Exactry. Sadly, some fans refuse to question the staff's wisdom on this one. I can deal with Esky being a bust because I think most anyone would have taken him. But when they are willing to mortgage next year's draft for veterans, why not do the same with this year's and get some worth if those guys won't play? If they'r eready, shame on you for not playng them for some preconceived notion about young players. If they're not ready, shame on you for not forseeing that and wasting roster spots. Complain all they want about injuries. They made the decision to shortchange our roster all season by two spots with Stokes and Carroll.
You've not been paying much attention this year if that's all the credit you give to DC's backline. Prideaux, Nelson, Petke; they've been the best part of this year's team. Sure, Prideaux was beat by McBride on a header. Well, he's not called McHead for nothing. They have problems with speed, but when Reyes comes back, they won't have as many problems. Frankly, I think we've had the answer to some of the few marking and speed problems on the backline all year; replace Ivanov with Namoff. Despite the last game (one really bad screwup, not an athletic problem, and a questionable PK) our backline is doing their job. DC's problem is lack of scoring, not bad defense.
If by puttign talent in quotes, you mean hyped promise that rarely amounts to anything, then I agree. I don't think since Chris Albright and the first season of Bobby Convey have we heard so much about how much "promise" someone has and seen them deliver so little when they actually played. And one thing I can say for Convey (until recently, and I wonder how much the bronchitis has had to do with his lacklustre play vs. the whole Spurs BS), he has always shown committment. Albright and Tino share (at least in their United play that I've seen) startling lapses of giving a damn. Both had moments of spunk, aggressiveness and exciting play, but both showed long periods of "who cares" play, something inexcusable in my eyes, especially from someone who is supposed to have "promise" and expects a salary to match. If that's "talent", then other teams are welcome to Tino and Chris; give me players who play hard, unspectacular, effective, tireless, 100% every game ball, like Brandon, Benny, Nelsen, Nicky, and Petke. If that's the case, I must be watch DCU-Bizarro World, because I've been watching one of the better backlines in MLS all season, barring Ivanov's occasional appalling lapses.
I've been watching and attending DC games all year, and we will just have to agree to disagree on this one. the reason that DC gives up as few goals as it does is because the whole team plays this stupid Italian defensive brand of soccer. We are not an attacking team. almost everyone stays behind the ball. It isn't because our back 4 are some defensive stalwarts. Every guy in that backline gets burned by a guy with decent speed. the Columbus game was just the latest example of that. I'm not just looking at the goals that WERE scored, but also at the goals that COULD HAVE been scored against us. Our guys were beat ad nauseum by the Crew players, and that is just a snapshot of what i've seen before. Prideaux, Ivanov ............ c'mon. these guys are barely serviceable, yet they are often starting. our "best" 2 defenders (petke and nelsen) are guys that i wouldn't take over the best 2 defenders on almost any other team in the league. our scoring (or lack thereof) is attributable to the scheme we play, and that's on the coach.
it was certainly risky, but I see it more as warren's mistake than petke's -- I wasn't there, but even on television you would've seen rimando screaming like a banshee if he were coming off the line, but it didn't look like warren even peeped. seemed like petke didn't hear anything, so he assumed warren was still back. actually, I thought petke was MOTM if the game stays tied -- I thought he and nelson both were solid defensively, in addition to his goal. other than that, ivanov was inconsistent as usual, convey's obviously frightened of the goal now, Q2 looked awful in my book, martins gets an honorary benny award for hustle. and esky should get comfortable on that pine. overall I say we looked like absolute garbage regardless of the score, like we were missing a lot more than we were. chino's assist was the one bright spot.
Done I think the troubles we've had all year have been due to coaching. When to use the young guys, when to use the old guys. When to sub. Ray won't use the young players, so he's decided to use a bunkering, slow-footed, old man style that better suits his players. With th injuries, this isn't working. With a third-line goalie, this isn't working. We need to go forward. Well, maybe next year.
I have to agree with the Mountain Man on this one. If we could only score we would not be in this horrible situation. We just need to score. Our forwards get lots of service, but our midfielders don't committ to the attack. Only Dema will make a run every so often. ( Excusing Benny for injury)Our defense is fine, but we need scoring forwards. Can we find a Stern John somewhere? If we could score the yellow traffic cone could coach this team.
Analyse this I think its not a matter of forwards... How many forwards we had this year? How many goals did they score? In this defensive game that DC plays, not even the best forward of the world would be able to score goals. I cant understand how a forward plays alone in the front and still has to go back to defend. The midfield plays a lot at defense... The ball hardly gets in the atack, and when it does, its 50/50. What do you think about this?
I think that's the way it's been for four years. Natch, it peaked with the red jerseys worn for the Boca Juniors match.
Andy Mead [R] Great news guys....ANDY MEAD IS PLANNING TO COME TO THE GAME!! https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=78107&perpage=15&pagenumber=2 I feel good about this game now....it's like the stars are lined up in our factor for this one!!
Re: Andy Mead [R] well, at least we'll have pictures of the game that kept us out of the playoffs for the 4th season in a row.
Re: Analyse this Whereas I think it's in the execution, not the planning. We've seen games this season where the team was definitely bunkering. But we've also seen planty where they were attempting to attack seriously, by long balls over the top (ugly *and* ineffective) or through slow, deliberate build-up through the center (doomed to failure if teams key on it, clog the middle of the field, and man-mark aggressively), or--rarely--by quick, fluid, one-touch movement of the ball up the wings and across the field. When we play this way, we have frequently dominated other teams: our last visit to the Meadowlands is (IMO) an example of thios kind of play. Our victory earlier int he year at Chicago when Tino actually got out on the field and played for all he was worth was another example. This requires speed, skill, coordination, tactical quickness of mind, and a team that knows each other and their opponents well. Its enemies are sloth, injuries and exhaustion, miscommunication, lack of confidence (by players in themselves and their teammates), and opponents with a better-skilled midfield than we have. (Its chief weapons are fear, surprise, and, oops...) It's been a beautiful game when we've played it, but injuries, tactics, schedule, and personalities have prevented that from being more than a few games all year. If I could figure out how DCU could play this game more than half its fixtures, well, I guess I'd be in the running for GM, now wouldn't I? Sadly, I'm not nearly that smart.
I think its not a matter of forwards... How many forwards we had this year? How many goals did they score? That is exactly the point, our forwards have not scored. I don't think it is the service. The long balls last match were ugly, but I think it was a tactic without MAE to service on the feet The problem is we don't have a Ruiz or a Razof
Lose this thread Note to Mod: Unsticky this thread so I don't have to remember this piece of *#*#*#*# game any more. I finally watched it on tape last night b4 the chick game. It wasn't as bad as I read here, but it still sucked to watch us lose. The ref wasn't as bad on TV as he was live either, I think it was just that all his calls were late, so live you had no idea what was being called. On TV, they'd say "that was for the first contact" and it would make sense, but live it just seemed like every time we won the ball, he'd bring it back and give CumBlowUs a free kick.... *#*#*#*# columbus, *#*#*#*# Kansas City ... oh, and *#*#*#*# the Metros