Is the team aware that it can be good to do that? It seems they prefer to hold the ball until the defense gets all the way back and then try to attack.
yeah, if rimando would actually distribute the ball then maybe it would be possible. face it folks, we suck again. four years in a row. suck, suck, suck, suck, suck, suck, suck...
There is nothing wrong holding the ball. It takes opposing defense more energy to chase the ball around than the team that knocks the ball around. One strategy deployed very often is to posssess the ball as much as possible until 70's minute when fresh legs are introduced to play more direct against tired defense. You often see huge holes opening up. Ray likes to mold his team into Miami style, but he doesn't have the personnel to do it. From comparing SJ's awesome attack and DC, I think DC's biggest problem is player's first touch. SJ attacks very quickly because all players have clean first touch. (with exception of Ching and Waibel) A lot of players on DC can't have clean first touch consistently. It's hard to knock the ball around quickly and eventually lead to a defense piercing throughball if players don't have good first touch. Basically the ball is not played through the midfield quickly enough. Santino has to come back to help out the midfield and then get back up quickly. Another problem is DC doesn't have a player who can hold the ball in midfield under pressure in tight space. SJ have Mulrooney and Ecklund in that role and they are both excellent. Miami had Jim Rooney and Ian Bishop. Most players on your team just pass the ball back when under pressure. There were several instances which the ball was close to the box and then several passes later the ball was back at midfield. Etcheverry can hold the ball but that is not his role. He is slow too.
Will someone w/a video tape of the whole field PLEASE watch Rimando hold the ball while the Chicago defenders are sprinting back to get back on defense?? Curtin was the biggest guy-easy to find-watch him and the other Chicago guys sprinting w/him. PATHETIC
I definitely agree that a quick counter should always be option #1. Only after that fizzles do we move into our possession offense. But against Chicago, that was nearly impossible to do. Santino was covered by Bocanegra most of the time, and Eliseo is not fast enough to counter effectively. The Fire bunkered 9 or 10 guys behind the ball. In general though, I agree with you. We need to look for the quick counter as our first option. This is where speed and quick passing becomes crucial. It would take advantage of our midfielders scoring abilities as well. -Digital