I'm glad we probably won't have to play many away playoffs games. We'll probably win our two last home games but the last two away (at Colorado and Houston) are very tough. I still think we win the West thanks to LAFC and RSL slowing down a little bit, but man our performances on the road have dipped so much since July.
I was able to watch the first half live during my meal break at work, and then thanks to you lovely lot I saved myself the time and anguish of watching the second half at home later tonight. Our defense is alarmingly porous for such lofty ambitions. Usually when you give up two goals in a half (let alone 4 for the game!), you drop points. That has to stop immediately. The rest of the results around the league take the sting off the loss a bit, but that doesn't change what MUST improve this offseason. Brugman is a shell of what he was before the knee injuries/surgery. If we can find him a nice place to play next year he must be jettisoned. We need a new stud max TAM level starting caliber CB. Yoshida is smart and savvy but for his salary we can do better and younger (this applies to Caceres too). As good of a story as Neal's rise to the first team is, he does not have the top end potential of Garces, nor is he as good in the air or athletic as Garces. Garces must be our top young CB moving forward. Way too early to get the offseason moves topic started, but man our defense is suspect. Hopefully we can flush this performance and bring it this weekend, we CANNOT drop points to Vancouver....
I just don't understand why we don't play compact on the road - a point was all we needed here, but we give up 4 goals. Is Vanney really coach of the year contender? We aren't going to win in the playoffs with this defense, maybe we are just that naive.
^^^This Right Here!! I Couldn't Agree More!!!^^^ Yoshida and Caceres need to be put out to pasture. I salute them for helping the youngsters in the same way Greg Berhalter did for us during his time, but we need young national team level talent in the back line at Center Back. I am not ready to throw Neal out. However Garces proved he is ready to start over Yoshida. We need to have him and Neal as our starting CB pair. We are going to keep going into games fighting handicapped otherwise. Also Brugman has really not been the same since that surgery. He has been mediocre ever since. Delgado is still good but he was never better than Brugman before the injury. Now he outshines him with ease. Cerillo is officially our best DMid and it's no longer even close in comparison. Brugman and Delgado should both be on the trading block as far as I am concerned this offseason. Our left and right back spots are both fine for now. That is so long as Aude comes back at the same level he left at of course. That being said our starting Defensive Midfielder and Back Line for the rest of the season needs to be as follows,... -------------------Cerillo Nelson---Garces---Neal---Yamane -----------------McCarthy Place our best attackers in front of that and we might not get eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and get a clean sheet again for the first time in a long time. (Only 5 clean sheets all year!)
Unfortunately, I think we need to loan Brugman down to give him competitive minutes where the stakes are lower. Could he come back, maybe, but he's so rusty I wouldn't even put vinegar on his salad. Yea Vanney needs to be told Garces needs to start over Maya. Maya has made far too many mistakes and lost too many duels lately to be considered a starter anymore.
Vanney should have rotated Yoshida. Have to recognize his age and understand he can't go mid week. Oh well...
Highlight Time Folks Paintsil Speaks McCarthy Speaks Vanny Postgame The facepalm at the start says it all about this game. Ugh on to the next fight.