Official DC United vs Columbus Crew PRE Match Thread [N&A]

Knave you forgot the number of corners blown.

Freddy starts..I hope Esky is ok. if Not then Josh Gros should play forward. Dema wakes up from his Barca trip, it seems his body is back home but his mind is still in Camp Nou.

If Nellie is fit we'll need him and Petke to not suck vs. Cunningham.

XI:

---------------Perkins---------------
----Petke-------Nelsen--------Prideaux(aka Hejduk's b1tch)
--------------Carroll----------
Stewart-------Olsen----Dema-----Convey

-----------Adu------Gros/Moreno/Esky/OTC/Salvatore/Nana Kwame/Anybody but Ronald "162K on the Cap" Cerr 'F'N ritos

 

Convey won't be back Saturday, will he????

 

Nope. Stewart will likely be gone as well.

This is my guess at what Nowak will trot out:

Moreno . . Cerritos
Gros . Dema . Olsen
Carroll . Ara
Prideaux . Nelsen . Petke
Perkins​

Injuries will play a huge factor (again)

Is Nelsen healthy enough to play?
Has Namoff recovered?
Has Eskandarian recovered?
Will we make it through a week of training without losing another player?

 

CRAP! I forgot about the 20th. Maybe Ara slides in and starts so Gros can still play forward...I'm really dreaming now.

 

Knave, you forgot the question mark after CSN in the first post.

 

I'm guessing Moreno will be pushed back into the midfield with Cerritos and Adu up top. Gros will be out on the left again, with Olsen, Dema, and Carroll making up the rest of the midfield. If Namoff is healthy, will he still get the start over Petke? Or will Prideaux sit? Nellie will be in the back assuming he is ok, with some comibation of Namoff, Prideaux, and Petke joining him there. Perkins back in goal, probably for the rest of the season.

---------Adu----Cerritos--------
-----------Moreno-------------
Gros--------------------Olsen
------Carroll----Dema----------
Prideaux----Nellie----Petke/Namoff
-----------Perkins---------------

 

That could be, but I think it's a disaster to let Jaime play out of the midfield. The pace gets too bogged down when he drops back.

 

I agree, I just don't know if he's fit. He was listed as a substitute on Saturday, so presumably he is.

 

In a perfect world, you start Moreno, get 60-70 minutes from him and then let Adu come in and just run, run, run at a tired defense. The problem is that Adu is a kid and failed to do that against a less than mediocre Rapids defense and otherwise mimicked? the infamous OTC in his time last Saturday. (How many times did Gros get by de la Torre? He was spinnning around like a dreidel.) I think Nowak has no choice but to tell Adu to get a full 90 (at least his jogging around and apparent lack of intensity could be rationalized as conserving energy) and pair him with Esky if healthy. Cerritos is a black hole of cap space, but you can't replace him with Gros because the MF is so thin with Convey & Stewart out. However, start with Moreno and Cerritos on the bench and see how the kids do -- they couldn't be less effective scorers than the guys sitting.

Also, given Nelsen's re-injury on Saturday, expect the return of David Stokes to a spot in the hearts of all fans. (Did anyone see Petke on Saturday night trying to mark his own man while at the same time shouting and gesturing at Stokes to tell him what to do? I understand Petke sometimes gets caught ball-watching, but I can't imagine what a strain it must be to worry about your own mark and then have to micro-manage your teammate's play.)

 

As a Crew fan, I ask that you please start Stokes, Cunningham would really love Nowak would start him in the middle. Cunningham's been playing really well as of late and going up against Stokes would be a tremendous mis-match. Of course Perkins will be going up against his "local" club in the Crew so that is an interesting by-line.

The Crew will look to start what has brought them a 7 game unbeaten streak, Herdsman is coming off a slight MCL sprain still and although Andrulis said he will be ready to go I doubt they'll take Akwari out as he has performed well. Elliott should be ready to start this week while Buddle is still nursing an injury and won't be available yet again. Ritch has played a few back-to-back less than stellar games and when Testo game in to the lineup on Saturday night he added a spark, look for him to start this weekend. Lineup should be:

-----------Busch-----------
--Akwari--Fraser--Marshall--
-----Elliott-------Lagos-----
--Paule-----------Denton--
----------Martino----------
----Cunningham---Testo----

 

Ain't this the truth. He was driving me bananas on Saturday night. He's 14, and when he's coming in with less than half the game remaining, I can't figure out why he isn't sprinting his a$$ off the whole time trying to get the ball. Seriously, why not?

 

Here is my guess for the startin XI, assuming Nellie and Esky are still hurt and Earnie and Convey are unavailable:

--------Perkins---------
Stokes--Petke--Prideaux
--------Carroll----------
Olsen----Dema-----Gros
------Moreno----------
----Cerritos--Adu-------

Unless I am mistaken our only healthy sub will be Ara.

This is the starting XI I would like to see:

--------Perkins---------
Olsen--Petke--Prideaux
-----Carroll--Ara-------
-Dema-------------Gros
------Moreno----------
----Cerritos--Adu-------

 

My guess is that we will accomodate you. We have so many injuries and callups, we won't have much choice. Here's my guess:

------------Perkins------------

Stokes - Petke - Prideaux

------------Carroll-------------

Olsen --- Dema --- Gros

------------Moreno-------------

--Cerritos----------Adu------

You should be able to pick on Stokes (Colorado didn't figure that out, even after being shown how to do it by Chicago. Study your game films, guys.)

Gros and Adu play very well together, and are getting better every game. They could surprise you a bit. If Moreno and Cerritos could link up with them, they might actually be dangerous, but I haven't seen many signs of that happening.

If I was you, I'd tell my defenders to not worry about kicking it over the end line at any time - we are impotent on corners.

#@*?!%ing Saturday team scheduled a 7:30 game on the 19th. I wish them luck. I'm beginning to think they are doing this so they can play without me.

Edit: Oops. I see this is the exact same lineup Kirchhausen just published. Can you say Plagiarism?

 

I was sitting behind DC's bench on Saturday and Esky was fitted with a sleeve for his upper leg (thigh or hamstring) and was in obvious discomfort. I assume things could get better over the week, but I wouldn't count on him to play more than 15 or 20 minutes, much less an entire 90.

 

I thought the same thing while watching the game and I was getting madder by the minute. It didn't even look like he was breaking a sweat. At least when we had Ali Curtis he worked up front and ran is a$$ off,and not just for 20 minutes but the full 90. Maybe some-one should show the kid some tape so he can see what someone with less talent but more heart plays.

-The Far Side

 

Curtis barely ever played for the full 90. I do agree though, Freddy needs to start pressuring the defence to increase game's pace.

 

Somebody posted this up & I think it's mostly the deal, 'cept I'll bet Nellie is still torn up & stays that way for 2-3 more weeks. Add Stokes outside in the back

Moreno . . Cerritos
Gros . Dema . Olsen
Carroll . Ara
Prideaux . Petke . Stokes
Perkins

We bring in Freddy at the 60' for whichever forward is really gassed (which should be Moreno!). I think we'll get a solid showing of the starters & win 2-0.

 

I'd also love to see Esky back, but sch2383's post has me a bit worried. DCU's definitely missing that energy he and Moreno seemed to have in the season opener, and every second spent watching Freddy walk/jog around makes it worse. I'd agree with Ikeniston, and go with Moreno and Cerritos up top, with an eventual sub for Jaime.

And in the spirit of "rebuilding"... Nick Rimando Now! but as a sub for Prideaux.

 

I'm glad to see that I'm not crazy...I was unimpressed with Adu's work rate in the past game and up in NE when I was there too.

He mentioned something in the press a few weeks back that he has learned not to be in top gear all the time and to time his runs...well, the kid over-compensated if you ask me.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but remember Conteh? Now that was what a forward was supposed to do off the ball...Lassiter had a bit of that in his day too. Watching MLS Wrap this weekend, Kevin Hartman was on there praising Kirovski's off-the-ball intelligence and runs to make life easier for his partners. I'm not seeing that from any of Jaime's partners this year, save Eski.

Cheers,
Tim

 

For what it's worth, to dispel the Esky injury situation, Esky and Doug Warren were playing a two man game all through halftime Saturday night and Esky was moving briskly and without any apparent pain..

Don't know if that helps or not but if he was as injured as others saw on Saturday, he wouldn't have been able to move so quickly while peppering with Warren..

 

He did look fine at halftime, but he kept rubbing the back of his leg during the second half, so either its in his head or he did something to it during halftime.

 

you mean it's itchiness?

lack of comfort?

just say uncomfortableness lol