Yep. That was possibly the most unmotivated L.A. craptastic team I've seen. 90+ minutes of bored crap, and 30 seconds of decent attack. NE wasn't much better, but good teams always salvage something out of nothing. At least they're more depleted than we are. And if I'm Sarachan, I'm just focusing on keeping everything cool, not creating any internal tension, etc. and doing whatever I have to to get Guppy to spring for a scout dedicated to NE. No matter what, we have to beat them the last 2 games, and get ready to face them in the playoffs.
Okay, but other than that... On to lineups. This one's going to be tricky. Nate obviously starts, but the question is where. If Rolfe got a break for rest and not for being beaten out in training, he also starts, but the question is also where. I'm a little less inclined to assume he gets slotted as a-mid against a "real" (not ReAL) opponent. So that's: G Thornton D Pause Brown Curtin Segares M Jaqua Marsch Guerrero Mapp F Herron Rolfe I think you've got to throw Jaqua back into the midfield. He'll still get some chances at goal, and he's as good or better of a defensive option than Beute. Twin d-mids can work if one of them is Guerrero. It's a tossup for me between Reiter and Herron at this point. If there's even a chance we'll end up playing longball, go with Reiter. Defensively, you're a little slow in the middle, but quick on the wings. The only way around that is to move XBox into the central pair with Jimmy, but that pulls Guerrero out of the midfield and likely puts Beute in the starting XI, as we have no assurance that a forward in that spot will actually defend at all. Later, COZ
Certainly the finishing was better in the Fire-DCU games but I'm not sure if that was because of great attacking or crappy defending. At any rate, the build-ups to the attacks and the purposeful, often one-touch passing the both LA and the Revs did was far better than what I've seen from almost any other teams in MLS, including what little I've seen of Dallas. I don't know what partycentral is talking about in his post. Maybe he only considers midfield possession that end in a goal to be not "craptastic". If so, he must be very bored at most soccer games. The defeat in Columbus wasn't embarrassing at the time. Remember, almost everyone picked great things for the Crew before the season and that first game was the one game where they lived up to the hype and played very well. After that, the wheels came off, Razov demanded to get out, and the players have now, frankly, given up. Also, consider that from 6/15 through 6/25, LA played four road games within 10 days. That's gotta take its toll on even an elite team. And speaking of embarrassing, we lost to the Metrotards 0-3 at home, blew that 2 goal lead in DC and were losing to Chivas at halftime in our own house. And let's just forget our previous games against the Revs this year, OK? So it's not like we can throw stones at LA. Certainly, the Fire are the hotter team over the last two weeks, maybe the hottest team in MLS during that time although our effort against Chivas was as underwhelming as the result was a relief. I admit I don't know what's wrong with DCU. Certainly, the loss of Nelsen hurts and Eskandarian is having an incredibly $hit year but Nowak is a good coach and their roster isn't bad. If you look at DC's season, their results are slowly improving but it's still too early to tell if Nowak has truly righted that ship. The same can be said of us. I've pretty much made my peace with "Winning Ugly" this year but the fact remains that the Fire have gotten where we are as much by luck as by playing great soccer. Now don't get me wrong, I'll take the points but I'd rather the Fire be high in the standings due to quality of play than praying for good luck. Luck can change on a dime while good play is more consistently rewarded. Right now, that's the difference between us and the Revs and why everyone rates the Revs higher than us. The Mutts' home record is as bad as LA's away record so if LA can't crack your top teams, neither should New Jersey. On Saturday, I'm looking forward to any Twellman-Segares battles, to see if Dave goes with Marsch or Rolfe as a our Thiago-substitute, and if Buete has learned anything since his last game. My hope for this game is this: with Mapp, Jaqua, Rolfe and either Reiter or Herron in the game, we have four guys who have played forward for us before. With Joseph gone and if Cancela disappears like he did in LA, I think even Marsch or Buete can get the ball to our four-headed monster.
Since we agree completely on the importance of the game, I'm interested in this part. I'm not entirely supportive of your boycott but I can definitely relate to and agree with your reasons behind it. MLS should definitely take a break during a lot of these international events but the question is where to draw the line. This summer has been absolutely insane with a ton of events but this time schedule does happen every two years or so (depending on events being skipped due to WC considerations, etc.) so we'll go with it as a possibility. MLS being a summer league is in conflict with most of the world (though not all as of course the southern hemisphere, Japan, South Korea, and Scandanavia, and the former Russian republics are on the same schedule) so having international events in the summer isn't going to change. How do you measure where MLS should take a break? A break this summer would have lasted from beginning of last month until the end of this month (with maybe a couple of free weeks in the eight). Do you break for the FIFA friendly days or just for world cup qualifiers (in which case you miss the Gold Cup)? It's been said many times that you can't extend the season (and I for one don't want to see a split season like Ukraine has, it's wrong). So the only real choice is less games. Not to get into my pet issue of single table, but hey, if the door is open. There's not really a huge harm in a 22 match season since we have the playoffs and open cup too plus we have the playoffs which mean more games for most teams. But under the status quo, we just have to make do like the Argentinian, Brazilian, and (to a lesser extent since they do take a month long summer break) the Japaneese. Trying to choke the league through a boycott won't really effect change, just the bottom line - which is fragile enough as it is.
I wish I felt as confident about Reiter and Herron as you do but, once again, I have seen very little that leads me to believe that will ever happen. Reiter is more of a mechanical player without creativity and Herron is a "me" type of player so I doubt that he and Reiter will ever be able to develop a chemistry that will lead to either one of them scoring unless it is solely on individual effort.
First of all, I really, really doubt that Rolfe sat because he was "beaten out in training." His work rate on the field has been phenomenal and I doubt that either Herron or Reiter have the gas to pass him in that department. As I have thought more about it, I think Dave wanted CR to have fresh legs for the Revs and, since we will be playing three games again in the next seven days due to the Open Cup game on Wednesday, I think he wanted him to still be fresh for that one as well. There is a little pride involved in winning that game. Secondly, based upon Herron's play in the Chivas' game, I think you go back to Jaqua up front with Rolfe to keep that chemistry in place. Sometimes I think we, like Dave has done, try to put a lineup on the field of what we perceive as the 11 best players rather than paying attention to the chemistry of the lineup. Herron and Rolfe have not played well together when they have been on the field, and of the two, I'd much rather have Rolfe on the field than Herron anytime because not only can he score but he creates opportunities for his teammates. Herron isn't even close on that one.
Amen - I have been off the board for a week and this is the first news of gotten of the Thaigo injury. I have a lot of reading to do to find the prognosis. - Crap With Ivan called up and Thiago out, I would like to see us go one of two ways: 1) Put Jaqua back at right-side midfield. - Thiago played a lot of defense also, which often went unnoticed. Big Nate play pretty solid defense as well. G Thornton D Pause Brown Curtin Segares M Jaqua Marsch Buette Mapp F Herron Rolfe 2) Put Nate back on top and give either Barrett or Will John a chance on the right. I have been under whelmed with Reiter, and Herron seems more a poacher than creative genius. We would suffer too much defensively with this set, perhaps. But the attack sould be mighty indeed. G Thornton D Pause Brown Curtin Segares M Barrett Marsch Buette Mapp F Jaqua Rolfe
I like this lineup at the moment. Nate's confidence is high and his last excursion into the midfield was pretty successful. It seems of late that his pace has picked up and this has improved his game. I think also that him knowing that a move into the midfield isn't permanent is a good thing. Buete...well we don't have anyone else right now. This isn't half bad, but with Barrett only playing midfield once or twice this season, I'm a bit wary. I like him off the bench infusing energy later on. I haven't seen Will John play so I can't comment, but at this point I would say he is unproven in that spot, and it is the Revs, even if they're depleated.
Here's my lineup. Another Dave wont do it lineup, of course. Zach Brown-Curitn-Segares-Griffin Pause-Marsch-Rolfe-Mapp Jaqua - Herron Couple of things. One, my inclusion of Griffin just goes to show how much I don't like Buette in the lineup. Buette is a hard worker but he really lends nothing to the attack. We've been through this before with Armas + Marsch. Marsch+Buette is the same problem. I say put Rolfe into Thiago's position. Rolfe has the creativitive and seems to have the workrate of a midfielder too. I'd move Pause up on the right (for lack of a better option). He is at least servicable out there. Keep Jaqua up top where he is doing the most damage and maybe he can knock one on for Herron to finish as well. I'm guessing we will see the same back line as the Chivas game and Buette in the middle with Marsch, I'm just hoping we wont.
In one of the articles linked in the Fire news today, Dave mentions that we may switch to three attackers with Thiago and Guerrero out. If that happens, I'd like to see this: ----------Zach---------- ---CJ-----Jimmy-----Sega--- ----Marsch-----Beute---- Nate-------------------Mapp -----------Rolfe----------- --Herron/Barrett----Reiter-- This may technically be a 3-5-2 or even a 3-4-1-2, but I like the idea of Rolfe being a little withdrawn, connecting the midfield to the forwards. Come to think of it, that position may be well suited for Barrett, because of Sigi's system used w/ the U-20's. Nate is still listed as probable and Thorrington is still out on the Fire's weekly update. If Nate can't go, I'd say move Barrett to r-mid, keep rolfe as a withdrawn forward, and use Herron/Reiter. I will stick with the crowd of people who will wait to pass final judgement on Reiter and Herron's abilities to gel with the Fire until they're playing with the same service Rolfe and Jaqua have been receiving. I also think this game is a must-win. We're without players, they're without players; that doesn't matter! We are the FIRE and they are the Revs. They knocked us out of the playoffs the last game of last year. They have thrashed us twice (5-0 through both games!) this year. And we worked hard to catch up and now we are even on points. If we want to stay in first place, we MUST win Saturday. That will make them win all 3 of the games in hand, and only if they do that will they be 6 points ahead of us. They have games vs. Dallas, Chivas (damn), LA and KC in the next month. We have Colorado, Columbus, and DC. This bodes well for us, and considering we've won 3 in a row, I don't see why we shouldn't expect to win today, and throughout July. Go Fire!
I don't mind the idea of a 3-5-2 but any time you leave Mapp without specific support behind him it means trouble. Even with an extra d-mid (buette) roaming in front of the back 3 we would be exposed on our left. Still, an interesting idea. I think we've played our best, by far, in the 4-4-2 though.
The phrase "lone striker" just floated through my head and sent shivers down my spine. There's no evidence to support such a thought; as josh pointed out Dave might even been thinking three up top, but it's Dave and you never really know.
I like the idea of Rolfe back to creative mid. I believe one of UDPride's gushing emails ( ) was about Rolfe being a natural at that spot, and a bit out of position as a pure attacker. I'm willing to give it a try. But he lends little to the defense. I've given up on DS playing a 3-5-2, even though I would prefer it. So I think I would take jjayg's advice, but modify your lineup back to a 4-4-2, because DS is stuck on that. Plus He'll never sit Marsch.... Further, Buette has played well but, you're correct that he lends NO attack. Pause adds very little, so I cannot put him at right mid - but I believe DS will still have him making forays up the line. Reiter has shown me nothing yet - even against the goats!! To the bench with him. Here's where I'm at now. So of an odd, unballanced formation with nothing on the right wing. G ----------Thornton------------- D Pause ---Brown Curtin---Segares DM ---- Marsch -------Buete ------ AM -----------Rolfe-----------Mapp F ------Jaqua -----Herron/Barrett--- From whence should we expect the NE attack with what's left of their roster?
I'm not sure that's true. Being a striker he hasn't been called on to play a lot of defense to date*, but I think what he lacks in size he more than makes up for with tenacity and speed. He might not be able to force Sharlie Joseph off the ball, but he could easy dart by, steal the ball and draw a funny little moustache on him before Sharlie realized what happened. *He has tracked back and hounded midfielders and been a general nuissance more than a few times.
I completely agree with this, but the good news for the Fire is that if Rolfe is drawing moustaches on Joseph, he'll be running off-field to do it. Joseph is out for Saturday's game - yellow card accumulation :-D That is one more reason I am optimistic despite Thiago and everyone else being gone. Shalrie Joseph is one of the best midfielders in the league (if not THE best d-mid right now). They still have Cancela lining up in the mid, but with just Twellman as a threat up top, I doubt he will be too much of a factor.
Did Dave say that, or did Nate Whalen say that? I'd have to go back and check, but that looked like Nate's speculation. Later, COZ
You're right, it does seem like Nate's speculation. He does quote Dave talking about tweaking things, but it Dave wasn't quoted about the switching to 3 up top. Here's what it said: Buete is a more defensive-minded midfielder. To that end, Sarachan and his coaching staff could start three men up top, rather than two, in hopes of keeping the offense going without Thiago. "He's different than any of the other midfielders we have and adds so much to our team on the attacking and possession side," Sarachan said of Thiago. "The timing of losing him is a little tough. ... We're still scoring goals, so it's not like we want to tweak a whole lot, but part of the reason we are (scoring) is because of Thiago being there and (midfielder Ivan) Guerrero, so we may tweak things."
At the risk of being captain obvious, we NEED Thiago if we want to hold any hope of showing well against Milan. I'm very bummed about this. ps -= sorry - off topic and obvious - just....so.....pissed.