Hard to say early in the season, but they seem pretty comparable to RSL. We'll have an 8 day break coming off altitude, which is great. Hoping that means full-power Russell (on the left, please god) and a more 90-minutes fit Pulido. And Isi back in the starting XI too. I think we're going to continue to run into problems with our fullbacks and defensive midfield with the roster we currently have. I don't see any way around this till probably next year, so we need first-30-minutes Lindsay and not last-hour Lindsay. Fingers crossed. Ilie and Martins I just don't see an increase on their ceiling, so I'm just hoping for form. SKC definitely have the tools to win this game. Anything less and I'm feeling alarm bells. Also Fontas being easily our best defender and one of the best players we have on the pitch is either a sign of him coming truly good after a rocky start and constant fan vitriol, which is wonderful, or... the rest of the team is just a crumpled tissue in defense. I don't even know.
I think it says more about the rest of the defense right now, Fontas looks like he's running in sand any time he's forced to turn and run towards his own goal. I mean in the last two games both Isimat and Rad have beaten him to a guy even though Fontas was at least 20 yards closer to the player.
i hope you mean on the right, please god I watched Seattle yday.. man are we far away from their quality. Was trying to compare in which positions I would take the Seattle player over the SKC player and vice versa but found it too hard since they play a different system, so I did the same for LAFC. I would pick Melia over Cisniega, and Pulido over Opuko, and maybe Isi over Murillo (haven't seen enough of either of them), but otherwise would pick the LAFC player. when you are just inferior on almost every position, and in some instances by considerable margins, you're just not gonna be able to compete for a title.
Whoops, yeah, that one. I think I meant to write not on the left, but such is the way of the Monday. It's not just Seattle. After our game, I turned on the San Jose one... San Jose looked absolute streets ahead of us on the eye test alone. San Jose. I can't understand why all our players look like they're running through ankle-deep mud all the time. I know some of them are really slow, but I know not all of them are, right? Surely not?
The team as a whole is not fast. The quickest guy SKC had (Gerso) is gone and what they are left with is mediocre team speed. Because of that, SKC has the worst looking counter attacks in the league because they can't maintain any sort of advantage against the faster players on the other teams. The last fast guys I can remember on SKC; maybe Teal Bunbury or Kei Kamara. I don't remember many defenders that couldn't outrun Dom Dwyer. And Pulido is not that fast either. On the defensive side of the ball, Ilie and Fontas both look like they are dragging a safe when they run. Martins and Lindsey are faster, but by no means speedsters. I don't think I can name one guy on the team that I would consider really fast. Consequently, they are going to get torched a lot this season.
Back to ATX. Austin has started the season really well. I watched some of their games and are fairly solid for a brand new franchise. They are doing well for a team that has to play 8 straight away matches prior to their first home game. It looks like what SKC had to do their first season waiting for Sporting Park to be ready for play. Playing at CMP, SKC should have an advantage over ATX, but ATX has been playing better defensively than SKC and we get to see Matt Besler playing in a strange new kit. I don't know who is going to be the starting 11 for SKC, so based on what has happened so far this season, my prediction is: SKC 1 - ATX 2.
And, you know, speaking of double... Just saying, both LAFC and Seattle went that way. Both SJ and DC did, too. Quick glance says only our next opponent is sticking to the single (which is interesting because IMO it was a prime reason our Besler was becoming obsolete).
Can you clarify? Maybe because it's precoffee but I'm not getting what you're referring to with double/single here.
I should have figured that out, haha. Can't think of many teams that single-pivot anymore. I am afraid that the 4-3-3 in general is just too defensively frail unless it's built to counter. A 4-3-3 press and possess team just doesn't appear to excel in the current soccer meta, haha. 4-2-3-1 is a very natural readjustment that's basically the same but provides a much denser and more controlling midfield. Russell would do great in that setup but Shelton and Salloi would both worry me a bit.
Totally agree. a 4-2-3-1 is basically a 4-3-3, just a more defensely stable version. I don't know that sitting Shelton is a problem for us this year. Our problem is that PV became a Barca accolyte when the single pivot was hip, but today it's been nicely countered and even Barca today plays a double pivot, as does Pep and do all of his current devotees. I think it can work, still, with exceptional players in those roles. Ilie is not fast enough. Walter is not fast enough. I believe both players have quite a bit to offer, but that system is not made, esp not with Fontas behind them. Without adding anyone or changing the way we approach the game, I'd think maybe Busio in that role might work. He has better wheels, at least, and Isy is not allowed to be injured again.
So I'm trying to set expectations for the season based on the first three games. We've got several starters that haven't seen a lot of field time so far, so it's not a great sample, but the more I think about it, the more pessimistic I get. It feels like we're going to be fighting for a playoff spot, and even then I can't get over the fact that all a team has to do to threaten us is run at our defense with pace. Do we really have much to be optimistic about? Like, if Melia comes back and looks like he did several years ago and Kinda/Pulido/Russell get back in form... is that even enough? Or does our midfield/defense still kill us every game? Just feels like we lost so much more than we gained this off-season -- even compared to the rest of the league.
As long as we continue to rely on Fontas and Ilie in the middle of the field, yes. Isimat-Mirin has been fine in the short time we've seen him, but that was with only 1 of the 2. I'm just not sure he'll be able to cover all the space the lack of pace Fontas/Ilie create.
The RSL game is the only one where Ilie played. It's not a direct correlation, but... I think the danger is both Ilie and Fontas in the same game. Isi would have to cover a lot and Walter would have to cover a lot. I'm afraid that's just an excess of walking-pace players.
Since speed is such an issue with SKC, 4-2-3-1 may be an answer, but we all realize PV won’t change. Interesting factoid; SKC has dropped 5 points from winning positions already this season after only dropping 8 all of last season. The 4-3-3 is not defensively frail, their current back line is defensively frail.
It's not frail unless you're really slow at CB and 6. It's not frail unless you're playing against a high press, which creates problems, but especially is you're slow. We know you're right, but it's not much of a tactical adjustment, so we dream
A couple interesting bits from the MLS stat breakdown. For the first time this year, we destoryed someone in xG. We had 3.7, they had .8. I am not sure I'm a believer in the importance of xG. I feel that a team that's trailing tends to inflate their xG getting back into the game, and that doesn't really explain a lot about relative merits of play. Still, we won this x-one. Fontas is responsible for a lot of what we do in transition. Quick aside: the header he missed was a .64 xG? That's all? Was he a full yard away from an open net? Back to what he does well. He completed 95 percent of his passes, and made a crap ton of passes. The only player with a higher percentage of completed passes was Rad, who obviously played a bunch less. But in addition to the expected back passes to Pulskamp (not as many as I would have thought) and backline switching (again, far more from Puncec than to Puncec) he completed 5 passes to Johnny, 5 to pulido, 12 to Busio, and 19 to Sanchez. It doesn't tell us what happened with subs, but he completed passes to 8 of those who started with him. He didn't connect with Salloi, or Espinoza. Pulskamp started play through him 11 times, while twice through Puncec and zero times through anyone else. Zusi passed to him more than he passed to Puncec.Fontas isn't getting any faster, but he is clearly central to what PV wants to do this year, and up to this point, he's doing it quite well. Our single pivot set up wasn't a liability in this match, btw. I mean, what came at us was a mirror image. In that, btw, Besler is their Fontas or libero, and he was a less effective one (88 percent complete and to 6 others) less creative (almost all of his passes were to the expected points, DM, LB, CB and Keeper). that said, Besler played well with the ball. I'm not comfortable with the new stat setup to say i'm seeing much more in our numbers, but the numbers indicate that while we did seem to need a red to actually win, the football gods were determining we were the better side before the card, as well.
When I saw the lineup, I thought that must be one of the slowest overall team speed units the Club has ever started. Luckily, ATX didn’t have anyone capable of taking advantage. Enjoyable last ten minutes but that a frustrating first 80.
It was nice to get the win. Would have been so frustrating to mostly dominate a game with so many clear chances to come up short. The red card was deserved (several times over) so Austin can't really complain that turned the tide fully. What the heck was us giving up really dangerous chances from each kickoff following our goals. That was terrifying. Maybe we can have some fun watching SKC this year, but this team has a lower ceiling. I base that first on lack of speed. It's so obvious at basically every position. Another factor is poor finishing, which is not new and seemingly will be a thing for us all season. The comment above about not being exposed for Ilie in a single pivot b/c Austin was a mirror was a good note. That tactical disadvantage - and we have to call it at this point b/c Vermes is not going to change - also lowers the potential for the team. If we don't do something different (personnel, formation/tactics) ahead of the midseason transfer window then Vermes is being negligent.
A couple of things I have noted about the game: - Perhaps the most annoying unwritten rule about soccer officiating is that a second yellow card is so much harder to get than a first one. I really wonder whether having gotten the first card actually incentivizes players to play MORE aggressively since they already got the only punishment they are likely to get. Really happy that Ring decided to give the ref absolutely no other choice, but he could have gotten a second yellow for a cynical shirt pull breaking up a counter attack, a tackle into Busio's ankles from behind, and certainly also persistent infringement. - this game was nuts. Two teams both pressing high and being justified in doing so by creating multiple turnovers in the opponent half, but also being not justified in doing so cuz both their midfields are just too slow to recover positions when the press is being broken by the team in possession. I feel like for large sections of the game the midfield simply didn't exist. - This might've been the first game since he arrived in KC where Pulido was our worst attacking player. Really good performance by Busio, Salloi and Russell. - That being said, someone needs to score. In a vein similar to what I wrote for the RBNY game, who had Ilie and Kinda with a header for the goals lol? Sometimes the 10 million dollar player doesn't score into an open net and your center back doesn't score on an open header from 2 yards out, but the unlikeliest goals do happen. - Finally, are my wife and I the only SKC fans who think that Martins' crosses are absolutely horrible? On Reddit crossing seems to be celebrated as his solitary skill, but I feel like he hits the first defender with almost 100% precision. Even the cross that led to the second goal was not exactly great..
I can't believe we won that game, even considering all the attacking chances we created. I don't really know what else to say, the first 80 minutes of that game was awful, and we've got a long season ahead of us.
I was relieved and happy to get 3 points against a team who started their season well, and then, I came here and read the comments. lack of speed team speed. lack of tactical formation change. lack of individual player and team ceiling. lack of finishing. All, I certainly don't disagree. My biggest issue is probably the ceiling issue. We saw how devoid we were in the playoffs last year. The gap between us and the top teams has not been bridged. My gut feeling is that I want to enjoy this season, but I dont see where we have made up the difference nor where the change in level could even be expected to come from. Just speculating, but really feel like most of this season has hinged on a healthy Pulido banging in goals for fun from all over the place. I agree with the poster who noted how not good he was last night. btw, decent english speaking tv audience numbers. almost 400k for a sunday night FS1 game played on mothers day. Not too bad by mls standards featuring small mkt vs small mkt especially.