Metros lose another one at home 3-2. Chronopolous beaten by West on the 3rd goal. No suprise there. Addo ejected on a stupid tackle. Ref was absolute crap. Williams was molested all night and the ref did nothing. For parts of the 2nd half the team really played hard with a lot of heart with 10 men but just couldn't pull it out.
Bright spot was the 2nd half, played better half with 10 than they've played the last three with 11. Diallo, Williams and Faria went all out. Chronopolous made more mistakes tonight than I've seen in a while, stupid passes, at least two that were almost converted into goals. Lisi also took a while to settle down, gave the ball away like four times in a row at one point. Leadership is needed at the back, opponents aren't being picked up in the box, and on a loose ball in there it's more like 25/75 for all the ones the Metros can get to. Maybe give the captain's armband to Petke or Jolley, though that's more of a bandaid on a hemmorage. Let's end the Addo experiment now, go back to a classic 4-4-2 instead of having the sweeper/stopper formation. I like Addo, and it worked OK in the KC match but not tonight and not again Chicago. And Zaidie and Chronopolous are doing great on the flank runs but have been suspect at the back. It's like Teddy is making a case for midfield insted of left back. Anyone else that while Williams is playing great sometimes the other midfielders are too much in a hurry to dish the ball off to him instead of making a bit of space themselves? And that Paule's big move is a ball to Diallo's feet on the flank? Those are your go-to guys but someone else has to make something happen to make some room for them. Good game for Faria, encouraging he's kept his head down and not got screwed up about his past blown chances. -- First the Muppets take Manhattan. Then they take Berlin.
Chrono and Addo are slow. They have some skill but they get burned to much. I thought Lisi played his best match so far. Williams was screwed over and over again. I thought that, except for the last 20 minutes, the team played sluggish. We're really missing Tab and Davis, not to mention Clint and Balboa (at least his slot @ league max). What has happened to Petke? He needs to change his hair color or something.
A couple of quick points to make: 1. Chrono might have been beaten for the West goal, but his hustle created Metro's second. He challenged at midfield, forced a deflection that went to Williams, who brought it in and took the initial shot. 2. People in 101 were getting on Petke after the second C-Bus goal by Cunningham, but it appeared that McBride was Petke's responsibility and Jolley had Cunningham. Not to say that Petke played wonderfully while Jolley sucked (nobody in the defense acquitted themselves tonight), but we've got a halo / horns effect going on here. Jolley had the worse night tonight. 3. Timmy should have had the 3rd goal covered. The shot was not that strong or that far away from him. 4. Zaidie sucked out loud tonight. We could have used Tab. There could have been more damage done tonight than there was, as the Fire only got a scoreless draw against The Scum. Only seven matches left, though.
When Andy Williams was grabbed and thrown down at the pitch in the 2nd half, that should have been a Red Card. A straight red but the lovly blue man group screwed it for us tonight. As well as calling a stupid foul on Diallo to erase a possible Corner kick that wasn't a foul. Still the defense is breaking down Addo as much as I enjoy his play I agree that his tackle from behind wasn't warrented and he had back up in Petke with that situation. He should have nudged him down, take the Yellow. That would have been fine, but the dangerous Tackle from behind was not a smart move. And he will be unavailable for the Burn match. Petke might be injured, I believe send Diallo down to the All-Star Match if Petke can't start.
Zaidie and Ramos aren't the same player though. He didn't have a sparkling game, but he has some nice ball skills, ones that the likes of Petke, Chrono , Moore and Jolley fail to exhibit. If Ramos comes back healthy, hopefully we will see less of Alvarez Part Deux and Ross Paule, who are both utter shite at the moment. Paule getting called for the PK wasn't a great call, but he did pull the jersey in his own box- and he should know better than that. The guy went down 2 steps later, but it was RIGHT in front of the ref. Paule is not a smart player, nor a particularly skilled one. I really wonder what it is he is supposed to be doing out there, and whether or not OZ thinks he is getting the job done. On the 7 matches left, don't forget that 4 of our last 5 are on the road. We are going to need one hell of a stretch run to end up with the division title.
Ross fouled him twice. He grabbed him, let go, and then grabbed him again. Totally legit call. Considering our home record, is this a bad thing? We should play the rest of the season on the road at this point.
It is better that we are on teh road. Please do not say that Paule is not particularly skilled. He is a very good player. Where is our midfield? People complain about the defense, but isn't it evident that the lack of pressure on the opposing team by the midfield is what allows the other team to get so many quality chances? Look at Chicago. They are scrambling all over the field, and assrape the opposing team. Their opponents have to work for a goal. Once our guys lose the ball, we just stop playing, and let someone else take care of the job. You can't play like that. Faria seems to be more humble now, and I'm liking that. In the beginning of the year, he woudl demand for the ball like he was God. If it didn't come to him, he would pout. However, I still think his penchant for striking the ball at the goalie is irritating.
Big ups to Andy Williams for his great hustle and wonderful dribbling...let's not forget his run that set up Diallo's goal. Lorda Mercy!
Does Joe Banks play a number of different positions on this team? We were again in a brain cloud for most of the first half. Nice effort to tie the match. If not that goal, they would have scored later. They had a lot of dangerous chances due to our poor marking and loss of our defensive shape. Again, the coach and the players have to focus on concentrating and playing for 90 minutes. Nice effort by Diallo, Faria and Williams. Jolley made a lot of nice plays defensively.
I cannot believe this is the same Andy Williams that acquired a reputation for jaking it at just about every previous stop in his MLS career (of course, NE fans tell us he'll still start to dog it for us, we just have to wait a while.) The guy has done nothing but hustle and fight his way through every game he's played for us so far. I know it's early yet, but he has been one hell of a credit to the team - talk about being fit to wear the uniform. I'm immensely impressed.
After last night's loss, if you don't count games against the worst team in the league (New England), the Metros are 1-6-2 at home! One win in 9 games! This is pretty disgraceful. I recognize that the Metros have suffered a rash of injuries but Mathis and Ramos did not show me a lot earlier in the year to make me think that they are going to make the difference in this team when they get back. Perhaps Mathis was more focused on the World Cup early on and perhaps Ramos can calm his temper tantrums to give us better possession in the midfield, but their body of work for the Metros this season up to their injuries does not inspire tremendous confidence. Also, the New England trade has been great for our offense, horible for our defense. Chronopolous is a midfielder not a defender. He gets involved in the offense but shows no skill in defending. Even in close games where we have the lead (such as the game against New England), he is up attacking late in games leaving his defensive position exposed. As much as I hate to say it, we miss Hernandez and Kamler who were far superior defenders. I'm certainly not suggesting we should not have made the New England deal- Diallo and Williams are all we hoped them to be and more. However, having made that deal, we should have had plans in mind to shore up the defense. Costacurta better get here in a hurry, or the Rolling Stones concerts will become a meaningless point as we won't even be in the playoffs. (And the way we've played at home, we don't deserve to be).
Williams is playing like a phenom....... Their two goals last night were were well earned.....and I would be hestitant to blame chrono on the third....if anything it was Petke who lost Cunningham, Ted tried to push West off the ball, he just got off a decent shot, which found Tim a little out of position.... Addo's fouled killed us...depsite actually playing better down a man, that is a long 45 minutes.... a more glaring issue....we are REAL thin on the bench....they bring in Dante...we bring in Alvarez and Sheppard???? injuries happen, but our bench is pathetic.
Your team will play in MLS Cup - mark it down. What was UP with the comms last night on the early penalty. Clark just grapped Diallo from behind and pulled him down - the clearest penalty I've seen in ages - and they keep calling it controversial. Messing seemed to be looking at Busch on the replay and saying, "oh, very little contact there," but it was the defender who pulled him down. ON top of that, it's clear one has been awarded onthe telecast, Metros high-fiving each other, nothing else the whistle would have blown for in that situation - and JP can't stop going on about "he hasn't pointed to the spot, what is it." Well, maybe you missed the point, but either way, it's obvious what call has been made, get over yourself already. MLS very much needs refs to make that call, and I'm glad he got it right.
Excellent work-rate from Faria. Gave everything he had out there. Poor timing, though, on the MetroStars Academy announcement "Do you have what it takes to be the next Rodrigo Faria?" right after he skied a shot over the crossbar. Who made that crappy "Columbus - Massive" sign for the Crew fans, Pat Walsh? Andy Williams is the real deal. Lisi contributed very little to the attack in the first half. Somebody has to come forward to help in the attack other than Zaidie and Chronowhatever. After the game, the announcers on WADO were calling for Alvarez to play 90 minutes to "show what he can do". No thank you, we've seen enough. Why does almost every attack start with Zaidie? Either let him play defense or try moving him up to play in the midfield. Try him in Villegas' "attacker with some defensive duties" role. Chant of the night (Celtic fans in Section 133) - "If your mother is your cousin you're from Columbus." Clint did an awesome job replacing Zaidie's divot. Why Addo instead of Moore? Diallo is a force. He is everything that Valencia wasn't. MetroDog is an unpatriotic bitch. He was the only one who did not remove his hat during the national anthem.
What does it take for Andy Williams to get calls in his favor? I watched the game on T.V. and he was mugged all night long. I have to commend him for keeping his cool.
Yeah, I don't know what was going on with that. It was pretty obviously Clark, but it never occurred to Shep to look at that. Weird.
Williams is a great asset to the team, and he does have a great number of assists. At the same time, for every time he miraculously dribbles through three defenders he loses the ball 6 or 8 other times. I am amazed at how he gets through on some of those efforts, but he can drive you crazy by not seeing the clearly open man, many, many times. If he is behind the center line, or right at it, he pulls his head up and makes some nice 20 or 30 yard passes. From about 40 in, his head is looking at his feet, and he seldom sees his team mates. His two assists last night were from shots he took, not passes. Again, he is working hard, and he was a super get in the trade. Again, don't get me wrong, I am glad he is on the team but there are opportunities for him to be much better.
Absolutely on target assessment and deserves a fuller evaluation of possible solutions. Started new thread "It ain't the defense it's the midfield" to explore options.