Houston v. Colorado Sat. March 28, 2015, 6:30 p.m. pre/in/post [R]

Discussion in 'Colorado Rapids' started by fortcollins, Mar 22, 2015.

  1. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Bold for emphasis.
     
  2. AlbertCamus

    AlbertCamus Member+

    Colorado Rapids
    Sep 2, 2005
    Colorado, USA
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    0-0 ties are boring, I might take a pass on going next week. I am rooting to break the winless streak, so that we will have something tangible to look back on.
     
  3. wormhole

    wormhole Member

    Mar 25, 2009
    Westminster, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    JasonMarx may be unhappy with the current state of affairs, but JasonMa 1.0 would be more pragmatic - pointing out 2 road draws to begin the season is a good start to build on. ;)
     
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  4. DavidJames

    DavidJames Member+

    May 11, 2003
    Longmont
    Imagine....

    If Torres buries the 1v1 last week, the Rapids are 1-0-2, 5 points, 3rd best in the west on PPG, and 3 shut outs.

    Excuse me while I imagine I have enough to retire now.
     
  5. Totoro

    Totoro Member+

    Dec 3, 2009
    Colorado
    There are some good thoughts in there, but white space is your friend. Break up the text with paragraphs/blank lines and it will be much more readable.
     
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  6. Totoro

    Totoro Member+

    Dec 3, 2009
    Colorado
    This one had some good chances, too, so your portfolio is looking really good!
     
  7. Quinn 33

    Quinn 33 Member+

    Apr 25, 2003
    Denver, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #157 Quinn 33, Mar 29, 2015
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2015
    Not much to comment on since this game was more of the same basically. I'll just do bullet points of the general stuff to keep it simple:
    • Irwin has his swag back.
    • Our defense is solid, and much better than last year, even when we are forced to start people are low in the depth chart.
    • Our midfield is pretty damn good, and our ball movement a times is impressive.
    • We did not do enough to improve up top. In fact, we really don't have any strikers on our squad at all. We need to sign more strikers, because just hanging our hat in Doyle is a terrible strategy.
    Now, speaking of this game more specifically, it was pretty frustrating to watch. We can't buy a goal. We dominated the play for most of the game. Our final passes were rather poor, and our off-the-ball movement in the final third was largely nonexistent. This is what happens when you don't have any strikers on your roster. We don't have anyone that's used to playing that high up, and as such we don't have anyone that can create space on their own or make dangerous runs...thus the quality of our chances in front of goal aren't as good...and thats why we can't score.

    Torres is not a striker. He is a withdrawn forward/winger. Badji is a striker, but he is not good enough to play at this level. He's just another Brown who's going to work hard and run his ass off, but have a perpetually abysmal strike rate. No, these guys are not the solution up-top.

    We need a real solution up-top. Now! Even if it's a temporary one. KSE needs to get off their cheap lazy a$$e$ and sign a quality striker. We can't just wait around for Dolye to show up and hope he's hot right out of the gate. This should have been done in the off-season. In fact, it should have been done the minute Conor Casey left this team. This is the single biggest failure on Rapids/Paul Bravo's record. They have done an exceptionally poor job of identifying and bringing in forwards that can make a difference at the MLS level.

    On the bright side, team chemistry has seen a clear progression over the last three games. At some point that will begin translating into goals. My issue is I don't think that will be enough as it stands.
     
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  8. Totoro

    Totoro Member+

    Dec 3, 2009
    Colorado
    I thought the Philly game was worse. But then 3 0-0 games don't leave a lot to choose from.

    A positive: there were a couple combinations that were among the better Rapids efforts at ball movement since they've made the switch to "attacking, free flowing soccer" the past few years.

    This is the sort of stuff we've been waiting for. They need to start putting the damn chances away. Torres was great with the playmaking but he scuffed an open shot off a Ramirez cross to his feet. (A cross to a player's feet for an open shot--by the Rapids!) Torres is way better than that and needs to put one away to get his confidence back.

    They need to score and win a game before the D has a bad match and they allow a goal or two early, start pushing forward to chase the game and end up getting combed.
     
  9. Totoro

    Totoro Member+

    Dec 3, 2009
    Colorado
    Even Doyle--is he this sort of player? I don't know much about him. You are right about this being a big hole since Casey left.
     
  10. spot

    spot Member+

    Nov 29, 1999
    Centennial
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #160 spot, Mar 29, 2015
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2015
    Used to be.

    He'll need service though. There's been some improvement in service, but it's still in short supply.
     
  11. RapidPSS

    RapidPSS Member

    Mar 16, 2011
    Pueblo, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, I'm not unhappy. I'm just not happy.

    1. I am happy to see shutouts. After last year, we need all of the clean sheets we can get.
    2. We're creating chances. That's positive.
    3. We can't finish. Sarvas got robbed on one shot, but all other shots could have been placed more accurately.
    4. Ramirez can ball, and Irwin is proving how stupid the Nasco/Berner experiment was last year.
    5. Soccer is better when there are goals.
     
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  12. Stuart95

    Stuart95 Member+

    Mar 11, 2012
    NoVA
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Through this weekend, the Rapids are the only team that hasn't given up a goal. A couple of better finishes and they could easily be 2-0-1. That's a hell of an improvement after last season.
     
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  13. Independiente

    Independiente Member

    Colorado Rapids
    United States
    Mar 15, 2005
    Littleton, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    First off, I enjoyed your post. It was a nice, fresh perspective. I have been very happy with the play of Torres this season so far. I think his effort and play is at a higher level than last year for sure and I really appreciated his defensive work, especially the one play he broke up in Houston's final third late in the game. I agree that the product on the field over the past two games has been great in regards to passing and moving forward into the attack. It has been fluid, some nice passing sequences that are attack minded. There are shots that have been close (I thought Cronin's was going to be a goal), but we all know that goals are needed to win games. As we all know, a soccer match is not won by the team playing the most attractive style, rather by the team who score more goals than the other. As fans, we want both attractive soccer and wins, which in reality will only be a few teams in the league. I like what I am seeing from the team, but I wish those 0-0 ties were against teams like Seattle, LA or RSL on the road. My best hope is that we can turn our new streak into an undefeated streak rather than the current winless streak.
     
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  14. Quinn 33

    Quinn 33 Member+

    Apr 25, 2003
    Denver, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Having a player like Doyle would have made a difference on Saturday.

    Our attack has only two dimensions right now; one is to cross from the wing, the other is to play quick through balls.

    Houston countered those by playing pretty conservative and having a lot of people behind the ball. They congested the area around the box and made passing lanes very tight...which made playing through balls difficult and also made it difficult for anyone to find an open header.

    You put in a guy like Doyle, he can play with his back to the goal. When the ball is at his feet he can either pull defenders towards him to create space for others, or he can roll off his marker and create space by himself. This creates space by allowing other burgundy shirts to make runs that don't necessarily require threading a needle, or playing a hopeful early cross.

    A player type like Doyle adds another dimension to our attack that isn't largely useless when the other team decides to turtle. He is also fairly mobile, a lot moreso than Casey, so he is certainly more than just a strong man that sits in the middle.
     
  15. Adidas4Life

    Adidas4Life Member

    May 9, 2005
    This team is already light years ahead from last year.

    The midfield, led by Marcelo, has shown flashes of quality footy. Torres has got the fire again. Irwin will be solid all year long.

    Once we sharpen up the finishes in the final 3rd we'll be in fine shape in a tough, tough division.
     
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