2-2 draw. An encouraging match, but tough to lose a couple points that way to a team we're trying to catch up to. Plenty to talk about.
Sean Johnson bad Olympic Qualifying bad. Why a keeper wants to catch that, who the hell knows. That seems like a fundamental thing that you don't want keepers making mistakes like that at any time in a match, especially in crucial moments in a season. He started to challenge balls in the box better in the second half, even taking knocks for it. But his refusal to be more dominant and less hesitant with certain balls coming in his box is frustrating to see at this level. Showing promise is nice to see, you know Higuain, the interplay on the goals. But um, three points are vital at this time of year. Anything less than the best is a felony.
As a former keeper It happens. He did the right thing by keeping his head up. Andy had 1 not so great game. He has been stellar all season up to this game so i am willing to let it slide. Arrietta and Higuain looked good helping create. I can't wait to see how these 2 do against Terrible F***ing Club.
Someone slightly asked about this in the PBP thread... Taco Bell is the official sponsor of all Houston Dynamo Corner Kicks. Free Crunchy Tacos if Dynamo scores off a corner kick. and Kroger is also our grocery sponsor this year, last year it was texas based HEB. also, if Dynamo win and we score atleast two goals, we get free grand slams from Denny's. You'll see these around Houston they are two-three of these within a mile of the stadium
In some ways, given what is in front of us, that will feel like the worst possible result. And it just had to be Moffat with a shot from outside the box, didn't it? To work so hard, to come from behind like that on the road, and then to fritter it away on a careless mistake. It will sting and it should. This is where having so many games in such a short spell might actually be a good thing though. There's no time to feel deflated or dwell on mistakes. Just get on with it. But let's be honest. Brad Davis was afforded far too much space tonight. I counted at least three times (I am sure there were more) he was free as a bird, lurking around the area. You can't have that. We couldn't get anywhere near him tonight and that's troubling when you're playing two holding midfielders. Speaking of holding midfielders, what a first 45 minutes for Cole Grossman. Get injured. Lose your man and concede a goal. Score a great goal almost immediately in response. His goal was vintage Brad Evans stuff, late run in the box and classy finish. As it developed I was annoyed because Arrieta didn't show near post for Dilly, but it didn't matter because they didn't track Grossman, but that probably wouldn't have been in their scouting report anyway. And the Clark sub was interesting. You're down 2-1 at home and throw on a defensive midfielder for an attacker. OK? But Kinnear had to, because we came out of the locker room flying in that first twenty minutes, thanks in no small part to Higuain. Promising debut. Finally, Gaven was inspirational tonight. We looked shattered at the final whistle but hopefully they can pick themselves up. There's no other choice.
This worried me a lot more than anything else. If there's one thing you need to do to shut down Houston it's CLOSE DOWN BRAD DAVIS. I swear every time we play them we concede a goal because we decide to allow him 7 yds of space around the 18. The fact our players can't understand that is troubling. It's like going out on a date with a great looking girl and everything is going great. She randomly says hello to someone then tells you it's her psychotherapist. Everything continues to go well but in the back of your mind you know there must be deeper issues. Andy has been stellar most the season. He can have a mistake like this, but one more this season might put him in the Hesmer category. The Gaven goal was the best show of passing and soccer the team has played all season. The movement was beautiful and I pray it is a tasted of things to come.
Frustrating to only get one point but alot of positive things to take away from this match. Higuain seems to give us exactly what we need. He is fast, aggressive, and distributes the ball well. His work on the second goal was nothing short of amazing. Gaven, Grossman, and Arrieta looked good. The Arrieta/Higuain combo looks really promising. On Houston's second goal Chad and Danny both had chances to clear it before Andy let the follow-up shot through his hands. It's now time to capture 3 points in 3 straight matches, starting with TFC. That would put us at 45 points. All of the teams ahead of us in the eastern Conf. have played more games than us.
Thoughts from BBVA Compass: -The stadium does a great job of keeping sound in. Last night, I was wondering how Nordecke's 1,000+ would sound there compared to Houston's 200 or so in their supporters' section. -I was sitting in the cheap seats, but I actually heard semi-knowledgeable talk about the team. Encouraging to hear in MLS stands. -Near the beginning of the game, Meram gave up on a ball that looked to everyone in the stadium like it was going out of bounds. A Houston player hustled it down and saved it and Warzycha went crazy on the sidelines, throwing his hands up in the air and turning away from the field in disgust while beginning to pace behind the bench. If we didn't know it before, Meram is on a short leash. -I have no idea why Grossman continues to see the field when he's so lazy on defense. Does RW really think he's a responsible player? -Chad looked like he's getting back to his old self with a dominant performance last night. Sometimes it looks like he's just going through the motions, but he was playing very aggressively last night and winning everything. -We actually had width last night on the attack, which really helped open up space in the middle of the field for Arrieta, and directly contributed to our first goal. -It looked to me like we were pressuring higher up the field than usual, and I think that made us more dangerous on the attack. Because we don't have anyone to hold things up, it's helpful to start our counters with the wings already fairly high, rather than when they've dropped all the way back on defense. -You can tell Higuain means business. As soon as the first half ended, he was out on the field warming up with Irribarren and was joined by the other subs about 10 minutes later. We were sitting behind Tally Hall in the second half, so we had a great view of our build up play. His combination passing with Arrieta and Gaven was fantastic. It was a night and day difference for us on the attack when he came into the game, and he and Arrieta seem to already have great chemistry. Higuain has great vision and ability with the ball at his feet, Arrieta works his but off, constantly making dangerous runs, and Gaven is, well, Gaven. I can't wait to see these guys play 90 minutes together. -We had zero headers in the box last night. Welcome to the new Crew. We're going to have to play attractive soccer if we're ever going to score.
We're at 30; three in three would get use to 39. That would still be behind Chicago, Houston, KC, and NY; that's also on more or an equal number of games than what they are sitting on now. If we want to make the playoffs we have to catch DC and hold off Philly and Montreal. Yeah technically Montreal is ahead of us but with five games in hand against them I'm not counting those six points as any sort of lead just yet. This weekend was fine but not great; the only team that we're concerned with that got movement on us was Montreal with a win against San Jose. Our closest chaser Philly and our prey DC played each other to a draw so with all three teams getting a point there wasn't really any movement there.
On Andy, anyone that DIDN'T expect another gaffe like that this season (the first being the Colorado Opener) was fooling themselves. I would honestly expect one more down the road. People need to understand that Andy is a VERY young keeper in terms of experience. He is still, far and away better than Hesmer has ever been in terms of shot stopping and reactions. His game presence has increased greatly this year, and there is no doubt in my mind that he can be an elite keeper in MLS. It's unfortunate that these things happen at a critical point in a match/season, but realistically, there is no good time for these types of mistakes. But, that's why they train, train, train. Being so young and inexperienced, the grind of the first team season is something new to A.G. Besides, he has made plenty of "mistakes" over the course of the season, just not all of them are as obvious to the non-GK eye as they don't result in goals or shot opportunities. It's part of his growing process. Scoop's a good coach, and Andy has the right "learner" mentality to do really well. All that being said, Hesmer will be gone after this season, and it will all be on Andy. Onto the match.... Higuain is the real deal. Loved the energy, and the leadership when he got on the field. There is a definitive expectation that he placed on his teammates when he stepped on last night and it was awesome that they responded. I still don't think we make the playoffs, this year, but he gives me hope that we can win in spite of RW.
Horrid error by the Hebrew Hammer. He's been great all year, but that was awful. That is came on the heels of Marshall's failed clearance made it even harder to digest. Real Keystone Cops type stuff as the Crew come from ahead to draw for the second game in a row. On the positive side, Gaven was fantastic, and Higuain looks like the real deal. Two of our best goals of the year were wasted. Grossman's finish on the second was delightful, and the whole sequence on Gaven's winner was also great. The Arrieta/Higuain/Gaven/Duka attacking foursome will be something to be reckoned with. Still, draws don't help us much at this point. Way too much space all game long for Davis is troubling. Grossman had a nice goal, but I don't think he should be starting (Birchall, Mirosevic, O'Rourke, Tchani are all better DM's). Still, he has showed some improvement. We need to win at least 3 of the next four. Going to be really hard considering the schedule. Going to need some roster rotation and some more bodies to get healthy (O'Rourke, Balchan, Vukovic). Julius James anyone?
Thanks for the pictures and the memorial for Urso is always appreciated. I love in the second picture the woman to the HSH's right, looking out the corner of her eye like "These guys are crazy, y'all."
Higuain looks like the real deal. His first touch I was thinking "I did not expect that." and it was just a little touch to clear some space. His touch looks great and his shot and set pieces look awesome. Does Higuain mean "hope" in Spanish by any chance? Arrieta, Duka, and Gaven were great. Miranda, Mendes, Williams, Birchall and Grossman were good. Meram, Gruenebaum and Marshall were worrisome. I give Andy a pass. You can't be perfect. Marshall does not seem the same since he returned. Meram always seems behind lately; he is chasing the game too much. RW lineup and subbing was good. Higuain was a GREAT sub. Finlay was okay. I might have gone with Renteria. DO'R was needed. Overall when we were on the attack we actually looked threatening which is new, even in the first half. I am being to see the makings of a really good team here. With some prudent player rotation in the next 4 games and we might be able to go on a run.
Marshall. He has been eating too many pies. I can understand a failed clearance. Its a game and a everyone who has played has had a swing and miss. BUT... He walked. Literally walked away from the 50/50 ball he created in the box. I now have to question his heart /character for not challenging for his screw up. First person to say "yea but so and so was there" gets donkey punched. Have some pride Marshall you're 6'4 and the best player we have in the air and you left it to someone else?
I saw that too! I can't believe he walked after sending up that U11 boys clearance. What is he doing out there?
I've been saying these types of things for awhile now. I have never believed that CM14 should be our Captain. That's based solely on what I see on gameday, so obviously, it's a bit shortsighted on my part. He's not a "rally the troops" kind of guy, and I don't believe he's a "lead by example" guy either.... I think he's a whiny guy that too often looks to place blame on an indvidual for their failures. I do not think he's a captain.
Yeah, but... we ******** it. You're right. Marshall has not been good for a month. He's had very solid spots in matches, but has yet to put in a whole 90 that is worthy of his legendary status. The Baum? Rough play, he is to blame along with O'Red and Marshall for their sad clearances. But he's been spectacular this year and is probably responsible for at least half of the points that we have already this season. The net of the two is still positive for him. Higuain... just wow. I actually didn't feel like watching our team play yesterday was painful. It was nice. Higuain might be a game changer. I'll be excited to watch him play some more.
Like I said in the Fire Warzycha thread, if you play to be up my more than a goal some time this season, a mistake that probably will happen won't hurt you. When you have no margin of error, you pay the price in points dropped. Meram is showing that he's not a winger. He's also not going to beat out Arrieta or Higuain on top so he'll be on the bench. He's a turnover machine out there. I was happy tosee that Gaven's pass down the line ended up with Duka who found Grossman with a nice pass. Meram would have lost the ball on an ill-advised pass attempt. How the hell did people vote Grossman MOTM? Didn't they see Davis own our two central middies all game long? Gaven deserved the MOTM much more than Grossman did for his best play of the night. Someone said we didn't win a single header in the box last night. So Warzycha's strategy is to use our "height advantage" and have Gruenebaum send everything long down the field. How many 50-50 did we win? 10% of them? Combined with dropping the high pressure at the 15 minute mark of each half, he continues to show that he's way over his head on the sideline. The best way to neutralize our strength - Duka, Gaven, Arrieta, Higuain - is by forcing them to play more defense and by pumping balls upfield for them to challenge.
For me, here's the craziest thing about the match last night... even after the Dynamo tied it up, I still had faith that we could bag another goal to win it. I think 2009 was the last time I had that feeling.
that passing interchange leading to Gaven's goal was pretty wasnt it. So much better than hoofing it over our midfield to the shortest player on the pitch (Arrieta) He's what 5'6? and i am fairly certain barring a Spud Webb type leaping ability Jairo will not be winning any 50/50's. I can't say Higuain is our crew saviour *(yet)* but having someone who can carve out space and deliver a pass on the carpet reminds me of a time when...2008 nostaligia. I kinda had a deja vu moment, thinking about Frankie in the MLS cup game making that run on a perfectly lofted ball.
Does his family get the FSO feed? It's amazing what an inexplicable GBS playoff benching will do to someone's belief system.
I can't be upset at the dropped points here. Not after the way the team played - gutsy, some fun to watch attacks, and Birchell was a madman all night. I just can't be upset that a few mistakes during our busiest time of the year at a place that's the hottest in the league ended in a tie... not after seeing how our players fell over at the final whistle. They give that effort each time and I'll clap for them even when they fall. Well done, Columbus.
For me, the worrying thing is that Andy was targeting Gaven every single time. Eddie's decent in the air, but he's no target forward. I hate to say it, but I think we need Tchani playing instead of Grossman and in a slightly more advanced role just so we have someone else over 5'8 to compete for headers. Our counters worked great last night, but I fear for the day when teams figure us out and we have no other way to attack. It'll be back to 2011 with trying to play through the middle to Mendoza every possession. I didn't realize people voted Grossman MotM. What game were they watching? He was our worst player out there. Can someone explain why he's starting over George, or even Tchani? Is it because he works hard in practice? What kind of player works hard in practice, but loafs around like that in games?