(Not directed at any one person) Christ, I've never seen so much negativity in my life for no reason as I have after this game: --we tied when we might have won (oh, horrors!) --we "bunkered" or wimped out in the heat after playing 2 games in the last week --the stadium is "too far" (poor babies, I live in New Zealand and got to see all of 1 game in person this year, and will get maybe a couple games on ESPN International--shut up already) --the stands are "too hot"--why no shade (as if 95% of Cotton Bowl seating or other Texas stadia seats are covered) --Attendance is horrible (despite being just a couple hundred below the league average, at least officially) --Scheduling 3 (!!!) weekend games during the season is just stupid-- Everyone knows you should be competing with everything else that is going on during the weekend, only. I am now convinced, with people bitching about a team with decent attendance, a first-place team, a new stadium in a safe yet somewhat far out suburb, and a new rivalry with the other big city in the state, that people WILL BITCH ABOUT ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God Damn it, people! Give it a freaking rest!!!! Things are fairly good, and will likely get better. Go bitch about the price of gas or something.
It is indeed an annoying trend. I say we nuke the entire board from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
They have a lot of the negative posts, but there are also quite a few from FCD people. When I started the thread I didn't realize we have a 10 game unbeaten home streak going. And a certain FCD fan is arguing to "FIRE CC"! Unbelievable.
well no offense Mr. Paul but if you've seen the trend lately and knew anything about the way CC plays you'd be doing the same. I know you've been watching the team for a long time so pissing away another season must make you as sick as it does me who's been watching this team piss away seasons since '96. So its not far fetched to say fire CC, the way we're playing is appauling and it needs to quit now or we're doomed to the same fate. People who know me know I'm very positive about this team but this is beyond the normal BS we go through and it has to stop. And like you said, you don't see many of the games, so you might not know whats going on.
Thank you for bringing sanity back to this board! Yes, we could have won, but the heat made everyone on both sides play at less than their full capacity. Later in the season, they'll handle the heat better. We still have the best record, and sometimes the league champion is "boring" ala Kansas City a few years ago (and LA last year). The defense is definitely improving, except Vanney is losing his legs rapidly. Mulrooney is not "psychologically" 100% yet, as he is tentative about getting his legs into the mix. I'm recovering from a knee injury on the heels of a torn hamstring, and I know exactly why he's not quite a threat yet. Charras hasn't been integrated yet. Man, how many people overlooked the fact that the freaking incredibly popular Mavericks had a home conference championship game the same day? Does this affect attendance? Hello!!! And I drive as far as anyone to PHP, and I don't mind the drive. People, Lamar is not going to move PHP downtown. Get over it and get to the game. Hell, just leave home 15 minute earlier! Again, thanks for encouraging the fans to get their heads back in the game instead of overreacting and bitching about everything.
If you don't consider getting bounced from the playoffs at home by the worst playoff team in the West a "loss" I guess that's true. Yes, Paul, in my opinion, Clarke should be let go immediately. It has nothing to do with home winning records, or where we are in the table. It has everything to do with how he has taken maybe the most talented roster in MLS and made it into maybe the most boring team in the league. Did you read the post-game thread? If it wasn't parody, fans are literally falling asleep at our games these days. That sure isn't because of Ruiz, Cooper, O'brien, et al, it is because of Clarke. Sad to say, but the old team .500 Burn teams played a lot more entertaining games than Clarke's 1-0 juggernaut despite having far less talent raw talent. The bottom line is that the product is a bore under Clarke.
There is some truth in that statement, and DC fans as well (even though they ban us from their damn board!)
yes, I was actually really missing the old pre 2001 games myself yesterday, where we actually attacked and were very exciting to watch, and we always won at home, if we didn't it was odd. Then once Jefferies took over in 2001, the team has never been the same. Do you know why Dir was pused out the door? Because we had made the conferance finals twice but couldn't seem to get that last push for MLS Cup and Jefferies was our man to bring us to the next level. Ironic that we have done WORSE since.
I'm not big on dressing up a pig. Nor does winning ugly excite me all that much. Perhaps it is too much to ask, but I just want to cheer on a team I'm proud of. Seeing long ball after long ball doesn't do it for me, even if it can be effective at times. I dunno. Sports still falls into the entertainment category for me.
Does kind of seem like regular Dallas knee jerking. Repeat after me - it doesn't matter what you do in the regular season as long as you make the playoffs. If (and this is the key question) CC is really examining his roster to find the best combinations for when it counts I am ok with giving up a few points now. Combine that with extreme heat, three games in 8 days including playing a man down for a half Wednesday and it is somewhat understandable. What I want to see is about half way through the season for a regular lineup to emerge with players knowing where they stand and why and what they have to do to get more time or make the bench. At that point and the nearer the end of the season it gets I will start over reacting myself if what is happening now is still happening.
Pegasus, you've got the right perspective on this. Here is the only danger -- MLS teams with a fast start normally fade as they near the playoffs. Let's hope it doesn't happen to us.
I wouldn't say we've really had that fast a start. Also part of our usual fade is due to having so many road games at the end of the season. I do agree that it is more important to be playing good when entering the playoffs than it is now (as long as you qualify).
I have been a partial season ticket holder since day 1. I travel to 5-9 games each year all the way from San Antonio. Now that the games are in Frisco it takes between 5 and 6 hours each way. Dallas area soccer fans should not be complaining about distance. You have a team. And as a whole the soccer fans of Dallas should support it. However, the fans want and deserve exciting soccer. I feel Colin Clarke needs to take head from what the fans are asking. We want a team that wins and plays an exciting form of soccer. Kansas City when it won the championship in 2001 did not play an exciting form of soccer and the fans stayed away. Colin Clarke is the coach of this team. If I were the GM I would give him this season to produce a winner. The talent is here. The season does go in cycles but at the end I expect this team to go far into the playoffs and at the same time begin to form a rhythm for an exciting brand of soccer one which brings fans to the game and ignites that Dallas soccer passion of old. P.S. I brought my high school soccer team to Saturday's game.25 players and coaches in all. Damn was it hot. P.P.S. Never take 25 people anywhere. Rounding up high school kids is harder than herding cats.
This was my first (and probably only) game of the season, but based on that, I can see why there's negativity. Poor attendance, 4-5-1 but with a mystifying tendency to either bypass the midfield entirely, ignore the flanks or pass around nicely around 35 yards out before losing possession, and above all only managing to score (and concede) rather soft goals. MOTM was Ruiz, worst player was probably Yi. Yi has all the right physical attributes, but he's a ballwatcher and he shirked out of more than one tackle yesterday. In my opinion.
In retrospect I can't lay the blame on anyone in particular. And I think the final call on Cooper is still out. A Rhine with upper body strength? Is Cooper a guy who should come in for Ruiz and change the whole chemistry of the attack?
Ditto. I can understand playing conservatively and trying to nurse a 1-0 lead on the road. But at home? And only 20 minutes into the game? Aarrgh!!
Not disagreeing w/ you Rocket, but let's say it is your call. Keep in mind the score, the on field temperature of 115 degrees, Ruiz's yellow card and SJ's intentions towards making the fish into sushi, the long stretch of games, DeRosario's injury, and the available subs. In hindsight I can second guess. But, it seems reasonable to expect your defense to grit it out. Long ball breakaway to the one guy w/ fresh legs. A neutered Houston team offensively.... Sometimes it just doesn't go your way. But, we all can learn. What would you have done?
I would have liked to see Mina brought on a bit earlier for Ruiz (who seemed to be a 2nd yellow waiting to happen). And for FCD to play a 4-4-2 rather than a 4-5-1. My main gripe, though, is that this team tends to play quite cautiously after it takes a lead. While that type of strategy is understandable (and welcome) in the playoffs, to me, in the regular season it's important to try to play entertaining soccer that will excite fans and make them want to come back and see more games.
Can't argue w/ your reasoning. And yes, we are in an overly cautious rut. The first place to start w/ attacking soccer or a stalling bunkering mentality is out of the back. Sala is the Arctic Tundra of cooling a game down. Quicker restarts can produce a sense of urgency and pace to an attack. Sala is choosing to deflate the soccer balls. Since CC took over the team, he has been in love with two things. #1: a flat back 4 and #2: a central striker adjustments to formation seem to be easier for him to manage that way. But, maybe playing a high and low forward with a 4 man midfield might allow him to find alternatives to the hated 4-5-1.
I just don't understand why we played a 4-5-1 and then either endeavoured to bypass the midfield entirely, or pass it around in pretty patterns instead of using the open man on the flanks when we had the opportunity, namely on around ten separate occasions.