There will be more changes to the Burn lineup come Saturday (change seems to be a constant with this team) and the Metros are playing all-around great soccer. Will there be any surprises against the Metros?
I guess it will be either Gbandi or Salyer at right back. Am I remembering correctly? Isn't Gbandi actually right-footed even though he has historically played left back?
You have the two backwards. Gbandi is left footed. Salyer is right footed and played left back at Maryland and for US. Straight from Jeffries... the options are Bussey or Salyer at RB... or Bonseu to RB and Thomas or Behncke at CB. Decision to be made based on training this week.
The two Argentine players signed by Metros are supposed to be in town and will get playing time against the Burn. Supposedly these two are pretty good. Consider me not optomistic we will get our first win this game.
Metros look to be playing some very solid defense, but their only offense seems to be from individual moments of brilliance (Mathis, Guevara) or terrific defensive lapses (Magee). In their last game, Colorado had 2 go off the post that would have beaten Howard and the Metros took advantage of some horrible mistakes by the usually very solid Robin Fraser. I'll wait to chime in with whom I think should start until after I read the latest on the Burn from Buzz on Thursday, but.... Let's hope Chivas has another breakout game vs. the Metros this year.
At least they'll be used to the turf and the field almost looks like grass on TV and there are no football lines. And I suppose there's a chance we could win.
If Cerritos goes 70 and contributes, I'd be all for him playing major minutes. I'v always been a supporter of his style of play and I'd like to see him and Davis combine. Let's hope he can get back quickly to the form he had when he went down last season. I've recently welcomed Ronald back to the lineup and he seems in good spirits. Maybe a goal today would lift him, the team, and all Burn fans who are starving for a win. I'm predicting a classic Cerritos header for a goal, served up by none other than Brad Davis.
Like the Aerosmith song says, "Dream on, dream on, dream on, dream on, (up an octave) dream on, dream on, dream on...." add your own Joe Perry guitar licks here..... Ugh. I'm gonna go get a root canal just to brighten up my holiday weekend.
T'was nice to see Davis serve up a couple to Kreis and Cerritos... too bad neither did anything with the good service balls to their skulls tho... Wasn't too happy about Kreis' penalty kick either. No wonder he doesn't like to take them. We're just lucky the rebound came directly back to him. Doesn't happen very often.
twas nice to see davis serving ball after ball to the metrostars . . . unless you're a fan of the burn. the only good thing you could say about that was that he worked to win quite a few back. easy to do when you give so many away, but still good to see some hustle in the kid. are we really going to try and play without a right mid?
Try telling that to the Revs fans who are quite enamored with Shalrie Joseph. He gives away balls on a regular basis because he's not a holding mid. Neither is Davis. If you want perfection, maybe you *should* be a Metros fan.
Ughh. Shalrie Joseph fits in for the Revs because they don't need some one who can play in midfield, they need some one to stop the teams they play against from playing. Thats why even Daniel Hernandez thinks they play too direct. How much did we rely on our outside midfielders to score last year? Now we have Chivas at his worst on the left, and an invisible Vaca or a roaming Brad who gives us even less of a presence on the right than Vaca does (because he isn't there). Kreis is a deadly finisher but will never create a goal by himself, so who does that leave? This is a serious problem, folks, and unfortunately the team won't benefit from extra ticket revenue for the playoffs ( I've made the trip in each of the last three years-its a long way for those of us in El Paso to make the trip) unless we solve some serious problems. We need outside mids who can create because that how this team scores. On a side not, I was real disappointed that I just found out Stone was playing in El Paso this weekend. I would have loved to see him play at the A-league level.
I've watched Joseph play in all the Rev games he's seen minutes. He distributes well (even tho he gives away a few balls now and again... bound to happen when you haven't had enough starts/playing time to acclimate with your teammates) and holds well too. He's BIG, quick and 'knows' where his teammates are BEFORE he gets the ball... the key ingredient to making quick touch/excellent 'control' soccer. The comparison is a legitimate one because most fans want perfection NOW. They don't want to wait for players/new lineups to gel, they want EVERYTHING NOW. Any good management staff will have a game plan that includes committing a specific amount of games for a specific plan, i.e., giving Joseph a certain amount of games at his position or doing the same with Davis. If, in that time frame, things don't work out the way they've been drawn up, then you go back to the drawing board and figure out other alternatives. While Jeffries has a unique, brilliant insight as to player-personnel, I'm not sure if he's capable of sticking to a 'set-aside' stretch of games to achieve these kinds of goals. While it's understandable that most coaches will cave into pressure (if not just to save face/their job) to win NOW, I think changes like a 3-5-2 or a different approach to midfield possession/positions should be given the appropriate time to develop. Passion for victory can sometimes blind fans to long term goals. I hope MJ has the guts to stick with what I saw for the Metro game - as a possible lineup that could cause TREMENDOUS problems for any/all opposition. I would still want Jeffries to eventually gain an MLS status as a player/personnel guru tho. He's just too talented to be ignored in this.