DC United vs Chicago Fire • Eastern Conference Semifinal • Game Two • • Sunday, November 9, 1:00 EST • • Live on ESPN2 • DCUnited.com Match Preview - Including TV, Radio and Webcast Information • MLSNet Match Notes • English Webcast - WMET • Other Webcasts • PBP Chat Information • Note • Don't overlook the unusual start time. That's 1:00pm EST and 10:00am PST. This post will be updated later in the week for corrections and additions. Items in gray will be updated once available or confirmed. No Flames • No Trolls
What will Hudson do? What is he thinking? Is he wondering if this will be his last game as coach? What is most frustrated at? Will he keep basically the same lineup or will he get all experimental? Will this be Marco Etcheverry's last game, at least with DCU? Will this be Hristo Stoichkov's last game as a pro? Will this game spoil my breakfast?
------Cerritos----Martins------ -------------Q2-------------- Namoff-----Convey---------Stewart ------------Dema---------- Prideaux------Petke-------Nellie -----------Warren------------- Maybe switch Dema and Namoff, but Q2 and Convey work well together so I would like to see them inside. Ideally, we would have Benny out on the right and Stewart at attacking mid (hell maybe even a 3-4-3), but I'm not counting on him for next week.
i like that last lineup sch. i hope next sunday dc doesnt embarrass me as much as they did last night. we went from the greatest day in dc history i can remember last weekend. to the most embarrassing last night. I hope the guys can shut their mouths and play the game. i think any dc fans who go up there should make a banner that says "Shut Up Hristo, Marco and Ray" but hopefully neither hristo or marco will start.
It's over. Unless Chicago starts Curtis Spiteri in goal we're not going to score three goals against them. And, to be honest, even if Spiteri did start we still probably couldn't get three balls past him. Moreover, even if we did manage three goals does anyone honestly think we're going to magically cure the various defensive inadequacies that have plagued us this last month? I just can't see us holding Chicago scoreless. So three goals won't even be enough in all likelihood. We haven't won a game in over a month. We haven't scored three goals in a game since July. We haven't won by three goals since June. As the tagline says ... Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.
Any chance you think Hudson will drop Stewart AND Etch. I think those two were largely responsible for the Fire's domination throughout the majority of the game as to be honest it turns into a 4 man front because those two contribute little to the DCU defense and that kills the midfield. Hristo should also be dumped IMO, if I were in charge (which for good reason I am not) I'd try something like this: Warren Nelson Petke Namoff Dema Ivanov Convey Q1 Q2 Cerritos Martins Now I am sure the shock is at Ivanov, but from the few DCU games I have seen he seems to show the promise of being able to contribute up the flanks, but just struggles defensively. Stewart/Hristo as an offensive sub, Prideaux for whoever is sucking. I don't know if it will matter, getting two on the Fire is tough, let alone when they will undoubtedly be bunkering and countering at home...
I too think we should start the youngsters, and WHY NOT STOKES??? warren stokes petke prideaux nelsen quaranta stewart quintanilla convey cerritos martins That said I think we start a midfield of marco, hristo, lubos kubic, and AJ wood and somehow win, but only 1-0
It's good and kind of Chicago fans to give us a loaded gun at this point in time. But seriously when has Ivanov ever played midfield? Ivanov is afraid of breakaways for Hristo's sake!
Shoot the ball. Dribble past defenders with the ball. Play with speed. Things we haven't done all year, and things we must do if we want any hope of turning this around. That, and pray to all the gods you believe in or have ever considered believing in. At the very least, let's go out of the playoffs with some pride. ------- Cerritos - Martins Convey -- Quintanilla -- Stewart ------- Nelsen - Kovalenko -- Prideaux - Petke - Namoff ------------ Warren Convey, Quintanilla, and Stewart should play rather flexible roles, interchanging as the situation dictates. All 3 should look to get behind the defense carrying the ball, and if it's out wide, cut into the box rather than cross it in. Whitfield and Perez aren't that strong, so why not try to exploit that? Kovalenko should be making runs from deep, as he's our most likely scorer at this point. If we're still hanging around in the second half, bring on Quaranta or Eskandarian for whichever midfielder is doing the least. Essentially, we need to go for broke and pull out all the stops. I doubt this will be the lineup, and I doubt we'll do what I say and make those deadly runs into the sides of the box. However, just as I still have a glimmer of hope that we'll miraculously turn this around, I can always hope that we'll send out a team that actually has a chance to win.
What would it cost to hire a guy to break Thorton's leg? It can't be more than $10k, meaning we would only need everybody on the board to contribute about $60 or $70. Quick somebody start a Paypal account!
------------Martins ----- Stewart---- ---Convey-- Quintanilla--Quaranta--Dema-- Namoff --------Petke--- Nelsen---- Stokes-------- ------------------Warren------------------- Hey, let's go with the younger lineup. Cerritos has been a waste. Hristo is ineffective except as a supersub. Marco would be better against tired legs as well. We have no athleticism in the back, so throw Stokes out there to the wolves and see how he does (we won't win with him NOT there either, so it's no big gamble). I don't particularly like Quintanilla in there because he has no speed, but he may pull another game like against the Revs. if not, go with Carroll. Get Martins in there just for the size. the bottom line is that the loss of Olsen just KILLS us in this series, but he's not there so we have to deal with it. This team is in need of a MASSIVE overhaul. being at the game and watching the difference in speed between the Fire and DCU was embarassing. I had nightmares after the game last night of DMB running circles around our players as they slipped and fell all over the field after being juked out of their shorts. truly truly pathetic. Thorton isn't our problem. hell, we couldn't get a reasonable shot on goal. but one thing i would LOVE to see is Convey NOT pull a horrible first touch on a ball that he is taking in alone on goal, or one of our plethora of players actually SHOOT one-time when they are running dead onto the ball at the edge of the box.
Conventional wisdom might call for Chicago to bunker, but I don't think they will. They have no respect for us and discount our ability to score duing the run of play. I thnk they will play their standard attacking game, on the grounds that even if they don't score we won't either and they get the win on cumulative goals. For that reason I think we should attack at every opportunity, not with high balls into the box but with strong runs which require the Fire to do some risky tackling in and near the penalty area. If we could net a PK early on it would make for an interesting game.
This concept you speak of....strong runs... I don't think that United is familiar with such a concept. Interesting concept though!