Ya know, if Williams really wanted to do the team some good, he would have taken out Kovalenko and gotten the straight red.
3Stripe. Gotta say that I disagree with you completely about Martino and Cunningham. Martino hasn't been anything all year except roadkill (and last Sun. was no different.) And Cunningham was quite effective in drawing attention away from Buddle and BMB. He even had an amazing header off the post, when was the last time we saw Jeffro dangerous with his head? As far as West goes, it was a really great performance. I've dogged him in the past too, but he showed up yesterday. Now why can't they all show up from June to August?
Re: Re: Hello all Raoul, If we are speaking of Dublin, Ireland, yes I can see a large downtown. But Downtown Dublin, Ohio. Wow, give me directions, next time I am up for an OSU game, I will come looking. I grew up in Columbus, the only downtown smaller than Dublin was Galloway. have fun, and y'all celebrate up in C'Town for me.
This Williams for Dunseth Trade looks really really awful now. Someone tell me again what we gained from this?
Nothing... absolutely nothing. Our conditional pick is a joke. Once again, the Crew came out looking like fools in a trade.
Sure, BMB came in and was the savior. He played great, and on top of that he was sick. West made some great runs and for the most part, played smart. But Cunningham and Oughton deserve some credit for that win also. Cunningham was our most dangerous player for the first 90 minutes. He made lots of runs at and behind DC's defense. Had a couple balls been played just a bit better, he would have scored at least one goal. (The 2 on 1, with Cunny and Buddle, Buddle just had a bad touch, or else JC was in alone) On top of that, if his header didn't pang off the post, more of you would appreciate what he does and give him credit. As far as Oughton, he didn't play spectacular, but he did everything we needed out of him, and then some. Let me say this: I like him a lot better at right back than at D-mid. He made some good tackles, has decent speed, and got forward a couple times. He's still a drop off from Hejduk out there, but i think Oughton plays right back if we want to put our stroungest lineup out there. ok. i'm prepared to get flamed. let's go!
I'll flame you. Cunningham wasn't too good. He'd play the ball into Buddle who was open but put too much on it and it would go right to the keeper every time. I wasn't impressed. West seemed to be MOTM by far.
wtf did buddle do? i didn't see anything. maybe it's because i've got high expectations for Buddle, and low expectations for Cunningham. But Buddle completely disappointed me yesterday while Cunninham impressed.
Let's play a bit of devil's advocate here, West was pure rubbish for the first part of the season, that is completely undebatable. However, could this be because he was hurt? We'll all remember he had massive problems early on with his hamstrings, maybe this is why he's made such a turnaround. I to was impressed yesterday with his workrate. IMHO has really saved himself from the axe, I thought for sure he'd be sacked, but the turnaround has been astonishing. My question is, cunty looked dangerous yesterday? Hmmm, maybe on the corner he almost headed home, but aside from that I didn't see anything other than him putting his head down and dribbling furiously towards the endline. As far as Oughton goes, yeah we could probably do better at D Mid, however there are bigger holes on this team. We need to desperately cover the left side of the field, as Denton, while he's shown flashes turned in a pretty average performance yesterday, and obviously headed into next season finding a center back to play next to Akwari would be nice, because Williams and Clark just don't have the quality.
Didn't the Crew trade Dante Washington for the allocation that gave us Brad Friedel? Don't forget, prior to West's resurgence it was reported in the paper that West was also overcoming some personal problems. That wasn't a problem limited to Cunningham only.
i remember a couple runs Cunninham made, sure they were just him dribbling without passing, but they were as dangerous as anything we did all night. a guy going at you 1v1 is a defender's nightmare, and that's exactly what JC does. He got into the box, then didn't do much with it there, but what the heck else did we have that was more effective than Jeff dribbling into the DC box? a hit-and-hope cross? that didn't work. long-ball? that didn't work. that cool cat-and-mouse play where we have 5 guys standing around the box looking at each other and waiting for something cool to happen? nope, that didn't work either.
Yes, that's how it went. Then we traded a draft pick for Dante that became, eventually, Adin Brown. That one wasn't bad either. Maybe that's the secret - the Crew can only make a trade when Dante Washington is involved.
My question is "Who in the hell left that punk Petke unmarked late in the game??" I saw Oughton a couple feet in front of him. He had a decent game, but a brainfart like that so late in the game is enough to make me sad if he plays back there again.
In regards to Cunningham, and well most of the Crew - what upset me the most was how freakin' predictable they were and how lazy they were passing the ball. I was watching with the young'un and I distinctly remembering a couple times where I went "Jeff... Tries to dribble through three defenders... Loses ball... Walks back disgusted..." only to watch the kid laugh when it actually happened.
I wouldn't worry about it, Zak and Crew Toon are only interested in Revisionist History. They don't like Cunningham for whatever reason they have and thats that. No sence in arguing your point with closed eyes and ears. Oh and I don't see anything wrong with what Petke said. The refing is terrible and it's ruining MLS.
Buddle did a better Cunningham inpression than Cunningham himself in the DC game. One game, i know, but hopefully a sign of things to come.
Here's the way I saw it. MOTM - West, McBride, Busch. Busch (8) Two great saves to keep us in the game. But when Petke headed the ball I could only think that that Busch needed three more inches. But then BMB wouldn't have had a chance for his heroics. Oughton (6) People who claim to know the game shouldn't be faulting Oughton on Petke's goal. The ball was cleared and he cleared the box with it. Blame the other defenders in the middle you took their time to get their tired butts out of the box and left Petke onside. Clark (5) Mostly invisible. I'm not sure if that was good or bad. Funniest scene ever was seeing Clark step in front of a pass on the left and carry the ball all the way to the touch line (and have the inept ref reward him with the corner). Williams (NR) You have to at least be higher than "0" to be rated here. He's supposed to be strong physically and in the air. Don't remember many headers he won. And remember him grabbing a handful of jersey after being pushed out of the way by Martin. Denton (5) Someone said it best. Schizophrenic. Some solid plays followed by incredibly dumb ones. Not much else to say about him. Martino (4) A couple of great passes and nothing else. A game where we need them to step up and he didn't even show up. Missed a great chance in the first half when he was caught flat-footed and couldn't get a shot off from 8 yards out. West (8) Forced the first goal, caused the second goal, and was the only player going back and forth for 100 minutes. Maze (3) Slow, old. Sad to see. But Greg will continue to put him out there game in and game out. Thanks for the good years but... Paule (6) Did more good than bad. Tried to play the ground game as much as possible and always looked to feed Jeff and Buddle quickly. One of the few that were showing any heart between minutes 60 and 80 of the match. Buddle (6) Dangerous just by his presence. Opened space for Jeff and BMB and had a rocket of a shot early on. The passes to/from him were just a step off; unfortunately. Jeff (6) The good: caused dangerous situations for most of the game. Was able to dribble through players at times, was stripped at others. Solid header at a tough angle. Came back to help on defense and was trying to pressure high at times. The bad: passing was off (mostly too heavy) and please SHOOT! Nice feed by BMB, top of the box and he dribbles into the defender. And a couple more like that. BMB (8) Sick and still carried the team in the last 20 minutes or so. Learned from the past as he was much more active getting cracks at goal. And some nice throughballs too. Wasn't it his pass the one that resulted in West getting hammered? Walsh (5) Was fouled, didn't get the call, Alegria to Petke - tie game. Repeat after me: when given the chance, don't dribble or control the ball, blast it down the field. Not when there are MLS refs on the same pitch. Nothing much from him either way. APC (7) Gramps gets the extra points for the pass that has kept our season alive. And he also forced a turnover in stoppage time that Buddle and Jeff wasted. He wants to win and it shows. But still in his last few games in MLS, no matter what happens from here out.
What's been said has already been said, except for this: Do we have anyone with enough balls to pull the trigger from the top of the box? Hell, I know APC used to back in the day...seems all we do is dribble way the ball inside the 18..