Official DC United vs Metrostars POST game thread (R) No flames.. No Trolls..... Halftime so far and it's 1-0 to the bad guys.. This is easily the worst 45 minutes United has played all season.. Etcheverry was horrendous.. Tino' was horrendous.. Not good at all.. Let's hope and pray that we get better the 2nd half, but it don't look good so far....
listened to the radio for the last 30 mins.....sounds like United was relentlessly attacking but could not put something in......I say start Hristo Stoitchkov at forward next game...Sit down Quaranta since he's still a young guy.
Depressing! There seemed to be more spark from Convey in the 2nd half, But again, United can't seem to finish. I am bummin'! Mark
Eddie actually slapped Hristo! Sadly, I missed what Hristo did to deserve it. Did anyone see what happened? I'm really glad I didn't schlep up there for that abomination.
Full time.... 1-0 Metrostars... Terrible effort by United.. Tab Ramos (who was doing the color for MSG) wrapped it up nice and neat on his thoughts for United.. "This team simply does not move forward well".. Their runs are fractured and off balanced and there simply is no sense of urgency to push the ball upfield at any point during the match.. Every second touch for United went backwards to a teamate and please don't get me started on why Ben Olsen simply does not want to take any players off the dribble to move upfield.. Thank God for Quaranta in the second half otherwise we would have all 10 field players nonchalantly walking the ball upfield.. I know I have been preaching patience for this team to gel but after watching tonight's gutless performance, I'm not so sure what the problem is.. Is it too much kowtowing to Marco? Is it there rather apparent lack of size througout midfield and up top? I don't have any answers right now.. Last week it was a lack of finishing.. This week it was a lack of creating chances.. Who knows what next week will hold.. My guess is that they blow out Tottenham on Wednesday and turn around and pitch another scoreless draw on Saturday... Player ratings: Rimando (6) - nothing he could do on the Mathis goal.. Came out well to gather crosses... Prideaux (5) - shaky effort for him.. Lot of bad passes out of the back.. Nelsen (6) - steady as usual Petke (4) - caught flatfooted on Mathis's goal and didn't track him at all on the play.. Alegria (4) - not a great game.. Guevarra had all day on the ball... Etcheverry (2) - his worst game in years, and that is saying a lot.. First 3 free kicks went directly to the other team without a United player in sight.. He needs to take a break... Convey (3) - really struggled with the surface tonight.. The ball was constantly caught up in his feet and he was rather reckless on a few challenges as well... Olsen (5) - played well defensively but continues to hesitate moving forward and that is helping the collective offensive rush die... Quaranta (5) - terrible first half but played much better once he played up top.. You guys still want him to play left sided midfield after that putrid display in the first half? I sure as hell don't want him to... Stewart (3) - game 5 Earnie.. We need you to show up some time during this season to help us out... Eskandarian (5) - not much to see but then again he was victim to non-existent service in the first half.. Took two good chances on goal then got subbed out... Stoichkov (4) - perhaps he's not the saviour we thought he was before the season started. Nothing from him at all... Namoff (NR) - came on late Curtis (NR) - came on late
Man, we suck. This is going to be another loooong season. Any nominations for our next coach? I don't see Hudson making it through the season at this rate.
I didn't see the game, but it sounded a lot like our only chances seemed to come through Convey. Eskandarian was criticized by the announcer for taking shots when there were good passing opportunities, but really, we've proven we can blow good scoring opportunities, so if you get an open shot in the center of the field 25 yards or less from goal, you gotta shoot it. Kudos to Esky for taking some shots! Explain to me again how the Miami Fusion scored with Serna (out of the league) and Chacon (riding the pine in LA)? Weren't those two competing for the league lead in goals? So ... what's missing? Oh yeah, Preki, nevermind. Seriously though, we need to practice one time shooting. Our finishing is horrendous, once again it's the worst in the league. When Rongen was here we had no problem scoring, even when it was Albright and Conteh paired up top. I'm quite certain that we have better talent now than those two, so what is being done that doesn't get the finishing out of our guys? At this point, we need to look at the coaching technique. Our defense is wonderful, our possession good (generally) and we're creating chances. Do we practice enough finishing? -Digital
That's a tough way to lose a game The major difference in the game was passing accuracy. We just could not make accurate passes-which could have resulted in goals. Guevera made a fabulous pass to Mathis-that was the difference in the game. A minor problem was communication. We just aren't telegraphing our plays to each other well enough But again in the end it was just that ONE accurate pass that they could make and we coudln't make that was the difference We're in serious trouble. Look at the standings. We're already 7 points behind the Metros, 8 behind Columbus, 4 behind New England, 2 behind Chicago w/Chicago having a game in hand and their game hasn't finished yet-tied at 0 at the half AGAIN-THAT'S WHY THOSE HOME GAMES AGAINST CHICAGO AND DALLAS WERE MUST WINS!!!!!!!!!!
With all due respect Time to panic. We can't get a goal. The 'Tards were in our face the entire first half. We played better in the second half, but who cares? Ray said this team will go where Etch takes us. We're 0-2-3. We've been in this neighborhood for the last three years. Draw your own conclusions.
Yeah, I don't even know who there is to be a coach when Ray gets the axe. I think he'll last the season, actually.
Eskadarian DID need to pass when he chose to shoot. He blew an open sdhot for Stewart. He had a poor game. But then, so did most of DCU. (Rimando played well, though.) Etch is wasting too much time and too much space, Here's hoping he gets the surgery before the KC match. Quaranta worked really hard. Unfortunately, mostly tracking back on defense. We're not going to win too many games that way. Oh well. I'd like to see a goal. Anyone else?
Ya know, when everyone was calling for Rongen's head, I said wait another season and we'll have either Arena or Sarachan. We didn't, and our two local coaches, both of which love United and live in VA, are doing splendidly. In retrospect, it would have been Sarachan ... but he sure seems to be doing well with the deconstructed Fire. We must get better service on corner kicks, and we need to get set plays so that we score on some of these corners we so often generate. And put Convey in the middle to run the show, he's the only one pushing the ball up before the opposing defenses get set. This is a mockery. Our defenders are doing yeoman's work, but without an orchestrated attack and at least marginal finishing, we're just wasting our time. -Digital
Coach If the Bruce had left a year earlier, we might have had Bradley as our coach. No Rongen years. Just a thought.
Random thoughts... At least we can't be accused of not finishing our chances... I don't need to finish that thought for anyone. Quaranta: Showed a lot of good stuff. Fought successfully for the ball, made dangerous runs...but...unfortunately, the phrase often heard in youth soccer came to mind: "Good thought." But he will only get better. He sees where to send the dangerous ball, he just doesn't consistently deliver. But that can be learned. The understanding is there...hard to teach, if even teachable. So he'll just get better and better. The whole team: Guys, (and, sadly, this includes Etch) when the long ball works in England its because they have the skills to deliver it on target. We don't have those skills. How about trying to move the ball forward more often using possession? Stewart: How come when he shows for the ball he doesn't get it. I saw at least four runs forward where he got no service. Now, of course, I wasn't on the field so didn't see what the player with the ball saw, but even so, looks like a sad pattern to me. Prideaux: I really like him. He's just a very, very solid citizen. Of course, I say this not knowing where he was when Mathis broke behind our defense. Mathis: What a superb passing ability. A joy to watch. Now I do also realize that at exactly the same time I was thinking this during the game he delivered a stinker...but nonetheless, nicely done Clint. MetroStars: They seem to be pulling it together. We don't. They have Bradley. We don't. Pope: I hurt deeply every time I see him in those ugly black and red stripes. How can he not still be with United? Sigh. Maybe Freedom could loan United some goals. They got four today, only needed two.
I heard the game on radio america and man did they critize DC united. First on their target was Hudson for choosing a bad lineup. Second they critized Convey for not being effective. Lastly, Ethcevvery. SAdly, I don't think that another coach will change united I think the problem is internal. I think we need to go outside and buy a creative midfielder from europe or anywhere else b/c right now we have no creative midfielder!
Part of the problem is developing an attack after a stop by our defense, who have been excellent. Maybe getting Ivanov back there and moving soemone (Nelsen?) up will generate a stronger attack, one that can use the legs of Quaranta, Stewart and Convey rather than always looking for Etcheverry.
I know we've been down this road many times, but it really is true: we cannot continue to route every single move upfield through Etcheverry. He doesn't have the legs for it anymore, and it slows down our attack to a crawl. I've honestly seen better midfield speed from some over-35 teams. It's long past time to hand the wheel over to Convey; we certainly can't do any worse.