Sometimes by the time you see a shot due to traffic it's too late to react. How many world class free kick goals do you see where the goalie never moves? The answer is a lot.
Warren Barton’s commentary was interesting. If I hadn’t watched Peglow so much I’d have thought, man, an aggressive, attacking winger like Peglow could really impact this match. But he’s just Peglow, so, no. The team had no width. Leal did some nice things. The red letters with black framing is spectacular.
I’d love to hear Wieler’s opinion on the current state of the team and organization. Will he want any of this crew back next season?
I applaud the idea of a 4-4-2 because DC has been short-handed in midfield all season long. But then Schnegg and Herrera, the only two serviceable players on the entire team besides Benteke, are neutralized. That's the primary tactical problem that two coaches have failed to figure out. If it means trading one of them, so be it.
To be honest, in a lot of ways, the big problem is the big guy. Benteke requires a pretty specific style to maximize his production. Lesesne’s style was, not 180 degrees off, but maybe 150 degrees. And now the roster is so mismatched with Benteke’s needs that either almost the entire roster needs to be turned over while Benteke is still able to contribute, or we should move on from Benteke.
If you see it late and know you aren’t getting there, it’s better to stay upright in case it hits the post, than needlessly dive.
The gold piping for the thumb still annoys me nearly as much as none of the uniforms in the league having stars. It almost makes it look like a non authentic shirt without stars after years of that being an important detail.
This is a common trap people fall into. We’ve fallen into it many times before. If one player is winning a golden boot each year for DC and they miss the playoffs then no one is maximizing anything.
That is an excellent point. Let me try and figure out what I was thinking when I wrote that. It would have been better if I said, had maximized how his production leads to points in the standings. We for sure didn’t use his hold up ability to burn the clock and hold leads. Further, a Golden Boot winner is going to be the focus of the other team’s defending, which should mean your secondary scorer(s) have a big year. And that most definitely was not and has not been the case with DC. Last year, DC was tied for 15th in goals for. That’s slightly below median, despite having the league leader.
While I wouldn't be sad if DCU declined Benteke's option for 2026, he's not the problem. As you noted, the lack of reliable secondary scoring threats puts Benteke on an island with no support. Peglow isn't it and neither is Pirani (who hopefully will be transferred to Malmo and that money used to get a reliable proven secondary scorer -- like Taxi without the racism.)
A weak team is the flat out worst place to try and develop a goalkeeper and Mckay should have know better and maybe thats why the first guy we signed in the off season was Barazza I think, but they rushed to put Kim on the field. Plenty of veteran GKs struggle in that kind of environment. We saw it with Bono, he played really, really well when Tyler Miller went down, but he couldn't sustain or recreate that form the next year under the same deluge. The GK gets into a mindset of trying to do too much. Too concerned with being perfect because he knows if he lets one in, it puts the team in a tough spot. They develop bad habits in their basics, they develop bad mental approaches to situations. Subconciously every save becomes a hero save and then you see them start muffing the easy ones.
Agreed. The GK has to have a mindset of, "did I make a mistake and how do I correct that going forward" combined with "well the team that scored just went through 10 field players so I'm not the only one that should ponder how they can improve."
That's what I regularly tell the kid's on my U16 team: "it is not the keeper's fault the other team got to take a shot..."
Makes sense. I admit knowing nothing about the best way to develop keepers. My stupid brain says 'more shots, more practice', but that ignores the mental aspect as well as everything else. And it's probably not even good shot practice anyway.
I did the same. To me, Nothing more destructive to a team when teammates blame the keeper. I think keepers have so much more of a mental aspect than any other position.