Hang always delivers the "North of the Border" body blow whenever you are critical of him. It's as typical as Crew scores a goal to go up by one, Greg puts 9 outfield players behind the ball.
I have no idea what a 'north of the border' body blow is. None whatsoever. H&J, its pretty elementary really. It should be even for you. Last time we played them We gave up 4 goals and scored none. Last game out we gave up 3 goals. This game we had the lead in the late stages of the game, and wound up only giving up one goal because the wall was swiss cheese. Outside of that Gaudette only really had to make one big save. It's reality my little sweethearts. I know you are new here and perhaps you think being overly negative about every aspect of the team will get you some much needed 'street cred' or whatever. Go for it. Knock yourself out. I hope you get to sit at the cool kids table soon. But, at the end of the day it's just a fact that the team is starting to play better. They aren't MLS Cup contenders by any means, but at virtually every position on the field there is small improvements. Ignoring them is completely your perogative, and continue to do so if you please. Just don't expect me to agree with you.
I think you can no longer even claim they are trying, since they waived Suarez - seemingly the only guy on that team making a consistent effort.
Yeah, what was that all about? Suarez was the only sign of life on that team. Anyways as far as the Crew are concerned it was an improvement, but improving from total crap to somewhat crap isn't exactly my cup of tea. It's getting better little by little. I am just glad to see Buddle hustling some now. His finishing is still terrible, but at least he is making some dangerous runs and appears involved. Wing play was solid. Defense was slightly above mediocre (Robin and Chad looked solid). Preki should have hit that ball that he cut back and managed to lose on a pass...that was a sure goal. The wall was crap on the goal and this isn't the 1st time that's happened. Also Wingert should never be in another wall. He has cost us two goals at least in the last two seasons when he went sliding in on a free kick and the ball went above him. Get a sack and use it kid, stay on your feet.
I agree with Hang for the most part on this thread. The Crew looked like the better team last night for at least the first half, and some of the second. After they scored, and they bunkered, I expected to give up the equalizer, however. And to no one's surprise, it happened. No killer instinct. But... that was a better performance than we've seen lately. Period. Nice hustle from Loco on the goal. Anyone else think Oshoniyi should have done better on the first shot? Buddle looked interested for the first time in two months. Defense was not great, but good enough, I guess. Klein had two opportunities to get through on goal, only to have a first touch fail him. By the way, Fraser was lucky not to get sent off for that post-foul retaliation kick. Now, DaniCrew... This is ludicrous. Does hot, hazy, humid weather slow a match down? Yes. Does it affect a match? Yes. Is it the great equalizer you're making it out to be? No way. Professional soccer players are pretty well conditioned. 94 degree temperatures will affect anyone, obviously. But if a team is so much more talented than their opponent, they will still have enough energy to make enough plays to get a result. And it's not like the crappy team gets some mysterious energy boost. If the weather has an effect, it affects both teams. Not just one. If the good team becomes less good, I'm guessing the bad team will become worse as well. This is just an incredible reach on your part. Weather might tilt the field slightly, but it doesn't completely level it. And even if I did concede that it somehow favors the Crew (and I don't)... are you telling me it affected eighteen consecutive matches? EIGHTEEN CONSECUTIVE MATCHES? Have the Crew put together streaks like that every summer, when it gets hot? Did Chelsea destroy everyone in the EPL because they like the cold, then? Will they suck in the heat? -------------------------------------------------- Now... I'm not buying playoff tickets yet, Hang. You said this team is starting to play better -- not really. They played better yesterday. When they put two or three decent performances together in a row, we can have this conversation again.
Yup. His defender fooked him royalled by chesting the ball down but Elliot's dribbler should have easily been covered. It seemed pretty obvious that he thought it was going out of bounds. 'Twas a gift. Hector & Jane made a good point that MLS seems to be downplaying goalkeeping right now and we agreed on Oshoniyi as a good example of that. No way is he starter material.
I'm officially an SJ fan,too. They play an exciting brand of ball,but I missed the Colorado game. They controlled LA and are certainly the TEAM in the West. The Crew, IMHO, improved from a 2- to a 4 on a 1-10 scale. They did look better and that's a right step. Don't look now, but we actually looked to score from real plays vs. PKs or great 1 man efforts. Henderson looked good and so did Loco. We have a long way to go, but the real payoff is in the last month of the season when we should be back to reasonable cohesion and depth. I jsut call 'em as I sez 'em. We'll see Sat. what was real... Chelsea/Man U/Arsenal could all beat us easily and play the next day. While it's great to have high standards and goals, this is still MLS. The level of Crappiness (?) is relative to the expectation, Dani. There are English D-1 teams who play at our level and they are ALL crappy vs. EPL. If you don't like the scenery - don't look! Being negative all the time negates any credibility IMO.
Westerhof took him off at around the 25 minute mark. He absolutely freaked out and just blew up screaming at the coach until an assiatnt pulled him away. It looked a lot like they were about to start beating on each other. Chivas cut him Monday morning. He's a great pickup for Metros. I'm sure he scared the crud out of Andrulis, who isn't big on guys who speak their mind. Suarez is an immature brat, but I'm betting Bradley can get his attention. Sadly, no way Andrulis could have done the same. He would have been a great pickup. Maybe someday we'll have a coach who commands the kind of respect it takes to handle guys like Suarez and Razov. You know, an actual man.
Speaking of, Bob Hunter had an interesting column today about the two new bball recruits OSU landed. The whole point of the article was how Thad Matta was so well liked by these players that they choose OSU over schools like Indiana, Michigan, etc. The one kid is the only other player besides Lebron to win player of the year as a junior and yet he choose OSU over every other school because of the coach.
I doubt neither Hector nor Jane care about street cred... As for us getting along, sure, why not Hang? I don't even think the issue is really about getting along, more about us not agreeing on a lot of topics. I'm opinionated, as are you, and I have a bad flaw of not knowing when to back down. And you just think anyone who doesn't agree with you is an idiot. And if I ever seem critical of you... well, I think I've earned it. No new person to the boards, that I've seen, had to endure Crew board initiation as long as I did. Hell, I'm still probably in the final phases of it.
Sure it is... This has nothing to do with the level of fitness (although a less fit team would struggle even more)... the argument is that the speed of play (physical and mental) exhibited by Columbus is at, let's say, speed 2 (on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the fastest)... let's say that the rest of the league plays at speed 4 on the same scale... when the heat is turned up to 94 degrees, teams can play at speed 2 (we're already there)... therefore, this evens out the level of play... for example, teams know that pressuring our outside backs is a strong tactic as it exposes their lack of ability on the ball and forces them to bypass the midfield with searching, hopeful long-balls... but now, make the weather such that you simply can't pressure the outside backs as hard as you want to, does this added time on the ball not favor the weak outside backs??? Also, it is a fact that when you're tired, the first thing that goes is your mind (not your legs)... if you've played before you know this to be true (and if you haven't, just ask anyone who has)... this has a greater negative effect on the team that is usually mentally quicker than the opponent... Finally, i'll quote a good friend from matchnight.com: "Heat, much like a potholed or overgrown or waterlogged pitch, is a great equalizer. It affects both teams AND has a disproportionate effect on the better team because they have more skill to get neutralized." Nope... but the 18 game pseudo-streak was largely aided by the heat... Cummon bro... i don't think this is a logical deduction based on your argument... Agreed... I Disagree... Agreed... One last thing... i simply would hate to see us turn off our critical eye simply because we really want things to work or because we have resigned ourselves to the fact that Andrulis is going nowhere and we really don't want to be negative for an entire summer...
Could someone please spare me the mind-numbing task of reading all this and just give me the bullet? I get the impression that hang is being a "glass-half-full" guy, some other people say that one game proves nothing and Chelsey is spending so much time with her legs in the air that the blood is swelling her brain. Am I anywhere close?
Can we fund a study on the effect global warming has on the Crew's on-field performance? Maybe methane from cow flatulence is screwing with Buddle's shot accuracy...
If you ever doubted that Crewboy Craig really does receive his writing orders directly from the Crew, this morning certainly confirms it. Here's what he has to say in the "Crew Review" of the KC match: "Those who dislike Coach Greg Andrulis will never be satisfied, but one fact is irrefutable: The team has not quit on him." I just can't stop shaking my head at this train wreck......
Untrue. I've been as critical of this team as anyone over the past 4 years. But, tere is a difference in being critical and being negative just for the sake of being negative. I only think people are idiots when they fail to recognize the difference in a 3-1 or 4-0 loss and a 1-1 draw.
One match certainly doesn't prove much, but you're right on the money that Hang's being his usual optimistic self. My feet are happily planted flat on the gound, Bill. And Hang - I'm sure everyone can see the difference between a 4-0 blowout and a 1-1 draw. Everything's left up to one's own interpretation, and what you may see as being overly negative, may just be someone else's way of being flat-out realistic.