Offense?? What a disappointing performance!! Seven games left to salvage the season, .... let alone a play-off berth. It appears to me that Mr. Bradley is either, not "interested" in the offensive portion of this game, or not able to "instruct" the offensive portion of this game. He could have sent his mid-fielders home and the result would have been close to the same. The recent past-performance of the Metros indicates there's a problem with the OFFENSE. Since Aug. 9th to the present, we are: 1W, 2L, and 3T with a total of 6 goals!! You don't win championships by averaging 1.4 GOALS PER GAME. Fix the MIDDLE or we're dead-in-the-water. I realize it's much easier coaching from the couch, but I also realize that sometimes it's much easier to see things as well. (something about the forest and the trees). C'mon boys, .... work it out!!
That was the ugliest half in history. It's amazing we only gave up one goal, it could easily have been 10. Every time the metros got the ball, they sent a 40 yard hail mary to no one.
Wouldn't have mattered, the flag was up. Disgusting match. But, if you send in money now, you can get a jump on 2006 season tix, which is when you will receive your 2004 jersey.
This is definitely the low point of the season. Not only was it raining and not only did the Metros not show up but in the second half I was surrounded by a dozen Rastas who were loudly cheering for the Revolution and Joseph, mocking the Metros mercilessly. All in all, not a good night. Some thoughts: 1. I was screened so I could not see the handball call and I don't know how Noonan got so open on the last goal, but this match was not lost by the ref. He may have made some horrible calls but the Metros have no one to blame but themselves. They deserved to lose. 2. Guevara was awful. He repeatedly gave the ball away with little or no pressure. When he had opportunities on the wing, he would turn the ball back to the middle. His form is deteriorating rapidly. 3. Bradley has to start taking some heat here. He is 1-4 at home against division opponents. (That is very Octavio like). His last two substitutions last night were horrible. We need a goal! Putting LeBlanc and Leitch so that Pope could go forward was not going to contribute greatly to that cause. Why not bring Galvan on to see if we could string some passes together and get some decent opportunities? Leitch should have started. He deserved to replace Zaidie. Obviously, Bradley is a good coach. However, he has not lived up to the phenomenal reputation he had when he came here. 4. Hate to beat a dead horse, but Lisi's absence killed us last night. A funeral or birth of a child are one thing. Missing a key divisional game for a wedding is another. I do hope he got fined. The guy next to me kept saying: "Well, that's the season over." That's a little bit of an over reaction when you're still in second place, but last night certainly gave flashbacks of last year's collapse.
The teamw as truly awful last night. I cannot remember the last time Pope was terrible in a match, probably a national team game in 2000. Mathis should have scored, and he knows it, but like many other great strikers, he did not have many chances last night. His team did not help him. Ziadie and DiGi were awful. They never attempted to push the ball forward and every lomg ball pass went right to New England. The ref was poor...does not know what a handball in the box is, but then again, could he be sure where the box was because I could not see it? Truly atrocious football lines on the pitch. Load of garbage about the wether being the cause for not brightening the soccer lines..Metros are the third rate tenant again. That will be as clear as those lines get.
Re: What's up with Lisi? Chris Brown missed our loss @ Dallas a month or so ago for his sister's wedding. Your guess is as good as any as to whether or not that had anything to do with his subsequent trade to the Revs. To be honest, though, his field presence was about the same as when he's there.
If any place on earth is in need of rain just schedule a metros game there. Sure fire rainmaking device.I swear every time I watch the metros at home it's raining.
Clint in LAX on Sunday According to Bretos and his cohort on the Crew-Burn broadcast, Clint was in LAX last Sunday. Is there a reason that he did not go directly to NJ from KC? I know that it was Sunday (and it was a day off) and the Metros game was 6 days later on Saturday, but didn't the Metros have practice on Monday? Did Bradley give them Monday off? Clint played okay* (IMHO) on Saturday, but maybe he should concentrate on the Metros making the playoffs instead of being in LA. Players complain about coast to coast travel, why do extra travel? *We need Clint to play more than okay, he needs to take charge of the game, which he did not do last night
Yea, I noticed that too, then I listened to Shep and JP blather for 15 minutes about how Clint should have put the ball in the net. Now, to be fair, he SHOULD have put it in the net, and also to be fair, the flag was up (and I thought I heard a whistle) but the ref COULD have waved it off. That said, I realized again tonight why I can't stand Sh(l)ep. He's convinced that attending Harvard gives him the right to pontificate. Sure he offers the occasional insight, but most of his comments just sound plain foolish. But I really do like JP. Let's face it, Metros haven't played well in a looong time. Even when they won they didn't look all that good. This result was a disaster waiting to happen. =NLK=
Well, Pope got slammed in the box at the opposite end of the field and laid there in pain while the dirty cheating Revs run across the field and take the shot instead of doing the honorable thing and kick the ball out of bounds. If your best defender is out of the play, big holes get created. So insted of getting a PK, we go down by two. BTW, we sucked in 101 last night And I lost a dollar betting that there would not be football lines painted. At the very least, we should all pitch in for a coulpe of buckets of paint in a color you can actually see on the field. I cant wait until Sept. 2005 for the last game in that $hit hole.
I agree. It is very disappointing to play professional games like this. Also Dallas and Chicago are a joke. At least New England plays on grass.
Couple of quick notes (not trolling): 1. It's not Shep and JP. It's usually Brad Feldman (who practically does everything for the organization). 2. Yeah, the Revs announcers were criticizing Cletus, but they were sucking Walker's dick more than Rob Stone on Ruiz. 3. 4 minutes of stoppage time on 4 subs? I'm calling shenanigans.
A few thoughts: 1. It's nice to think about our young players, but the fact is at this point...well, they are too young and lacking in experience. Clark, Magee, and Gaven...that's too much in key positions. Clark may very well be a star in the future, but as jamison noted, you have to scratch your head and worry if this is the team Bradley will field down the stretch. 2. Relating to point one, the lack of a dominating figure in the midfield, is really telling-again, Clark isn't there yet, and Guevara's role is more offensive-providing the final pass in the offessive third. Holding on to the ball and building any kind of consistent attack, has been a problem the whole year and last night was just an uglier version. 3. Is there anyone on this team that can take players on and beat them off his dribble? I would argue no-the lack of pace is pretty bad, and shows up in the lack of width/flank play in this team. I think that Bradley can keep the ship right and into the playoffs. But it is not hard to see a scenario where this team stumble like last year down the stretch-at least that's what I came away thinking leaving the stadium. Let's hope this is a wakeup call.
What is it about this team? everyone who comes here -- players and coaches alike -- seems to go downhill over time. They begin well, then deteriorate. The Swamp is cursed. It doesn't want us there anymore than we want to be there. I'm convinced the curse will continue to plague us till we move out. At this stage it is simply wrong for any MLS team to be so clearly a second class citizen in a rented NFL house. The football grid was bad enough, but the yellow soccer lines were nearly invisible. The 3 Polish guys in 101 -- you know, the only spark of life and heart in the section, the newbies -- had come to see Juskowiak. They were totally high on the guy, dissappointed he wasn't in the lineup, but stayed to cheer -- and be absolutely confused by the field. They couldn't see the yellow lines at all -- probably didn't know what to look for. Wait till the curse take hold of Jus. The Polish fans will be in utter despair by the end of October.
The team played like crap but for the last 10 minutes. They looked tired, distracted disinterested. Digi has done well for himself . The worst non player was our coach. For one thing i have posted what the starting line up should be and he totaly ignored it. The substutions were made late and made no sense at all with the exception of the Mike Magee coming in. This was the worst performance i seen from them since the opening home game. I blame the coach and no one else.
I thought I was watching a match between two bad A-League teams last night. The Metros unfortunately have become addicted to Route 1 football. MSG was showing all the goals the Metros scored off the long ball in the pre-game. The second half was encouraging because they finally started stringing passes together. It was probably due more to the Revs' cowardly bunker than anything else. The Metros need to develop better tactics because right now they are too predictable.
Time we started paying half-price for our tickets and only coming to see the second half. Why can't Bradley get them to show up until then?
After game discussion I read the Metro press that coach Bradley usually does not discuss with players after the game but last night he did. May be it is time for coach Bradley to use SAF's infamous "hair dryer" tactics?
I totally agree with you here. But the Metros did have 5 players by my count in the box at the other end and still allowed Noonan to score. Is it really that hard to pick up a man running loose in the penalty area? Something else to think about. Clark and Magee have been busting their tails since training camp trying to show they belong in MLS. It's no wonder their tanks are probably rapidly approaching "E" for the season which is exactly how it has looked the last few games. Was last night the first time this season Clark was subbed out of as game? I don't recall it happening before. Also, thank heavens for the 5-1-1 start or else the Metros would be re-visiting the land of OZ right about now.
4 subs and 2 goals. Plus, watch any MLS match. If home team is trailing by 1, I almost guarantee you there will be four minutes of extra time.