah (Crognale could be better). He was solid enough. I was very pessimistic pre-season. I'm getting optimistic. First place (with some schedule issues quirks).
I didn't want to be too harsh on him. But if you are spending DP money on a center back, you expect a guy who is gonna be dominant, a game changer, and someone who can lead the back line. He doesn't look anywhere near having even one of those characteristics yet.
I'm not quite as low on Mensah as everyone else but he certainly isn't worthy of a DP salary. I'm loving what I'm seeing from Crognale. He reminds me of that first year of Chad Marshall. Chad had a veteran in Robin Fraser though to study under. I just hope Alex gets the same opportunities Chad had.
It's an easy formula. If you don't like GGG then you are going to pick apart every thing mensah does. I thought afful was more at fault instead of standing there arms behind his back he should have charged him down. But mensah grumble grumble grumble.
I look at it this way, Sauro is/was a DP that had his salary bought down with MLS funny money. Sauro is/was an excellent center back, top 5 in the league IMO. Maybe not quite Van Damme or Ciman level, but close. Mensah is not at that level. Now, you could save "give him so time and whatnot", and generally I agree, but Sauro was great from the start. When Pipa first came in, he was great from the start. Mensah has a red card, the odd defending vs Accam in the Chicago game, and a couple of very lazy marking assignments, one of which led to a goal v Portland. If you're theoretically the best defender on the team (and with that salary, in the league), and the oppositions striker is standing on the damn penalty spot, mark him, simple as. I'm not ready to throw Mensah on the garbage heap just yet, but I think the majority opinion is that Crognale has looked better, at probably a quarter of the salary. I like GB, my biggest complaint has been his inflexibilty with tactics and formations. Two games in a row now he's been flexible, coaching to the specific opponent. Well done GB, a season too late, but better late than never. Mensah hasn't been great. He hasn't been terrible, some very good emergency defending v Houston and Portland, but so far he's nowhere near justifying a DP salary. I'd start Crognale over him the next match, but that's just me.
We played pretty well as a team for sure. Pipa was better and I agree with others that he spent more time forward than previously and that was a good thing. It gave Artur more room to maneuver. Artur was better because of this but still has room to get better. We were a bit fortunate overall though. Portland looked capable of scoring 4 or 5 and nearly did. They were missing one of their top attackers, too. So, conceding 2 and getting some luck with 2 posts being bit and with that bizarre goalkeeping play on Ola's goal tempers my enthusiasm a bit. Still, a home win is the best thing about going to a Crew match. Job done.
I think Mensah has to shoulder some of the blame on the first goal as well. Yes, Asprilla blew past Francis with very little effort, but if you look at it again -- Mensah is in the center of the field, marking no one, supporting no one, yet takes a big step back for seemingly no reason at a curious time. The fact that he was back so deep is what kept Asprilla onside (or at least close enough to onside that it was called that way). I think Francis was playing the trap on that play and got hosed by Mensah's positioning. On Ola's goal -- yes, that's a ridiculous gaffe from the Portland keeper, but give a lot of credit to Higuaín for that lobbed volley through-ball that set it up. That was played so perfectly that it made Gleeson worry that he'd be giving up an unabashed breakaway if he did nothing. It's an error, but certainly not an unforced one.
I think he was over hitting them on purpose. I think he was trying to get a tall guy on the far side. My guess is Gleeson does not do a good job tracking those types of balls. But some of them were wayyyyyy far side.
I remember shouting at the top of my lungs on the one that went out for a goal kick -- as I always do in that situation. The field is something like 120 yards long and 70 wide. How do you miss... THE FIELD!!!??! I'm someone that sticks up for MLS as much as anyone. It pisses me off when people continue to refer to MLS as though it's still just a glorified amateur bar league. The league has vastly improved, and is a very competent, competitive league that would stack up well against all but the world's elites. But this is something that still seems noticeably lacking to me -- the quality of crossing. MLS is the world headquarters of 30-yard crosses hit 60 yards. I haven't kicked a ball in anger in 12 years, and I'm still reasonably confident that I could hit crosses that are more accurate than some of the ones I've seen.
All I saw was the highlights but would have to say Afful did nothing and was more to blame but Mensah is much better physically suited for this deffense (Parkhurst,Wahl etc...)his tactical awareness sucks
Again I only saw highlights but Of Pipa doesn't play deep he does still have great skill in passing and service. But can he consistently play well and hold up physically when we play two games a week etc... I think age has caught up with him and obviously GB doesn't . I can only hope he is right and he should know better than me or other fans who don't work with him daily. I just think it's a poor decision to rely on him so much. I don't like Higuans demeanor etc... but I still hope he does well for us as we need him until we have found a better option. Was mentioned before we need a good start to the season and GB has gotten results. Tip my hat to him and I hope we can substain success I think the roster is better as long as we don't get a injury to Steffen or Ola we have good depth at all other positions.
We got the ball to bounce our way a few times but a fortuitous bounce only happens when you attack and create chances and it's about time something went our way.Our players were in position and finished when the opportunity arrived.
Artur looked fantastic. Pipa was good. A few too many turnovers still, but a great job. 3G may have to make a decision on Naess, Mensah and Crognale. Crog needs to be on the field.
I enjoy Artur's willingness to drive forward with the ball. He provides something that neither Trapp, Abu or Tchani has. He needs to improve his decision making with the ball. Prime example was his yellow card was a direct result from a poor pass and decision. Clearly GB loves him if he threw him into the lineup so quickly. I imagine we activate his buy clause this summer at some point.
Not Crog-nail though; Crognale (crō-nãl-ē). Like 'crow-nally'. I move for "Crow". Nordecke can crow for him as a chant/cheer.