Jamal Sutton scores another... But DC United scored a lot more... Final was 4-1. <could have been 5, I stopped counting>
yea and the backup goalie was a defender and scored twice! although freddy was offsides for the pk the linesman said that Captain Wingert kept him onside.
#30 was the backup keeper (Andrew Weber) and he played as a forward in the game in the second half-- not as a defender -- and he didn't score twice for DC. What the hell are you talking about?
i love the fact that with our coach, no matter what you do as a reserve, you will never, ever, ever see the pitch (meaningful time on the pitch, at least) in a first team game. i kinda feel bad for players like sutton, mediate, storey, ect ect, because theyll never be given a chance. it seems like no matter how horrible the team is, andrulis sticks to his guns, despite the fact theyve been misfiring, and the only changes he makes are either a new player acquisition, ala loco or hendo or walker or wolyniec, or a drastic "i have nobody else to play in ths position" due to injuries, and lack of time to make a player acquisition. i know this statement would be hard to prove or even quantify, but i think that over the course of the history of the league, we have to be one of the worst teams when it comes to developing young players.
In fact, I think it's even worse than that: Andrulis runs a "striker of the week club" out there. For some reason, Buddle is a given. Beats me as to why. Most of the time, like last night, he mails it in. Nevertheless, he WILL start. We ran him with Cunningham. Didn't score goals. So we dumped Cunny and brought in Razov to partner with Edson. Our offense sucked. So we benched Razov and brought in Cornell Glen. Didn't work out. So we benched him and brought in Wolyniec to start with Buddle. No offense. And what do we hear from McCullers last night: the team wants to bring in a forward! Really? Gosh, no kidding. It isn't the forwards: it's the fact that a) Buddle poses little or no threat most of the time. Not in the box, not making the runs, not pulling defenders. He's like the "Anti-McBride". b) Whoever you put out there with Buddle might as well be by himself. c) We have almost no discernable "offense" as most professional soccer organizations would define it. So we'll keep running forwards through COlumbus - and keep on not scoring goals (what is it now: eight games this year with no goals at all?)- until someone wakes up and brings in a HC who can install a rudimentary professional attack scheme. For now, I don't want Jamal Sutton or Marcus Storey or anybody else out there getting ruined by this idiot. Brian West had to leave the damn country to get used the right way. Let's not chase Cameron to Norway too. Sutton won't change a thing: he'll be out there on an island as we play seven and eight men behind the ball, backing up to our 18 and then launcing the ball upfield 60 yards so Sutton can take on four guys single-handed, not score, get frustrated, quit, get benched and all this while listening to Andrulis tell us how he "didn't take advantage of his chances". Bullsh!t. It's just bullsh!t.
That's a great post Bill. Although I'd say C) should be A). While I don't think Edson has been playing as badly as some of you think, as I've said before, it has to be just as frustrating to Buddle that his talents aren't being used in any system as well. He busted his ass in KC, I thought, but because of the lack of a system, nothing ever came of it. So why go out there and bust his ass the next game, if the only way he's going to be put in dangerous postions is if he makes it himself or the ball falls to him like it did against NE? Buddle has gotten his goals over the year. I mean he's a guy that's improved his goal production every year in MLS. I'll go so far as to say that by the end of the year, I'll bet he's within 5 or 6 of the leader. However, with that kind of talent, he should be hitting 20 a year. He isn't because there isn't a system that puts him in position to do so or motivate him to play hard. Well that's just my opinion anyway.
As for the scoreline it doesn't surprise me much. With Schulte and Kelly are both regular starters on the reserves, but both got first team action Saturday. Funny how the defensive players on the reserve team get chances, but offensive players like Sutton and Vasquez don't, despite zero production from the offense.
I agree completely that he really hung it out there in KC. It stood out so much partly because it was so rare. Motivating a young player and getting him to realize his potential is what you pay coaching for. Andrulis' answer for this sort of thing is to go out and find another "veteran" to provide "leadership". I'm not ready to give up on the guy by a long shot. On pure talent, I'd take him over Eddie Johnson in a heartbeat. So much talent on the hoof. (Although where that sackless mongoloid harelip jackrock gets the idea that Buddle has "the hardest shot in MLS" escapes me. Lots of guys pack a cannon in this league.) There will be ups and downs with young players. Edson is no exception. But it also needs to be noted that Buddle was drafted by Tom Fitzgerald an increasingly long time ago. Guys like him and Martino need some help and they need it now. At some point, and we may not be far from it, great promise starts to turn into plain old wasted potential.
I enjoyed watching Adu and Szetela alone on the other field working on their outside shots together then I did the actual game to tell the truth. Whoever the hell our keeper was in the second half was awful. Why couldn't Bill go the full 90?
And that (wasted potential) is, in my view, the biggest reason GA has to go. Poor substitutions and the like are one thing, wasting a potentially talented career is quite another, and to be honest nearly breaks my heart. One would think even a stubborn old coot like Lamar would sympathize with THAT reasoning.
Cardenas was the keeper we subbed in for Gaudette. I thought when Freddy left that we'd improve the second half. Boy was I wrong. My theory is that Greg is to blame. Let me explain. Normally the head coaches stay away from the team's area and let the assistants coach. This week Greg couldn't sit on the fan side so he hid on the back row of the Crew bleachers. He sucked the life out of the reserve team as this was the most listless performance I've seen from them. Anyone know who he was sitting an talking with the whole match? I didn't bring binoculars since you sit so close to the field but I couldn't tell looking into the shade who it was. Sutton beat Jake Traeger on a long high pass, brought it down with control and put it past Perkins. Traeger's defense was decent on the play, just a good move by Jamal. Adu went down in audible pain in first half but seemed ok later. He and Danny hung out on practice field working on shooting drills. Freddy posed for lots of pictures. He signed autographs last night too. I'm impressed by his professionalism and his patience for his age. It looks like Gallardo is a key component of the reserve side. Vazquez and Mediate were ok. Storey broke down the DC right back a couple times in the first half but we didn't capitalize. As noted we're thin in the back. Jeremy Parkins from Capital played most of the match. Rutledge played in second half. We had another guest player enter late at left mid.
We've already seen the beginnings of it. Martino, Buddle and Cunningham all have USNT callups. Last November, all three were called up. And it wasn't Jeff's first time either. He actually saw time in a game. Of course, then not too much later, Cunningham was considered "a locker room cancer" and promptly sent on a one-way flight to Denver. Martino used those callups and then evolved (devolved??) into the disappointing "nine plus one" shirt. (If he's not a number 10, why call him that?) And Buddle?? Ok, once in a while, he might actually break out a fast jog.