You took the words right out of my mouth. Whitney Engen was the one I would keep for sure. Also Asllani, Carney and Dalmy are keepers as well. They play their hearts out every game and do a good job. Everyone else, as you say: Can stay or go. Rebuild the team for next year if we can't get it together.
From my personal opinion of what I saw yesterday, CRS needs a pure goal scorer plain and simple. Some one you can keep up top at all times and doesn't have to be coming back in the mid to get the ball. It seems most of your forwards were in the mid trying to create and when theres a breakaway, no one was up top. Thats why I like how Paul Riley is using Arod. She's not someone who's going to beat her defenders or create her own shot but keep her up top and play the long ball and most times she will get by the defenders to score. Maybe if FCGP is in a generous mood, a trade could be worked out in which someone like Christiane and 1 or 2 wingers is traded for Sinclair seeing that Christiane maybe able to play better with Marta. But I'm guessing this would be a long shot because why would FCGP want to mess with their current winning formula.
Maybe her proper team is Atlanta. I mean, she only seems to know how to score in a yellow jersey anyways
The thing is, with playing a high defensive line, the forwards & mids absolutely must close down players in their area very quickly before the ball ever reaches the defense. If forwards & mids allow the other team time to play the ball they want (ie time to think & get off decent balls) the back 4 (or 3 in the case of UNC) is already at a disadvantage. Defenders must be pressured to pass before they want to and defenders & mids should never be allowed to feel like they have time. And each defender must be very disciplined in when to cover space vs when to step for a ball vs when to chase a ball. For example, look at the highlight play after Boston scored the first goal (start ~19seconds in). Yeah, Markgraf got beat around the corner and should take some heat for that but she should never have had to be there. Go two passes earlier. Scott is completely alone -- why isn't a forward or mid pressuring her? She allowed enough time to look up & make a clean "easy" pass to a wide open Breaker. She had time to decide. That's where the defense is beaten. The CRS midfield player should have been closer to that player -- Formiga got pulled toward Scott and Chapman didn't get to the open Breaker. During Scott's run, the CRS left back was already playing like a center back in that she was backpedaling toward center and doing the contain thing but too far away from the ball and the open Breaker (leaving the player making the outside run all alone). But she was the left back NOT the cb. It is was Markgraf's job to cover middle and/or step up w/ the area overloaded & a player making a run on the outside. The left back has to cover the run on the left side. When Scott makes the pass to the wide open Breaker, the CRS left back turns & runs to the ball completely abandoning her mark/area. Completely the wrong thing for her to do. Markgraf is already stepping toward the Breaker to contain b/c she's the cb and that's her job and instinct. But the left back's ball chasing left an easy one time split pass to Breaker #4 available. Markgraf then has to make a sprinting attempt to cover the left wing and gets beat. On Smith's second goal, look how much space & time Rapinoe (? I can't tell 100%) gives Osborne to serve that ball. Hell, I could have made a decent pass w/ that much space/time. Now, go back to b/f Osborne receives the ball (32 sec mark). Boston has overloaded the left side. See Formiga step up (and plant both feet) toward Smith while Smith is already starting her run forward? And she's not the only one. Chapman is also stepping forward but not covering a Breaker. Sure, two Breakers are offsides behind Engen & Dalmy on the far side. But the high line depends on mids covering the offensive runs out of midfield b/c a defender stepping up will rarely be able to turn & catch a mid on a sprint w/ a full head of steam out of midfield. Pause it at the 33rd sec and see how Smith has already blown past Formiga? And Tarpley's little header was very nice--completely altered the service & cracked open the defense. Markgraf was already cutting to go toward the ball and so was beaten. But the goal shouldn't be all on her--Smith wasn't her player. The gap btwn Engen & Markgraf might be too wide but Cheney is a significant distraction. Loyden compounded all those mistakes w/ her own poor 1v1 job. She didn't even make it hard for Smith. Her hands are down & she makes herself small. She is glued to the 6 yeard box. She dives the way Smith shoots but it is backwards and will little conviction. Since her hands started down (was she afraid of getting megged?) she doesn't get them to ball level until the ball is already past her. Ok, this post is entirely too long. But you started talking about defensive pressure & a high defensive line and....
Nice analysis kool-aid. I agree with you and it's definitely apparent Loyden has absolutely zero confidence right now. Now here's the thing with the defense in this game... One, was Engen playing LB or was Asante there? Our defense should be Dalmy, Engen, Asante, Weber. Those are our four best defenders imo. Spilger does fine but I like Weber better because she has a better left foot and gets involved in the attack more. Engen and Asante are our two best CB's. Although neither is particularly speedy, I think the two of them are better than Markgraf. Now will Namazi ever bench Markgraf who is our captain? I hope so. Look at the Freedom, they just benched Whitehill. Maybe it's best to go back to a traditional 4-4-2. As in Carney and Rapinoe stay on the wings. Maybe a lot of the problem is the fact that there is too much freedom out there. Carney and Rapinoe sometimes look like they just roam around wherever they feel like. Push them wide. Let Carney go down the line and attack players 1v1. She is so good at this! Let her take on, say, the other teams left back. She beats them.. she dribbles diagonally towards the goal and rips a shot low. Let Rapinoe do the same. This has a better chance of sneaking by the keeper and it allows the opportunity for the forwards to provide the easy tap in far post. Too many of our shots are low percentage. I think we try too often to be the "pretty" team and that is never going to work. We are not Barcelona. We cant expect our little flicks and shots only aimed at the upper 90 to work. I have no idea what else to say. This team looked like they were finally establishing some rhythm.. but now lost it all.
Was at the Game.... Everytime Formiga had the ball she dominated the Philly players and her passes were good. The midfield seems to be doing it's job. The first goal by Arod was a deflection off a defender, Loyden had no time to react, the second goal Amy beat 2 defenders and took a great shot that Solo would not have saved... the third, Loyden needed to challenge seger and try to take the ball but she did not and seger had a better angle on the goal than she should have. They need a player or 2 uptop to combine with the Midfield - The defence was not horrible... but Philly played like a team and Chicago seemed Disjointed. Got to talk to Formiga for a few minutes... SHe is so exceptional...
Clips of the goals are up. You may not want to watch them. Not pretty and not that informative in terms of figuring out what happened beyond the "last" screw up. The clips don't really show any of what led to the immediate situation that resulted in the goal. And the red card foul (and/or any back talk after) wasn't on camera. The yellow at the 1:05 mark could/should have been a red. This defense did have the best goals against record even though they weren't at the top of the standings. What in the world has happened?
Actually the last foul at the end was the red card foul. At that point I wasn't even paying attention so didn't catch it live but in the replay I must agree that was BOGUS. There was no talk back so I don't think that was the case. The foul might not even have warranted a yellow.
Depends. There isn't enough of a view on the clip for me to judge. But the other foul shown in the clip -- the foul from behind catching both feet/legs that got Buczkowski a yellow. That should have been a straight red & easy call. But she got away w/ it.
Blaze20 can you clarify how the CRS back four lined up? From the video it almost looked like Markgraf was playing right back.. but then where was Dalmy? So.. if you can, do you happen to remember how they were lined up?
To be fair, I really can't remember how they lined up except that Asante was LB and you are right Markgraf was RB.
Well if they played a 3-5-2, they should never play it again. Those goals were painful to watch. I wish they'd bring Weber in and bench Markgraf.
I too wish Weber would get more playing time. She does whatever it takes to defend and is good at the ball at het feet.
Well, if they did play w/ 3 in the back, Engen, Markgraf, and Asante would be the best for the 3 (which is sorta what it looked like) in the defenders on the roster. The bigger problem is the ability and willingness of the outside 2 players in the midfield 5 to get back & defend on the outside. Those 2 players have to be willing to haul ass 100% of the time. They also have to provide balance -- it is a tricky adjustment and really, I don't think CRS has the personnel to play a 3-5-2, particularly w/ Chapman away. While I do not think she's having an All-Star season, I do not think Markgraf is the weakest link along the back 4. Well, not based on what I've seen w/ my own eyes.
Well right exactly and then there is the issue of familiarity. We've seen them play 3 different formations in the past 4 games: 3-5-2, 4-4-2, and 4-3-3.
I think they do have the personnel, unfortunately they are not contract players and cant get in the game unless the # of contract players falls below 18....