Very very entertaining performance from you guys tonight. Fantastic possession, especially before the Heyduk goal. And what a find in Parke. When Pope comes back, who do you take out? I'd say try the Pope-Parke combination.
I'll agree with most of the posts here Ziadie was the worst Metro player out there - although I think that speaks more towards how well everyone else played - and really it was only the second part of the first half were Ziadie looked awful. Parke was fantastic. Bradley is a great drafter. Bonseu pretty well kept pace with Cunnningham, which is hard to do. Very interesting line-up in midfield - Guevara played deeper than usual and looked effective doing it, as did Lisi. We have to run up a 3-5-2 at some point. Lisi was offside on the second goal. Just sayin. A Metro game just isn't a Metro game without Woly scoring whilst sprawled on the turf. Crew Field was very slippery I noticed. No one had good footing. I thought Walker should have done better on the goal. It is wonderful how confident everybody is on the ball. If teams try to pressure the Metros, they're gonna be in trouble. It's a long season, but I like the start
Just curious. The only broadcast, as far as I know was the MSG one. And theyd idnt show any replays that showed Lisis position when the pass was made. How do you know it was offsides? I thought it was good he got to the 1st shot. Whoever let Hejduk come in completely unmarked gets the blame for the goal.
Great game, nice passing from the midfield, good defensive work, I really like Vaca, Lisi, and Guevara in the midfield.
Only off by 1 goal in my prediction, but I like the result either way. Great win, and Parke was impressive as hell.
Woly played great. Have to completely diagree with your opinion of Zaidie and "Surfer Dude". He schooled Zaidie most of the first half. Who scored the only goal for them?
Agreed, Double. Jonny wasn't at fault at all...besides, what's the difference? I'll take Jonny giving up a goal when we get three any time.
The game was on Fox Sports and the first replay showed that Lisi was offsides. Since Messing was full of his normal blather, he didn't comment on it at all. They also failed to mention until the second half that the wind was causing havoc on both sides.
FS and MSG are pretty much one and the same. Same parent co. Didnt notice anything in the 1st replay. I def could have missed it. They stated several times from the start that the wind was a big factor, actually.
Well, I predicted that both Guevara and Wolyniec would score and that the Metros would have their first two-goal win in two years. Some observations: 1) Wolyniec is no longer just a "target player". I thought he did a great job taking people off the dribble and made some nice passes. Remember, he helped create the 3rd goal with his cross. 2) Magee missed a zillion headers last year, so it was quite ironic he would score on one. 3) Best game ever for Leitch in a Metro uniform. He actually outran and outhustled Cunningham on that one play that he decided to practice his chokehold on him. 4) Bonseau was dissapointing. He was so slow, I thought he was a white dude. Ziadie was also shaky. Against a team with good scorers, this could have spelled trouble. 5) Parke was impressive. Definitely deserves to stay in the starting lineup when Pope returns. 6) Ref did a horrible job controlling this match. If you saw the DC United/SJ match, Kevin Stotts was giving out red cards like they were coupons. If Stotts did this game, a red card would have been issued on that vicious tackle on Wolyniec. Overall, a good win, but we have to be honest......the Crew might be the worst team in MLS. Without McBride, they look like an expansion team. We won't have a true feel for how good (or bad) the Metros really are this season until the home-opener vs DC.
They fooled me and came out of the box looking like an offensive juggernaut. I didn't expect Lisi to get the start and look so strong: popping the ball into the air before settling it then getting all the time in the world to look around and pick out Magee on the first goal and starting the play then getting into the box for the assist for the second. It was a very impressive start.
The attack had width. That was never seen last year. The Crew traded for too many guys past their prime. Andrulis will be gone by June. The Metros looked like the home team in this match. It will be interesting to see how Bradley blends the newcomers into the mix. I'm optimistic for this season.
I saw some of this game on MLSnets webcast... I guess it is a temporary free trial thing from yahoo platiunum. Our midfield looked great and it was an very nice entertaining game to watch. Too bad The big opening day match couldn't have been the fluid metro midfield instead of that horrible hack and boom job that they showed on ABC.... it was painful to watch. There was no continuity through the midfield for any significant time through the whole match. It was probably one of the most negative boring matches i've ever seen. Great start. How about a 4-5-1?
Didn't have the chance to finish up on my last post. But Agree with everyone. 1st on Ziadie. I blame him for Hejduk's goal being scored because he got caught ball watching. That was never Jonny's fault on that goal so you can pin it on Ziadie. In any situation like that the defender must always track the ball and help the Keeper because you never know when a poacher is going to sneak in and take a free shot. And Frankie took it. But other than that Craig was able to redeem himself and play better. Like I said before the midfield looks dangerous. Vaca and Guevara were able to create and stretch the play on the field. How many times did the Metro create holes in the Columbus defense. If not for Jon Busch and in all honesty the scoreline would have and should have been 10-1 Metro. Mark Lisi looks so dangerous setting up Magee's goal and Wolyniec's goal. Just a soft flick by Magee and it rainbows in. Jeff Parke looks steady and maybe just maybe if Bonseu doesn't pick up his game and yes he did look o.k. and played Cunningham very well defensivly. But something tells me Bonseu might be the week link. When Pope comes back Parke will be used when Eddie is on National Team duty but something tells me that he might have a permanent spot on the back line. Chris Leitch solid, solid play and tell me why Cunningham doesn't get a red on that?, two smacks and a choke hold on Leitch. Sophmore Mike Magee already on a roll with a goal. I think he likes playing in Crew Stadium. Him and Woly looked dangerous all match long. Something tells me that this is going to be a hell of a season. I will see everyone on April 17th against Adu & DC.
Just got in from the stadium. Nothing to say on the game itself that hasn't been said already, except how especially impressive Parke and Vaca were, how different and more balanced this team looked compared to last year's second half of the season version, and how utterly dreadful Columbus looked. I didn't expect them to be world-beaters, but I didn't expect them to be as impotent as they looked. But to be fair, it got unbelievably freaking cold out there tonight. Not just cold, but cutting, biting, damp, wind-driven cold. We were going against the wind in the second half, which didn't make our attack any easier. Och aye, it were so cold you could have grated cheese on me scrotum.
A 4-5-1 makes no sense. You want to create a lineup to maximize the strengths of the roster and minimize weakness. Our strengths are forward depth and central midfield. Our weakness is fullback and lack of depth at wingmid. A 4-5-1 wastes our striker depth and exposes our fullback weakness. A 3-5-2 enhances our central midfield depth (Clark and Lisi behind Guevara with Gaven and Vaca running the wings), while minimizing our fullback weakness (Parke Pope and Bonseu, with Leitch available off the bench). Ziadie would see more of the bench, and we would almost never have to go to Digi. 4-4-2 makes us choose between benching one of the wide players (Gaven/Vaca) which is bad because spreading the field really helps this team, or benching one of the 3 center mids (Guevara aint sitting, and both Lisi and Clark have made their case for being on the field). With the personnel we have on the roster, a 3-5-2 just makes sense. The key question is, can Parke, Pope and Bonseu all play well in a 3-man backline? Parke is new and unknown, but I don't know if Pope or Bonseu have played in a 3-5-2 all that often.
bob's been trying to build this team to fit his ideal 3-5-2 with 3 centralized defenders that are good on the ball...he's built what we have so far without compromising what he wants, and for all we know, he may still not be satisfied with the current roster but i continue to credit him for all he's done...hopefully Galvan and Glen get their visas ASAP so we can take advantage of these next 2 weeks to really start to develop some chemistry...i hope everyone is thrilled with the result, and that those that were doubting and criticizing will give Bob the time and credit he deserves...can't wait for the opener, DC didn't look so sharp either...oh yea, we're #1 in the league as of now, hahah...it's how you finish, but damn is this gonna be the best drunken sleep i've had in a while =)
I agree with you about Ziadie, but I think Bonseu played a very solid game. He doesn't have Parke's footspeed, but he's a very fast decision maker, tough in the air, and he adds something that is uncommon in MLS, and impossibly scarce in the history of the Metros: the ability to play an accurate long ball out of the back very quickly. Once our opponents start trying to compensate for our fancy-passing midfield by jam-packing the center of the field, we're gonna need someone to keep defenses honest by long passing. Bonseu can do that, and coupled with his tough defensive presence, I think he's automatic to start. In a four back set-up with Pope back, Bonseu is a cinch to start, even over Parke. This is totally subjective, but something else about Bonseu: his calmness facing defenders and his presence of mind with the ball at his feet makes me feel much more confident in our ability to hold a lead than I felt last year with Steve Jolley. I think we did pretty well with that trade, money aside. Jolley has some excellent qualities as a defender, but there's something very nervous about his play, and when we're trying to hold it all together preserving one-goal lead late in the game, my faith in Jolley kept dropping. There was something frantic about his play, while Bonseu doesn't show a bit of nerves. By the way, Lisi made me eat my words. What a good game he had.
I only saw the first. I love Shepp, but it seems as if these guys a had a laundry list of things they had to comment on while on air. Stuff would be going on on the field and they would just continue on about whatever the hell theyw ere talking about. I saw it exactly the same way.
Always thought he was a good player. He just needs to be half as dangerous shooting as he is passing, same goes for Amado. I would like to get 8-10 goals out of our two main playmakers this year. About 4 goals each is not too much to ask I think.
I'm surprised so few people mentioned the way that Gaven played last night. IMO, it was his constant running at people that gave some of the other midfielders more time on the ball and really opened things up. Every time he touched the ball I moved to the edge of my seat...so wonderful to see a Metro take people on again and again. And that touch to Lisi on the Woly goal was taken at pace and so perfectly weighted. I have never been remotely as excited for a home opener as I am this year. I thought DC looked vastly improved, but if last night was any indication we'll run over them on the 17th. Up the Metro! Jeremy
Cablevision owns MSG, I didn't think they owned FS. At no time in the first half did I ever them mention that the wind was a factor. What I heard was that the wind was picking up. Specifically, when Columbus' goal kicks were dying in the air, or when the ball that Walker came out to pick up didn't reach him, so Columbus almost scored. There was no reference made to the fact that the wind was one of, if not the biggest factors in the game.