Meola--7 Looked solid and confident all night long. Not much chance on the goal. Leitch--5.5 Glen and Henderson were penetrating on the left early very easily. This might also be GAven / Lisi's fault however. Parke--6.5 One of his better games Mendes--6.5 Looked solid. Shame he lost his footing on goal. Agoos--5.5 Decent, but lucky on that handball in the box, and he is looking slow. Still, his lack of speed somehow doesn't seem to hurt us as much with him out left. Bradley--5.5 Overall solid play but some dangerous give-aways and I wish he looked more inspiring going forward. Lisi--6 OK. Not exciting to watch, but solid. Magee--5 He is playing himself off this team. Somehow, nevertheless, he managed to earn several free kicks in dangerous positions. Gaven--6 Does he play any defence? Maybe he did tonight, but it was hard for me to spot. SGR seems to win more balls then he does. Maybe we should play Gaven up top and SGR in the middle while Guevara's out? SGR--6 Never looked dangerous, but generally held the ball well and stripped several Columbus defenders / midfielders. Razov--5.5 Didn't get the ball enough to look dangerous--this is midfield's fault. Doesn't pressure as well as SGR. Ibrahim--5 (76' for Razov) He's fast, but not fast enough to compensate for his weak touch. He needs to be riding the offsides line, instead of playing somewhat deep like he did in the 14' he had tonight. Bradley--6 Are all these injuries (Regan, Ward, Djorkaeff, now Guevara) in part due to their trainging regime? Does something need to change there? I would have liked Bradley to have had the courage to go for the win at the 70' by transitioning to a 4-3-3 (Magee out for Ibrahim; Midfield: Bradley - SGR - Lisi; Forwards: Razov, Ibrahim, Gaven as a winger), rather than playing safe, which in hingsight didn't work. Shep and JP: 7. I thought Shep was right on target in suggesting SGR play deeper and Lisi furhter up, and also in lambasting Magee for becoming a professional baby whiner. Final Thoughts: Without Guevara and Djorkaeff, we look lame going forward and our midfield cannot hold the ball, resulting in the Defence being under pressure for far too many minutes. With Guevara out for 3-4 weeks, Bradley needs to solve this problem pronto. SGR to playmaker might work if Djorkaeff not healthy; otherwise Djorkaeff takes over playmaking responsibility. Good news: Meola looked pretty good. Bad news: the Metros were pretty hard to watch.
I'm really concerned about Gaven's play. Did anyone notice that he was leaving most of his passes short last night? I have never seen that before. He often disappears from matches but his passing is usually inch perfect. Thank God he's not an All Star this year. He could use the rest.
He's dead knackered (to borrow a Britishism) I thought it was pretty obvious when a through ball was played down the side around the 85th minute and Gaven looked like he was ready to collapse.
Me too, he needs a break but in the other hand this is his chance to definetely become the player that Bruce will take in consideration for the WC. He is very young. A good coach should be telling him "this is your time to become the man" and take your game to the next level.
Meola = Choke Look, the guy has always been a good keeper, but why does it always seem that he gives up that last-minute goal to sink his team. Besides yesterday's game, another example would include the '94 cup game against Brazil. He plays well all game and then chokes on a soft goal. There are countless other examples of this. The guy cannot play crosses to save his life and his postioning on free kicks is a joke. This is what we have to look forward to during his reign with the MetroStars. Anyone who thinks that he is going to Germany in 2006 is just not paying attention. He is not a world-class keeper like Kasey Keller.
First, people have been making excuses like this his whole career. Second, I have been reading all over this board that he looks good enough for the 2006 Cup. Which part doesn't make sense to you, Einstein?
Meola and Mendes were the best players on the pitch. Everyone else was a complete failure. Meola wasn't even at 100% and the goal was not his fault at all, it was our defense yet again
If Wells was in goal, the score would have been 3-0. And until The Bruce says that Meola might go to the World Cup, then no, it makes no sense. I dont care what people on this board say. When is the last time he made a US team appearance? The whole thing didnt make sense, moron.
Talk about a post that doesn't make sense, you stupid jackoff. I'm only reiterating what other people are saying in other parts of this board - take a look. You may be right about Wells. All I'm saying is that Meola is known for giving up the last-minute goal (look that one up, too).