29 - 11 Shots 10 - 3 SoG (We scored 2/3!) 518 - 328 passes 15 - 1 corners 7 - 2 tackles won 1 - 8 saves 11 - 33 clearances This is not a game we should have gotten any points out of. Ochoa really saved us. Rubin and Herrara/Kreilach came through. Crazy stuff. EDIT: The scary thing was just how easily Dallas moved the ball through the midfield. Everton will help a lot with that when he comes back, but it just seems that this team is so weak right in the middle of the field.
Kind of an odd game that way. It seems like every 2nd ball in our area went to a FCD player. That might mean we weren’t marking tightly or weren’t reacting quickly, who knows? We also had trouble clearing the ball. Maybe the wet conditions contributed? FCD had sooo many corners too. Other observations: 1. I don’t know that Brody can play left back effectively. I guess Freddy needs to give him more chances there to let him have a chance to develop. Also, at least in this game, Brody wasn’t an explosive attacker as he was at RB. The wet field might explain that. 2. I liked Meram coming in as a sub when he did. I’m just not convinced he replaced the right guy. 3. I’m disappointed no one sent Promykal to the locker room for further evaluation. 4. If Albert had been the 10 tonight he wouldn’t have been in front of the goal to convert Kreilach’s header. Had he been, he wouldn’t have gotten his head on the ball. 5. I was encouraged to see Glad complete the game. In the pre-game that sounded unlikely. 6. Silva, Silva, Silva. {face palm}.
This is also stunning: What's up with Herrara - to - Julio? I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it, where RB and RW are completely disconnected like that. I know it seemed Julio was playing pretty well, but look at his passes here. What's going on? Did he just win the ball, dribble, and lose it or send in poor crosses that didn't link up? Also, that skinny line from 22 to 8? Yeah. That was goal #2.
A couple of thoughts: 1. He dribbled down to the touch line and then crossed to Hoops in the box. 2. Last week I remarked that Julio is fast and physical, but he doesn’t place himself well nor does he make runs when he should. Herrera passed horizontally or backward or to the center, because Julio gave him no other options. We saw some of that from Brody too last week for the same reasons. However, it was masked because of Brody’s attacks. 3. Great note about the 22 to 8 pass!
If you look up stolen points in the soccer dictionary it says see this game. How FCD didn’t score more goals I’ll never know. Even though Ochoa played brilliantly they should have run RSL off the pitch. Interesting to hear Dunny express concern over Freddy’s tactical subbing genius. I loved him making two offensive subs a minute apart instead of maximizing his subbing windows. Dumb. If Damir doesn’t score Freddy doesn’t sub again. It all “worked out” for him tonight but geez. Again, what the ******** has Douglas Jr. actually done to be the first guy off the bench each week? He never scores, never makes good decisions, but always gets subbed in.
Neither Brody, nor Herrera got wide with the ball until very late. I'm not 100% sure why? When they got high up the field, which was rare, they mostly cut in centrally. Was that tactical? Field conditions? Lack of possession which led to lack of opportunities?
Brody struggled in his new role imo. Herrera did what he has always done when the wide on his side isn’t creative.
I'd be curious to see how bold that line is in other games. Purely from memory, I feel like the tactics of the outside back in this team are to convert into wings in possession and then look for switching balls. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bold line from Herrera to the opposite side winger in every game because of it. It also speaks to how much the ball is setup to go through Ruiz rather than Rusnak or Kreilach. I don't think we've had a game this year where Ruiz didn't lead the team in possession %