Absolute luck just to tie, and frankly a bad decision by the ref. Not exactly helping Rooney lead us to a glorious second half of season comeback when we're dropping points at home to entirely mediocre teams like Columbus.
******** it, I was entertained. Not enough to wash the bitter taste of Friday out my mouth, but glad to see we can put in a shift against the dregs of MLS.
I'll take the draw. It beats the hell out of a loss. With a little luck, we could have had a 2 - 0 lead at halftime. I hope Rooney can impress on the team to quit interfering with each other's shots!
Are you all shitting on Claudia Pagan in this thread? If so, ******** right off with those awful takes.
Well, that was entertaining in a train wreck sort of way. I tried to watch the match the way Rooney must be trying to evaluate this sack of suck called a roster. (Complete with occasional checks on my BA app to see when the next flight from Dulles to London is scheduled.) The good: Taxi is light years above anyone else on the squad. Fast, clinical, give him a pass on the PK, he's done everything else. Najar can break ankles on the dribble. He's really not a defender, he's really used as a libero in the sense he can pop up anywhere. That does, however, put a serious strain on our woeful defense. The interesting: Hopkins did not have one dead ball service that was not first rate. He's very young, but he can drop a ball on a dime. Kirmani Smith is willing to get stuck in and attack. He is very raw, but he plays like he gives two shits and that counts for something. Durkin has flashes of class. He also was fighting like a cornered animal after it went 2-1 (of course that was a result of his piss poor marking on Cucho, but at least he tried to make amends). Djeffal shows flashes, but he can be pushed off the ball too easily, but he does look to pass forward. The I've seen enough: Estrada, Robertha, Skundrich and O-A. Play improved when all of them but Robertha left. To his credit Robertha looked better once the other 3 were gone, so maybe all of the suck isn't on him. I will give credit to Kamara who won the scrum to get the second goal. There are many things he can't do or do well, but he does have a nose for goal. If I'm a Loudoun player or a young guy on the roster, the coming of Rooney is the opening of a door. All the young guys tonight played like they were auditioning for larger roles and by and large, they made good impressions.
I love Andy, but he's a right back in name only. Columbus worked that side, DC needs to figure that out. I thought it was a good, even match. Taxi didn't finish three chances easier than the one he did. So it goes. The three center back set probably should've been ditched the second Losada was fired, but oh well. They could actually contest in midfield and pass through it at times. They went from two in the middle to 4.5 (Robertha I give the .5, and Taxi was another great outlet in the middle). Big difference. Gressel and B. Smith glued to touch was too predictable, also, so they couldn't get anything going forward. This had to happen, so I'm glad it did. Shame Ashton couldn't pull the trigger, but glad that Rooney did. They looked competitive tonight, that's all I ask.
My next experiment would be to put Gressel at right back and move Najar into the middle, next to Canouse or Durkin. I don't see why he couldn't be our Nagbe, though definitely more of a risk taker than him. That's where he ends up, anyway, maybe try playing him there. Gressel can be more responsible defensively while still being able to serve in from deeper, and we can keep playing Hopkins instead of trying to get Gressel shoehorned in the middle.
Najar is not a Nagbe type. He takes many more risks and is positionally "fluid." I love his skillset and willingness to go forward, but if you play Najar anywhere, the rest of the players on the pitch have to figure out where he is and where he's going and adjust accordingly otherwise the opponent will exploit gaps in the defense and turn the match into a track meet. He is not "defensive" at all, except when making recovery runs. In some ways, Najar actually would be better suited as a "super sub" when chasing a game because defensive shape is far less important.
I'll take the point gladly. My biggest takeaway from the last couple of games including last night is how poor Romo looks to me, super hesitant to come off his line, hesitant/slow/predictable passing out from the back and poor reaction skills. Hamid saves that second goal no question. Would've rather saved the $ and international roster spot and just played Kempin, certainly he wouldn't have done any worse.
No on Kempin. He's got the same issues with hesitancy, but with worse overall judgment, high school grade footwork, and instincts. That said, your backup GK should NEVER be consuming a limited resource like an international slot. There are tons of domestic candidates who would play for equal or less money and be at least as good, but Kempin is not one of them.