Post-match: 3 episodes left!!! MLS Matchday 31 Crew vs Sawblade Bois Sunday Sept 18th 1:00 PM (Portland Timbers)

Is the sun setting on the season? Maybe it's one of those deep thought proverbial things.

 

Well, that is ungood.

Jonathan Mensah is out Sunday with a thigh injury.

Sustained just before halftime in the #Crew96 Tuesday defeat in Miami.

— Thomas Costello (@1ThomasCostello) September 16, 2022

Anibaba Army, activate.

 

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight
Jalil, Da Muzzle, Wrecking Crew Incorporated! We're gonna do it!

 

Sign Danny O’Rourke to a one game contract and let him rip dudes legs off and knock somebody out. I just want some goddamn entertainment at this point.

 

Win. We can't keep tying forever.

 

Porter says "challenge accepted"

 

DOOM!!!

 

Can someone tell me why we don't put Santos back at Left Mid with Sands at Left Full... then Diaz on right Mid... bring Etienne off the bench? At least we would have some attacking come off the bench

 

A-men.... my nickname for him was "RedCard" O'Rourke...

 

Because that would make sense, but unfortunately, our team is coached by Caleb Porter.

 

Why are we so desperate to put a slow guy on the wing who doesn’t really make off the ball runs, beat people one v one, doesn’t get into the box, will slow down the overall speed of the attack?

Santos is perfect for left back at the point in his career. Etienne is hardly a great player, but his style will lead to the team playing faster l, which IMO is when the team looks better.

 

Because we pay him a lot of money?

 

my reasoning for Santos back on the mid is that we now have two forwards that would work better with his style of play.. yes, he may not be blazing fast but he passes better than Etienne and can see the run of game better. We haven't seen how he would match up front with Zelarayan/Hernandez.

Also, this leaves us with an attacking style player at the end of the game which we do not have at all in this squad.

 

So?

 

Santos, Zelarayan, and Diaz all do their best work when on the ball. Ditto with Nagbe. None of those guys make off the ball runs (Diaz does, but only in specific situations).

You can’t have four of your five midfielders just waiting for the ball to be played to their feet, back to goal. That leads to incredibly static play, ineffective tiki taka.

Etienne is frustrating, but he at least offer movement, he can stretch the defense. The only attackers we have that offer that sort of movement are Etienne, Cucho, and Hurtado (for about 10 minutes).

Santos offers much more going forward from left back than Sands, and I feel that defensively they are more or less the same (Santos is a more aggressive tackler, Sands better positionally).

 

So let’s just keep it the same as we have all season. Great, got it.

 

Cucho has been here all season? The attacking dynamic has been completely different since he arrived. Well, until Porter saw it was going too well and decide to make the team slow down yet again.

Also, yes, let’s take our 34 or 35 year old player, who hasn’t played on the wing all year and is trying to come back from a hamstring injury, and put him straight into midfield so he can do even more running. Makes sense.

And people are acting like Santos scored 20 goals last year, he had 4.

Santos 2021 - 4 goals / 6 assists

Etienne 2022 - 6 goals / 5 assists

The upgrade from Etienne to Santos in midfield is negligible, at best, IMO it’s a downgrade.

The upgrade from Sands to Santos at left back is big.

 

Wish they were pink

 

The Master steps up. KHT game set and match.

 

I wish this wasn't so perfect, but it is....