First home game I have attended this year and I thought I had stepped back into 2006. Bobby Boswell, Troy Perkins, Chris Rolfe, Justin Mapp and Davy Arnaud all on the field. Weird. Even with all the veterans DCU picked up the play was slow. In this game Fernandez was a turnover machine. He is as good on offensive half as he is poor on the defensive half. Glad to see Eddie Johnson get off the snide but the only reason he did was an extremely poor play by a defender who completely whiffed on a headed clearance. EJ should have had at least 2 goals this game. Their goal came on two mistakes. In addition to Fernandez feeding the ball into Mapp's run, Boswell lost McInierny. In watching Nick Deleon play I was wondering what the hell happened to the fearless rookie we picked up but once I found out he was back from injury I can only hope he gets aggressive again. Glad to see our veterans doing well early in the season. Don't think we have the stamina/depth to make it through a hot summer without losing ground, especially with Concacaf coming up. Hope I am wrong.
That goal happened right in front of me, and I thought Boswell was trying to close Mapp. The problem, I thought, was he waited too long to do so, Mapp was already five feet from Hamid, and then no one picked up Jack Mac when he did so. I don't know what happened there, were they thinking or waiting for Christian to catch up to Mapp? DeLeon was bad. Very poor in possession, his positioning and offered no danger. I'm a big fan, really, but compare him to Rolfe on the other side and it looks like they are playing a different sport.
This match was for me the most frustrating match I've seen all year. For first 80 minutes or so It looked like we were playing kickball. We had absolutely no creative ideas, this against freaking Montreal! That said, when Boswell subbed out and Benny put on an extra midfielder (Neal I think) we really started to dominate possession. I wonder if this team would be better in a 3-5-2 formation? ---------------------------Hamid-------------------------- -------Franklin---------Boswell-----------Parke-------- -----Neal-------Kitchen------Arnaud----Christian----- --------------------------Rolfe----------------------------- -----------------Espindola--------EJ---------------------- Silva backing up Rolfe, Deleon backing up Neal/Fernandez, Doyle backing up EJ/Espy.
On paper, it doesn't look bad at all, does it? In this game though, I thought the difference was Neal can actually accurately pass the ball. Arnaud is usually turned around the wrong way because of how he's receiving the ball, but Neal goes and picks it up off the CB's hip, looks up and makes the pass - accurately. Arnaud is fine, but he needs to play FASTER! The ball spends way too much time on his foot.
so what? This is MLS not the World Cup, it happens. Eddie did well do be in position and put away a very nice header
It feels like a hollow point but if this is the game that gets Eddie scoring then it could be worth a lot more points in the end.
I just don't get NDL -- he is the most inconsistent player on the roster. When he is on, he's top shelf, the problem are the spells when he loafs around at half speed, plays no defense and tries to dribble through 3 defenders. I don't know if he doesn't understand the system, doesn't like the system or is a player like Justin Mapp -- someone you feel should light up the league, but just doesn't seem to put in the effort consistently.
No, not a hollow point. He was finally where he needed to be, finally got great service and the finish was excellent. We can only hope it's the beginning of better things.
It's true. I sometimes wonder if he is playing the right sport for him. He will make some hard runs, and then have to take himself out for five minutes while he huffs and puffs around. It could be he just doesn't have the lungs for this game. He has to get better with his passing, he's a weak link in a team full of below par passers of the ball.
I honestly don't think he's had a single good match this season. Even the ones where we've had the better of the game.
DeLeon is just not a good soccer player. We got a burst from him during an overperforming year and with his youthful 'just out of college' energy. He's toast now. He's not even a Lloyd Sam or Justin Mapp figure that we can rely on to any extent. He's a worse Danny Cruz.
I'd agree with this. My only caveat is that I do think he brings an element of pure aggression to the offense and sometimes that is really helpful. At least 2/3 times a game, I am glad that he is out there. The rest of the time, I'm kind of "meh" on NDL. I'm pretty down about this game in general, because I thought it confirmed a lot of my worries. I still don't think DC is converting or making chances out of their improved attacking play. Unlike previous games, DC didn't get on the board early and force the other team to attack, giving DC the opportunity to counter. I think this team is still generally a pass or two away from being able to being to reliably breakdown a defense. It was nice that EJ scored. Fernandez is definitely a defensive liability and DC's defense isn't so strong that it can really afford that in the long run. While I agree that he's brought a lot to the attack and I am hesitant to give that up, he's not good for one or two defensive lapses per game, but probably closer to 8-10 (Mapp consistently left him behind yesterday) and chances are as the season goes on, more of those are going to be converted. Either he needs to be "coached" to provide better defense or I do think DC needs to keep an eye out for his replacement. I also think subs are a big problem. I don't want to see Neal starting consistently and I like him. I think he is the definition of consistency. There's no untapped potential there (that I see), he's not going to go on a scoring streak or completely shutdown a strong attacking player, but he also won't give up any howlers and he's pretty reliable on a counter. He's a guy I don't mind bringing in to help close out a game because he's capable at either end, but when DC needs a goal, I'm not sure that he really "brings" anything that's not already out there. Silva, I think there is potential there, but the guy seems streaky to me. When he's off, he holds the ball way to long. I like his close control and I think he can pick a pass, but he tends to wait until he has two or three defenders on him and either is dispossessed or his pass is blocked. I don't have a problem with giving Kemp or Doyle minutes, but neither is really firing on all cylinders nor do they seem like they're on the cusp of challenging for a starting spot; these aren't the guys I want to see when DC is chasing the game. All that said, it could have been much worse, but I am starting to move out of the "could have been worse" mentality from 2013 and wanting more. I'm fickle about my expectations, I suppose.
I see exactly the opposite. He's trying to be clever with the ball, and is expecting clever little runs into space by his teammates. Espindola might do these, but no one else. I don't mind trying to do it in games, but he's the only one on that particular page. Look - You either emphasize a bunch of shooting drills with these little flicks in practices, or you just drop it. I'd like to see a few of them in games, to keep the other team's defense guessing, but right now those defenders are certain nothing's going to happen.
Solid Assesment of Christian. Yes is was a mistake but that sometimes happens and Montreal's entire strategy. All they did all game was to dump balls in to try and isolate a defender one on one. Eventually it can work. No one is perfect, and Boswell didn't cover himself in glory covering macinerny. If folks are going to criticize him the. It's fair to recognize the strengths. It was his one touch flick that unlocked the D that led to our goal, and he has created opportunities there all season as well as creates space for others by being dangerous on the wing. He's generally learned from his mistakes. Christian's weakness will always be one on one defending in isolation. The team. (Emphasis team). Needs to play to the strengths and weaknesses of the members. Expecting him to man mark Montreals most dangerous player perfectly for 90 with inadequate cover is a problem beyond his mistake. Maybe if Franklin isn't hurt Korb. plays the left to get a better match-up. Or maybe not. It was only Hamid's big saves that prevented near equal breakdowns on the other side from resulting in goals. He seems to be playing exactly like he was expected to. Great on attack and generally solid on D. Our bigger problems this match were an anemic midfield from Arnoud and DeLeon. Silva helped turn the match when he came in and I hope earns the mid-week start. Arnoud has been important for us but looked a bit his age this game.
I agree with most of what you say in your long post, but I believe Doyle is perfectly capable of being a quality starter, not just someone to spell EJ at the end of a match. He's strong, holds the ball well, and makes excellent runs. Kemp has looked good on occasion, but I remain to be convinced that his defense is any better than Christian's. He might be a better fit at left wing, but I would never take Rolfe off the pitch. Yes, you could move Rolfe inside to make room for Kemp, but not at the expense of Rolfe. Now when/if Pontius returns, we could reopen the discussion.
I've not seen any of this. I've seen him take the ball on the offensive 18 and pass it back to the defense repeatedly. I've seen him take a pass turn and dribble back to the defense. I've not seen the slightest inkling this season that he brings any offense to the table at all. I blame Ashton. James
Because Hudson knew even less about developing young talent than he did about managing experienced players.
to be fair, Hudson said he really did not want to get rid of Mapp, but that's the only way Chicago would give us Dema. All in all having Dema for a couple years turned out to be pretty damned important and good for United. Would have been nice to have both, but it wasn't possible.