Man, this has to be the worst display of the season so far. In addition to that is we have won 4 in our last 27 games. The line-up today was somewhat of an experiment I felt and Rennie needs a lot of work off the pitch with the players as well as his tactics. GK - I hate to say it but without Joe tonight, we could have been down 0-4 tonight. While being man of the match, his lacks the presence inside the box and also his punches are very skeptical at all times. Why can he not catch the ball? On a positive note, he is very fit tonight and a great outing for him. Def - Rochat, of all people tonight was my stand out player for playing poorly. His touch was so poor that it led to throw-ins and corners. His gave away simple passes and his long ball distribution was also very poor. Our center backs were caught ball watching on several key moments and one of them led to FCD's 2nd goal. They can't possibly be waiting for the offside call to help them. YP Lee had very limited moving space as FCD managed to closed down both ALain and YP. But as always the tiki-taka between the back for and JMD does not have any offensive flow to it but instead invited a lot of unwanted pressure. MF - JMD has been previously praised for his simple style of play, however this year his style has become a killer to our offense. I have no problem JMD plays the role that he prefers but when we need the offensive spark I would most certainly put Koffie ahead of JMD. Koffie offers more than JMD as he is more of a complete midfielder (not to mention his youth over JMD). Caps simply cannot have opposing players possess the ball and easily service the ball into our penalty box easily. In terms of Reo-Coker, theres not much he could have done more to help the team if our defensive half kept giving the ball away. On the bright side, very please with movements and chemistry being built with Reo-Coker and Tiebert. Those two seems to know where each other are and played a lot of one-twos to try and free up space. At this point of season, I would like to see JMD out of the XI and play a sub role to close down and seal our lead. Much prefer to see Nigel, Russell and Gershon to stabilize the midfield. On the side note, for those people who thinks that we do not need anymore midfielders, I really think it would be a great addition of Ji-Sung Park to come to play for Caps. FWD - Heinemann was very weak compare to FCD's CB, he failed to hold the ball and had to run too much back to defend set-pieces. I honestly do not remember if he had a shot on target tonight. My impression of Hurtado coming in to the team this year was that he would be a good fit to "boss" the wing. However despite of his physical fitness and strength, his touch has been horrendous and became a main liability. Watson seems to be a liability all game, no wonder he has not been cracking the 18 in the past games. Despite his performance against LA, I really think he should be waived or released by summer transfer window. Camilo was probably the spark of offense for this game and sadly he was a sub for Watson. In his short appearance today, he was kept the ball down, actually dribbles pass players, draw fouls, and most important of all creating and taking opportunities to have shot on goal. Mattocks still needs to find his touch. For the past weeks while Rennie has been benching our "stars" including Mattocks, Koffie and Camilo, I thought that it was to build up their hunger for winning games and scoring goals. Next week we really would need to see those players back into XI while leaving JMD out against FCD at BC Place.
Couldn't agree more with this post. Joe has done nothing to lose his spot however so I have no problem with him continuing to play. The JMD tiki taka can be beyond frusrating to watch, however due to his complete inability to do anything other than a simple 10 yard pass, it is what you have to expect when he's in there. Rochat hasn't been great all season imo, he forces long passes that are never going to happen and lacks a bit of composure. Again, completely agree about the midfield. JMD is to much of a momentum killer offensively, you essentially can't play anything through him on that end because it will end with him backing off and playing catch with someone on the backline. Imo you go with Koffie, NRC and Koba in CMF with NRC playing as the DMF. Reo is more than capable of playing the position and Gershon needs to get back in the 11. Up top I like the way Camilo has played and he needs to be rewarded for his play in the past 2 games. Apart from that, a return by Kenny Miller would do wonders. He has been the caps best player this when healthy. Mattocks has been off this year for sure, but he has still been in the thick of it when playing, more than can be said for Hertzog and Heinamann who are invisible other than some lackadaisical pressure of the opposing back four. The rookies have been a bit dissapointing as well for me. They both seriously lack touch, and it costs them nearly every time they touch the ball, having said that I think Kakuta should get a couple more sub appearances in the next few games while Hurtado sits and watches the next few.
and what about teibert who has had 2 strong games and 1 mediocre game over the past 3 games? next game line up: cannon lee OB rusin rochat koffie Teibert NRC koba mattocks camilo subs: hurtado, leveron, manneh, JMD, hertzog, knighton, harvey, ?
Love it Only change I might make is switching Koffie and NRC, but they are both capable in that spot. **Also if Miller is healthy enough to start you would have to think he deserves a spot with the way he has played thus far, not sure where he fits in though.
miller is holidaying in scotland until he heals- it just shows how naive and downright foolish the medical and coaching staff have been with injuries to de merit, miller and salgado- i dont expect miller back until sometime in middle of May... if he and the staff let it heal properly 2 changes for the game vs edmonton-- start knighton in goal with thomas on the bench, and either harvey or leveron to start on defence (let lee and/or rochat rest)
I guess you are now a medical expert? What are your credentials to say that the medical professionals at WFC are foolish? You make post after post with inflammatory remarks without anything to substantiate them.
This is a discussion forum - not a research paper. 90% of what goes on in fan forums is opinion. I also agree that the medical pros at WFC are foolish - how they let DeMerit on the field is beyond me. I don't have medical credentials - but I don't need them here. I base what I say on DeMerit's injury history with the Caps and the pattern of early return and re-injury that we have seen...and I base it on my gut feeling. And I've said all this before, so why are you singling out sportie? Let's hear what you have to say. It's quite possible you are nuts. We'd like a chance to form an opinion on you. haha
I joined the board and read some threads and just found this sportie1 to be baffling. He talks like he is some sort of expert but the reality is he has a very limited knowledge of the game. That is why I singled him out. It just seems odd. You sent me an email warning about this. Are you only wanting like minded opinions?
Gosh, no. I disagree with sportie1 90% of the time - so you are welcome here. I actually didn't send you an email, it's an automatic message sent from BS because I had to issue you a 5 point warning for one of your posts that was a personal attack. Come into the forum with opinions, counter-arguments, and lots of swag, and you are good to go. Just make sure the attacks aren't personal. So pull up a chair and start pounding that keyboard. We need more discourse on this board, not less.
So, what you are saying is, I can not tell a guy I don't like his posts. Even if they are full of air?
even idiots deserve to be heard- i dont want any1 banned - i have a thick skin-- the facts are that the 3 Caps players- de merit, salgado and miller-- i commented that all tried to come back too soon and now have long-term injuries-- if i was so wrong in being concerned about them training and playing-- and writing on forums about it-, then i would have eaten crow... at this point, i am feasting on being right, but i wish i had been wrong and all 3 would be helping the Caps
sportie1 You have not replied to most of my messages so I will just respond here. First, I think you try to display yourself as some expert. YET, all of your comments and analysis show someone who is very very new to the game of soccer. So, I take you to task because you should not be claiming to be some sort of knowledgeable expert. You are not qualified to give specific player ratings. You need to attend more games and consume the product more before going in that direction.
Memememe, you keep criticizing him, but sportie1 is oen of the few major contributors to the board. I challenge you to start writing about the team instead of writing about sportie1. If you know he is wrong, then you must know you are right. So tell us. We're all ears.
This. Mememememe, you are saying that sportie claims to be an expert, please show us where he has ever "claimed to be and expert" I'm sure we would all love to see it. Not qualified to make specific player ratings? Give me a break, with that logic I could say that your not qualified to post here because your new and lack experience. IT'S AN INTERNET FORUM GET OVER IT.