Steve Nicole looked to be the much savier of the two during the home and away. Can't say I understand why Bob left Richie off the pitch in game one and then used Mike Nugent/Jake Leblanc as our super subs in game two. Any thoughts on Bob's judgment or lackthereof? I for one, was disappointed in his management down the stretch.
Richie's neither here nor there. I'd just as soon he wasn't on the field today, either, but it wasn't going to make a hell of a lot of difference, the way we played. He didn't cost us anything or add much either. Meanwhile the Nuge was active and got a good opportunity on goal. How can you fault him? It's not like we've got anyone else on the roster to go to.
Did you see the long conversation between Bradley and Nicols right after the game? Bradley seemed to have quite a bit to say... I wonder what that was all about.
Noticed that too... I thought maybe Bob was giving Nicol some tips on how to beat his old team in the next round No question Bob made some big mistakes today. The 3-4-3 obviously backfired on him, as Metro wasn't even able to outshoot a team that was up 2-nil on aggregate. Nicol has his midfield running like a well-oiled machine. Compare that to ours which looked like a model T. He's got to be in the running for coach of the year given the injuries NE have had to overcome.
Look, Bradley's said all year that his purpose was to get the club ready for the playoffs. Well, the playoffs this year were two-match aggregates. It a system which encourages and requires goal scoring. Which means you have to enter them prepared to play offensive-oriented soccer. It was more than evident during the latter half of the season that the MetroStars had serious trouble scoring goals. During the final matchs of the season, why didn't Bradley field some offensive-oriented line-ups and find out how the club would fare under those circumstances, instead of waiting until the final, bitter-end match of the year before going great-guns to get goals. He should have coached some matches this season the way he attempted to yesterday.
Looked to me during the last 15 minutes of play that some Rev players might have been staying down acting injured more so than they were to let the clock run. Maybe Bob did not like that as a possible tactic but this is pure speculation after watching the Metros players faces when a Rev player would go down and not get up for a long period of time. I was unsure if that was the case or not but did think it might have been a possibility.
IMO, Bradley wasn't out-coached. NE (as do most teams in the league except for Dallas and DC) had better top to bottom talent than we did. I'm not saying I agree with all of Bradley's moves or his conservative style but I think that wasn't the biggest issue down the stretch. I think most of the players we have are very limited in their abilities. Yes even our hallowed stars (Mathis, Pope, Guevara) and new youth corps. I know people are very high on thier ablities but many of of our younger players seem to lack creativity and field vision. Watch when the Metros try a simple trap the ball often ends up 5 feet aways from them. That always puts you in a bad position to make a move or the next pass. Gaven will develop nicely and we can possibly sign some players once Clint is gone but we will be a middle of the pack team next year too.
In a word, yes. Coach attributes - Draft signees, new talent - wonderful. Gaven, Magee - one of the best talent scouts in MLS! Other signs - Walker - Great! Amanda - great. Moreno, Bocca Boys, Juskowiak - horrid! Strategy - points for the goalie switch. If it took him till the very last game of the season to discover and put our very best line up on the ptich, there is something really wrong. Riverpilot is right. Instead of just blowing out the end of our season, he could have fine tuned thiings. One thinks he could/should have discovered this much earlier in the season - like about halfway. Failure to capitalize on Amando's skills - Amanda is a classic generator of plays. However he never really clicked with the rest of the team. Seemed a shame to waste that potential. Not playing balls to the walls attacking soccer. Horrendous finishing. No offensive line up with any punch at all Clogging the midfield throughout most of the season. Johnny come lately ability to understand the on field difference between Lisi and Wiliams. Inability to admit a mistake - Juskowiak was a mistake. I would thin every singel person in the stands,watchiing on TV and lsitening on the radio knew that from the get go. His inability to realize that cost us not having better players on the field at very crucial moments. And lastly, if you're gonna go around with that poker face scowl all the time - back it up! The above comments are no great revelations. Just would have thought that Bob would have had better solutions through the season. Not saying get rid of him (still remember the horrors of OZ) but methinks Bradley has some serious retooling to do on his own methods. He said all along it was about results and hardware. At this point in his career if he can come up with a means to really turn Metro into a scoring machine, terrific. Almost every other team has several killer forwards. We don't.
Of course NE was the more talented team for the entire second half. But Bradley doesn't escape all criticism here: 1) He bet on Juskowiak, who failed to such an extent that, in the return leg, down 2-0 and with our most offensive lineup all year starting the match, Jusko wasn't even listed as a SUB. 2) He started a 3-5-2 in game 1 that we really hadn't played with all year, defending the wings at the expense of the middle. Both goals came on umolested runs straight through the middle. The new defensive alignment failed. 3) He started a 3-4-3 in game 2 that wasn't even able to outshoot the Revs even though we were down 2-nil. Our most offensive lineup this year resulted in one of our worst offensive games this year. I love Bob, he's the best coach Metro's ever had, he's great for developing youth, and usually up to the task tactically. And he was dealing with an entire team that simply wasn't playing well down the stretch. He tried to shake things up, but I think he might have tried too hard. NE, on the other hand, was dealt a horrible hand with injuries and yet Nicol was able to create an interchangable squad at all positions. Specifically, their midfield was everything ours wasn't: composed, smart, on the same page, and aggressive. It's no knock on Bob to say he was outcoached this series.
Uh, have you seen Bob's record against his old team? I'm not sure he has the info on how to beat them.
The only reason why Bradley sent a more offensive squad on the field was because he knew that NE would bunker down on defense. Especially when they had a three goal lead. There's no reason for Bradley to risk defense so much during regular season games.