Nick Rimando is my season MVP, not just MOTM. I thought he was fantastic tonight, and all season long. Rock steady.
Yes Etch had a good corner last night, but did people REALLY think he had a good game? He was making lazy passes all over the place. All too often he tried to thread the needle when there were equally dangerous, yet easy options available to him. I'm really wondering what Eddie Pope could do as a defensive midfielder...
My morning after ratings: Rimando- 7 I agree he's the MOTM. Just some great saves. It is such an insane strategy Hudson has of sending so many defenders forward. This week vs SJ it worked because of Nicky's brilliance and the fact that LD sort of disappeareed toward the end. Not totally but he didn;t continue his play from earlier in the half. Last week it failed because the metros know how to play counterattack. Reyes-6.5 Milton, thy name is courage. He of course was the main guy helping Nicky and he just owned Graziani. I also though his long range shots were important for the team's psyche. Pope- 6 Look, I can't fault him much on LD turning him in the open field; LD can do that on anyone (except Nellie it seems). Pope also seems to be getting used to this center forward stuff too and if we are to get to the playoffs, we'll need more offense from His Holiness. just a great goal over Nats wannabe Conrad. McKinley- 5 I think I'm being generous here. In the first half he got involved nicely in the offense but Lagos and LD were constantly getting behind him into dangerous situations. In the second half he obviously tired, did almost no defense, and did little on offense though he is a good target player himself and he had one nice cross at Olsen that Conrad did a great job heading away. Nelsen- 6.5 The leading scorer on the team- first to break the dreaded three goal ceiling. When do you think the the league will recognize how good he's become? I swear though I thought I saw him peeing as LD bre down on him in the first half andf LD would have scored if not that defensive stopper Etcheverry had come back to help. Maybe the ugliest goal scored all year but iot was effective. Williams-5.5 Did his job as well as expected. LD's two scores up the center of the field are in part Richie's responsibility but we should have had ITT next to him. Won a ton of balls in the midfield. Olsen-5.5 Only sporatic on the offensive but we must remember that SJ likes to have both Coralles and Barrett involved in their offense and how much did you see that? Not at all? Right! Good defense, Benny. With Lagos getting behind ITT so much it was so important that he didn't have anyone to cross to and he didn't. Convey-6 Great turn for his goal. I wonder though how much his shoulder his hurting him. Quite a lot I guess. Etcheverry-6 Solid effort and he continues to amaze by doing more defense than he has in the first five seasons combined. Way to get in Dayak's head! Moreno-6 I'm suprised that no one here has mentioned the boos early in the game that were directed Jaime's way. Great run to set up Convey. Nice dish to Villegas. He's not baaaack but he's warming up. Quintinilla-5.5 No goals but he continues to play well. subs Zambrano-5.5 Looked dangerous against a collapsing SJ defense. Wonder if he'll push Q2 to start. Villegas-6.5 THAT's what you want off the bench- instant spark. 20 seconds into the match he serves the ball to Pope that gets flicked on to Nellie for the tie. then he has a great run to finish the game for a score. THIS is what folks talk about when folks talk about depth. Prideaux-NR No rating but as DT said it's good to see him get in the game to close it out. Here's a strategy plan: when we get in a game when we throw the defenders forward and Brandon is still on the bench we should replace Wee One with Brandon since a) Williams adds nothing to the defense and b) Prideaux can help out Reyes as the last man back. Doing this sub say at the 60 minute mark allows ITT and his offense to stay in the game and ITT is still an asset if we are ahead and laying back as he won't then get beat. Make any sense?
Jeez! I wake up this morning almost afraid to check out the score and guess what!?! DC wins! This has truly made my horrible week better!!! Yeeeeehaaaaawwwwww!!!!! Now, if I could only catch a game live...
If it is, he's one hell of an aggresive driver. With that personality, I'd watch out if I were Bobby Convey and I ever dumped his daughter.... I'll ask my friends that know his daughter though, if that's one of the cars he has.
Here I come !!! What great performance ?? Defenders scoring more goals than the ofense(never mind one from an offside position)!! The SJ defense was on drugs or something otherwise I cannot imagine this is the best team, in MLS. What great performance?? Pope was a dummie in defense so he had to compensate by playing ofense!! Is this a great game? How about the goalie, he saved our butts so many times that he turned the SJ ofense insaine.Is this a great game?? OK. I stop here ,I was just kidding!!! Great game, great win, I really enjoyed the midfield effort and colective playing.But,it is a game like this that gives us the true dimension a real midfield should play every game.Does anybody out there disagree that before this game the midfield was the worse mid ever?? OK if, you do ,just compare this game performance with the previous games and you will see the reality, between what they ordinary are playing and what they should have being playing all along. BTW, who do you think deserves the credit for this game ??? Well, I think it will be me and the others naysayers !! Because,IMHO,it was our negative talk and all those " pink slip " proposals that did the trick.What Ray's motivation?? He is motivating them the whole season and no results but,our "pink slip talk" was the real incentive for this game.They have played for their own survival, every body tryed to get off the "pink list", with this game performance.So,I believe we deserve the credit,ME and the naysayers !! Sometimes a kick in the butt can be a step forward !! PS. Just kidding....
OK, now that was a game worth paying to watch. Can't wait to watch it on tape. I still think Kiwi rules. Pope disappearing for the World Cup was the best thing that could have happened for him this year. Rimando - El Gato, El Mongoose, whatever - incredible game. Just about the biggest cheer of the night came when we stopped that 2 on 1 breakaway someone described above. Speaking of cheers, props to the SEs and BB. We could really hear you over on the quiet side. It's a lot easier to join in when you can understand what people are cheering. And there was even some spontaneous cheering on our side towards the end... Can't figure out why soccerbarbie couldn't score tickets in 109 - there were empty seats all around us. OK, though, 'cause squealing hurts my ears. Todd, what did you say to Landon to piss him off? I'll admit I titled a post "Jaime must go!" The Jaime we saw last night probably should stay, but he hasn't been the one out there much of the season. I think Ray or somebody should check the locker room for pods. Chico, Connie, et al., thanks for the hospitality. Sounds like we should have hung out longer at the post game tailgate, but Mrs. Funkfoot and I were concerned that the police might run over one of our Little Feet. Those guys really add new meaning to the expression "crashing a party." Let's keep the goals coming!
I totally agree with whoever observed that this thread is laughable. United have a decent game, a little bit of luck, and suddenly Richie Williams is the best Dmid in the league, United rock, etc??? I enjoyed the game as much as the rest of you, but what a crock! This team's problems have not been solved! McKinley, Etcheverry, and Williams proved once again that they need to be replaced. McKinley: nice switches of the ball...but does this guy know he's a left back? Ivan spent much of the game standing at the midfield stripe while Convey covered for his sorry a$$. Etcheverry: Aside from the corner, Marco was TERRIBLE today. I'm amazed United scored 4 goals given his form. That's right! Etcheverry was worthless!!! Williams: I tracked Williams for the first 15 minutes of the second half...yes, he completed all of his passes...no, none of them went forward. On top of that, United's defense faced constant jail-break counters all night because Williams can't stop counterattacks. As for Moreno, he deserved the boos he got early in the game. I hope tonight put him on the road to recovering his form.
First of all, terrific game. Best overall match at RFK in quite a while. I brought along a couple of folks who are not big soccer fans and they were very impressed. That said let's not get carried away. We are still bottom of the table. This game says to me on paper with eveyone heathly we can compete with the best and should be in the top 4 teams. However, the reality is the team has not been healthy and our money players just have not been contributing in proportion to their salaries. I still have serious doubts about Moreno. Despite his increase in intensity and effort I don't see a corresponding increase in production. We still didn't have a goal from a forward. Marco also played resonably well but nothing like his dominant level of a few YEARS back. Even Eddie got burned badly by LD although in all fairness he made up for that with his a goal of his own at the other end. And of course Richie was well, enough said. The important point is that DC won primarily because of players other than the big three (and a 1/2 if you include Richie). Consider the terrific contributions of Rimando, Nelsen, Reyas, Convey, Olsen, Q2 and Villegas off the bench. On the bright side you could really see the whole team give everything they had on the field. If United can continue to play at this level of intensity, the playoff race is going to get very, very interesting.
Some things the game showed me: 1) Williams can't hack it as a sole d-mid. He's just lost too many steps.... 2)...but this team needs to only play with one d-mid, because we need everyone in the attack as much as possible. Two defenders and two midfielders scored, telling me that we have no "gamebreaker" type scorers (as if we didn't know that already). So do we go three in the back and slide McKinley up next to Williams? Or do we need a younger, quicker d-mid (Vagenas!) in the offseason? RS
Yeah, I think Moreno has gotten a little stage fright in front of goal. That seemed like a psychological thing to me. I sure hope he gets a couple finished soon because I'd hate to have him with a complex going into the offseason. As for the center of the pitch, we really triangled around Mulrooney nicely by playing "keep away." Great contributions from both flanks pinching in, good high positioning from Etch and great quick linking by Richie. Poor Ekelund could hardly get in position to make a tackle all game, and Mulrooney looked outclassed--and that almost never happens. I was VERY happy to see Convey drifting centrally a lot. He needs that experience if he is to transition into central attacking midfield, which is where I think he needs to be. Happy to see Convey, Reyes and Villegas listening to Hudson and taking shots ... it still seems that most of our team is afraid to shoot. Moreno needs to be told to stay OUT of midfield. We need him up high for counter opportunities. IMHO, he's sliding back into midfield to be able to highlight his dribbling without ever having to shoot ... his confidence needs a major boost. Clearly, what Cweedchop has been saying about Moreno feeling worse than us about his lack of finishing is probably true. -Tron
Prince Rimando Actually I don't think so. Early in the season, including our CONCACAF Giants Cup action, Rimando took a little time to find his rythem. He was phenomenal last season at stopping PK's, but it took a while for him to get that spring back this season. He was caught out of position more than a few times in the early going, but was still an above-average keeper in a league of stellar shot-stoppers. But to me, it seems like after the All-Star break "Prince Rimando" has been far and away the best keeper in MLS. He has strung together a highlight reel of deflections that would make Barnum & Bailey envious. Once our defensive backfield solidified and Rimando learned how to communicate with them, he's been a phenomenal organizer. This more than anything has really impressed me this season. At Miami I never really gave him credit for the defensive organization, but now I can see that I should have. IMHO, he should be this season's top goalkeeper. When the keeper of the last place team in the league is only 2 goals away from having the best defense in the league, has not missed a single minute of a single game, and has played behind a defense of entirely new players (new to him and most new to United), lost a max-salaried defender to WC and injuries while several others to cards, and still maintained that GAA average, it really shows his class. "Prince Rimando" for GK of the year. -Tron
I disagree with point #1. I think this game showed unequivocably that Williams can make a fast, safe, clean link to midfielders. His defense was--as usual--stellar. As for point #2, I will address each subpoint in turn. I think this team can play with one or two Dmids, but I agree that we're really best suited for 1 Dmid with 1 Hmid assisting him in midfield. But, to me, Reyes was that Hmid because offensively he spent a ton of time in the midfield and obviously was told to attack all night. Whether you classify that as an attacking right back, libero, Dmid or Hmid, I agree that his play aided our midfield a lot. I wholeheartedly agree about United lacking a gamebreaking scorer. This game was as much about taking more shots, getting contributions from the entire team (including the midfield), and not having horrible luck (which hasn't been the case lately) as it was about us scoring. As Ray said, we've played better and lost. As to the formation, I think a 352 with Reyes and either McKinley/Williams in midfield and a back line of Prideaux-Nelsen-Pope would be the best. Obviously we have some flexibility regarding formation and personnel as well, which is a great thing. Regarding Vagenas, yeah, he'd be a great player to plug into our Dmid allowing us to move McKinley, Williams or both. We've tried to get him before, but the Galaxy weren't willing to let him go. They gave us a lot for Albright, but they weren't willing to part with Vagenas. If Ochoa develops enough to demand a starting spot, then Vagenas may be an option, but likely not until then. United has 4 high picks in the upcoming SuperDraft, so I expect us to take 1 target forward (Nate Jaqua?), 2 defenders (Hunter Freeman and Jonathon Spector?) and 1 midfielder. Adding Vagenas and moving the higher salaried veterans would allow us some flexibility in the cap and the draft. -Tron
I wholeheartedly agree with much of what you posted (especially about Nicky standing on his head), but pulled out these two quotes to amplify. Olsen and Reyes were communicating well all night and covering/overlapping very well. Olsen was often unmarked wide right and calling for the ball, just like Convey has at times on the left. It was obvious that Benny and Eliseo aren't on the same page yet. It will be scary good if Ben and Eliseo start communicating as well as Ben and Milton do. Prideaux fit in seamlessly aand nullified the right side down the stretch. Did iMac move into the midfield when Brandon came on? Convey was somewhat fettered covering for ITT's overlaps; it all seemed more complete whith him on and the shift (?) to a 4-5-1. But what a game! Two other things: 1.] Etch seemed like he was hurting for the last 30 minutes. What he couldn't do physically, he did mentally: getting under Dayak's skin. Great gamesmanship, even if his vision and touch were often off. 2.] Kind of goes with 1. The ref was pretty good keeping a lid on things while allowing play to develop. I was screaming about the ball to Marco's back, and then the shove (though the line officials should have signaled something; the action was away from the ball and the ref). But his card to LD for the dive was spot on, and he protected the players. Called it straight-up both ways, despite what some trolls believe. Singing bass in church this morning; still had some voice left, so despite what my son said, I didn't scream TOO much last night. dadman
Yes he did. "iMac" ... heh I kinda like that. I agree that with iMac and Richie in midfield defense we were almost impossible to break down. I expect to see Prideaux start next game though. -Tron
I am happy. You know what bothers me? This. I am an amateur soccer player who has been hobbled by a career-threatening knee injury and I am woefully out of shape. I haven't trained much (except as a coach of a youth league team), yet I can still hit some powerful shots with both my left and my right foot. WHY THE HELL CAN'T PROFESSIONALS USE BOTH OF THEIR FEET? Marco, ITT, and Q2 all dallied in order to get the ball on their strong foot and allowed defenders to get in position when they had wide open shooting lanes for their weak side. Clear scoring opportunities don't come along that often, and at least once I would like to see Marco, ITT, or Q2 unload with a RIGHT footed shot. Sheesh! But we won! Yay!
Guys - I wore my mosquito emblazoned, "Bite Me" socks to the game last night. Clearly, I will need to wear them for all our remaining games.
Especially Q2. He does that spin move back towards his right side (so as to get the ball on his left foot), almost as much as Preki cuts back to his left every time. It's going to get real easy to defend, real fast.