Really I'm surprised how Reiter hasn't shown any flash up top. He's obviously capable on the national level but looks so out of place with us on the club side of things. Okay we can dance around and talk about his lack of playing time with club level but he looked slower than Jaqua running through pea soup tonight. I've given up on him. Also Herron looks to me better suited to be a 65-75 sub on the attack - those games late last season where he looked so so talented was the effect of him being new to league and nobody taking him seriously.
Well, we get to dress more players for a home match, so maybe Will John gets his shot at the first team? In a weird deja vu moment, Jesse put his PK in the exact same place Mario Rodriguez did in the Crew-DC match, with the same result. We could have iced the game somewhere in the last ten minutes if Justin Mapp had a right foot. As said elsewhere, a win is a win is a win, even if I thought Jimmy might have been a hair offside on the goal. I still want to withhold judgement on Zach until he gets #18 back. I don't know why, I just do. Later, COZ
I agree on this. Even though I diss him in my above post. Marsch isn't a good choice for the PK. I'd take Reiter any day of the week over Marsch for a PK for the sole reason he's a national team player. Marsch? Oh yeah I'd have him taking PK's for the USMNT... No. Umm sheesh Dave this guy doesn't have the PRECISION to take PK's over a NT player. GOD GET A FREAKING CLUE!
I couldn't agree more. Also, I'm pretty sure that Reiter left the game for a good 30-40 minutes. I wasn't able to find any proof of his existence during this time, so that must have been what happened.
Yeah Justin, how dare that shot get deflected out for a corner! Honestly, some players will never learn.
Also, what is a better way to have your forward signing get on a board in a tough match where he NEEDS to score. I would pick Reiter to taka a penalty just to get his confidence and get him rolling for the game vs NE. Herron is someone I would like to bring into the game late. He just can't sync right now to deserve starting. How about Reiter in the midfield? I know it sounds crazy but he should have as much quality and common sense to be another Podbrozyny. I would rather have him over Herron in the starting lineup if I need to pick between those two. Zach really wanted this win 100. He finally showed that he cares. Great saves. Buete needs to be traded or get his head into the game. Trade him for Orlando Perez
My thoughts... Good lord we need Thiago badly in the midfield. Buete did quite well breaking up plays, but holy god he can't pass. Man of the Match for Chicago: Orlando Perez Major MAJOR props to Mark Geiger for not only spotting that infraction, but also having the balls to dish out the correct punishment. Shame on MLSNet for putting it down as "Serious Foul Play." That's Violent Conduct, people. GOOD LORD. You know, it has to be said that the entire officiating crew did an outstanding job tonight. Seriously.
Here's my take on the game: It's time to realize that Reiter, while he may be good coming off the bench for Slovakia, is not a first-teamer in the MLS. Unfortunately for him, he is not quick enough nor creative enough to be an impact player. Herron is a "me" type of player, for the most part. Great speed, decent skills, and an average shot, at best. Has no sense of team chemistry up front and only occasionally looks for his playing partner regardless of who it is. Mapp is a great talent but he still tends to want to dribble and "be the man" when one more pass would probably result in a goal. Once he gets past that, he will be even better than he is right now and he is very good. Beute is comfortable playing defense and does a reasonably good job of marking but he does not have the confidence, or the skill it seems, to go forward and attack defenders. He is a "late-game" sub or a defensive mid. Thornton saved us twice in the first half in that rapid sequence in front of the net so he probably was the Fire's MOTM. While Segares and Guerroro were probably close seconds, Thornton literally was involved in the one play where the game could have turned if he screwed up. Guerroro and Segares are two of the best in the league right now. Segares needs to keep his aggressiveness under control but he does a great job of shutting down opponents. Guerroro is like the Ever Ready bunny and a Timex watch--he just keeps going and going and keeps ticking even after being knocked down. He's one tough guy. Curtin and CJ are too slow although both played fairly well last night. In the second half, Curtin did another almost "oops" pass to the midfield when there were four or five Chivas players in the area. Had one of them been heads-up, we would have been in deep trouble. He also got beat a couple of times inside the box and was bailed out by the Chivas' inability to put the ball in the net. CJ looked really slow when Thiago blew by him at the end of the game. I know he had played the whole game but so had Thiago. Marsch was okay but his missed PK and poor passing in the middle of the field took away from his performance. Sarachan should have been the MOTM for not starting Rolfe--either at attacking mid, which he can play, or up on top. Rolfe came in at the 60th minute and immediately we had a PK, and since he wasn't involved in the foul, I think he should have taken the kick. Perez and his buddies were so annoyed with him that Perez just wanted to remind him who was in charge even though he didn't seem to step on him in order to hurt him--just to send a message. So he was also involved in setting up the direct kick on which we finally scored. The kid brings intangibles as well as great play. All in all, we were very fortunate to walk away with any points, let alone three. As I stated in an earlier post, we're just lucky that Chivas couldn't find the back of the net if they were standing three feet away.
My take using your comments as a guideline: I am completely confused on Reiter. To me, his talent is obvious, and one would think this guy could get the job in MLS. However, it is just not happening for him. I'm going to right it off to unfamiliarity with the style of play, and the American experience. It doesn't make sense. Herron seems to have the need to be the focal point, and that probably comes from his history in the game. He has a good shot, when he's able to get it off. Could it be the injuries this year that have limited his productivity? True, too much dribbling for Mapp last night, but then most of his teamates have a tendency to become spectators instead of going to space when he penetrates. Coach Dave screwed him up again last night by switching sides on him after a productive 30 mins. in first half. He's a very talented young work in progress, that needs much better coaching then he is getting. I'm sorry, but Beute is not on my team if I'm FIRE management. I can only assume that he is getting PT so they can trade him. Thorton looked more confident, and comfortable last night than he has in sometime. No way MOTM though, he nearly got Brown badly injured by Hendrickson; that was Thorton's ball all the way. If Guerroro hasn't been the MVP for the FIRE, then he certainly has been the team's most dependable player. He sees the pitch better than anyone on the team, and plays a level higher because of this. This was evidenced last night by a great run he made with the ball deep down the left side, and then drawing the ball back to the center where SOMEONE (anyone) from the FIRE should've been for a clear shot - super play by Ivan. Seldom do you see a mistake from him, and if it does happen its because of excess effort. A great acquisition. One day Segares will be a world class defender. I look at him as Mapp's equal on defense - young and super talented. Enjoy him while you can, Europe or S.A. will scoop him up before long. Curtin was servicable last night, and for Chivas USA that was enough. I expected Brown to be gone from the FIRE for this season. He is too slow, and his judgement isn't as sharpe as it once was. Look at the tape of the game and you'll see the problems for the FIRE defense were on Brown's side. Marsch was pathetic last night. Wiffing on shots, poor passing, horrible corners, and why the hell he is taking penalty shots is beyond me (There's the Dave factor again). On the other hand, I thought Logan Pause had a steady game. Actually, the MOTM for the FIRE was "Capitan Headband" himself, Orlando Perez. True, his stepping on Rolfe didn't seem overly malicious, but it was clearly diliberate and so damn "Macho" stupid! What a fool, nothing like costing your team the game.
I knew he was going to miss, and Jesse didn't have a good game, but "pathetic" is a bit harsh. And he's taking penalties because nobody else is stepping up, apparently. I am surprised they didn't let Reiter hit it, but he was 2 for 2 so far. The whiff was pretty bad, but he had a nice shot near the end of the first half that was one of our only attempts at goal up to that point. As for Scott Buete, he wasn't great either, but it's only his second start this year. He's our only midfielder left (besides invisible man Will John, who I'm guessing is much more attacking--and unfortunately left-sided), and that's why he's starting. And if he's the bottom of the barrel, I'm ok with that. He has good ideas, moves into good positions and saw a lot of the ball last night. He still needs experience doing things with the ball, obviously. He's not Thiago, and he's not supposed to be. He's cover for Armas and Marsch, and is being forced into playing a more attacking role because he's replacing Thaigo. It would be much worse if we had Pause back in central midfield, because that kid can't attack to save his life. But then, I'm an apologist.
Ok, here's what I thought of last night's game: We learned that Herron and Reiter don't fit well, at least without Thiago to help them out. I agree that Guerrerro has been absolutely terrific and that Gonzo will be the next Bocanegra-DeMarcus-Ralphe to depart for greener pastures. Gonzo has saved our butts on defense so many times and has shown he can score. We are not giving enough credit to Curtin. Curtin made that goal happen. To me he was MOTM. I thought Gonzo was onside on that play because he was behind the ball when Curtin kicked it. Zach played very well; he made several first-class saves. I agree that the red card was warranted. Anyone seeing the close-in replay knows that Perez stepped on Rolphe deliberately. It does not matter whether he waned to injure Rolphe. I hope Jessie's PK days are over or he adjusts his style after that embarrassing kick. Even he would agree that if you are going to kick it in the general vicinity of where he did, it has to be a very hard strike. I still do not see a replacement for Jessie in the midfield until Armas/Sanneh/Jaqua/Thiago return. I thought Buete played all right given his limited playing time. I feel sorry for Chivas. They really did look pretty good and they had the momentum, especially after the missed PK. They could have easily won this game.
It's not so bad. Look at our schedule for then next 4 weeks. He'll be back and he'll be fine. Timeing wise, this couldn't happen at a better time.
I'm still hoping to see Rolfe in Tiago's position but after the lineup for the Chivas game, I'm thinking that DS wont see it that way.
Hard to say. It seems Dave wanted to give Rolfe a little breather (cue Herve Villechez in "Airplane") this week, so once he's back in the starting lineup -- presumably Saturday, it still could happen. As for the "why did Jesse take the PK" posters, if you haven't missed yet, you keep going until you do. It's really that simple. And Dave likely has nothing to do with that decision, really. It's the guys on the field who make the call. Later, COZ
If we had all our guys, I'd say we'd be favorites. But their B team is better than our B team (not least thank to superior coaching) so while they play the game on grass and not on paper, a betting man would still take the Revs. The Revs may have some trouble feeding their fowards but we'll still have offensive troubles in the final third of our attack as so painfully demonstrated against lowly Chivas, especially if we start the Dissapointing Duo (Reiter and Herron) again up front. On the plus side, this will be an excellent learning opportunity for our youngsters Rolfe (assuming he starts in Thiago's usual place), Buete (assuming he starts) and Segares. And it will help CJ and Curtin shake off the rust some more so they'll be more ready if we need them later in the season. Chivas was a perfect first opponent for our B team to help build confidence and now our B team has a pretty good second opponent to bring them back to Earth and help them learn.
In regards to Beute I've been reading the same thing over and over. Defensively he was strong but offensively he was inefficient. For lack of a better expression....duh. He's born and bred a defensive midfield much in the mold of Armas. Thats what he played for Maryland for 4 years. Heck, going back to club soccer and high school, that was his prominent role. I think its the coaches responsibility to put the players in a position to suceed. You wouldn't ask Thiago to play defense any more than you should ask a second year, defensive midfielder to run the attack. Long story short, I agree with most of what this guy said. Cheers!
I agree--has anyone seen Dave's milk toast after-game comments? Buete is not a bad player when he is allowed to play where his strengths lie.
I believe that would be the bench. "More Gatorade . . . make more damn Gatorade Buete, Thornton is thirsty from all those tackles in goal!