Greg Andrulis, September 26, 2003 "Very seldom have I been able to make a tactical sub," he said. "Most have been due to injury or fatigue coming back from an injury." Greg Andrulis, September 28, 2003 Columbus Crew -- Jon Busch, Frankie Hejduk, Mike Clark, Mark Williams, Eric Denton, Brian Maisonneuve (Jeff Matteo 74), Ross Paule, Brian West, Kyle Martino, Edson Buddle, Brian McBride. yes that's right, he could have used any 3 of Chacon, Matteo, Akwari, and McCarty. He uses only Matteo. He had 2 tactical subs sitting on the bench. genius.
FF, But on the bright side, your Reds finally got euthanized today. You'll sleep better knowing that your beloved collection of random whatshisfaces are in a better place than on the diamond. And as an added bonus, you have all those ex-Reds to cheer for in the playoffs! I knew my sports day was doomed before it started. It was like that Sports Guy column about the Red Sox/Yankees and Bills/Pats games that one Sunday. That was my outlook. Trust me, you develop a sixth sense regarding these types of disasters. Not that it takes a psychic to figure out that the Browns and Crew have screwed more pooches than Spuds McKenzie back in the day. Sirk
COLUMBUS CREW HEAD COACH GREG ANDRULIS On losing to another great goal: "We played pretty hard and we lost on a couple of great set pieces and it's disheartening that we keep getting beat by great goals. If it's going to take world class goals to beat us it isn't going to happen every game." Honestly its quotes like this that make me wanna puke.
ahh yes, a convenient change of topic. i told my friends all along the reds should give him 1 mill to 1.5 mill because that is only fair. hell, they're giving him 7 million this year, i don't see what it's so bad to give him even 2 million next year. not only will he be a good utility infielder and mentor to the younger guys next year, he will help the reds long term. he's said he'll look into some kind of coaching job in the future, that can only help the reds. barry played the situation right and made the owner look stupid in public, which is probably what caused the offer to change.
If the reds pay Larkin any amount of money the are stuck in the same situation the Crew is now with Clark and Mais. I don't know why anyone would want that.
in a perfect world, barry would retire and be a coach for the reds next year, but he wants to play one more year, and the reds owe it to him. look, they're giving him 700,000 next year, 6.3 mil. less than what they gave him this year. paying him this much provides help for the young reds and also keeps barry tied to cincy in a way, and also saves face for the orginization. i don't see cincy papers or hear their talk shows, but i imagine the reds almost letting him go was the last straw for a lot of fans.
I'll add some kind of synthesis to this. There was speculation in the Boston papers that the Red Sox might be interested in signing him. Walker and Williamson were championing the idea.
The fact that they got the shots at all seems lost on Greg. There should not have been the Mutants miracle shot OR 3 set pieces from those positions in the final 20mins. What an incredibly stupid thing to say from a professional coach. The idea is never to let the other team get in those positions to WIN THE GAME. I'm sorry, this absolutely confirms the sub theory and the fact that he doesn't understand the sport at this level. Position on the field makes a difference with world class players - you don't give them the chance to WIN THE GAME you foul way out, or force a stupid pass or give away, OR (radical thought) hold the ball in THEIR end. Really difficult and high level tactical play that most College teams know and most D-1 High Schools of repute attempt. We never attempted to hold the ball in the offensive end. McCarty/Akwari for Mais would have put an experienced player who knows his field position in the middle of the D and also someone who can matchup physically with SHARLEE to help KMART (who can't play deep D). APC for KMART would have added a fresh player who has 200+ professional games and understands the tactical objective of maintaining ball control in the final 20 mins. That would have left a defender and Mid to sub in for injuries as the last sub. Rocket Science it isn't.
Don't count on our boys putting up much of a fight.. In the past 3 days we've lost both Rimando and Olsen to season ending injuries and we'll be without our midfield engine Kovalenko as well as Petke on the backline.. This game is ripe for you to get back into the race with so many United players out of the lineup.. Besides, we always suck at your place.. Book it, 3 points to the Crew next weekend...
Really? It makes me want to choke him. Honestly, that man shouldn't be allowed to breed. Does he even have a clue as to what comes out of his mouth? And WHY for the love GOD doesn't someone on the team SAY SOMETHING?!!! At this point, I'd be glad to get benched for opening my mouth. What difference does it make? No more subtleties. Greg sucks. WTF does this guy have on Smith? Compromising photos with a minor? What?! At least the NHL season is right around the corner. I've got that to look forward to.
Off the subject a bit, but it looks like FF will have to change his avatar yet again after Larkin re-upped with the Reds.
I can't change it here from work, so I just altered the title. I have no problem with Cincinnati paying him $700,000 for one more season. He'll fill a valuable role as mentor/quasi-assistant coach. Plus, it's only $700,000. After devoting his entire professional career to the organization, putting up statistics good enough for a league MVP and numerous other awards, I think it's only fair that Cincinnati find a way to keep him if it helps the team. And since next year's collection of nobodies will need all the help they can get, it's a good fit. My goodness, the Crew choked so badly. It's nice to know when their backs are basically against the wall and they need every single point they can get, the piss away two consecutive overtime matches. Ugh. Also, all black guys look alike. Thankfully the Crew didn't have Akwari in there, too, because no announcers can tell the difference between Buddle and West; I'd hate to add a third choice to the mix.
I didn't want to fly back out to Los Angeles anyway. Matter of fact, I didn't really want to watch up fizzle in the playoffs.
As of last night, the Crew have allowed 442 goals (I think) in 288 all-time matches (competitive). Of those 442 goals, here's how they break down in the last twenty minutes of regulation and overtime: 71-80: 51 goals allowed (11.54%) 81-85: 29 ( 6.56%) 86-90: 43 ( 9.73%) 91+ : 6 ( 1.36%) Total: 129 (29.19%) This season, in MLS play Columbus has allowed 37 goals with 15 (40.54%) of them coming in minute 76 and beyond, including overtime.
18 percent of all goals in the last 10 minutes....just sad; 41 percent of all goals this season is inexcusable.
I noticed that the Revs announcers confused Buddle and West on more than one occasion. It should be mentioned, however, that they failed to identify some of our other players too.
And yet, it does seem to be happening doesn't it Greg? You know what, buddy, I'm okay if we lose as long as it's to "world class goals." While someone else celebrates MLS CUP and we're the only ones at home with Dallas, at least we'll have the fond memory of being scored on by World Class Goals. Additionally, I've noticed that we have an awful lot of astricks next to our loss column, whether they denote world-class-goals, injury, food-poisoning, rat-infestation, or soccer-god-fury, I mean if you take all THOSE losses out we're the god damn best team in the league. Go get fired.
I would like to take this time to point out that Brian McBride is vastly overrated. As a team leader, as the franchise player, he's been a total underwhelming flop. Thank you.