Taxi with the first half brace! The sample size is too small to draw any conclusions, but is there a pattern developing? …. And now Bill’s down again.
Well, Taxi or bust, I guess. Estrada has the tools you love to see in a striker, he can turn defenders and glide by them, has decent touch. But his decision making/execution is poor. Maybe he'll get better, but Kamara is the better play. I swear I'm better than friggin Flores. Keep him on the left, he's not totally useless there as he can get a cross in, but really he just needs to come out and then play anyone else there.
This is what worries me. Estrada looks like he left his boots in the cement mixer too long. Everything is heavy. Kamara is certainly the better player, but you can’t have only two strikers in a three-man frontline. I’ve said everything I’m going to say about Flores. It just ain’t working.
And we got not quite 50 minutes out of Bill before he hits the injured list again. Extended tryout for the new guy.
Very good. Solid, if uninspiring first win against a team above the playoff line. Well, temporarily — Houston dropped out of the western bracket as a result of this loss. Houston never really looked like they were going to threaten. Failed to punish us for a couple of mistakes. Taxi fluffed the first one, but kept it on frame. He made a hash of his first touch on the second, but stayed on it and smashed it past Clark. Next task: score on the road.
Thoughts: 1. There's something about seeing the uniform in a rain soaked game that brings back some good memories....too bad it isn't the play on the field bringing back those memories. 2. Taxi! Taxi! 3. Crap. There goes Bill again. At what point are they going to go to the announcer with, "Will the ticketholder in section 104, Row G, seat 4 please report to the sideline and suit up. You are the new backup keeper." 4. The rain really screwed up everyone's game play but somehow it seemed about on par with what we've seen from United this season even in good weather. 5. It's points. I guess.
We are Taxi and the misfits. Flores is worse than Yow and Hopkins. Sell him for a bag of peanuts already.
Apparently this is the first time we've beaten Houston since 2014? Seems like the first win against a team in 8 years might be worth celebrating, not to mention we kept our streak of games without a draw intact!
It was cold and miserable at Audi Field. Couple of things that I thought: 1. Taxi took ELEVEN shots, four of them from 30 yards out. He does seem focused in getting the ball on net, and had some really good efforts (and some good passes as well). 2. Flores is at least running now, unlike under Losada. He's just not doing anything particularly useful. He isn't really forward, and can't really play the wings in our system, so I'm not sure what can be done with him. 3. Estrada had a couple of nice passes, but is dreadful at finishing (which is a problem). Houston did not play well, but we definitely did a better job in the 2nd half of taking the air out of the ball without completely parking the bus. Hope Hamid is ok.
who's going to buy him? They need to get Hopkins playing time. The Flores experiment has been such a dismal failure there's no reason to expect that to change. Time to move on
With a match on Tuesday, I presume some of last night's substitutions were intended to rest key players. Nonetheless, I wouldn't mind at all seeing Yow and Hopkins, along with Durkin - and maybe Djeffal, if he can go - in the Cup game. As for strikers: Taxi, if he has something left in the tank, is an obvious choice, but as for the rest I'm equally unimpressed with their ability to put the ball in the net.