A word on Etcheverry's situation: MLSnet hasn't kept up with the caution point totals. Etch bought yellows in consecutive games between updates. That means he went from 16 points (not worthy of a caution point warning) to 24 (automatic suspension) overnight as far as the warning list was concerned. If you were paying attention to the stat sheet, rather than MLS' official maunderings, you would've picked up the caution point jeopardy. ============ And a word to Eismahn: save it for someone who cares. Journalism is a lot tougher than it looks, especially covering sports for a print deadline. I did it for a year, and wouldn't do it again. Ed covered this team particularly for six. He knows what he's doing. If you're venturing an unpaid opinion--something he's willing to provide DC United because he's a fan--then your cute little rules for journalists don't apply.
Enough with the Piss and Vinegar.... Enough with the hot-air people. My only criticism on Ed's piece was explaining about Marco's suspension, which I might add was done better here than in his article. That "silly mantra" everyone refers to holds true a simple principle applied to informative writing,(namely being thorough) which by definintion, Ed's article represents, whether you choose to see it at as entertainment or opinion or whatever. So's we're clear, I never said I disagreed with any of your opinions. All I wanted to see was a line like this... ""Even with a backup goalkeeper and a Ben Olsen and Marco Etcheverry-less midfield, " who will miss this week's game due to suspension as a result of accumulated points. " Sunday should be the day United comes out with "bad intentions," as Hudson would put it." You put the news out there, but left it hanging a bit so to speak. No harm done, since you were spot on, except maybe to mid-week speculators out there. Thanks to Knave, and Daniel Le Rouge on helping to clear up, and especially JAnderson with the 4-4-2 stats. And I agree the 4-4-2 can be an effective weapon, not just limited to a bunker formation. (again, see 2-0 win at NY). Hopefully the smoking lamp will be light come Sunday night. Undoubtably I'd love to see us quick as lightining on the pitch Sunday, surprisingly dangerous from the corners, and take this game convincingly 4-1.
formation +line-ups With Marco down, how about this for a line-up? ----Warren----- Prideaux--Nelson--Petke---Namoff Kovalenko--Stewart--Convey--Stoichkov Martins--Cerritos with Q2 sub for Stoich, change mid-4 to 3+1 Dema Q2---Earnie--Convey or vice versa. Also leaves us Ivanov and Alegria for possible late defensive subs.
Re: formation +line-ups I rather see Dema in a more of an attacking role. How about this: --Warren-- Prideaux--Petke--Ivanov--Namoff Stewart--Dema--Nelsen--Convey Cerritos--Martins Or put Eliseo in Stewart's position from the get go, so that Earnie can pair up front with Cerritos. That would be more aggressive, dont you think?
Re: Re: formation +line-ups Only problem I see is with distribution from the middle, which arguably Stewart and/or Convey could provide. Though, I like having that 3 in the middle- Petke,Nelsen, Ivanov in almost any combination.
Aaaauuuggghhh! People, people, stop enumerating the quantitiy of Gallus gallus var domesticus while they are still enclosed in oviod calcium carbonate shielding!
Halftime entertainment will consist of Etch dribbling around in the box while Frankie flails at him. Performance art.
I thought the vulgar liked to say "****** ****** ***** ***** ****** ****** shoe!" I'll believe we are in the playoffs when I am standing in 134 during the first playoff game - until then the post season was something they got rid of the same time as the shootout...
Considering Marco's suspension, I think the starting X1 is pretty much set.. The only question would be who will start between Ivanov and Namoff.. My guess is Namoff considering Ivanov is on suspension notice.. If we get our desired point on Sunday, then it doesn't matter if Ivanov gets a yellow in the season closer against Kansas.. He would only have to sit out the first playoff game if he got a straight red on the 25th.. So here goes: ------------- Warren --------------- Namoff --- Petke -- Nellie --- Prideaux Q2 ----- Dema ----- Earnie ---- Convey ------- Thiba ------- Cerritos ---------- I would much rather see Prideaux on the left side of defense to guard against Brian West and also Prideaux is a naturally lefty and has done well of late getting involved down the wing in the offensive side of the field.. DC 2 Col 1
Those predicting a 4-4-2 are probably right. But Ray seems to like the 3-5-2 at home and also had success with it the last time DCU played Columbus. With that in mind and not having to worry about Etch not putting pressure on the Crew midfield I would suggest: Warren Petke --- Nelson --- Prideaux Namoff --- Ivanov Stewart --- Kovalenko --- Convey Martins --- Cerritos Starting to pressure the Crew at midfield instead of in the defensive third as we did in the last game should limit the service to McBride and Buddle.
Petke and Dema will raise hell and we win 3-0. Hudson is so ecstatic he rushes across the pitch and kisses the entire front row of sections 134-137.
I know these line-ups are usually wrong but theres always a first time. http://dcunited.com/index.cfm?section=main&cont_id=209752 Its kind of a confusing line up but some sort of a 3-5-2.
interesting stat Here's a qoute from that article that surprised me - do these guys just not shoot unless it's a perfect shot, or are they that good and should shoot more? tick, tock ... tick, tock ... tick, tock - you hear that Columbus, that's the time left in your season ticking down, just one day left ......
If I read this correctly, (right) think grumpydc ALMOST got it, with Q2 in for Ivanov no doubt a caution point precaution , again if they go ahead as proposed. How's this : ---Warren--- Petke-- Nelsen--Prideaux (P-diddy on the left? Cweed will be pleased..) Q2----Namoff Stewart---Dema---Convey Thiago-- Cerritos Looks lean and mean to me.. gotta like our defensive options as well as firepower in reserve with Stoich, we should fly on the pitch. 3-1 to DC IF the cows manage to get lucky.. though with Dema, he may motivate the middle to put a 4th in ... Vamos United. Oh, and here's a handy tip for after our victory- Listerine kills germs.
That's sort of a bizarre statistic. By its logic some defender who gets one shot on goal all year and scores a goal on that one chance would be the league leading scorer. After all, his scoring percentage would be 100%. The moral being I think you've gotta think carefully about interpreting this particular number. I'd also submit that statistic is totally misleading about Etch because he's only scored one goal in the run of play. He's had 5 PKs though. So right now Etch has 26 shots on the year and resulting from those shots he's got 1 goal. So that's actually a shot percentage of a little less that 4% - the same as Ryan Nelsen. The numbers are much more revealing for Dema because his goals actually result from him taking shots during the run of play. Dema's got 6 goals from 26 shots and I think we all agree he needs to shoot more. Also, to put some perspective on this stat let's just note that our leading shot taker is Olsen at 31. Currently Razov and Twellman lead the league in shots with 111 and 90 respectively. By the way - a technical question - do PKs count in MLS statistics as shots? I assumed they didn't when I ran these numbers.
Know what, tho, I like forcing those guys into Cweed's type of formation better, somethin like this: --warren--- Petke--Nelly--Prideaux Q2---Namoff Dema---Earnie--Convey Martins--Cerritos 6 in one, 1/2 dozen the other-- a bit more confidence with Earnie pulling the strings with 4 considerable threats around him. Saw Eliseo play good defense at home vs Metros(MLS not Open) good option on the right for either Prideaux or Petke if they should face pressure coming upfield.
our injury free line up should be like this: rimando petke, nelsen, reyes olsen, convey, etch, dema, elisio quaranta, cerritos once etch retires you can add namoff, ivanov, or prideax in the back and play a 4-4-2 but this is all hypothetical since we dont know who will stay or who will leave.
Match Preview: http://onthesidelines.org/united101803.htm I think United gets their point to get in, but if either team gets an early lead, it might not be so entertaining to see that team go into a shell.