LA 3 - Metros 0 Hat Trick by Ruiz, Diallo leaves game on stretcher with ankle injury, and Ziadie gets a red card in the second half. I just got back from the game, and it was absolutely terrible. I missed the first goal due to traffic in the Rose Bowl area, but I'm kind of glad I did. We came out in a 4-3-3 formation. As usual, the marking wasn't tight enough in the back, and Ruiz repeatedly burned Petke. Heck even Cobi looked good out there. Before Diallo got hurt, the forwards kept running into each other's space. At one point Clint and Big Mama got in each others face arguing on the field. Having 3 forwards was particularly useless considering there was ZERO service from midfield. Williams was the only remotely offensive minded midfielded. In typical MLS and Metros fashion, the team lost its cool, Cobi had a spat with Ziadie, and saw red. Petke was lucky to avoid red too, he totally flipped at the ref and 4th official. This game was a fair indicator that OZ has lost control/respect of his squad. The team needs a change in leadership. It might be too late for this year. But not only was there sloppy play, but also a lack of discipline and urgency. One more observation: I've only made it to one Metros game at the Swamp this year, so this may have been going on all season, but I noticed that all the bench players didn't go into the locker room at halftime at all. They weren't warming up either, they were just hanging out. The whole Galaxy team went inside. I'm wondering if this is another sign of problems on the team. That's my report being one of the few Metrofans at the Rose Bowl. It was too bad that I had literally nothing to cheer for.
I'm cheating as well since I saw the final score on Yahoo Sports. WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU PUTTING CLINT!, DIALLO! & FARIA AT THE SAME TIME!?! IF IT DIDN'T WORK ON SUNDAY AGAINST DC IT DIDN'T WORK TONIGHT! AND THE END RESULT WAS DIALLO & CLINT FIGHTING EACH OTHER! THIS TYPE OF CRAP IS NOT WHAT WE NEED! NOW WE LOST A BIG MATCH AND NOW IT'S 12 PTS WE NEED! Now we lost Diallo for how long I don't know. But going into the Cotton Bowl this coming thursday they better get their act together. I try to hold off all my fustration as much as possible but now I am really ticked off. THIS IS BULL! THE BOYS BETTER START TO WAKE UP! OR ELSE WE AIN'T GOING TO THE POSTSEASON! If Diallo's injury isn't that serious put Faria on the bench and let him sub in, or Clint to sub in for Faria. What ever works, because right now, this is a late season break down that is really pissing me off.
I think its safe to say that for the umpteenth time this season the "player of the week" played against our defense.
Here's a recap of the match from ESPN..for those of you who missed out on the match.... http://espn.go.com/soccer/2002/recap/47816.html Nice to hear that Diallo's injury isn't as serious as thought...I think we should go with two up top ( Mathis-Faria) and rest Diallo for the weekend. Unless we play perfect football for the remainder of the season, I really don't think we deserve to go to the playoffs. We are getting worse as each game go's by.
The third goal was anything but Petke's fault. He was trapped in a situation where he was left all alone. It was either stay with Ruiz or go forward with Victorine. Either way, I feel it would have been a goal, just that it went to Ruiz. That was Jolley's fault. The second goal was a weird flick from Cobi, and a stunning finish from Ruiz. Really very well struck. First goal, can't be blamed on Howard, as he got his hand on it, but a big save there would have changed the match. Honestly, I don't know anymore. Diallo is not for this team. Where are all the pro-Diallo guys now that he is not scoring? Where are they now that he seems to be in arguments all the time? I said it before, he's cancer. He shouldn't be here, and OZ shouldn't go for those type of players. Whether it is Serna or Diallo. They both ucked us over, I feel. Akwari was good tonight. It's odd that we have no right wingers on the lineup. I know that Villegas was a bitch, but right now, I would love to have him man his normal position. What else? Mathis seemed to be tired by the end. Whatever. I felt he tried. He was back defending. (he almost scored on his own goal, hahahahh) What are you going to do?
i wonder when mathis and diallo will be allowed to play up top together...and oz finally uses faria as a sub....
More utter shite football from the Metro. I hate to say it, but this team has quit. Losers of 5 of 6, we go into Dallas with basically no chance for a win there. We lost 2-0 at Dallas in July, and 3-1 at home. Unless Clint pulls another 5 goals out of his @ss, we can't expect much from this team in it's current form. We will go into our final 3 games probably tied (or nearly so) with NE, needing 2 wins in 3 to make the playoffs. For which we will be rewarded with San Jose, a team that owns us. Ruiz was unmarked on 2 of his goals, and our offense was pretty pathetic. Williams seems content to dribble exclusively into traffic- when he wasn't shooting 20 feet over the net. Clint is moving with all of the spark and alacrity of Laurent Blanc, Faria is still butchering the few decent chances we get a game, and our midfield again had no answer for cracking LA's defense. Diallo, before injuring himself on a mildly reckless collision with Califf, looked lost out there. He and Mathis were fighting (always a good sign), and our triangle offense of diallo, faria and mathis isn't getting anything together. Thing about Diallo, is that he doesn't run enough to be partnered up top with Mathis, who doesn't run enough either. Mathis needs Faria to be the sprinter, and I think leaving Faria on the bench means that you have 2 forwards that are pretty stationary. Oz has 4 games left on his job at this point. If he is a quality coach, he will get this team to play together. I'm not saying win every game, but play well as a team. We haven't done that in a very long time, and watching this team is just painful right now.
That about sums it up. Tonight was a trainwreck on several levels. Just painful. New England away is looking huge. Extremely huge...
I know we all love Clint...but I'm glad Diallo got all over Clint. I don't agree with Diallo bringing his dirty laundry onto the pitch, but enough is enough. Sure we bitch and moan when we lose , but think about how it feels to be playing on this crap team. It's about time we stop kissing Clint's redknecked ass and actually jump on him to produce. Sure he back tracks and plays a little d, but overall he has been garbage all year. I loved his 5 goal outburst and breakout season last year, but since then he has done zero. I've waited awhile to see if he can bounce back from his injury and so far he hasn't come close. Sorry guys but one goal in the world cup doesn't make a great or even good season. I don't want to knock Clint but damn he is playing awful this year. If he would put half the effort he puts into his nightlife into his game on the field then maybe he would be a productive player this year. Most of you guys still hate Diallo from the Mike incident and I can understand that but if it wasn't for him we would be DFL (Dead F'n Last). His complaining out there on the pitch is justified in my eyes....wouldn't you be pissed if you had to play off that garbage that we are calling a football team. We can blame a ton of people this year , which shows how bad we are...but to me the finger is starting to go towards Clint. His smile and funny voice can only carry him so far. The season is 100% on the line and players like Clint are supposed to step it up and bring the win home.
I missed the game. I realize it was utter shite... but can someone give me the lowdown on how Akwari did last night?
Honest question, from the stadium it looked like victorine was brought down before the ball bounced to ruiz, would it have been a penalty had ruiz not scored? (well assuming the ref wasn't an itiot).
"Before Diallo got hurt, the forwards kept running into each other's space. At one point Clint and Big Mama got in each others face arguing on the field. Having 3 forwards was particularly useless considering there was ZERO service from midfield." Good post. I don't like three up top players because it limits your space to run on to a pass in general. Also just 2 players who know how to make runs have trouble playing together because they are moving into the same space, but that should be able to be sorted out. It hasn't happen yet. Maybe, next season because I am reasonably sure we will not make playoffs, and even if we do we will be knocked out because we just aren't playing a good game. It will not suddenly become a good game in this short amt of time. On Faria is not a starter for one reason misses most of his chances when he receivers the ball up top.He should be comming off the bench. They tried to play him at a wing, but he does not understand the position. Our problem on attack? The players who actually helped hold the ball and move the ball up field arent' with us or are hurt Chung, Vilegas and Ramos. They also were all capable of beating defenders. The new guys are not.Plus they got back on defense most of the time. Richie
Redknapp, I have to disagree with you. It's not a question of Mathis. I happen to be a supporter of Mathis, but Diallo should not have been brought onto the team. Same with Serna. Those in my view were two huge mistakes. Mathis scored us the game winner against DC. He had another knee injury, and has only played in 2 full matches, and part of another. I'm not sure how many beings would be able to influence the match as much as he has. Del Piero only recently has come back to form after that horrendous knee injury a few years back. Mathis also has shite around him, but at least he was back. Helping out. Did Diallo ever leave the offensive third? Nope. Mathis was back, and he shouldn't be that back. That should be Andy, Jeff Moore, or Paule springing the original pass.
Next time I tape the game and don't stay up till one. What a disaster. When a child touches the stove once, they learn that that is bad and tend not to do it again. When Oz plays three forwards and no right winger and doesn't see his team gell until one of the forwards leaves, he does it again. This is evidence of a learning disorder. I recommend we get him evaluated. Mathis is in worse shape than I am, but has great vision. Just can't beat defenders to save his life anymore. Leadership, though, doesn't mean getting into pissing contests with his team. Diallo. well, I can't help but think he left the field because of a tantrum, not an injury. He had a bruise. Whenever Williams got taken down he grimaced and then ran it off. Williams is a great dribbler and all, but jeez, someone tell him to take on one less and pass off once in a while. Akwari looked pretty good. Fast when given space. He is going to be good next year. Bash Petke if you want, but the score would have been much worse wihout him. That last goal he took the lesser of two evils. Not much of a choice. Things WERE looking much beter up to the point Zaide got sent off. We threw together bunch of good runs and the momentum seemed to be turning a bit. Going down to 10 men when you were on your heels for most of the game was too much, though. No conditioning in the world would have helped them manage to keep up. Oz will be a great coach somewhere else next year. Shame, too, because I think he helped turn around the team when he came. Now, there doesn't seem to be much of a team. Next game: Faria, Mathis Davis Williams Paule (Ramos? What I heard) Moore Akwari Petke <--> Jolley Howard Please?
diallo just stop blame on Diallo, so far he is our best player this season, and only came here on the midlle of the season, i do agreed with Aristules if wasn't for him we would be in last place with luck maybe 10 points, about Mathis all he care was the national team, which he was a reserve player with funny hair, he just didn't care much about metro this year.
Missing the playoffs could be the best thing for this team. Unfortunately, a major shakeup would probably leave us in the same spot we're in now --a half-baked collection of soccer players with varied levels of skill posing as a team. Save the league a ton of money -- move Metro to Mitchel Field where most of us won't have to watch this mess.
Easily the most disgusted I have EVER been after a game. To think, I wasted two hours of sleep for this. Whether or not he has lost control of his team, OZ has completely lost it as a coach. Down 2 - 0 and playing with one attacking player??? If Clint was completely gassed, leave him at mid-field (where he played the whole night, anyway) and put in anybody to take at least one defender off Faria. It was a joke having Williams, Mathis, Paule and Davis trying to feed Faria the whole second half of the game as he was being marked by 3 or 4 defenders. I was screaming for OZ to put anyone in for Moore to play up front, even if its Alvarez or Klinger. Typical of OZ, his first (and only) substitution (other than the mandatory one of Davis for Diallo) was putting in Lisi in the 84th minute AFTER the third goal was scored. I will be calling my ticket rep on Tuesday to inform him that this was my seventh (and last) year as a season ticket holder unless OZ resigns or is fired. Good game for Akwari. Good job by the league giving him to us. Veronica Paysee looked the best I have ever seen her, she was the only highlight of the game.
On an unrelated (metro) note, did you see the look Ruiz gave her after her halftime interview? Who-aa. The man was digging for a phone number.
Paule isn't a right winger and has played terrible every time he's been told to try being a winger. On top of that, Moore can't handle the job of defensive mid all by himself yet. Leave 3 in the back, move Paule to DM alongside Moore and if Ramos isn't ready yet, with Ziadie suspended, play Forko or Alvarez out on the right. JMac
Some good points. The way Diallo went down and had to be carried off the field, I thought for sure they were going to have to amputate. To say he's a BIG baby is a gross understatement. I'm not saying it didn't hurt - I'm sure it did, but give me a break mama. Also, while I thought things were looking better in the second half, the entire team - with the exception of about 3 guys quit at about the 75th minute. I don't know if it was fatigue or just general apathy, but it made me sick. This may be a painful last 4 games.
"Move Paule to defensive mid along side Moore" - What do you think he has been playing all season? How many times have Shep and JP talked this year about Paule having to play the defensive role this year when he is better suited for the offensive end?
Bad as we are, want to know the thing that is most incredible right now? If, by a miracle, we beat Dallas Thursday night, we are in a tie for first place!
Dallas plays at Colorado tonight, has an Open Cup match at LA on Tuesday, then plays Metro on Thursday. The one saving grace for Metro is that Dallas's starters will likely be exhausted.
I don't care if Mammadou saved us from being last place. Who cares? If we make the playoffs we'll look like fools out there. We can barely connect 3 passes. I would rather us sink below DC. Get the first pick. Also, why not Andy Williams at right wing?: --------Mathis-------Faria----------- Davis----------Paule-------Wiliams------ --------------Moore------------------- Akwari-----Jolley----Petke-------Ziade ---------------Howard--------------- Faria meshes better with Mathis because he runs. This is as balanced as our lineup can get honestly. I don't know. I think Paule in the center is much more conducive to a better midfield. Williams can't run the show. He cuts and slashes, which would make him better out on the wing, to take on people I think. Waldo and others last night repeatedly pointed that he holds the ball one touch too many. A person in the center has to get rid of the ball quickly. I watched the BC v St. Johns match tonight. What was obvious was the Americanization of the sport. So much hustle and bustle. It was outrageous. However, there was an Italian guy, number 15, who was very smart in the center. One touch, and he would get rid of the ball. That's the way it should be. There were some other players who were extremely impressive also. Anyway, the lineup needs some fine tuning. That's all I have to say.