Official DC United vs New England POST Match Thread [R]

In McKinley's place in the midfield.

 

I had to laugh at this one. Nelsen is a proven scorer? Not any more so than Pope, who has only scored what are arguably the three most important goals in DC United history (Inaugural MLS Cup winner, lone goal in CONCACAF final vs Toluca, tie-winner vs Vasco de Gama to win Interamerican Cup).

How did they not score tonight? Thankfully, I'm a Freedom supporter as well, so I 've got something to smile about at least, otherwise I'd need the group hug as well.

 

Don't know how they could hvae given Ralston an assist - McKinley headed his cross right to Heaps.

Etch had a pretty good game but quit around the 75-80 minute mark.

Frustrating all the way around for DC fans. Total domination without the finishing.

 

First off I must say I didn't see the game nor have I read this entire thread so I'm just going off topic for a second.

I've heard a number of you say that Perez played great today and I really have to wonder what your definition of great is. He was absolutely dreadful. He had nothing to do, as The Metrostars put absolutely no pressure whatsoever on him and when going forward he looked like a fish out of water. He is the absolutely worst crosser of the ball I have ever seen on the professional level. That said, Ziadie has been looking pretty decent since he was dealt. Not great but decent.

 

Did you notice he was wearing colored barettes?

 

It still amazes me that some people don't get that. Our aerial game consists of Nelsen, Pope, McKinley and occasionally Moreno. Albright and Conteh could get their heads on balls, but rarely scored (OK Conteh scored a few that way, but neither did what they could or should have).

All of our aerial threats are back liners, and rarely is more than 2 in the game at a time. We have ZERO target forwards. A guy like Eddie Johnson, Edson Buddle or Dante Wasington would really add a dimension to our team in those situations.

Unfortunately, I think most teams will bunker against us, get the counter/fluke goal and then bunker harder. This is not just this season, I mean next season also. When Moreno and Santino both are healthy and we can add Eliseo into that rotation, we'll be a much more dangerous team. Until then, we're mediocre with a good defense and an atrocious offense (because of our finishing).

-Tron

 

Did anyone else notice that on the corners Richie was getting up in the 6 yard box? I'll buy the explanations for Pope playing forward, but somebody tell me what the *%!@ Richie was doing up there on the corners?!? Was he supposed to distract Adin Brown by biting his ankles?

 

i don't know if this was mentioned, but i would just like to thank the good people working for mls/dcu/and revolution for webcasting this game and/or putting a match tracker anywhere on the web.

 

Depressing is right. We couldn't score in a brothel.

We did pretty well once the Revs got the first goal, but quite frankly we just aren't good enough to score, even against the worst defense in the league. Outside of that, we did well.

Someone mentioned Dante Washington...I would give up almost anyone on the team for him right now, simply because he has size and a nose for goal. He would be made to look amazing playing for us.

I never once felt like we were really about to score at all tonight. Ben Olsen was by far our most dangerous player, and he's been out for almost 2 years! Good lord.

Ratings:
Rimando-7 He had no chance on the deflected goal, and came up big later on.
Prideaux-7 Very calmly dealt with Twellman. Excellent play from him, showing that he's better in a back 3.
Nelsen-7 Another very strong display. If he stays around for another year or two, I would love to see him captain the team.
Reyes-7 Adapted very well to the left side. As was posted before, he and Convey had a good rapport.
Villegas-5.5 Good first half (including the destruction of Cloutier in the corner), but a far too quiet second half.
Williams-5.5 Gave the ball away more often than usual. Other than that, played his usual game.
McKinley-6 Played much better in a role where his speed deficiency was minimized. Should have looked to play longer balls over the defense more often.
Etcheverry-6 Did alright, but needed to have more influence. Seemed out of step with others a couple times.
Convey-7 Another good game for Bobbito. He's the one field player who's done reallly well recently.
Lassiter-4.5 Made his runs at the wrong time or to the wrong place. How is he chosen ahead of Curtis?
Quintanilla-6.5 Fairly impressive. You can tell he's got the quality. A better indication of his talent will be when he's paired with someone else with class up top.

Subs:
Olsen-7 Despite his lack of fitness, and some rusty moments, he was very dangerous. It was so good to see him back on the field.
Alegria-6 Pressured in midfield, and played some decent balls. Still not aggressive enough in his passing.
Pope-6.5 Didn't do too badly. He is probably a better striker at this point than Lassiter. Performed the job as well as he could have, considering the lack of service.

 

Crusader has it right. Hudson doesn't have a clue. No one should feel threatened by a central midfield composed of Marco, Williams, and McKinley. None of them is a threat to go forward, much less score. You can complain all you want about not finishing, but against DC it's just too easy to double or triple team the forwards because you know that no one will attack from the central midfield.

In the bigger picture, the current situation was predictable at the beginning of the season. DC had no reason to expect to do well. Too many aging, unfit, overpaid veterans and too many inexperienced, but promising players. Intelligent management would have installed a stable system and stuck with it and given yonger players as much chance to play as possible, regardless of the wins and losses.

Every minute McKinley has played has been wasted. Has DC won any more games this year because he has been in the game? Absolutely not. Give those minutes to younger players and you might not have won any more games, but, at the end of the season, the younger players would no longer be inexperienced. In the worst case, you would know that some of the kids will never make it. Best case, you would have filled some of the obvious gaps in the lineup.

If DC management had a brain, it would have fired Hudson the minute he started to bad mouth players in the press. No organization can be successful if its leader does not demonstrate loyalty to others and accepts some responsibility for the enterprise. The fact is that Hudson's understanding of soccer is also horrible, but you don't have to go there. Hudson's treatment of the players would doom any team.

 

News from behind the North Goal. There was another handball missed as well. Jay Heaps trapped a ball with his arm, in the penalty box......then proceeded to score.

Can we please stop the Ray bashing. This is not chicken we out there, it is chicken sh**. Therefore to expect chicken soup to be made from chicken sh** is unrealistic. Call it excuses if you want but this team has not been at full strength at any point this season. Do you people really want the "Floundering Dutchman" back? Bruce and Dave are not going anywhere right now so Ray is the current best option.

It must be tough to be able to fib, with a straight face, huh Jay??????? Settled with his body, true but at bit lacking in infomation.

 

Hal, I agree with much of what you said to a point. That point is----it doesn't matter how well you play if you can't finish any of your chances. This is soccer not figure skating. You decide the game on goals, not style points.

Your post reminded me of Marion Barry saying that DC would have had a low crime rate "if you didn't count the murders".

 

It's MLS and there braindead statasticians..

So far this season I have seen the following:

1) Twellman credited with a goal despite NEVER touching the ball as Dallas's Matt Jordan punched the ball into his own goal - the explanation given was that Twellman created the havoc that made Jordan punch it into his own net.. Funny that, the rest of the planet calls it an own goal...


2) Santino Quaranta credited with an assist on a Jaime Moreno goal when Tino's shot was parried away by Tim Howard to a wide open Moreno to tap into the net..

3) Numerous assists given for shots off of the crossbar and posts this season..


Please MLS, for the love of God, stop trying to "Americanize" this game we love...

 

He only has a left foot. In many cases, he should have either shot or dribbled with his right foot. The most glaring example was in the box when he could have taken a right footed shot or dribbled a little more on the right, but he elected to stop, shift the ball to his left and didn't even get the ball on goal. Granted he barely missed the mark.

What section were you sitting in last night? The Sallies near me were only cheering for Q2 and eventually started rooting for the Revs.

I agree. Hudson has run out of answers.

 

Yes. Yes, I did.

But I'm thinking they only looked like barettes and instead were colored pony-tail holders which is only moderately less weird.

I'm convinced that he lost a bet. There's no other explanation for that hair.


Amusing game until the last few minutes when it was clear we weren't going to score. Seeing Benny come back was the high point of the season for me.

 

I can't agree with all the negativity this time.

The United teams of 96-99 all occassionally had games where the ball just wouldn't go in the net, despite tons of golden chances.

This is the way I see this game:

United played well.

NE was crap and was gifted a goal on a terrible call.

DC created tons of chances and was robbed by the ref numerous times. Off the top of my head:

Golden chances:
1. Olsen breakaway. (wide)
2. Williams 1v1 (chested to keeper)
3. McKinley header (wide) - BEAUTIFUL cross from bobby, by the way.
4. Quintanilla wide open shot in the box (straight to Brown)

Add that to the half chances (mostly Lassiter's) and the 3, YES 3!, missed penalty calls (2 handballs and Villegas) and I don't know what more you can ask for in terms of quality buildup.

The finishing was off, but what the hell is anyone going to do about it? Just hope a new day brings better luck and that the team plays as well overall as they did today.

We're not going to suddenly find a Ruiz or Twellman...and yesterday's match just underscores the value of guys who finish half chances. Either of them would have had hat tricks playing for United last night.

 

Post game comments from Hudson and Quintinilla:

http://unitedmania.mlsfansites.com/story.php?news_ID=200759

 

Thanks Dyson.

I have little to add except we were pathetic. I was however most pleasantly surprised with the ES fans.

I think Webster should change the e.g of pathetic in their dictionary to DC United's 331 minute scoreless streak is pathetic.

 

Firecrackers from the Supporters

At the last two games that I have attended,
someone in the Screaming Eagles section has
set off firecrackers. What gives? and why isn't RFK security doing a more thorough job of checking fans coming into the games?

 

The new kid looked good, he will probably need a game or two to feel comfortable on the field. D.C. played well tonight just extremely unlucky. Well Rocket Roy had a good career, time to go. He looked terrible, give a young a guy a shot, or call up an A-League player and give him a shot. It was nice to see Olsen running around again, hopefully this is the beginning of his FULL recovery.

 

"Can you comment on Olsen and the reason for starting him in the 2nd half and not bringing him on as a sub later?
'We had to take Roy out – enough said.'"

Waivers, Roy. Waivers.

 

Re: Firecrackers from the Supporters

For The Record - It was in the BARRA BRAVA Section, NOT the Screaming Eagle section! I'm not aware of the SEs EVER setting off fireworks in their sections, Barra Brava has done it numerous times. Don't try to pin something on a supporters group if you don't know what the hell is going on.

Screaming Eagle Member #16

 

I agree with this. I am amazed that three years into this downward spiral, we haven't fully committed to a rebuilding process. The thing with playing or not playing someone like Mckinley is, who do you play if you don't play him? There are not good, young prospects on the roster to take his place. Even a team as relatively weak as Columbus has players like Cunningham, Buddle, and Martino coming in off the bench. I am not sure who deserves the most blame for the current situation, perhaps the General Manager.