you aren't the same player you once were. you gave the metros two goals. you should do the team a favor and walk away. if you want to keep playing, please watch the tape of the game and start doing more of what jolley and pope did.
Please... Defence is not the problem. The Rapids have a decent GA average. Offence is the problem. It wouldn't have made much difference if those goals were allowed or not. That Rapids have only produced 3 goals this seson. So before you blame the defence, look at the other side of the feild.
I don't know if the first goal is entirely Robin's fault. He does need to keep his feet from going flat while containing attackers, but, Mathis also showed why he is a starter for the Nats. He saw the tinyest window for a shot and made it count. The second goal - he should know better than to ball-watch.
Do you still think this after the Fire dropped 4 goals? Could have been 6 if Garlick hadn't made those two saves in the first 4 minutes. I like Fraser - he seems to be the only one who can consistenly dispossess an opposing player. But, the back line has sucked through 6 games and it's not getting better. Is it a formation issue? Lack of talent? Inability to mark a man?
And the problem isn't Fraser. He was just about the only player out there playing any kind of defense last night.
What are you watching? Your defense can't handle the press. They kept passing the ball to other team or get stripped off the ball which put themselves in dangerious situation. They ball watch when they suppose to mark up. They are very soft against the attacker for the most part. When they decide to be physical they foul the attacker in the box. Your defense is the worse in the league by far.
I don't know about that, but I agree Fraser is the best of a bad bad bunch. Edit to add: Fraser wouldn't make the bench of too many teams in MLS with the way he is playing. he is lucky he is in the worse team in MLS.
I think Fraser still has a lot to give and when he's on his game can be a fantastic central defender. But for three games in a row he's been ineffective and apparently disiniterested. It seems he's develop an unwillingness to step up and challenge the ball or close down any open player. He looks like he'd prefer to direct his three defenders around him to do all the dirty work and leave the scraps for him to clean up. This would be fine if Fraser were a vocal and traditional sweeper, but not only is he not that kind of player but the Rapids are not playing that kind of defense. Hankinson does not want his outside defenders to play as marking backs and he is not expecting his central defenders to play as a sweeper/stopper combination. He's assigned each of them zones to cover and expects them to do so accordingly. Part of Fraser's problem is that he's not stepping up into the play before it develops. I think he's certainly reading it, as he's always been positionally solid, but he's simply not moving into action. Largely this happens to central defenders when they don't have faith in their teammates, and feel they're constantly dropping back to cover for someone else's mistake. However in Fraser's case I think he's entirely without faith in Hankinson and his desired system of defense. To a large extent I've got the impression that Fraser isn't closing down attackers because he doesn't want to catch crap from Hankinson for moving out of position. He's expected to be the defensive anchor of this team, yet Hankinson ripped him a new one last year the moment the team hid a skid. Finally, it should be said that Fraser is partnered with new defenders on a weekly basis, including frequent changes to the other central defender alongside him. A solid defensive unit is just that -- a cohesive group that knows exactly how to move and work together. There is no consistency being built in the defense, and it shows on the field. It's rare for a statistic to be a telling factor in soccer, but look at the lack of offside calls against the Rapids' opponents. Fraser is no different at this time from anyone else on this team; he's confused about the roles of both himself and his teammates on the field, confused about the direction in which Hankinson is taking the team, and playing with a lack of confidence and sence of team unity.
i'll amend my earlier post and take some of the blame off fraser's plate. the defense is still a disaster, and as the senior member fraser is responsible for a large part. but i dont think fraser was the problem in the chicago game. and why wait until the 73rd minute to take hart out? shouldn't rizo be starting and hart or herdsman coming in off the bench late in the game to provide energy? or is rizo yet another hankinson international signing that fails to make the grade? i would beg the coaching staff to please spend time working on defense this week, but, god, how can you ignore the fact that we haven't scored a goal since may 3? hankinson. out. now. counce. out. now.