Peter, the broadcast was showing a replay and the viewers at home missed Rhine coughing up the ball that lead to the winger running free and sending in the cross that Rolfe slammed past Sala. It was quite ridiculous. He just dribbled off his foot and the attacker ran right by him. Rec-level mistake. Boogles the mind.
I will defend Rhine this far. He gave up a goal. He also had the game winning assist. By end of year, he may be coming off the bench. But I would be surprised to see Rhine benched after an opening game that showed a number of people a little rusty from lack of full speed play. His defense has to get better, or he won't continue to start. There are two spots on the field I think can change before year's end; left mid, and right defender. AA nailed a goal, and Rhine got an assist. That won't save either of them over the course of a year if they don't play better.
You can't blame Bobby for the first goal. First off, Rolfe wasn't his guy; he tried to help on him because Rolfe had beaten three other defenders. Sure he blew it, but EVERYBODY looked bad on that goal. Clarence, Salas, Gbandi. It was Sunday league defense, caused in part because it was opening day and they were jittery, and partly because Rolfe is a little friggin' monster on the ball. The second goal, okay, yeah, that was all on Bobby. But lay off him, he's going to be fine. He's smart and talented, and he learns from his mistakes. He's been a defender for, what, not even an entire year yet? He'll be fine. Plus, as 'nards pointed out, he's a great, great guy.
Right now there is no one ready to play at RB other than Rhine. Justin Moore had a nice spring buth he's not ready for the first team yet.
Ramon could have saved him but was lazy on the play and let the overlapping player go. At least so it looked from where I was. I still can't get past the move of ROB to the middle and play of Nunez out wide. ROB is the best RM in the league and just an ok central mid. And Wilson is a solid central mid, not Mulrooney of course but good enough.
This was a question before the game and we got the answer. Both ROB and Ramon looked uncomfortable. I think it would have worked out a lot better if they were switched. Ramon is probably just as good inside as Ronnie and Ronnie is a lot better outside than Ramon. Since CC doesn't trust Nunez in the middle you are probably right that Wilson will get the nod next week unless Ramon or Dax shows a lot during the week or Mulrooney magically is ready. Ramon will then be fighting Alvarez for the left spot. I will add this - Simo is no longer a starter IMHO. He doesn't cover a lot of ground, his tackling isn't as strong and his passing and shooting are lacking. When Richard returns he may take that spot. Another idea is how would Mina look as a center mid? He played there most of his career and it would be a way to get him on the field with Cooper. __________Cooper__________Fish__________ Nunez_____Mulrooney_______Mina_______ROB
Dude, did you see your two close-ups on national tv? (The second one was unbelievable -- your face practically took up the whole picture frame for about 3 seconds). According to Andy Warhol, you've just had your 15 minutes of fame.
You nailed it! With that formation, we can win the Cup, no joking! Let's make Clarke swear he will never ever ever ever put ROB in the middle again, except in the event of a nuclear attack. The guy practically invented flank play -- let's let him be the best he is. Anyone think Wilson should take Simo's holding role? Just curious.
I don't think Mina was a central mid, I think he was high attacking #10 type in the South American sense. The high mid in a 3-5-2 if you will. There isn't one of those in either of Clarke's formations.
I think you are right and why it is just a suggestion. My question is could he pull it off or is he only a foward for FCD? Counter argument - is Nunez ready for the middle? I don't like having two defensive type mids in the center with all the attacking on the wings so I hope that some sort of attacking option works into the middle. I used to think ROB would do fine there but no longer feel that way and now feel he is wasted anywhere but as a right mid. Mulrooney will help and my long term hope is another true two way player like Mulrooney grabs the spot (Dax) or Ramon has enough defense along with his great attcking skills to hold onto the spot. Simo takes the Oscar role of last year and is a late game sub and occasional starter. Not sure Pitchkolan and Wilson are both needed as their game seems very similar to me and not what I would be looking for in a starter.
Well the Dallas lineup is unsettled at present. There are several ways to do it, new untested and unfamiliar players and maybe the team's best player about to return from a major injury. I don't think at the end of the year they will look like they do now but I don't think anyone could predict what they will look like.
Yeah, FCD is selling ruiz, mina, and ROB to Corinthians in Brazil for $30 million. Rumor has it AJ Wood is going to return to the MLS as a forward.
I was thinking the same thing about AA on the second goal. Gbandi had to pinch in so AA should have dropped to cover Rolfe.
That's how I see it....There were a couple of times prior to the first Fire goal where Goodson appeared to be in naptime. He woke up pretty quick along with some of the other boys once the "actual game" reality set in. Hardest working man on the team in my opinion.
Nunez did not look good - but I think I remember he was injured some this spring training and did not practice or play much. I hope that explains his play. I wonder how much of the ROB in the middle move was something Clarke tried just because it was Chicago and Opening Day, a surprise that didn't work. And then in switching to 3 forwards Cooper bailed him out.
Maybe we should evalate Bobby with midfielder that plays just a little bit of defense before we abandon the experiment.
I think he would've had to play high like that - I don't see the work-rate required to play anything else (except striker of course) that might require some defending.
Exactly, nor any of the numerous mistakes from last season when he simply passed the ball directly to an opposing attacker in our defensive third. The guy just doesn't take care of the ball like a defender should. He has an attacker's mentality and is really hurting the team by giving away easy scoring chances. At some point, his fellow defenders are going to lose confidence in him and that's going to be a problem.
1st Fahr Goal - Goodson had Rolfe at first but Rolfe dribbled onto Rhine's side of the pitch. I still don't know why Rhine stepped farther inside when he was already perfectly positioned and was left trailing the play. Sala was in no way shape or form at fault for giving up a rebound which led to the goal. 2nd goal - He is supposed to be a forward/midfielder in the past but how in the hell do you over run a ball like that. That mistake has nothing to do with him being a RB but just another Rhine touch that he could get away with up top but you can't get away with in the back. Big props to Dario Sala. Without his two huge saves in the 10 minutes that came after Bobby's mistake the Fahr dominated the game and we were very lucky to not be down 4-1 before Cooper and Willo enter the game. I am still of the opinion that you have a defender be a defender FIRST and then attack second. Bobby made rookie mistakes so why don't we put a rookie in there to make them rather than having a long time MLS vet making the rookie mistakes.
Just to throw something more on the fire. Chivas started with two rookies on the outside and Frickin Regan in the middle and shut RSL out. Our young players who can play on the right (Moore and Moor) are both better than the Chivas rookies. If they can do it, we can do it. If ever there was a time to give someone a shot, it is now. Besides, Rhine is effective in a 4-3-3 because you need the wing presence. In a 4-4-2, you have to occasionally move forward, but defense is more important because you have an outside mid. So take Rhine out. Final point: RSL has a rookie on the left mid who isn't going to beat anyone for pace. This is a good game to get a young player some experience.