The Red stars got to Philadelphia to face red hot A-Rod and the Independence on Wednesday. The CRS after 2 straight losses have fallen down to sixth place. The good news is they are a win away from being in 3rd place by Wednesday night. Will Namazi go with a 3-5-2 and high pressure? Do we have the players that can play this formation consistently? The UNC kids on the Red Stars know how to do this. They did it for AD at UNC all their college careers. When we went to 3-5-2 and high pressure yesterday, Whitney Engen knew exactly what to do. I also would like to see Nikki Washington in again. I thought she did very well her first time in. Go Red Stars!
I want to see this: [LINEUP-4-4-2]Asllani,Masar,Carney,Formiga,Chapman,Rapinoe,Spilger,Asante,Engen,Dalmy,MRAD12[/LINEUP-4-4-2] This assumes that Kosa is fit to go. She was wearing some kind of strange bandage thing on her leg yesterday. OK, MRAD12, I kid. I suppose Loydon will do for, now but she realy needs to make a statement the next couple of games or we should start looking at upgrades.
Hey, I still do OK in the over-40 leagues . But seriously though, everyone has to bring up their game on Wednesday. One more thing. I don't know if it's been mentioned here yet but does anyone here think we have a vocal leader on the team? Who's the undesputed leader of the Red Stars on the field? And not necessarily the one that the coaches have given an arm band to but the one who motivates her teammates and visibly takes charge when things are tough, etc. Dalmy?, Markgraf? Ella? Carney? Cristiane? Anyone?
Ugh I dont want Masar to start. I thought she was completely irrelevant in both games this week. I've seen Cristiane yell at players. But take charge? I've seen Markgraf a few times.. but usually Namazi is the one I hear
Markgraf and Rapinoe should be the leading vets, no? On the pitch my money would be on the Brits though. Carney and Chapman are the metronome of the Redstars. Leading by example type of players.
I want to see Weber in instead of Spilger. Spilger is good, but I think Weber may be better. And I agree with the line-up; I want to see Nogueira, Washington, and McDonald off the bench for Rapinoe, Asllani, and Masar. But, that probably won't happen. It would be a Tar Heel party out there though!
[LINEUP-4-3-3]Rapinoe,Cristiane,Asllani,Chapman,Formiga,Carney,Weber,Markgraf,Engen,Dalmy,Withworth[/LINEUP-4-3-3] Kinda kidding about Whitworth but not really. She was just as solid as a backup last season as Loyden.
Chapman will be gone for NT duty, but according to the roster report, Carney is available. Oh, and McDonald is out with a knee injury for the time being. And Weber isn't rosted. So, I'm hoping this will be the line-up: [LINEUP-4-3-3]Cristiane, Masar, Asllani, Rapinoe, Formiga, Carney, Spilger, Asante, Engen, Dalmy, Loyden[/LINEUP-4-3-3] Then we'd see Nogueira, Washington, and probably Sitch off the bench. We'll see what we can do against Indy.
I'd like that lineup. And if he decides to go 4-4-2 then just drop Asllani to right wing and move Carney centrally.
Good idea. Though, I remember at the beginning of the season, when Asllani was starting at wing, hearing that she hated it. So, if she does get dropped, we may not get a great game out of her.
From boxscorenews.com: Red Stars Open Road Trip Against Independence http://www.boxscorenews.com/clients...en-road-trip-against-independence-p584-68.htm I for one am glad that Asllani will get more playing time. She knows what she's doing in front of the goal and has wicked moves.
Namazi also had a comment somewhere where he said they are going to play high pressure from the very beginning, because sitting back just doesn't work for them. I agree. Namazi may not have gotten a 180 out of them, but he does seem to at least have a beat on them. I thought a lot of the issues last game were a matter of people not being aggressive enough, especially Loyden, who had recently found herself being punished for being overly aggressive in the Atlanta game. Namazi doesn't strike me as a guy to put up with this crap long, either Loyden's going to learn to be more commanding in her box or I could see her sitting fairly shortly. I'm glad to see he'll be giving Asllani more of a shot, but I don't know that this will be the one where we turn it all around. Philly's a really physical team they don't really let you play, which doesn't really suit us well, but you never know. When MRAD brought up the point about leadership I did a mental inventory of our offense in my head, particularly the ones you'd expect to do most of our scoring (Asllani, Carney, Cristiane, Masar, McDonald, Nogueira, Rapinoe, and now Washington). Subtracting Cristiane because I no longer expect her to score, does anyone else wanna do the math on the other's pro experience? I'm thinking all players combined still less than all of Formiga's. Chicago Red Stars 2014 WPS Champs! I can feel it coming!
Didnt Namazi bring up the fact that the team lacks leadership in his post-game interview from Sunday? He was pretty straightforward in that interview and the team heard every last word and didnt exactly look too happy with themselves. Hopefully this will show tonight.
I believe so. I was in the Club trying to listen to the press conference on one of the big screens with tons of little kids around chattering.
Here we go. Line-ups for tonight's game are in on MT. Red Stars Loyden Dalmy Markgraf Asante Engen Formiga Carney Cristiane Rapinoe Nogueira Asllani Ella sits and Asllani starts in her place. Asante starts instead of Spilger Independence Henderson Lohman Falk Johnson Lindsey Krzysik Buczkowski Seger Rodriguez Magnusdottir Sanderson
According to Philly twitter almost a goal on a misplay by Loyden. What the heck is going on with her?
Rodriguez scores on a shot that goes right past Loyden according to twitter. 1-0 Philly. Philly twitter says it trickles past Loyden.
Loyden needs to get her act together, pronto. Not to say it's all her fault, but if something is trickling past her, that's not good.
As far as I can tell, MatchTracker does not list Whitworth as a sub. Seems odd not to have a GK sub available. Thoughts?
My question is where is Chapman? She's not in the game nor a sub. She didn't get hurt last Sunday that I know of.
And yet, she was on fire for the three weeks before that. Who has the most goals on our team again? And, hey, it's not like Cristiane is doing anything with her starting spot this year. I'm giving it more to Asllani than to Masar.