First half looked like an A-League game. Up to this point MLS looks like its play is going back to 1996. Bad passes the teams could not keep the ball. What is the problem?
Agreed. I think MLS coaches have gotten smarter (more experienced?). You go for the win at home and a tie away. So far, the strategy has proven successful. With LA and Columbus, they better get used to a lot of bunker ball at their homes. I think the Metros are going to be similar to DC last year. Real solid on defense, but not much on offense. I don't think Moreno is the answer, and it will be wait and see for new guy...
"I've seen plays that were more exciting that that...honest to God, plays!" Man, that was an ugly game. You had the goal, Garcia's shot, the West/McBride action down by the goal, and that's about it. You think the Crew would have attacked down the flanks a little earlier, considering they have one of the best strikers in the air. Absolutetly zero flow to that game. Mathis looked tame, Martino was getting hit every step of the way by Williams, and Cunningham still doesn't pass. Eddie Pope, however, is the man. Just absolutely solid back there today...a tape worthy of any coaching clinics for kids wanting to playing center back. Where is quality control on Wynalda's mic too? He's not the third guy in the booth, he never sounds prepared to go on the air, rambles like Bill Walton, and God Forbid, makes Ty sound concise. Please, kill the Coach's Corner as well; the interviews are pointless. The biggest thing I noticed about the commentary today is how they do such a poor job of selling the game. It was a tense 20 minutes with the Metros bunkering and the Crew finally throwing everything forward, but we still had Ty and Eric going back and forth about the absence of Jaime Moreno. Please, do not cut the camera away from the action to show a coach -- do this on a goal kick or foul. Here's hoping KC - Chicago is a good game tonight
Have to agree it was a very dull match. Why? Do you think it was a let down to the players to only be playing in front of 7,000 fans at most?
MLS needs to have more goals...the games so far have been fairly lame.....likely MLS needs more teams to excite things...you can´´t have teams play each other 10 times a year (exhibitions, Cup game, etc.) and not expect some lack of imagination from play after a while, IMO Of course, the purists will come on now and tell me how exciting those 1-0, 1-1 games are....save me....
Yeah, it was a shame it was the featured match this week. I'm happy with the result, but I'd rather it have been on MSG, and not only for the extra hour of detailed pre- and post- game coverage. Flank play, by the way, wasn't Columbus' problem. Howard, Pope, and Jolley will play all day against an aerial game, which is exactly why the Metro defense was trying to force play out to the wings. Cunningham would have been much better attacking from the wing, drawing defenders and not letting the Metros bunch up in the middle. Might have created more space for Martino, too, who looked pretty much inconsequential when he wasn't given space.
Metro's clearly wanted to ugly the game up, and did a good job of it. Columbus needed better execution on their set plays (they didnt come anywhere close to executing something dangerous) and needed to attack with more speed. Speed of foot or speed of thought it doesnt matter what but they did very little to force the Metro defense to lose shape, and with Pope, Jolley and Howard back there playing well the Crew had little hope of scoring in that situation. They needed faster buildups with better combination play but instead seemed to do a lot of slow methodical working of the ball around, which just really left them in the last 30 yards with a ton of Metros and no space to work with.
the reason: eddie pope. he made mcbride his bitch all afternoon long. it was really sad to see as a crew fan, but as a national team fan you just have to love the talent that is eddie pope. we need to clone that dude a few times.
it was a bit of a poorly played game. I'm pretty disappointed in the crew at home. They played most of the half sending long balls and balls into the corners. I have no idea why. I think the crew really need a center back who can add to the attack because as solid as Clark and Dunseth are defending, they can't distribute. Plus, all those crosses were awful. They looked ok, but they didn't really have a target which is why pope and jolley gobbled them all up. Garcia was crap except for his one shot, and paule wasn't a threat at all. West should have been brought in at half. In any case, other random thoughts: crappy attendence. what gives, I dunno. crappy announcers. seriously, those guys have no excitement for the game. They sound bored to be there.
Ninety minutes of ugly soccer followed by 4 minutes of uglier time-wasting maneuvers. Way to go MLS players! You're doing soccer a lot of good on national TV.
This game sucked! The Crew is a team w/ a lot of talent! The Metro"stars" are still the same crap and got lucky today... The KC- Fire game was no better... the good form the league had during opening day has died down, and the level of play is jut plain, BAD!
First nice Saturday afternoon in Ohio. Not to mention there were 80,000 or so a few miles down the road for the OSU spring football game. This game would've been much better attended at 7:30.
Could someone tell me why Buddle wasn't playing, and if it's an injury, how long he'll be out? He's on my fantasy league team, and I don't think I'll keep him if he's gonna be out 4-6 weeks or more.
Buddle is hurt with a hip flexor injury, i believe. but i think i remember hearing that he would be back around the 2nd week of may.
Okay, thanks. If it's only for a couple of weeks, I'll keep him. Besides, the rest of my team is pretty decent, and not getting points from EB won't kill me.
Listen, I thought these soccer-specific stadiums were supposed to get the fans to come in droves. They're one of the best clubs in the league and all they get is 12,165. What's that all about? The hell with some college football game down the road or the fact the match was shown on ESPN2. Why weren't there more fannies in the seats?
I thought that this was a great game. The MetroStars played very well. They shut down the entire middle of the field, and when the Crew tried to use the left flank, they still failed at beating the MetroStars.
You guys don't seem to get it. Bob Bradley is running the Metro show now. It's a different era. The Metrostars defense is coordinated for the first time in years, perhaps ever. Bunker? No. Just rock solid. There are weaknesses, sure, but it will take a bit of cleverness by an attack mixing up the avenues (i.e., not just flank; not just down the middle) to break them down. I'm not sure Moreno has any fire left for the Metros attack, however.
Lost in all of the bickering over whether it was a good game or a bad one (I fall in the former) is the fact that they finally did something people on these boards have been clamoring for for ages. Metros in the red jersey, Columbus in the yellow. Not a white jersey on the field.
Are you saying that nice weather was a cause for bad attendance? I hope not, because we've already got an attendance problem with bad weather.
You know these MLS apologist, always blaming other shite rather than the obvious. Which is that not that many people care enough to waste their whole day watching a Mickey Mouse league.
i'd pay $100 to see in meola in attack again. that was great. alot of fun was had at his expense.. when he put on the field jersey someone started to say "meola looks kinda..." and a few people responded with "chubby" everyone in the room kept yelling various (less than) witty things like "go chubby" or "oooh chubby killed that play" or "pass it to chubbinho".