Matchday 3, Friday May 7, RSL vs San Jose Earthquakes

Could not agree more. Shook my head when SJ subbed 3 on and Freddy did nothing.

I was actually, get this, starting to believe. RSL was actually the better team for most of the game but AS USUAL Freddy gets out coached. When it matters.

If it’s really a question of Dunny Time why the ******** are these guys still on the team? So the have enough to fill out the team sheet each week?

If Iloski, Schmitt, Ramirez, Portillo, STILL can’t get minutes then they must be playing for a pretty shitty coach if you ask me. Too bad he didn’t have extra subs in a throwaway season last year to get them prepared for this season.

As I said, I was almost willing to open up to the possibility that I could think about getting behind this team and start giving them a little benefit of the doubt but alas, Freddy.

Here is what I think is the real indictment of Freddy and his tenure at RSL. He only has a game to game vision and approach. Zero thought for how to develop the team over time.

The focus is always on the standings. Even in his post game comments last night he’s talking about being right there fighting for a playoff spot. Also, he blew my mind by suggesting perhaps they should work on end game situations like last night in practice. He made it sound like they hadn’t been doing stuff like that. Please tell me that isn’t the case.

Good/great teams let the standings and playoffs take care of themselves. They get players opportunities knowing their contributions are going to be needed down the road. They take advantage of opportunities like 5 subs to change a game by sending in 3 players at a time and get players minutes knowing it it won’t payoff immediately.

Things could change for sure but only if the players are talented enough. If their not Freddy is incapable of making them or the team better than what and who they are right now.

 

In hindsight Portillo for Ruiz might have at least earned a draw. Ruiz was a give away machine in the late game, with the giveaways in bad places. Of course, that’s hindsight. There was no way Freddy could have foreseen that.

 

Easy to explain this one:
No depth, no depth, no depth

Holt is a break glass in case of emergency player, Besler the same. Neither should ever start in MLS. Starting both? Truly a disaster waiting to happen.

Once San Jose decided to start attacking and playing at speed, RSL had no answers.

Let’s put it this way - San Jose subbed in 5 players on the field who made a difference. RSL subbed 2 - both for the only players creating on their own - and one was poor and the other neutral. Meanwhile Holt and Besler got destroyed. Frankly any RSL game in which Toia is NOT the worst RSL defender on the field bodes very poorly for RSL.

Until Bobby gets here, RSL has, at best, a decent starting 11 (assuming Herrera and Brody on the outsides) and maybe 2 competent subs. Throw in 3 injuries (or whatever the reason was that Holt was playing) and the weaknesses are accentuated.

Great goal by Rubin.
It’s too bad that “almost” Meram is who he is.
It’s too bad that the most expensive RSL player on the pitch doesn’t want the ball or to make a difference.
It’s too bad the young DP has completely lost the coach’s confidence.

I don’t put this all on Coach. He isn’t great at subbing or in game adjustments, but the best in the world wouldn’t be able to do much better with what is in the cupboard.

If there are no injuries, RSL may be able to punch above its weight. (Think good Mountain West football vs adequate PAC 12 team.). The moment injuries come in, game over.

With all that said, it was nice to be in the stadium and the goal was fantastic.

 

When Wondo came in I was all Han Solo. “I have a bad feeling about this”. I felt we might end up with a draw. Never considered a loss.

 

I think a better coach at least gets more out of the players at hand. Sure our bench is nothing spectacular, but a good/great coach will know how to maximize what they have. Freddy clearly does not.

Also, how do you have such a known quantity like Wondo, and not keep right on him? He's slow, and he's a poacher. That's pretty much all he's been. How are we leaving him so much space?

 

The Wondo let down has to be on the players. I can’t blame the coach unless maybe he should have made a midfield or defensive sub.

 

Wondo literally gets paid to do this "simple" thing that many of us fans criticize defenders for. "Just stick to Wondo" obviously isn't as easy as it sounds as the guy continues to score/impact games. Give credit where it is due, he finds the gaps and scores.

Both goals get all the way to the 6 before Wondo touches the ball. Focusing on that part is focusing on the wrong part.

 

Yeah, I think we need to recognize that this is Almeyda's 3rd year in charges. He's been able to add more of the players he wants. RSL doesn't have that kind of depth yet. Agreed, RSL can't handle this level of injuries and keep up with the majority of MLS teams.

 

I think it's way to easy to blame the players and assume they should just mark Wondo and inversely it's way to easy for fans like me to blame the coach for stuff like this during a game.

It's quite a bit of both but I would still lean more heavily on the coaching side. For one thing, players tend to focus on what they have practiced during the week. A well coached team knows that when Wondo comes into the games it's to do one thing, poach goals. Wondo scores goals on RSL. It's been nearly a decade since RSL has had competent coaching.

Perhaps a fresh sub to mark Wondo. Or fresh legs to pressure the ball to make finding Wondo more difficult. Fresh legs to keep control of the ball instead of letting SJ spend so much time in front of our goal. As my wife, who asks me questions about soccer so you know she isn't an expert, points out during the game that "man, they sure are spending a lot of time down by our goal, that's not good."

 

I will say that I have been much more pleased with RSL this season. They have been relatively more fun to watch than the dumpster on fire floating down the river play we saw last season.

Time will tell but to me it looks more like the reason for that is Rubio and Julio. I don't think Freddy has changed much at all, if any.

 

Well he is still making the same exact subs he did last season: Chang and Douglas Jr. in the 79th minute.

 

Exactly. With the same exact results.

Serious question, "What exactly has Douglas Jr. done to warrant such confidence with Freddy?"

I think that Chang is a little better option from his performances but I can't believe that given the chance others might not have just as much of an impact, or more, than Douglas Jr.

 

the scouting report on Cowell obviously worked and needs to be given credit for. he was a non-factor for most if not all of the game.

 

1. The weather at the start of this one looked like we were going to be in for a real shit show that way. I had to coach a game ahead of this one so I didn't get to see warmups. I can only imagine, based on what I saw driving over and in those opening minutes, just how bad warmups were. The wind swirled relentlessly and the rain seemed to be coming from multiple directions.
2. One thing that took me by surprise when driving to the game and listening on the radio was the announcement of the starting lineup. We knew Herrera and Luiz were doubtful, Julio too, but the Silva news really was a gut punch and felt like the soccer gods trying to send Fall a message. The radio guys were saying that they thought with a healthy Luiz that Besler would have been CB instead of Holt. Holy ********. HOLY ********.
3. Then there was the bench. Given the pandemic and the additional subs, you get 20 guys on the gameday roster. With the injuries, I was really excited for some guys to make the bench that wouldn't in most any other situation. Except, well, Freddy decided to have both Putna and MacMath on the bench. Davis, Dewsnup, and Garcia all were with the Monarchs. I can't get overly upset with them not being in the roster. However, if I'm Halsey or Powder I'm wondering why I'm even bothering with the club. Are either of them hurt or does Freddy seriously prefer a third GK?
4. RSL was the better team in the first half, there was no way around that. This isn't to say SJ was without any impact. Cowell had his moment in the first half when he literally just ran past both Glad and Holt and fired a left footed shot wide. The first 15 mins of dominance should have been capped with a goal from Meram but the crossbar.
5. To only be up a goal at half wasn't good enough. SJ had really only a single chance while RSL had four or five. The goal came right before the halftime whistle and took a ridiculous amount of skill. The quality in front of goal has to improve.
6. Which was even more on display in the second half. Meram has a shot in the 56th minute that has to be a goal. There is no way around it. At this level in that spot, that has to be a goal. He's shooting with his left foot from the top corner of the 6 on the left side. This is the epitome of expected goal. It summed up Meram's game so much as he did so well to get there and then looked so bad in the moment.
7. Kreilach's chance in the 70th minute, right before Wondo subs on, was the other big big moment of the game. This one is more easy to stomach as the GK makes a good save. Still, that should be a goal. Center of the box, you have to put it in at this level. The game had multiple chances for RSL to put it away and the players didnt.
8. Right after this Almeyda makes his 4th(!?) sub to Freddy's 0. The folks around me were grumbling about it. You could see some players were losing their pace and the man that just subbed on makes a living off punishing that. I made a point to check the bench/warmup area starting about the 65th minute and saw a really concerning sign: the subs body language was that of defeat. Nobody looked like they really had confidence to go in. They all were just going through the warmup motions.
9. Meram's last impact on the game came in the 73rd minute when he highlighted just how off his night was. He does really well to combine with Kreilach wide, gets the ball to the top corner of the box, and hits a shot that never bends in. He looked very frustrated afterwards and the coming sub made complete sense to me.
10. A key thing to watch in that last Meram chance and his early one off the crossbar was the positions of the rest of the team. When Meram rang it off the crossbar from nearly the same spot, there were 3 RSL players in the box with 3 others just outside. The aggressive nature of the team was shown. On the flip side, when Meram missed wide, the only RSL player in the box is Rubin with Rusnak just outside and everyone else at least 10-15 yards deeper than before. This was a sign of how RSL was going to finish the game.
11. This is especially on display in the 75th when SJ sends their warning shot of things to come. As SJ drives down the left wing (RSL right) the midfield drops deeper and deeper. Brody is put on a 1v1 all the way to the space between the box and the sideline and Rusnak tracks deep. Both Ruiz and Besler are in the box, SJ has 4 players in the box. The line of confrontation has dropped significantly for RSL. Lucky for RSL, SJ decides to shoot from distance here as opposed to whipping in a cross.
12. Another warning sign: 79th minute corner kick for SJ (one of the 7 they had in this game - far too many). RSL clears the initial cross but then only steps just past the 6 as SJ looks to send the ball back in. Meram's closure is never more than a jog and allowed far too much time for #2 to end in a cross.
13. The first SJ goal shouldn't come as a surprise then, as it combined all the issues that were shown above. To start, SJ is allowed into the final third before any meaningful pressure is applied. Chang and Ruiz only put token pressure on number 6. Besler and Kreilach can't decide who is going to pick up the player just outside the box and allow him time to take a bad touch but still make a pass. Holt doesn't stick to the checking forward close enough and allows him to receive and pass. Rusnak does a good cone impression. Brody gets caught ball watching. From here, RSL is scrambling. Chang is still doing a solid Luis Gil jog despite where the ball is and doesn't step to #7 as the ball comes in. Both Besler and Ruiz look absolutely useless here, too. They've all watched the ball go wide and don't pick up the lone player in the center of the box. Toia is on Cowell, Glad was tracking Wondo. Before the ball gets to 7, if you're watching the highlight clip, watch Wondo's movement. This is the stuff he does that frustrates everyone. He makes two changes of direction and then a 2 step sprint. It pulls Glad out of the space and punishes that nobody tracks the run behind him. This is what a good center forward does. Even more impressive is that he doesn't run himself offside. Toia decides to stick a leg out, like pretty much every other RSL player in the box, and watch. The body shape of the RSL team as the ball is shot is terrible. Only Glad is moving in a meaningful manner. Everyone else is flat. Ochoa makes a ridiculously good save but because of the inability stay engaged by the 8(!!??!) RSL players in the box, Wondo has a tap-in.
14. In this moment, Freddy had a decision. From my perspective he had three choices. The first was to try to respond and win. To do this he'd need to yank a defender or center mid and throw in an attacker, at least. With how the balance of the game had shifted, this would require a coach that was super aggressive and willing to lose by going for it. The bench, I'll admit, doesn't offer a lot of hope for this method to work. Jeizon is Jeizon, Schmitt is supposefly a forward but Freddy sees him as a defender? We had two ********ing GK's, Iloski is only allowed to play for 3 mins tops...So, yeah. Then you add in that Freddy hasn't ever been that kind of coach. That was more Petke. The next option was to buckle down and build stronger blocks in the back. For me, this should have been the thought in the 75th when SJ was pushing us back. Morgan and Portillo for two of Rusnak, Ruiz, Besler, or even Brody. All of those players were noticeably slower and dropping deeper and deeper. The third option, and one I didn't think I'd see from a guy getting paid to coach a professional team, was to ride it out with what he had. That felt like a decision you'd make in preseason when your goal is fitness and the result isn't of massive concern. So, when Freddy didn't make any indication to sub after the lengthy VAR review on Wondo's first goal, you might as well have asked if the SJ winner would be in regular or stoppage time.
15. It took less than 5 minutes for that to come (ie in regular time). 87th minute and an all too familiar deep shape/line of confrontation from RSL is exposed. For some reason Chang has decided to track a runner all the way to the center of the field inside our own half. Nobody is covering for him, either. Toia is stuck on the left with 2 players to mark while Besler Rusnak and Dougy all watch Chang track. The pass into #2 is where RSL is beat here. At that point, Chang knows he's ********ed. Toia is stuck on a 2v1 where he has to cut off the through ball. Because of this, he doesn't step tighter to the take-over by #7. I can't get overly upset with Toia here. But the 5 players that sit inside/just outside the RSL box all look bad. Glad tracks the first runner to the near post. He is slow to react to the checking run which, had the ball gone in, would have resulted in a 1v1 inside the box for SJ that would have been nervy, at best. Hol is put in charge of Wondo and decides his approach is going to be to use his size rather than track the run. He's ball watching the entire time and looks foolish as the ball flies over his head to a running Wondo. Brody gets exposed for being late to the ball, too, and tries to cover Wondo late. It's not pretty. What really pisses me off in this play, though, is how lethargic Ruiz and Besler are. From the ball in the middle, to negative for SJ, to wide, to the cross, they both cover 7 yards, tops. Neither of them is marking anyone on the cross. SJ has 3 players in the box, RSL has 3 in the box. You're defending a lead. Either close to the ball or get in the box and pick up players/cover space. It's terrible defending from the center mids the backline the forwards the entire team. It's also a highlight of just how out of touch with the game Freddy was. All of those players had shown signs to need to be switched. He sat and watched. Just like the defense.

 

Very nice.

We sit in 25 just above the subs and you are totally correct on their body language. I looked down several times after Freddy used 2 subs and you could tell they knew they were not getting subbed in the game.

 

If Freddy rates these players so low, why are they not with the Monarchs? Nobody is forcing RSL to have 20 players on the gameday roster. Hell, we probably only need 14 players with how Freddy manages. 15 with a GK just in case.

Freddy's criticism of players on the bench, especially the younger ones (read: Schmitt, Iloski, and Jeizon) doesn't hold much if he's not willing to play them here OR send them with the Monarchs. He had every opportunity to sub them in against SJ. Even once we were down 2-1 there was about 8 minutes left in the game. He still didn't use them. Why?

If I'm one of those guys, why do I not ask to be on the Monarchs roster to at least get minutes?

 

Because their name isn't Maikel Chang or Douglas Jr.

 

Did we see Chang on the left last season? He was consistently out of position in his stint on Friday, was poor at closing attackers, and generally off.

We need to root for Douglas in the Olympics and sell quickly.

 

Great observation on #13. I think Matt Doyle posted the highlight where he shows Wondo making 3 hard cuts in his run to goal to lose his marker. When the cross goes behind him to Fierro, he steps back a step to stay onside and squares his body to goal so he can shoot on the rebound. Everyone just notices the tap in, but few strikers can do that as often as Wondo. That's not lucky, that's a learned behavior.

 

It's a freaking superpower.