Point of order. Post match yourselves here. Just because the website is in chaos doesn't mean we need to be. We are civlized internet nuts. So there we have it. Ben went for it, and it didnt' work. When I saw the lineup and posted about it last night, I was thinking that his plan is probably to balance the defensive liability with the offensive fire power. If that was true, it almost worked. My personal opinion was, and still is, he got it wrong. We should have played Nicol ball and hoped for a 1-1 draw or something, and take our guns full-barrelled to Toronto. I don't think we'll really know if he was right or wrong until we what happens on Saturday. If we get a win there, it's a wash because we have 3 points from 3 road games. Salihi's goal was so composed, what a brilliant touch. Reminded a lot of something you would see Donovan do. Make a perfect run, a perfect touch, and make it look a million times easier than it really was. That's the kind of scoring ability we should be seeing from him. He's not going to be MVP, but he should be able to get those goals. Very pleased for Woolard, he has earned it. EDIT: Forgot to mention my most significant quibble with Ben's choices: Kitchen. I think this is really where the whole game was lost. I didn't put Saragosa in my lineup because he hadn't been traiining regularly and there's almost not way he could be match fit. Leave Kitchen at DM, insert Korb, play Russell in the middle. It's not perfect, but it seems much less disruptive. IF he had done that, IMO, we might have drawn the game 2-2 or 3-3 and his decision to lean on the offense would have worked.
It's pretty clear that United need at least one of Jakovic or Dudar on the field at all times because it simply reverts to last seasons defensive team and that is not a good thing. As Olsen said after the match, they simply missed their anchors. It was a horrific defensive effort in terms of organization, not necessarily effort. Lot's of mismatches all over the field (Lenhart/Wondo vs Kitchen/Russell/McDonald and more glaringly Chavez vs Woolard) caused chaos that United simply couldn't recover from. I'm not of the camp that United should have played Nicol-ball and try to slug this match out. They just don't have the personnel defensively to do that (especially with the missing central defenders) right now and going up against a team on a roll like San Jose most likely would have ended in a loss anyway. If you're going to lose, you might as well go down swinging like United did tonight. Too many times in recent seasons have I seen this team sleepwalk thru road matches. I'm glad they played an open game. Honestly it was their only chance to take points from that match and 64 minutes in, it was looking like United would get back into the game. When San Jose scored to go up 4-2, it was literally the second time San Jose had threatened United's goal all half long. I think an unintended circumstance of this result is that we will most likely see Bill Hamid in goal against Toronto on Saturday, though the argument could be made that Willis wasn't at fault for any of the goals allowed. You give up 5 on the heels of letting in a bad goal against Houston, that doesn't bode well.
The clock was ticking for Willis already anyway, as Hamid is too good to sit every game. I suggested you shouldn't pull the rug out on him for one bad play in the Houston game, but no matter what he did in SJ, I think Hamid should start in Toronto. That move shouldn't cost us the game.
I can't say anything about Willis' performance last night, not having seen the match, but I do hope he gets over the loss quickly. Sounds like he was left out to dry by his defenders. Hopefully he's there mentally for the next game, but I suppose that's up to the coaching staff as to whether he's ready. I think Ben could put it in such a way that it's keeping keepers fresh, and not a comment in Ben's faith in Willis' ability.
Eh, Willis did nothing to impress me either and hasn't covered himself in glory the past couple of games either. There seem to be a lot of posters who are of the opinion that Hamid has been handed too much. Well if that's the case, time to stop handing Willis starts.
Yeah I think what Ben should have done is said to Willis, hey look you maybe made one mistake in the last game, relax it's okay. You get the call in SJ and you will sit in Toronto. Bill is a good player and he deseves a shot, so relax and give it your all tonight, you will have the weekend off no matter what you do in SJ.
I'm with cweed on this one. I don't think Ben got it wrong. This team, with both Dudar and Jakovic injured, simply don't have the personnel to play for low-scoring draw. We had to play for the high-scoring win, and we simply failed. If anyone hasn't noticed, SJ is a pretty darn good team. No shame in that. Onwards and upwards from here. But yes, we are going to be in big trouble if Dudar and Jakovic can't stay healthy. I generally like McDonald. He brings a tough attitude to the defense at times. However, he runs around like a headless chicken far too often and was constantly getting beat by SJ's one touch passing around the box ... in addition to losing his man ad nauseum.
His goal looked so nonchalant. He put himself exactly where he needed to be and played the chip shot perfectly. No wasted effort. Just make sure you're in the right place at the right time and you make a goal like that look easy. I hope this is the start of something positive for Salihi. We saw last night what he can do with good service and he gives United's offense a different type of arrow in its quiver from the rest of our offensive players.
I want to add to this chorus. We know the back-line is shaky without Jackovic or Dudar. So Ben went to shoot often from the hip and let the game fall where it will. SJ is excellent right now. Kasper better be looking for another CB. Can we fire Boskovic now to get the $$$ or is it guaranteed?
I stand by saying that Ben "got it wrong" because 1) I think with a slightly rotated offense we could have hung on to tie that game, and even if we didn't, we are still more rested and more likely to get all 3 from Toronto-- as opposed to where we are now, which is still no points, and less likely to win the next game-- IMO. 2) He completely screwed up with Kitchen. However, like I said, if we still win in Toronto, which is entirely possible, and should be the expectation, then we come home from 3 road games with 3 points (at least) which is good enough in my book. So "got it wrong" is going to relative to what happens Saturday.
DeLeon needs to rest a little. He's had some time on the field, enough to experience what this level of play is all about. Now he needs to sit and watch, so he can process what's going on and compare what he sees with what he's learned so far. Cruz is really showing his limitations, not just last night but in the last game as well. Kid's got heart and some real skill going forward, but when we play a backline as subpar as we were forced to, the MF needs to be smarter and better. I'm not so much talking the OG. He gets beat, and he makes some poor decisions. Saragosa was disappointing. I thought he was better than that. It's just one game. Salihi--honestly, it was just a matter of time. A well-taken goal, very nice, but as Bootsy pointed out we kinda already knew that that's what his game is.
I realize my commentary is coming a bit late, but I felt this game was a bit closer than the score line would suggest. Willis was unfortunate on the third goal. It seemed like he had it covered before Cruz redirected it into the goal. I'd also argue Lenhart's second goal was actually a hand ball. He clearly used his left arm to guide the rebound into the net. I'm kind of surprised not much has been said of this. The team continues to score some pretty goals and looks dangerous on attack. Once our defense gets back to being healthy, I think this season should unfold nicely.