To be fair to Jose, he got the shit knocked out of him from pretty much minute one. The derby is always rough & tumble, this one particularly so. Hard not to start him based on form, but I’d have preferred to see McBean out there from the start. The boy is big he’s not so easily knocked off the ball. Anyone notice the Chivas player who smacked Jackie-boy in the face after he scored the goal? I’ve been a fan of Jack since day one. Don’t know why, I’ve just always been impressed when he’s played. I think someone else here said it already, but he’s got a Pat Noonan vibe about him. He’s not fast, he’s not flashy, he just scores goals.
Let's be honest guys, we didn't even come close to earning 3 points yesterday. What an ugly performance by our team. We couldn't string passes together even when there were no concerns with the Chivas defense. Dumb decisions were being made all over the field. Early in the match it seemed like we were trying to avoid passing the ball to Keane who would drop unmarked into a deep position. Seems to me you should pass the ball to your best player. All over the field the performances were subpar. In particular Villareal looked his age, Clarke looked like he didn't know how to have any impact, Magee was less then his normal self, AJ fell asleep on the goal, Dunivent was not influential, Leonardo would try and carry the ball up the left side. He's about the last guy that I think should be trying to create out of the back. Just ugly. It's ok. It's early and I think we'll learn from this experience. I also want to give Chivas credit. They played with a fire that they haven't played with in a long time. Yes, their strategy was to hack and muck things up but I think that is 100% a viable strategy in soccer and I respect the way they did it. They also overcame what can only be called a BS red card. I'm still a little confused, was that a straight red card? I recall the ref flashing the yellow and the red but then I've read it was a straight red. That's the harshest straight red I can ever recall. So, fair result. I like what the Chivas coach is doing with that team. Us vs. the world. That's a reasonable approach with what he's got going on over there.
Anyone else say repeatedly throughout the enitre game..."I hope none of our players get injured." Tie felt like a loss, but Chelis must feel like Chivas lost the game since his gameplan seemed to be to injure as many Galaxy players as possible. Thank God all of our players were able to walk off the field! I'll take the tie and no injuries...and I am sure the next two times we play them we give them a proper beatdown.
I disagree. It's a flagrant disregard for the rules. A strong referee would have thrown out multiple yellows early and left that "strategy" dead in the water. As for the sending-off, it was two yellows. The ref flashed a yellow, the player already had a yellow and the PA announced it as a second yellow card, resulting in a red. It was harsh in isolation, but it was a decision based on cumulative incidents. As I said above though, if the ref gets on those fouls early, he probably doesn't have to make such a major decision to assert his authority.
I agree we didn't deserve to win, but with the above, really?? You are fine watching that every week? You didn't have any problem with all the times they tackled through the back of a player? If so, OK, but they are going to seriously injure some players this year, and there are going to be some fights and a lot of cards. "We can't beat you, so we're going to beat you up" may be a viable strategy if the refs allow it, and they may get away with it, but I sure as heck am not going to respect it.
With regards to physicallity as a strategy... there's a fine line. It is definitely valid, and we have used it (particularly in Bruce's first full year as coach). However, it's the job of the referee to punish teams that abuse that strategy. The league may have to crack down on Chivas with post-match discipline if this keeps up. Like I said... there's a fine line between using physicality to tactically limit your opponents and creating a dangerous environment.
Chivas guy was sent off for a very good reason. It was a very eh foul but he had about 100 leading up to it and the ref was just looking for a reason. Half of the other Chivas players deserved red.
I wasn't talking about fouls, so read my post carefully before you comment. I was talking about keeping our team strong and attacking when we were clearly against a team that was more concerned about fouling that scoring. Becks always kept his positioning and the team aware. You know damn well he would've been aware of what could happen after our late goal and might have organized the back line better
That is what I saw too. However, I think the ref messed up and that player didn't have a prior yellow and then Salazar, being weak as he is, decided to pretend in the post match it was a straight red. That's why he wrote the ref justification after the match you can find at the blog site. Here are the match stats: http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2013-03-17-LA-v-CHV/stats No prior yellow for the Chivas player.
Exactly. It does you no good to be thuggish and end the game with 8 players. You will lose. You have to walk a fine line. If I'm Chivas and I barely even know my squad and I'm up against my city rival who is defending champions and has owned me for the past... forever, your damn straight I'm going to play a strategy that mucks things up, intimidates the other team and walks the line. Like it or not, it's a mans game sometimes.
They had the inferior hand heading into the match and they pulled out a draw. Our ineptitude was in many ways directly related to their tactics. I respect that.
Can you elaborate? I was at the game and if they announced something I missed it while chasing my 3 year old who thinks he is batman around the concourse.
On the broadcast, they said he got the wrong card. Pulled out yellow when he meant red, then corrected. Seems weird to me, but whatever.
To me, that's like saying you respect someone who drives drunk but didn't get caught because they made it to their desired destination safely. Obviously, that's hyperbole and I'm exaggerating to make the point, but it's the same principle. They are now up to what, 60 fouls in 3 games? Does anyone know what the MLS record for average fouls per game? They're going to have a run at it this year. I guess it depends on whether you think it's "all in the game" or if you think that the ref should have been throwing cards like a blackjack dealer from minute two. Personally, I think you enforce the rules, protect the players, keep the game flowing, and I hope the ref at the next Chivas game does a better job and shuts that crap down early.
he had 8 fouls prior if i remember from the announcer. other chivas players deserved the red more but whatever we drew and lets move on game pisses me off
He started to pull out the yellow, then Don Garber spoke into his ear-piece and told him he was pulling out the wrong card, and he quickly corrected it to the red....
Eventually you hope their rep will get the better of them and refs will be handing out cards like empty seats at their games
Robbie had the same mistakes he always has, the man needs to f*ing SHOOT! I don't care if he has 20 goals a game, they could be 40 if he just shot more often and didn't try to dribble everyone like he's freaking MEssi! I saw 5 open shots he had inside the box against Shitvas but instead he got the best of himself, wtf
I think we can all agree that we better get this out of our system in the next couple weeks or Monterrey will destroy us...
Robbie think's he's Lionel, Juni thinks he's David. This "epic footballer cosplay" is bothering me somewhat.