Thank God for Higuain. He brings some much needed soccer IQ to the team. There is little to none when he's not playing.
If not for Pipa, DCU has zero points in this tourney. Some observations: Gressel continues to underwhelm -- Atlanta made his look far far better than he is. Asad showing why he couldn't find the pitch at Velez. Does he have a second gear? The guy kinda jogs around, dribbles into traffic and loses the ball. Wait, he's the Acosta replacement for 2020! Flores playing like he wants to go back to Mexico or Peru. The guy isn't a 10, he's a wing player, sticking him in the middle is a colossal waste of talent. Felipe and Canouse > Felipe and Moreno Segura is better than Asad, which shows what I think of Asad. Fisher and OA both looked good. Mora always solid. B&B were fine as well. The only NE goal was a fluke off a deflection. Hamid's fingertip save on Penilla was sublime. Sorga may be the Estonian Messi, here he's the Estonian G.R. Cannon. Higuain's soccer IQ exceeds the rest of his teammates combined. I just laughed and laughed when he did his "you just got burned Jonny Walker" imitation tonight. What's totally stupid about this group is that at the end, you well could have three teams sitting on 5 points.
I was once the beneficiary of a pity f**k. Tonight the team was gifted a pity goal. But you know what, the feeling's still good! I can't believe Twellman waited until the 70th minute to let us know that Kamarra's injured and probably couldn't go. That info would have made earlier decisions easier to understand. I like Fisher's energy out there. On the other hand Gressel and Aasad looked like shit and Gressel seemed to be losing his cool early. after all this we can still move on with a win, or maybe even another draw.
I had the same feeling about both Gressel and Asad. And Asad, I am running out of patience ugh. I know they’ve only played 4 games, but dude has no fire, no aggression. It really leaves me wondering if he went stale that year of not being in a first team or even on a team. We need another creator on the field with Flores. I like the flashes I’ve seen in his game but it’s too easy to deny him the ball and double him when he does get it. There needs to be some service to whomever the striker is, even if there isn’t really a striker on the field for us. I don’t see where the goals are going to come from at this point. We got a gift tonight and a turnover in midfield to set up the Pipa’s other goal.
Leeds were promoted today. Their roster is only 22 players deep and 6 of those are U23s. The championship is a grind with 46 games and takes a toll on players like MLS does. Leeds were a mid table team in the championship under numerous coaches until Marcelo Bielsa showed up and turned them into monsters last season. Carlos Corberan is his right hand and can turn our pile of $h!t into a pony. He would demand serious infrastructure investment into the club if we could get him so I don’t know if our poser owners would do it. Good news is that he likely wouldn’t demand a massive roster overhaul so maybe our cheap @SS owners could get it done.
Segura is better right now than Asad. I saw some decent stuff from Flores. Where is our striker ? Defense pretty good Nice to see Fisher back out there
Gressel needs off the ball movement. Not statues. We have statues. Asad is slow. Pipa needs a partner. Rooney had Lucho. Soon Pipa will be triple teamed. We are sad.
Olsen teams never have off the ball movement. Most passes are to feet, rarely into space (unless a hoof), and never on the run. Olsen likes slow soft passes or long hoofs.
Benny is an ordained minister, right? That's the only logical explanation (along with the skill of Higuain) for us taking a point in each of our last two games - Divine intervention.
BTW-we picked up Felipe last year as a hard-ass defensive destroyer, and yet he now seems to be the only midfielder who contributes regularly to our "attack," as meager as it is. He also serves in some nice free kicks/corners.
I didn't think they were as bad as most of you. I thought they settled down and started to gel in the second half. They were finally starting to combine to get out of spots and move upfield. I thought some guys had good games, like Fisher, Canouse, Felipe and Mora, while Asad, Flores, Gressel and their replacements started to find their place for the first time, though not until they give up the goal to kick the game up to required speed. I think they can build on that second half. They were better organized in this game, too, so I don't see that aspect reverting.
One of the announcers wondered out loud the same thing we all think. Why do we have to go down a goal or two before the play starts to have purpose. It is because the beginning is the Olsen tactics - how he wants to play - and once we go behind the player's natural instincts kick in and Ben is forced to make some actual adjustments that move the ball forward. Even after we start to play forward we still have no tactics that I can tell of what to do in the final third. Yesterday we had a break from our outside back (Fisher?) down the wing and there was no outlet runs happening. Without those runs one midfielder and two defenders bottled him up and the ball ended up going back to our CB who for some reason was still near our 18. Other teams drill these breaks - they know what to do on 3 on 1, etc. The players know where to run off the ball so the attacker has options and defenders have to be aware of positioning and space. We don't seem to have those tactics or aren't executing them.
correct me of I am wrong, were Flores and Gressel not brought into this side to bring a creative element? Well I am not sure that either could make a interesting picture with paper and crayons. Neither has shown me, 1 ounce of creativity. Gressel makes passes to the other team. I have hardly seen Flores even have the ball.
I don’t understand why this team brought back Asad. He was never that good to begin with. Just seems like a lazy front office move. Gressel has been equally worthless. Perhaps slide him more inside and see if that fits?