If they did give you points for that, it wouldn't even be funny how much we'd blow teams out by. C'mon, 5 passes = 1 point right? 10? 20? We'd STILL win. What about missed diving headers, what do we get for those? Ivan I know you know.
A couple of things: * I'm in for the group cry. Good lord, that was depressing. * Ben Olsen hasn't played in 2 years and was the most dangerous thing on the field for United. That about sums things up. * Quintinilla was excellent, but is it too much to ask for to sign one forward that has some size? * Gazza in, Ivan out. That's a trade I'm willing to make right now. * At least Ritchie shot the ball, something only a couple of others seemed capable of. * What was up with Villegas' f-ing pigtails? I thought nothing could look worse than the corn row mullet he had, but WOW was I wrong. * Ali Curtis -- you were fifth choice tonight behind 1) an ageing has-been who was subbed at halftime, 2) a 19-year-old who had never worn a United uniform before, 3) a guy who could only go 25 minutes after 3 ankle surgeries and 4) an out-of-position defender. Oh, and United's best forward wasn't available because of injury. Yeah, you're going to see a LOT of time the rest of the season. * If you don't have a place to sit, come to La Norte. It's always entertaining. That's enough. In two weeks the starting lineup will be: Reyes-----Pope------Nelsen Gazza -------- ABMOD Olsen------ Etch-------Convey Moreno-------Q2 Maybe then they'll be able to make a push for the playoffs.
geordie, I agree with everything you say here, especially Petter's hair. La Norte was a lot of fun tonight it was nice meeting you. Oh, and don't think we're bad because Olsen was our best player. He was the best player on the field tonight when he was out there, bar none.
Ray, Ray, Ray. Have you ever seen a team in dead last with so many sacred cows: Etchevery, McKinley, Williams, Convey. Also, how about is 10th different system in as many games. Stay with a system and train it every week and you just may have a chance. The Revs have sucked but since Nicol has taken over it is a 4-4-2 with a flat back line, and a consistent system.. Certainly they have given goals and lost games but with Llamosa in the center of the backline they are 4-4. Without him 3-8. They have a chance late in the season when healthy because they ar beginning to understand the system. Certainly they gave up chances today and could have been destroyed, but when you are playing us, a team that can't score, force them to finish chances from long range (other than Olsen, and McKinley), sit in and defend, and counter. Yeah, Convey did ok today, no complaints but, he doesn't finish. McKinley, Etch, and Williams are the #1, #2, and #3 reason this team is in the position they are in. Regardless if everyone is healthy. Whatever system we play, Etch goes wherever the hell he pleases and does no, I repeat no defending, Williams sits in and does nothing in attack (what are the records of the teams he has played on in the past 3 years.), he does nothing, repeat nothing in attack. It's like playing 5 against 4 in basketball. McKinley is criminal with his positional defending or willingness to help in the backline. When both of them actually got a chance today they failed miserabley. Pope up top just shows that RH completely is pissing in the wind. With that move you pretty much said that Namoff, Alavanja, and Curtis should be cut tomorrow, even Chino although he came in it was as a defensive MF to help spray balls around. Instead of bringing one of those guys in particular Namoff or Curtis, guys with some athleticism, when down a goal for an awful Villegas, and moving Convey up top or putting Curtis there, you are saying you have no idea what to. I guarantee you he lost his team today with many. For those that will challenge that we couldn't score anyway so what is the harm in bringing Pope in up top for a cross or a restart in the air, then you might as well do that from the opening whistle. It is unfathomable that McKinley, Villegas, Williams, and Etchevery are on the field for a combined 330/360 minutes. Anybody see the Fire game on ESPN2 today. Perez was excellent in a 3-0 win. Perez has had 3 practices with the Fire and he looked comfortable, controlled the left side and attacked at will. RH and Kasper couldn't develop a player if it fell in their lap. Can you imagine a Midfield with Etch, Gaza and Williams. It would be like a 3v1 keep away session for teams. RH is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The ship is going down, and he is as much to blame as anybody and refuses to be held accountable. Can't wait to here who he blames today. I'm sure we will get the proverbial' "the lads played their f----- hearts out. I couldn't be more proud, we just couldn't finish our chances." yada, yada, yada.
The despair has not been lifted but at least they seemed to being giving an honest effort. Q2 looked good. It will be interesting to see him with a real forward partner (meaning not Lassiter). Olsen was inspired but fizzled out as expected. Had several nice chances in his first fifteen minutes and changed the dynamics of the game (whatever that means). Can't wait to see him when he is in shape. Convey played an excellent game again. Made several dashes up the sideline early in the game when Reyes got the ball, but it was always played to the middle. He stopped making that run. Later got service from the middle and made numerous good crosses. The others played as expected for good or bad. I don't know what rulebook the referee was using but there was reason to question an offside (when a goal was scored), a pull down in the area, and at least two hand balls. I will leave it to others to say if those were blown calls. What was with the arm waving and shouting between Williams and Etch. in the second half? What the f*** was Ray doing by putting Pope in at forward? Were Curtis and Ludwig sick, injured or in a coma? I know he wanted to play to his head (I think there was one oppurtunity) but the ball was at his feet numerous times and he had no clue what to do. If nothing else, he could have put him in the back and brought up Nelson, a proven goal scorer.
Eddie Pope was and is a better forward than Ali Curtis and Dennis Ludwig. I think Ray was also using him to get the crowd into it after Benny had run out of gas.
If both Ben and Eddie could play why not start them both, go for the lead and then worry about defending it? If we're desperate enough about our season to put Eddie in at forward in a one-goal game, the game is important enough not to wait until we are losing to put them in.
If what you say is true, that is pathetic. I wonder what Pele is doing now? We sure could use him up top, now. Winoman
We all know him being better than Ludwig is true. Pope vs. Curtis is intruiging up front, but for the dynamic of the game, needing a big, experienced target in there to win balls for Quintanilla, I agree with the sub.
I can't believe how we're not scoring. We totally dominate and get nothing at all. Perhaps it's a consequence of not scoring first. A team gets one up on us, and they pack the box in tight against us. And with our fancy-Dan (hockey term I learned from Sid Abel in Detroit) style of play, passing where a shot would do, we walk right into their defense. Positives were Ben and Bobby, definitely. Ryan also played well, and Richie wasn't too bad. As for Etch -- when was the last time United scored off of one of his corners? There are still too many pointless passes happening. As for the Revs, Twellman is pretty good, but they have -- and showed -- little else.
Let me try and explain why this seems to happen so much (not shooting right away).. At this level of play, the space afforded a player alone in the box is shut down almost immediately.. I'm not saying that the shot isn't there for the taking, it's just that these players are so fit and aware of the surroundings that they do just about anything to block a shot.. Ask Carlos Llamosa about the 3 or 4 shots he blocked tonight in just these types of situations,.. In most cases, from the stands, it appears to be a wide open shot at goal, where in reality, there is probably already a player in between the shooter and the goal.. Any player with a wide open shot will obviously take the shot.. I just don't think some us fans consider what is going on out there.. This isn't Rec League where the shots are a dime a dozen, this is the top flight...
I'll try and explain this tactic to the neophites as well.. I agreed 100% with the Pope move.. Let's review the facts.. 1) NE was in a full fledged bunker mode, which if the USA vs Germany game tells you anything, speed at the forward position when playing against a bunkered defense is almost useless in that there is no dead space to run through, not to mention the shortened field with all the United field players inside the half way line 2) Ben Olsen was out of gas.. Understandable considering he hadn't played a game in over 18 months.. 3) There was simply no better option available on the bench who could get their noggin on a ball thru a set play or a corner or a long downfield kick, which does happen quite often in desperate times against a bunker defense.. If you are going to sit there and tell me that Namoff or Curtis is a better option considering what United was up against, well then you are much more learned at the tactics of bunker breaking than I have seen in my 34 years of existence.. It's one thing if Pope comes on with 30 minutes left, he came on with 10 minutes to go and United desperately pressing forward...
Good lord, how did we lose to that crap team? Forget the road losing, forget the injuries - this is rock bottom. We give up a goal to JAY FREAKIN HEAPS. We can't beat Adin Brown and his Ducttaped Knees of Doom. We can't create room to shoot, and when we do the ball's heading far over the bar anyway. Yeah, it was good to see Olsen and Pope, but dammit, this is getting really hard to stomach. RS
No breaks at all for us tonight. NE gets one lucky break and scores a goal. And we get no lucky breaks at all. As much as I don't like McKinley on defense I thought he played pretty well in that d-mid slot. How about getting rid of Richie? He goes backwards almost every single time. I like a good back pass as much as anyone, but he's just soooo predictable. Q2 looks like Mini Moreno. Looked great in the first half but disappeared for most of the second. It was nice to see Olsen back, but the rust was evident. He completely blew that golden chance by squibbing it off the outside of his foot instead of an easy instep finish. He was trying too many cutesy little backheely things too. He should concentrate on keeping it a little more simple for now. No arguing with the effort the boys put out tonight. Convey was working very hard and Etch clearly wanted it tonight. Nelsen is a total stud, and frankly I feel much better having him back there than Pope right now. The Pope to forward move was a bit of desperation, but why not? The team is desperate! He's a big guy, putting Curtis in just adds yet another midget. It's a shame Eddie doesn't have much of a shooting mentaility with the ball at his feet though. I agree we should have gotten at least one of those handball calls. But the Villegas thing was just him falling down, the replay seemed to show that pretty clearly. Lassiter is a complete waste of roster space. Waive him now and put him out of our misery. I'd say a playoff berth is not too likely at this point. At least tonight's game was entertaining and the crowd was really into it.
I, too, would like to take part in this group hug. If we could just put some decent forwards up top consistently then we wouldn't be stuck in the nether regions of the mythical MLS single table. The defense and midfield look good but then it gets into the blackhole up top and it's a lost cause. Hopefully Q2 can build on the solid outing that he had today and start banging them in for us b/c god forbid someone else should. P.S--What's with all the Bobby-hate? He's not going to notch 10+ goals a year so don't dwell on his lack of finishing. Hell he may be one of our best finishers. He gets balls into dangerous situations really well and it's not his fault that Rocket Roy and the others in our dangerous arsenal of strikers find new and exciting ways to ************ them up every game.
Cweedchop, Thanks for responding to crusader, I was about to write up a similar response. Although Ray's move was a little unorthodox, it certainly made sence given the tactical situation and the fact that he doesn't have a big targetman type of forward. DC sqandared so MANY chances in the game. It just shows how little depth we have at forward after Moreno and Q1. The good news is Ben Olsen is back and Q2 seems to be a pretty good although its way too early to see if he's really an impact player. I think United's game tonight probably increased the chances Gazza will be a United player by the middle of next week. After a performance like that Ray will be more willing to take a chance, and the large crowd and atmosphere will sweeten the choice for Gazza.
I bet Lassiter is waived on Monday. Hudson has no confidence in him or Curtis... there is simply no point in having either on the roster. When I saw the official hold up the sign with "27" on it at the start of the second half, I expected to see the initials OTC displayed next to it. Instead, it was Benny... and with our other lack of options, he might as well keep playing striker for the foreseeable future. Hudson is quoted in the Post tomorrow as saying that the team may have to pass on Gazza because of its obvious needs at forward. Roy Lassiter and Ali Curtis... thanks for the memories.
Yellow Card to all the whining posters who overcriticized United's performance tonight. This was the best soccer they have played all season, period! To those who were glad they stayed home and missed it, and then gloated about missing the game, stay away and go support another team. You missed a whale of a game that United totally dominated with fast paced and attractive football. Multiple props to Coach Hudson: 1st, for playing a back 3 with Reyes on the left to shut down Ralston, and with McKinley and Williams as d-mids in a 3-5-2. With this formation we controlled the midfield. 2nd, for putting Benny in to start the second half in place of Roy. Added lots of energy to the team and many give and go chances. 3rd, for often having 5-6 players crashing the net and pushing into the penalty area trying to create a goal. New England was on their heels the entire night. 4th, for subbing Eddie for Benny at the 77th min and having Eddie play a target forward. He showed quite a bit of skill with the ball at his feet, made some nice diagonal runs. New England was very confused. Too bad we couldn't get the ball to his head for distribution enough, but a great sub. Villegas was the first to excite the stadium with a long range rocket about the 19th min (after we were already behind on the deflection goal by Heaps). Brown tipped it just wide for a corner, but it was a laser. Props to the El Salvadoran fans who were vocal and supportive of the entire team. The new Salvadoran teenager is for real. DC has a find. I was marveling at the attractive and pressuring football we were playing without Moreno, Quaranta, Olsen until the second half, and Pope until the 90th minute. With everyone healthy, we'd have the excellence in depth that we had the first few years at DC United. I would think Gazza was suitably impressed at what he saw. I'm not sure where he'd even fit in. But I'd like that problem. Our soccer flowed up both sides, nice triangles all over the field, Williams and McKinley helped funnel the ball forward through the center frequently as well. Yes, Ritchie made a few poor passes, but overall, he played well. Too bad his chest trap was a little strong when he was through 1V1 on the keeper. I know Ralston got the assist on their goal, but he was basically a non-factor all evening except on a couple of plays. Unlike those posters who couldn't find enough to like about tonight, I'll give them the score, but there was tons to like about our game tonight. We fought for and won most of the 50-50 balls; we closed down and pressured them into making many, many mistakes. Well done, DC United. I'm looking forward to squeaking into the play-offs and then making a statement.
BENNIE'S BACK, a little rusty, but he's back DC was only seemed really dangerous while Bennie was in Heaps goal was BS!!!! the ball went off his hip, he swung his arm forward (about 2 feet from his body)hitting with the inside of his arm, then he shot. poor Nicky never had a chance with the deflection. I guess the &*((*&^ in yellow thought it was incidental contact. Also Kudos to Stephen Zack...before the game security was giving us crap about sitting down when the game started...we informed him and he informed our little security friends to let us stand and also pointed out to not mess with SE or BB. Afterwards he said if they give us any crap about that stuff to let him or his staff know and they will take care of it. I'm in on the group hug, it think my wife may be too PO'd at this point.