Half empty or half full? Pessimist or optimist? Yin or yang? For almost every positive thing you can say regarding our Wizards, there seems to be a direct opposite. With 15% of the season played, you can assemble a good arguement for almost any outcome for the KC 2003 season except maybe missing the playoffs entirely. For instance: *Only one loss but, have dropped more points (7) than they have earned (5) *KC has one of the 3 total home wins in MLS so far but, they have dropped 5 home points already. *Second place in the West earns the coveted home advantage in the first round of the BS playoff format, but, 3rd place LA has 15 home dates left. *Scored first in all 4 games - all in the first half but, have blown all 4 leads *Have shown an ability to raise the level of play significantly, but have shown the reverse just as often. *Leading MLS in goals...(by 2!), assists, finishing %age (S/G), and SOG finishing %age (SOG/G) but, Last in MLS in conceeding goals...by 3! *KC are second best in MLS in blocks and fouls suffered but, are second fewest in fouls committed. How can you play with the required aggression and dominance if you are not physical in your own house? It's a reach, but I think this stat is a small indicator of something like toughness. At the very least it's a negative intangible of sorts - {I need an editor to clean up this paragraph}. *Preki is leading MLS in scoring - 2003 and career but, Preki is KC's leading scorer. Where's Klein? *Increased attendance numbers so far but, the two concerts drew only about 16k each *Entertaining games at home will help attendance (14 goals in 3 games - wow! but In 3 home games the opposition has netted as many as KC - yikes! *0 ejections but, who's KC's enforcer type? Where's a McKeon attitude? *Conrad has the longest active assists streak in MLS (2 - better than Donovan's as JC's is still active) but, Conrad is a defender! *Along these lines might be Garcia's play. He has been burned several times already including Cunny's pocket pick last game. Could some of this be a reflection of Conrad's ventures forward? It only takes a grain of uncertainty to lead to the chain of events causing things like that. *Burciaga was doing some good thingsbut, he will not be doing them for a while with the injury. Get well soon Jose. *Brunt is fast, but, Brunt is Brunt *Meola is #3 in saves - (I'm considering this a positive) but, his save %age isn't even in the top 10! There are only 10 teams! *LA is 0-1-3 but, SJ is 3-0-1 and LA has 15 home dates left *KC has played league leaders SJ and CLB already but, 12 remaining games are against DAL, COL, and, LA. These are "struggling" teams very likely to be playing better when they hook up with KC. *2.3 GF average at home but, 2.3 GA average at home, ouch. *Only MLS team with an OT winner but, NO WINS IN REGULATION! *Leads MLS in post 60th min. scoring (not bad for "old" guys and a "bunker team") but, has conceeded more second half goals (6) as any other team has conceeded overall (5)! Aside: Anyone who still refers to KC as a "bunker team" is clearly in need of psychological screening and corresponding medications. You were dead *ss wrong a year ago and you are still dead *ss wrong now. They have not been an attacking side for some time. It's only now that the chances are going in.but, please do feel free to refer to KC as a "sieve". *An unreal 42% of KS SsOG have scored, MLS avg is 20% but, in an unusual paradox, KC is well below average in actually getting their shots on frame - 35%. Only CHI is worse and Razov has yet to play, so no wonder. MLS avg - 44%: Simply said, when KC gets it on frame they score. They just suck at getting the ball on frame. If I'm a coach, I don't think I touch it for fear of the goals going away. *KC scoring more than 1 in every 7 shots of any kind but, KC has allowed 1 in every 7 shots of any kind to score *Only team to earn a point form SJ so far but, it's early and there are 14 road games ahead. Being a negitive pr1ck does noone any good. So, think good thoughts about Brunt, Zags, and Brownie, pray that Mulqueen can figure out how to help Tony correct his hesitancies, and hope that Dallas continues to be scoreless at home. GO BLUE GUYS!
Wow, there are a lot of facts to digest all at once. The bottom line as I see is that we have to quit giving up leads. Three games in a row of giving up the lead = bad.
Especially when both of their goals came from balls we gave to them. Garcia allowed Cunningham to rob him in his own box and then Gomez gave the ball away that led to Cunningham's break and Meola's poor clearance on the other goal.
Yeah, I think a couple points that Dave made that stand out are: -We dont commit fouls. No, I dont want to be the hack team of the West, but you've got to enforce your power upon your opponent. If you never hack someone down, they arent going to worry about getting hacked down on the next 50/50 ball. -Leading in scoring and leading in conceeded goals. All this means is we play exciting games and our fans (and players) go through emotional rollercoasters game to game. NOT the way to win championships. -Dropping points at home. I dont care if only three games have been won at home so far this season in MLS. You must start winning at home. Its one thing if you're an inferior team and you lose at home, its a whole different ballgame when you get leads and drop them at home. All of these were good points, but we're not even a quarter of the way done. I think at the end of June these numbers will mean more, and hopefully will have changed for the better.
RESPECT MY AUTHORITAAY!!!! The defense has all the right players (I'm glad to see Kerry getting more time) but lacks the organization and structure that Peter Vermes brought to the team. I think these early season growing pains on defense are a direct reflection of this missing leadership figure. We've still got Garcia for fouls but he should also be leading and setting the tone of the D. This may take some time.
This Zotinca guy better get here fast with Burciaga more than likely out any defender than Brunt is needed. Garcia and Klein might miss the game on Saturday, but who knows. Houston and Dallas are in the same state, and neither will play the full 90, so they might be ready for the game against dallas this saturday. If it makes anybody feel better, Burciaga was our leading foul comitted guy. Our d-mids are in question. Gomez is to the point where he is making a case where he should be on the feild. Talley sat last game due to injury. Kerry made a vary clear case for him being on the starting 11. Diego might have to move back to fill Burciaga's role. What I don't like is that the injury bug is biting us early on. Talley, Wolff, and Burciaga. All starters.
If the injury bug has to bite I would rather it happen now instead of at the end of the year. Look at the premiership Man Utd was injury hit at the begining of the year and Arsenal at the end and look who won it.
Oops, I meant to type "bunkering side" obviously. See, I told you I need an editor. Anyway I thought of one other situation that deserves a mention. Garcia and Meola. On my review of video and observation at games it appears that there is at least some latent if not overt tension between the two players. For me it starts with Garcia's erratic play. I'm going to bag on him a bit so I'll say this first: In honor of Cinco de Mayo, the single best tackle I've ever seen in 25 years of watching soccer at all levels was Garcia's dive in hook-sweep of the ball from desparately behind to strip El Matador as he was sprinting in alone on Meola in Game 3 of the 2000 playoffs. Preposition hell, sry. It was that tackle that allowed the bald guy to be the hero in the mini-game. {smiles} I feel his play is due to two circumstances, first Garcia is the fastest defender so he is always the one who "covers" for the other errors of the team in the last possible circumstance. What it does is put Garcia in the positions where he is the last man to beat, so he continually has to resort to the diving slide tackle. Secondly, Garcia's around new people which has it's pitfalls. Clearly the combination of indecision and Cunny's overwhelming speed (he earned that goal. I don't consider it a "gift". Speed kills and the only thing that kills speed is greater speed of thought) led to the 3 brilliant moves on McBride's goal. Garcia's errors, forced or not there have been plenty of both, have led to such Meola quotes clearly heard on tape as, "What the fvck are you doing?" after a soft pass back to Meola that Garcia should have seen would be intercepted and "fvckin' cover somebody...!". Now, Tony is Tony and I think he plays a lesser game when he isn't spouting fire and screaming at everything. I have to think that KC's defenders should expect Tony to pick off one or two of the shots that to date have gone in. Fair isn't a question because Meola has done it in the past. OF course, it all adds up to a reach via speculation; but if you look for a story inside a story, this stands out. GO BLUE GUYS!
I disagree with this. Garcia is in his 4th season with Tony. If he doesn't know what to expect on the field by now, and to not let it bother him, he shouldnt be out there. Tony screams like that all the time, and it seems to be he's going to scream the most at a player he deems "good enough" to not make the bad plays. That is to say, he would bark at Garcia 10 times more than he would Conrad or Burciaga.
I think Bob is smart enough to realize that he doesn't have the defense right now to bunker. He is in more of a "Push them up and score more to try and stay ahead of the game" type game. We should shorten this to something a little less wordy. I know it's going to be hard to beat a name like Bunker Bob. Heck, people even use it when he hasn't done it once all season.