Pre-match: DCU @ SC YeeHaw

You are correct about Canouse creating an opportunity for that call to be made. That is all on him.

Sorry Mora was fouled, had I had the whistle I would have called it, all over his back. Not saying Mora played it well but he had two hands on his back to gain the height he needed to head that ball.

 

MLS playoffs are definitely devalued. I can't imagine watching an early playoff game if DC United isn't playing.

 

A good striker scores there. Kamara is not a good striker. He was lucky to not be saved on his last goal, and the stutter step PK didn't strike me as confident.

The card was soft and I don't think he went in aggressively, rather the winger freight trained past him and put him off balance. Not sure that I wouldn't see that as a foul on the winger or a no call. Not a yellow IMO. On the Mora call, you can't expect that call to go your way if you're not LAG or one of Garber's nouveau riche lap dogs. Same thing last year at Minnesota, when Freddy had a goal called back for a hand on the defender's shoulder and VAR overturned it, even though you could clearly see the defender behind Freddy, clearly with a hand on EACH shoulder and more clearly impeding him. But we're not new and rich, so no calls for DCU.

Neither Penso is worth the 15 minute meeting to fire them, so I guess PRO will keep them both.

 

I don't think a second yellow should have been given there, it was really very little contact and he accidentally fell into him. However, Canouse was asking for trouble. He shouldn't be pulling on his shoulder and running up his backside. You got beat, now hustle back and live to fight another day.
Mora needs to be stronger. He at least has to make an attempt to jump and play the ball, give the ref something to think about. As it was, it looks like he was just standing there and the goal scorer only wants it more.
Who's the fraud? Olsen keeps playing them (Gressel, Brillant, Asad, Kamara) over other options that may be inexperienced but can actually change games. Olsen will talk this talk but will he walk the walk and bench some of these guys for younger options? I doubt it, proving who the real fraud is.

 

but there was much more than minimal or incidental contact. In the instant before Canouse loses balance he had his right arm wrapped around Jones' waist. Jones pushing Canouse's arm out of the way throws him off balance. To me, at full speed (and in slow-mo replay), it appeared that as he went sprawling to the ground Canouse reached out and grabbed Jones' right foot in desperation causing Jones to fall (as opposed to falling on Jones' left leg which actually caused him to fall). So in the moment, yellow was reasonable. Just unlucky.

 

I didn't think it possible, but Gressel was worse than he was last game. He needs rest or some time to think. Either way, the remedy is the same. Not sure why Olsen won't apply it. Maybe I'm just missing the good stuff...?

 

Under rated post.

 

Under rated post.

How are you doing this? By streaming the tab in chromecast? I don't get the little chromecast icon on my ipad when I watch the games. Would love to watch our miserable team on the TV instead of my tiny ipad.

 

I use the stream from dcu.bomb on my android phone and then chromecast to my TV via google home.

BTW: why are there no commercials on the DCU stream? Why is there only a "programming will resume" message during breaks from the "live" broadcast? This is stupid - that is the prime time to actually make some money showing ads and it is being pissed away. Also looks REALLY amateurish. Oh, wait....

Edited to add: I know they are calling the game from studio/at home - but the commentary last night from DJ and Mactavish was really poor. Why oh why can we not get someone in the US that is capable of talking like they are actually watching a live sporting event? Curling commentators bring more life to the game. Heck, if MLB has commentators that are able to make baseball sound more exciting than watching Krylon dry....why cant MLS do the same for a game that is infinitely more dynamic than baseball?

 

My guess is one of the ushers/customer service reps/VP's of nothing useful figured out that there was some simple solution out there and to do something like inject commercials into the stream would require some actual knowledge of how to use the tool which is bridge too far these people who doing 2-3 jobs too many already.

 

I don't know if I'll find another place where people complain about lack of advertising.

 

Living in Anne Arundel County being a Comcast customer I might not hear Dave & Devon all season.

 

I don't know anything about ipads. I use my Chromebook and get the Chromecast button at the bottom of the frame in the Chrome browser. Sounds like others have answered your question though.

 

All the major professional sports are doing it these days, but I’m old school. There’s no need for MLS to qualify more than a fourth or a third of the teams for the playoffs. Actually, baseball had it right when on division champions qualified for the playoffs.

 

Gressel has played the same number of games for United as Dax McCarty did, about as effectively as well. Time to see if they can turn him into another DeRo.

Thx,

Jay!

 

Highlight of the game was the sprinkler delay.

 

The other similarity is that Dax was misused and asked to do things he didn't have the skillset to do. IIRC, Olsen had Dax playing more as a "10" than the DM he was and is. Dax was taking most free kicks and was charged with orchestrating the attack. Gressel is on outside mid capable of accurate deliveries into the box and an occasional pinching in to take a look at goal. Olsen has him all over the pitch, and also has given him two stiffs at forward to provide service to. While I don't believe Gressel is worth $700K (and Atlanta obviously agreed), I also don't think he is as awful a player as he has looked in Olsen's "system."

 

I agree, he's being misused. Not every good player is a playmaker, and that seems to be the expectation. His form right now is terrible, though. He's killed more opportunities than he's facilitated, and it's mostly down to making poor passes, both in conception and execution. If Griffin Yow were making these passes game after game, we'd be sending him down to Loudoun for another year's seasoning.

I'd say he probably just needs a break, regardless of the cause. As a team, not having him on the field for a few games might provide us with a little clarity.

 

Gressel could still grow into a better player, but I am not sure he'll ever have the impact here that he had in Atlanta. Let's not forget who he had around him in Atlanta versus here. That midfield was stacked the last 3 seasons and he went from serving balls to one of the best strikers in the MLS to a guy who I am not sure he could carry Josef Martinez's jock most days. Some of those players in Atlanta cost more to acquire than DCU spends in 2 seasons of payroll and then Atlanta turned a profit on them of a similar size. The talent delta is gigantic at almost every position except GK, winger (Arriola) and perhaps Birnbaum. I don't think he'll ever be a middle of the field midfielder and that's OK, he can have a great career out on the wing, but that talent is not going to develop if he's constantly having to come inside, because he's perhaps got more overall talent than most of the guys we're currently putting in those spots. And that's the crime against him and the paying fans.

I think we can all agree that Ben is much more Sam Allardyce/Tony Pulis than he is Pep Guardiola/Jose Mourhino. I am sure his instinct is to put as much talent on the field to compete and continue to collect a paycheck which drives the poor decisions he's making. It all makes me think of my son's FIFA team where he plays an LM at CM because he thinks the 93 rated LM is better than the 89 rated CM he's got to choose from because his other LM is a 96. Problem is, between injuries and thrift ownership, Ben has got very little talent to choose from period. Could it be developed more? Not likely in most cases. And deployed better? Probably. I am not delusional, the kids are getting playing time because the journeyman alternatives on the bench can't have much more upside than the kids who have a more unknown upside & potential. Ben is and will remain a problem as long as the bigger issue remains, which is that Kaplan and Levien should be bankrolling a Bethesda Youth Association soccer team rather than an MLS team. Those guys are drowning and taking our team with them.

 

Is Higuain in such poor condition that he is only good for a few minutes at the end of each match - usually when we are behind? At 35, he's no older than many quality players who made real impacts in MLS. What he would bring to the pitch, IMO, is direction. He would be organizing the attack and making sure that every attacking player is contributing. Rooney did this, and I think Higuain could as well, even if he doesn't make as much of an impact in the scoring column as Rooney.
But giving him only a few minutes at the end of a scoreless or losing match is an insult.