I doubt very seriously that Faria is in the lineup, he's shown absolutely nothing this year, and Razov and Ralph are playing pretty darn well up top
There will be an AIM chatroom "bigsoccer" for this game. Feel free to invite yourself in you're in your own buddy list, or message me at "falcomadol" for an invite.
Why did jolley just quit on that play? He was shoulder to shoulder with Ralph, and then he just quit. The other player may be faster, but you can't just hope that your other defender (who is farther behind you in the play) can catch the guy. .... well moot point, ante just schooled our D. again
Say what you will about Clint Mathis, but doesnt he finish some of these chances? Blar. This is going to be a long month. It's really annoying that the three week stretch that the Metros are on ESPN2 (the only MLS i get to see) Clint and Timmy are with the nats and eddie pope is hurt.
the league will probably review that. Surely that warranted more than a yellow. Of course the ref knew that Amado wasnt helping the situation. Yellow Amado, Red Thorton?
I agree it should be a red unless Guevara said something really nasty, but then he should have gotten a yellow too. The Bottom line though is that the Mutts couldn't score in the proverbial brothel with $1000 and a bouquet of roses. Some of the most attrocious finishing I've ever witnessed. This could have been a really good match. BTW that FieldTurf surface is incredible in the rain. It's a massive inmprovement over the grass at the Meadowlands IMO. Kevin
where's the scoring We should have 4 or 5 goals today. I know the strikers are young but I’m defiantly not happy with what I'm seeing. This is really frustrating to watch.
Richie Williams could suck my u know what... he kills the attack i dunno how many times... get him out of town!!!!
I love field turf. It looks so nice. It's a good alternative considering it's got to be hard to maintain a good field surface in the swamp this time of the year. I also like it when they kick up the black rubber sand. Clint better get lots of time in the Confederations Cup, or I'm going to be a very unhappy metro fan.
Chicago didn't have many chances, but we defended very sloppily a few times and got punished for it. The Razov-Williams wall pass goal was a bad bit of ball watching (and Richie isn't the guy to be following that give-and-go), the Ralph shot was stupendous but was made easier by slack play in the back and Grafer charging out and going to the ground too fast, and Arena never should have let Razov cut the ball back for that great curving shot-- better to give him a near-post shot with his right foot. They had better chances than those (that first half sequence with the ball bouncing back and forth over the penalty area comes to mind), but it took a few instances of great individual skill occurring at the same time as ridiculous breakdowns for Chicago to get us down 3-0. And we had lots of clear chances. Probably more than they did. Our finishing was crap, and when we put shots on goal, Big Zach was solid. And when we were looking doomed, our guys kept at it and made a match of it. There's something that didn't happen much in the past (or last week, for that matter). We're gonna lose some games. I would rather lose like this, giving some young players a chance to show what they've got and how hard they're willing to work for a win, then play a mob of journeyman veterans who lose anyhow. We're better for this loss. I do have to admit that Kenny Arena needs some time on the bench, because he isn't keeping his head for the full 90. He was okay most of this game, but that Razov goal, wow, what a mistake. Hasn't he been watching MLS games all these years? That step-over move is always gonna be a feint. RAZOV: VERY LEFT FOOTED.
Hey, Grafer improved his MLS goals against average. He was over 3 a game. Not like it was all his fault, but he did look REAL nervous early on. He was all over the place, but never in the right position.
Not only that, but surely Bob Bradley told him, "Kenny, That nasty man Ante always goes to his left, I know because he used to be my mean nasty man, now you go out there and make daddy proud" He's just inexperienced. At least he got a hair cut. The guy that REALLY needs to keep his head out there is Steve Jolley. Did anyone else see him just give up on Ralph on that through ball. He was shoulder to shoulder and He just gestured to Digimarino to take him, of course Digi never got there. Jolley is the man in that defence now. We'll live or die by him.
NY/NJ should have won this match. Thorntons actions called for a Red Card. D. Ralph is a handfull. Diego F. will wish he hadn't left town because he's not going to get back into the line-up. Andy Williams played one of the rare games when he really showed up. I guess he wanted payback. Magee needs to take header training this week. It's going to be a long dry spell unless for you all unless you can tighten up your defense. George
I've got to admit that we had some poor finishing, but these guys are young and will get more chances(Especially that shot by Clark). I thought we started out good by having more chances but then we slipped defensively big time. I dont know if Grapher could have done any better. Let's start Forchetti next game and see how that goes.
Agreed. You can look at this game and say our finishing was horrible (not too good). You could also enjoy the ball control and chances that were created. Hope for better next week.
I agree. But was anyone else wondering what Steve Jolley was doing slapping Ralph? I mean once or twice is one thing, but Jolley kept it up and I was thinking "here comes the red card". How dumb would that have been? Can you imagine the defense next week if he's ejected? Plus, in the pregame he said he told Kenny Arena to "keep his head". Looks like Jolley's the one that needs that advice...
Uh, yeah, no kidding. It's just that, if we have other options, which we might, considering Forchetti didn't look bad in limited time, that Addo sits on the bench, and that Leitch is coming back from injury, maybe we should let him get future experience at times when we're not going to pay because Arena makes a bad rookie mistake. Maybe the other guys would do worse. Maybe not. You got this one right. I'm guessing he thought the other defender would be able to pick up Ralph, despite Ralph being at an all-out run. Crap play. It seems like Jolley sees himself in a leadership role, but can't pull it off.
I thought our midfield today was excellent. They created so many chances. Magee and Gaven did what they could. They worked their a$$es off the whole time they were on the field. I dont know what was with Arena today. He was nowhere to be seen. Should have been atleast in the picture on the first 2 goals, and just got schooled on the third. Team showed a lot of character though, coming back from 3-0 to 3-2. My Ratings: Grafer: 7 - Had a couple of good stops. Nothing he could do on the goals. Would have given him an 8 but he changed his pants at halftime. Ziadie: 5.5 - Some bad passes and crosses, but an improvement over the last game. Arena: 2 - Not even worth the words. Jolley: 7 - Could have prevented 1 of the goals, but then again he didnt have much help eaither. DiGiamarino: 7.5 - Made some really good runs on the flanks and delivered good crosses. Wicked shot from way outside the box. Would like to see more of that from him. Forchetti: 6.5 - Tough coming out in your first appearance down 3-0. May have saved a goal when he cleared that loose ball out. A big improvement over Arena Lisi: 6 - Average game. Nothing special. Williams: 5.5 - Got burned on too many plays. Clark: 6.5 - Had atleast 3 clear chances but none on target. Good effort on defensive half of the field though. Guevara: 9 - The guy was all over the field. Created almost all the chances. Give it to Guevara! Galvan: 6 - We became more attacking when he steped onto the field. He didnt really do much though. Gaven: 8 - Worked his a$$ off. Did what he could, unfortunately no goals. Magee: 7 - Needs to make those headers! He should have had atleast 3 goals today with all that good service. Did get us the PK call though. LeBlanc: 7 - Didnt play much, but was in the right place at the right time. Nice to see him make those kinds of runs. Next Week: Hope to see Forchetti in there instead of Arena.