With Rosenberry being subbed off and Yarbrough not starting, no Rapid has played every minute this season
Realistically we're playing for 2nd now (and more likely, trying to keep Portland from catching us for 3rd).
Couldn't help but feel like this at halftime last night: At least I got to bed on time. The gift goals given away suck, but the lack of scoring on the gifts given is even more frustrating. It reminds me of the 4 consecutive draw games of September.
I honestly quit watching at the half. Anybody that watched beyond that is made of sterner stuff than I am...or they're just masochists. Watched a replay of the "red card." Incredibly soft, and another example that VAR is a failed experiment. That's honestly not even the worst example of VAR being misused in that game. I recall a delayed offside call where the officials let a play continue long after it would've been reasonable to blow the whistle, including forward progress from the attacking team having ended quite some time before the whistle was actually blown. The idea that the linesmen and center ref do essentially nothing with the idea that "VAR will catch it/fix it" after wasting a solid 20-30 seconds of play contributes nothing positive to the game. The whole reason VAR was put in place was to improve the accuracy of officiating. Can anybody really say thats being accomplished? To me its only changed the way games are officiated, but hasn't actually improved how things are called, and the only net result that has been martial is games have slowed down significantly. This 1000%. Despite the 3-man back he wants to employ constantly hemorrhaging bad goals, he continues to insist we keep trying it. Playing Barrios as a center forward is another example of an idea that is a proven failure that he stubbornly continues to try and force. At some point this kind of stuff will eventually lead to Fraser's downfall. I really don't understand why Fraser keeps wanting to do this. We have 1 wingback, and only about 1.5 good centerbacks. What Fraser should be doing is a 4-3-3 like this: Yarbrough Rosenbury, Wilson/Lalas, Trusty, Esteves Kaye, Price, Acosta Galvan, Rubio/Shinya, Barrios The two potions that have interchangeable players (CB and CF) are the places we should be looking at for major upgrades in the next transfer window...though both of these positions should have been upgraded last winter but continue to remain ignored by managment. As far as playoffs go, this team has "one and done" written all over it unless Fraser quits fiddling around and sticks with what actually works.
Our centerbacks are better than you're giving them credit for, you don't get to a team record shutout number without some quality there. But yes, we desperately need a striker.
I wish we could clone Trusty and have two of him on the field. He's not perfect, but he's comfortably our best CB. He makes fewer mistakes than Lalas or Wilson, and even when he does make mistakes they seem much less costly. I wish we had another CB that were at or above his level. If we did, you could then at least make an argument that a 3-man backline could work. Lalas is a bull in a china shop which can be exactly what we need at times, but other times his brain switches off and we get punished for it. Wilson has never done it for me. He's generally decent at positioning, but is too slow and bad in 1v1 situations to be getting significant minutes at this level. He gets the playing time he does because of his "veteran leadership" and because he likes to pass out of the back, which is something our team does to a fault. I still maintain that no other team in MLS, not even the ones with +50 goals against, would rate him highly enough to make him a starter.
It was interesting that after swapping to the 4-3-3 that the Rapids really starting working themselves back into the game too. Thought there was a real chance to pull one or two back. Until the ghost of a red card that is. The 4-3-3 works amazingly well with our guys. Don’t know why we haven’t played it in forever
I think if you could somehow combine Abubakar and Wilson you'd have a great MLS centerback. What one does poorly the other does well and vice versa. Its kind of similar to how Wynne and Moor were as a pairing, except they were both better (relative to the league) than Lalas and Danny are. They get the job done when working together, and are fine when one of them is working with Trusty, but you never feel truly confident in them.
I was doing an airport run, sounds like I made a good choice. Exciting for @m vann - good luck! Teach him to hate the Sounders!
I think this is why Fraser persists in playing 3/5 at the back. He doesn't trust either Wilson or Lalas alone and believes, with some evidence, that it works to have them together. It definitely keeps Wilson from getting exposed as often. What's not working is Kaye as a forward/winger. I'd rather see him at ACM so we don't have a big hole in the middle of our attack.
Why would we do that? We want to have Lewis or Barrios as a center forward so we’re clearly short on wingers
First question, can the Rapids file an appeal of the red card on Esteves? It would take all of 30 seconds to see that there was no foul at all. At the half, I stated to others that had Yarbrough been the starter it might very well have been a one goal deficit, rather than three. I'm not down on the Rapids after this one. They played hard the entire match and never gave up.
Except there was. I don't think it was a red card foul, but Esteves got his calf on one leg and his ankle on the other.
I disagree on there even being a foul, and even if there is a foul it’s not even a yellow: 1444895124769492992 is not a valid tweet id Esteves pulls off a pretty clean spin move. Paolo was late in his tackle, Esteves made him look silly. Playground stuff. Paolo grabbing his upper shin is the real kicker for me there. If there was any sort of real contact that would been foul worthy, why is Paolo holding his upper shin when the real meat of the contact would’ve all been at heel/ankle level? If this was Vela, or Chicharito, or Gil, or Pozuelo, etc, ref probably swallows his whistle - and if he doesn’t swallow his whistle no card is shown. But because it’s Esteves on Paolo - who the league loves - and it’s in Seattle with their loud crowd it’s a straight no questions asked red. I mean come on. It’s no different than Rubio rolling around holding his face
I am not a ref but I follow a lot fo ref commentary. The general response to this incident has been that a red is not out of the question. I think a red is harsh, but the idea that its not even a foul is completely opposite the feeling in the ref discussion. That's why I'd be surprised if the Rapids even file a protest on the card. He grabs his leg has he falls, reaching down as far as he can in the moment. By the very end of that clip you posted his arm and hand has already slid down his leg to his ankle, which is where the contact was. This is a weak argument against the call.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE] Hey it’s part of why soccer has been so popular from generation to generation. Everyone can see things differently. As far as it being a weak argument, I guess when someone is hit in the face their first reaction is to grab the back of their head and then later move to hold their face eh? I’m just saying JP made a meal out of that one (there was more clear contact by Montero on Rosenberry for example) and that refs - human as they are - probably wouldn’t be making the call if it was a star doing the spin. Probably would’ve been featured on Tekkers Tuesday especially since he beat both Roldan and Paolo to the ball Ah well. If all the refs say it’s a foul, Rapids probably won’t do anything then. Even though I still think it’s a really strong case for at least reducing it from a red seeing as how pretty much everyone - even Sounders fans - say it wasn’t red.
Not a ref and haven't stayed at a Holiday inn in years... my 2 cents- I'm with @TheWarmBurger That was a weak foul and not card worthy in any form.
I’m old, watched decades of soccer, reffed kids soccer, and that was the weakest red I’ve ever seen. I might have called a foul to keep things under control...at best.