Remi Walter and Johnny Russell are listed as questionable in the latest #SportingKC injury report. The out-list is back down to the long-term injuries (Melia, Pierre, Ford, Agada), although Kayden Pierre be off that list in the next few weeks. #SKCvDAL— Daniel Sperry (@sperrydaniel94) May 30, 2023
Man I really hope tzone makes the best of his minutes and/or we can find someone credible to rotate in with JFR more. Man's not getting younger and its summer time now. We now have depth in the midfield and perhaps at the fullback spots. We just need to shore up the CBs (need a credible starter and backup here) and front line depth.
I think we've decided that tzone's price point is what we assign to forwards who don't score, as he's making Shelton money. In Tzone's defense, we all saw his brilliant nats team strike, very Vela-esque, what, 500 years ago? And recently he's working a lot harder defensively. I join you in thinking he may work it out. He truly does seem to be a player with "it" but is similar to a lot of young players who haven't yet figured out how to bring that out on a consistent, minute to minute for 90 minutes, in a professional setting. Upside, he does run fast while he's out there, and i get way too angry watching Shelton not do that, after his one sprint per game. I keep hoping that he will somehow score, and that will send his confidence high enough to make scoring at least something semi-regular. I mean, 3-6 goals a season can't be too much to ask from an attacker?
On the flip side, Dallas has a lot of injuries. From their preview: Injury Bug: FC Dallas earned a point with a 1-1 draw in San Jose over the weekend but it come at a cost. Midfielder Tsiki Ntsabeleng left the game with a knee injury after an unfortunate collision before defender Ema Twumasi limped off with an ankle issue toward the end of the game. The pair were both added to FCD's ever-growing injury report that also includes midfielders Paxton Pomykal and Sebastian Lletget as well as forwards Paul Arriola and Tarik Scott. Thankfully, GK Maarten Paes and right back Geovane Jesus returned to training this week So if we consider the two players returning to training this week to be not really in consideration for much time, that's 8 important players they're missing, and IMO, in Pomykal and Arriola their two most influential players. As they also played this weekend, we can't use tired legs as an excuse, unless we want to focus on a roster build that prioritized experience, so old, players.
Short turn around and still players languish because PV appears unwilling to rotate. Dallas was able to bring some rested players into their lineup. I will blame tired legs and minds if we lose or tie.
First half, Fontas has been awful. Gives away two passes near the SKC box. Then Ferreira leaves him for dead on the touch line and runs right past him.
Winning is more fun that losing. Report on Rosero was apparently cramps. Zusi the report is a hamstring (which was obvious by the way he grabbed his leg when he went down).
Wow, that bush league stuff between Castellanos and McIntosh that led to the stoppage time goal was hard to watch. Glad they got the win. Salloi and Kinda making it happen. Tzone didn't look very sharp tonight but got the job done. How about Shelton at defensive back? He actually did better there than any time at forward. Maybe if he wants to stay in the show he will convert to a defender. Pulido didn't do much other than wander around. He didn't seem dangerous at any time tonight.
Fair, just saying he deserves blame there too. Here's McIntosh's quote about the goal btw... McIntosh: "At the end, I think I'm an aggressive goalkeeper and I'm always trying to make plays... that one didn't go my way."#SportingKC #SKCvDAL— Chad Smith (@PlayFor90) June 1, 2023 It's fine to be aggressive, I don't mind aggressive GKs, but you have to be smart and aggressive and that really wasn't.
Winning and scoring multiple goals is fun but holy smokes our defense could have easily given up 3-4 goals tonight and Dallas just flubbed their chances in the end.
True. On the other hand, he was aggressive similarly on several other plays and saved goals on them. I don't mind him as a backup though. Certainly a decent keeper and a great personality out there. He isn't any more inconsistent than Pulskamp at least. This game was Salloi's. Hell, this month was Salloi's. Did Dallas even pack a RB for their trip here? Daniel had complete run of the flank, and the goal he scored (while great from our perspective) was atrocious defending. Looking at his stats, a full 50% of his shots are on target! However, somehow 80% of those on-target shots are saved... Really bizarre numbers. Kinda is looking more and more like the player I remember. Jesus, that guy is ********ing fun to watch when he's full of beans.
yeah, mcintosh was awful tonight. he should've been burned for a goal in the first half when he fumbled the save directly to the dallas player who happened to have been offside. i have zero confidence in him as our gk. rosero also got away with boneheaded plays tonight. i counted at least two times where he mindlessly passed directly to dallas players deep in our own end while he was under no pressure. absolutely inexcusable. EDIT: now that i think about, i recall fontas doing this at least once as well. if you're going to be a traffic cone as a cb and still play because you're supposedly a good passer of the ball... then you better not be passing it to the wrong team. one last comment was about the commentary crew tonight for appletv. first of all, that dude never shut up. secondly, i'm not sure he ever called the right name for any of our players. he was misidentifying players left and right. the color analyst was poor as well, but for different reasons. she added nothing, and frankly, i just don't like her voice and/or her speaking cadence. bukaty and meola are far preferable.
So, Shelton was less of a problem as a right back than he's been up front for the last several years. who knew? Watching him, with no experience and no real clue about the position, he looks as if, properly trained, that's a better spot for him. His overlapping runs looked fast. His frontrunning runs look much slower. Tzone at this point is giving us a classic lunch bucket, honest days work type of outing. It's interesting, because we brought him in as a flair guy, and apparently have drummed that out of him, now he just has to add it back in to his work ethic game and he's JFR M2. Still a long ways off that, but I was happy with his effort and defense in this one. It's shocking that a seriously overused 36 year old right back ended up picking up the sort of injury associated with overuse and exhaustion. Walter, Kinda, thommy are an interesting issue, aren't they? Kinda and thommy will understand each other better the more they play together, which will mean they won't end up standing on each other's toes so often as their instincts are pretty similar. But jeebus they can ball when they get rolling. However, without Walter, we really don't recover the ball nearly as well. All three pairings seem brilliant at times, a bit less than perfect at times. McIntosh is not a long term starter, but at $85,000, he's pretty much equal to Melia this season. The interesting comment on him was at the end, when they noted that Vermes says he's a sponge for advice. That's a positive. we obviously need an actual starter for 2024, but as Melia represents that salary slot this year, I don't hate watching him grow. the mistakes are a problem, but without mistakes, he's not an $85k keeper. I came away massively impressed with the partnership between Salloi and Logan. that's some good soccer, right there. Also, Pulido... While there is clearly something missing, the snap is not there, it has to be noted that his close control is pure class. Finally, who was the manager last night? The TV people said it was Vermes, but the SKC manager made 5 subs, three not forced, at appropriate times and for appropriate reasons. Someone in a Vermes body suit, obviously.
So, with this win, and our recent form (forgetting about StL), a win in the upcoming game against Vancouver could see us back into a playoff spot. Is this an indication that A.The good ship SKC has been righted, B. Vermes was correct, there never was any cause for worry and certainly wasn't a reason to want him out, or C. FFS, MLS playoffs, eh! who doesn't get in!
I really want the team to do well, but I am doubtful they can keep up with their improving form. There are too many recurring injuries, more questions about Pulido, GK consistently problems, leaky defense, etc. No matter what happens, unless SKC goes to the MLS Championship game, everyone in the coaching staff and organization need to be evaluated to determine if they should keep their job.
I do think there's some, though, as he hasn't played at this level. a consistent string of games played will get him to his best level, i'd hope. but yeah, he won't be MLS starter level. OTOH, no one on our team seems to be that
I've made the joke before that Shelton should convert to a CB since the ball never goes in the net when he's around. We nearly got a taste of that. What about...hear me out here guys...Shelton starts training as a goalkeeper? /s
I'm having a hard time understanding the downs, then ups, then downs of this team, but they seem to be trending up. I guess when you are last there is nowhere to go but up, but they are playing much better now that PV has most of his players available. It is really hard to judge the performances week to week though. Portland was banged up. Dallas is banged up. KC is always banged up. LAFC/STL preferential schedules, etc. I guess its just good to win again and who cares why.
Exactly. There are always conditionals and context and all that. What matters is winning, and also winning well. We've largely been winning high-quality games this month. Is it sustainable? Beats me. I almost... I almost don't care. The game against St Louis aside, it's been just fun and refreshing (for the team as much as for the fans).
I always say I don't really care where we end up in the table, as long as we've been playing well, I'm happy. When we play well and lose, I'm okay with that. the problem with our first 10 games was not just that we were losing, but we were horrible, boring, etc. We're fun to watch lately. I think it will be a shock if we don't make the playoffs, and when fully healthy, if that's a thing, I think we could be that team no one wants a piece of in the playoffs.