Believe it or not, I thought he had an assist. But yes, they have been one of the most predictable elements of our game.
I am concerned now about working Halsti into the line up. Olsen played him 120 minutes in Open Cup, and then 8 minutes as a sub in next league match. Really prefer Halsti to get more minutes in league play.
A Scandinavian would probably wilt with temperatures like yesterday. We may need to hold off using him until fall.
He'll start against Chicago on Wednesday because its only two days of rest for the others. Ditto next week in the USOC game at Philly on Tuesday after another two-day rest. I think he should have been playing more before, but he will now.
Overall I agree with you, but it's not like we chose to got 120 min vs. Pittsburgh. And it's not like Ben would have pulled him off the field in OT. You pull off midfielders, attackers, or injured players.
Got full 90 tonight against Chicago and thought he gave a good showing of composure on the ball. I really see his usefulness in big matches to keep possession and dictate the match.
I agree. He seemed a little out of sorts after Kitchen came in last night. Not sure if that's because he was tiring a bit, they couldn't work out their roles, or just haven't played together much. And there are some times where it seems like he's held it a bit too long and gets into trouble. Almost seems like he's not expecting people to be challenging him that much, and I think there is a difference between MLS and most of Europe in how much you sit back and how much you challenge for the ball. He's probably not thinking that someone is going to get in his grill in the 70th minute 60 yards from their goal. I expect more, but he definitely gives a different presence than anyone else on the field.
Didn't DCU shift formations after Kitchen came in? If so, was this adequately discussed at half time? If not discussed, then it's easy to see why coordination would have been off. Maybe Kitchen (whose play has been off all season compared with last year) didn't fit with Halsti instead of the other way around..
Absolutely. Something seemed obviously out of sync in the middle after the switch. Kitchen being put in seemed like a "let's put a fresh defender guys out there" type of change, and maybe not a lot of thought was given to how it might impact our coordination.
The great thing though when he holds it too long, he's still able to make the pass out of the pressure. I think he's a good player and offers us a very composed look in the midfield. In other games I saw him make a lot of tracking defensive plays. I don't remember as many last night, but I could have missed them. Given how patchwork our team was last night, it was good to see us shut them out. I'm still excited to see how good Halsti might be with more time playing with the regular starters who are healthy and rested. I'm not sure he's ever done that.
The 4-5-1 formation and tactics suit Halsti. I'd like to give that squad a little more action with the addition of Rolfe and Espindola on the wings. I might also put DeLeon in place of Silva and Kitchen as an outside back. Could we even teach Aguilar to be an outside back?
DeLeon is actually a guy I'd been thinking for a while was the epitome of a guy who should have been taught to be a wide back some time ago. He seems to have all the attributes, recovery speed, work rate, ability to make surging runs when the opposition has shifted to another part of the field, and he seems to be disciplined and coachable tactically. But his dribbling is not so good in tight spaces and his end product is lacking.
I want to see Halsti on the pitch with Rolfe, so we would have two calm, high soccer IQ players working together. But if Benny keeps to his pattern, we will see Rolfe with Arnaud against Toronto, and there's no assurance when Halsti will start again, except probably in the Open Cup match (where you won't see Rolfe). Frustrating.
I agree, but it's also been a function of the schedule and Halsti's schedule. Besides, for all we know the lack of coordination in CM when he and Kitchen played in Chicago could be what he's seeing in training and he's not ready to make that pairing yet.
If you think the only job of an outside back is to defend, you are the one posing as Ben Olsen. Outside backs are critical to possessing the ball and building an attack. Our problem is that our outside backs are far too committed to defense and lack important offensive skills (frankly, I'm not so sure Aguilar has them).
I'm riffing on the motif that Olsen wants to turn all our offensive players into defenders. With Aguilar you're taking one of the only guys on the team who wants to take on players and turning him into a defender. But as you say, of course, sometimes you want your backs to do that. You also want them to tackle, and I don't think Aguilar has made more than 2 good tackles yet.
I hear you … but Halsti was left one step behind with his early season injury Unless Arnaud starts shitting the bed or Halsti does something remarkable we will continue to see this pattern. When you take a step back and evaluate just based on the evidence it's hard to claim that Halsti has outperformed Arnaud. At this point we have so many games that being on the B team is not an indictment. You still have a job to do and are expected to do it. If they want more playing time they have a perfect opportunity to keep winning in the Open Cup … thus ensuring more opportunities. I wouldn't worry about it … With injuries and suspensions there will still be plenty of opportunities for Halsti to play with the A team.
I don't want Halsti to be the backup to anyone - it isn't as if what's on the field is of such high quality that he needs to bide his time. With Pontius out and Rolfe moved up top there is room for Halsti. Ben just isn't doing what needs to be done. Squad rotations at the beginning of the season seem to work (Barcelona) but once we get past this near term congestion we are going to need a solid starting 11 - if Halsti isn't on it then we paid too much for him to come here and ride pine. James
Can you honestly point to the evidence where Halsti is clearly more effective than Arnaud? I'm not saying I'd be opposed to Halsti starting … but it's not nearly as much of a no brainer as you make it out to be. I admit that Halsti brings something different … but different doesn't necessarily mean more points in the standings. Pretty harsh for the coach that's running away with the East … I find Olsenball as frustrating as anyone … but when it comes to results Ben and Arnaud are doing what needs to be done Couldn't agree more but I'm more concerned with the players who are responsible for the attack. We only have two guys who are in any kind of scoring form … Rolfe and Arrieta … and even they're just barely lukewarm. Olsen needs to find some chemistry up top sooner rather than later. I think it's optimistic to think that Halsti will have a significant positive influence in this area. If anything Arnaud has more of a resume of actual attacking contribution in his career. Halsti is a life long center back converted into a defensive mid. Arnaud was a winger/forward/midfielder converted into a defensive mid.