Dcu is having a fantastic night with great goals and a ton of chances and you guys are deciding to harp on Deleon and the back up outside back? If you arent currently receiving therapy then maybe Monday would be a good time to pick up the phone and get the help you need.
He has been playing well, the last several games. It will be interesting to see what happens when Canouse is healthy.
Nice play on offense, with a little less slipping, we might have actually scored 4, or even 5. Defense played well, except for a couple of wtf moments from Ousted. It's nice to get 3 points on the road, for a change.
I wonder if the l About the only thing less professional looking than the slip would be for his pants to fall around his ankles. Subbed off soon after to avoid death by embarassment. All in all an unexpected win, John L is the prognosticator of the season, and it was comforting to see a real keeper between the pipes.
Wow, San Jose is terrible. I don't feel so bad about DCU now. That could have been 8-1 if DCU would have finished better.
Many athletic fields have sand in them so the grass can grow back quicker - (I know RFK has this) - Then oddly enough you have to water the grass in order to pack the sand tighter - Was the field dry and therefore the sand was loose? - Maybe thats why everyone was slipping
I'd like to see Mullins too .Traded for a bag of new balls About all he's worth thes OTOH anyone get the sense Mullins would have muffed the first chance Mattocks buried? I certainly did! Probably unfair, but as long as Mattocks keeps scoring goals I love Mullins exactly where he is now.
I got home from the Lewis Black performance and turned on the game about 11:20 -- did a double take when I saw the score was 2-0 DCU. Watched until the end. Agree that Mattocks could have had a hat trick if he was more clinical -- but he is overperforming his norm so you really can't complain about the misses. Stieber was robbed on a goal line clearance, but he also missed a sitter. He is, however, a quality player out on the wing who makes the team better. I also thought Asad had the most impactful game of his DCU tenure. The real tactical revelation is Olsen's decision to put Arriola in the "8" position. I don't know who thought of this, but it's the first tactical tweak that has paid off. There, his tireless running and willingness to get stuck in makes this team so much better than when Segura is in there playing the far more passive role. Arriola's ability to cover ground permits Durkin to be more aggressive and push forward occasionally. Canouse is going to have to fight to get playing time from either Arriola or Durkin. As for the Fisher v. DeLeon debate. Fisher is much worse. His ball skills are not on DeLeon's level and his tactical awareness is far, far worse. Last night with about 7 minutes or so left in the match, Fisher continued to make overlapping runs. Once he was all the way down on SJ's goal line and Stieber was about 20 yards further back. DeLeon only came forward late on throw ins and when DCU was playing keep away in the corner at the end of the match. A minor point, but "Studs Up" Mora wouldn't make the same mistake, nor would Kemp.
San Jose was unlucky not to convert at least one of those shots in the last 10 min. United looked pretty asleep at the wheel after the 80th minute.
Great win, good goals. Best 90’ of the season. Look what happens when you don’t bunker after an early goal. Let’s keep it going.
Deleon was better in this game. In previous games, he would collapse very close to the 18 yard box and wait for attackers to come to him. In this game he was less passive. He stepped forward toward attackers, engaging them on his terms. Specifically, he engaged in wider positions and bit further up the field. Hopefully, this was not a fluke and he is actually learning the position. We also saw the plus side of Deleon. On occasion, he used his ball skills to beat oncoming attackers and ignite the transition game. He has a long way to go, but he was better last night.
I've been asking the same question. I bet Canouse could play with Durkin, but I'd rather play Durkin if we're just gonna see one of them. They will absolutely push each other to get better. We'll have some odd men out once Segura and Moreno are also healthy. With a really good forward and the attacking mids we have, we could put some teams away early. We really need an upgrade at outside back too so DeLeon and Fisher are on the bench. An upgrade at CB would be nice too. Birnbaum and Brillant are both pretty close to being good starters, but are not quite there. Either one of them would be one of the better backup CBs in the league.
If Canouse is really healthy and Durkin doesn't go overseas when the July transfer window opens, I would shop Segura around the league for defensive help. I would keep Arriola central with Canouse/Durkin/Moreno/Harkes. Use Miranda/Kelly as backups out wide to Asad and Stieber (and if the mythical striker appears, then Mattocks could play outside as well). After watching Arriola these past two games, Segura is depth you don't really need and something you could parlay, maybe, for some defensive help.
That's plausible, but the players come on the field early and run ,cut, start, stop, etc to get a feel of how the pitch holds with the studs they've chosen. Unless conditions change they are pros and should have a good grip (pun intended) on how their footwear is performing then and there. As for dry, the ball runs like a tree sloth on dry turf, last night it looked reasonably fast. WTF, they won, the big brain guys have added up the points and divided by the games played and things are approaching a respectable (for us) 1.0 points per game
He also looks super fit. I think fitness was his main problem. I’ve never seen him not fill out his jersey since his rookie season. James
Really enjoyed the game last night. Mostly positives, but still some significant problems. As @griffin1108 pointed out, moving Arriola to the 8 has been the biggest difference. First, it gets our best players on the field with Asad and Stieber in there. Second, as Olsen is determined to play a very, very compact and deep line we need some center mids that are super fast/quick and can get into open space (either with the ball or as an outlet) in order to release the counter. Arriola can get forward very quickly with the ball and he made fantastic decisions all night. Arriola is playing as a genuine box-to-box midfielder. He's not defense first as everyone else on our roster has been in that spot. It's a welcome change and I hope we stick with it. I'm also glad that we used a slower, but steady high pressure game instead of massive bursts here and there. The sort of pressure DCU used will grate a team into mental errors over the course of 90 minutes without tiring us out. While our finishing could have been better I was thrilled with the number of real chances we created AND that many times good decisions were made to slow the game down and hold posession. After SJ got their goal they were really piling on the pressure. DCU normally puts on the roller skates and bunkers (and we did for a while), but there was a situation where Birnbaum intercepted the ball deep, flicked it to DeLeon who got the ball to Arriola who was under a lot of pressure in the middle defensive third. Arriola made a nice little touch to release himself into space with a streaking Mattocks downfield. Arriola wisely chose to slow the ball down and hit Stieber into space behind Mattocks (who was really pissed that he didn't get the long ball over the top), but it allowed DCU to get composed before the half and keep the 2 goal lead. Really good decision late in the half there. He did it numerous times (along with Durkin) and it allowed DCU to, at times, dictate the pace of the game. I think this is why DCU was still able to manage 47% possession which may be their best all season. These improvements exposed some other problems however. I absolutely hate it when Acosta has the ball deep immediately after we win possession. He makes bad decisions and gives the ball away too much. He did have one magnificent deep, long pass to Stieber for the first goal, but it was well after Durkin had already consolidated possession into the midfield third. Acosta had actually come deep to collect the ball after the transition from defense to midfield was over. Why Fisher is allowed to have his first name on his jersey and #91 is beyond me. He is terri-bad and teams clearly game-plan to attack him. I don't know where to begin except to say that he literally makes his teammates worse. Stieber sent him a couple of releases that he just wasn't ready for that turned possession over. I don't know why we don't just put Harkes or someone else in there. Fischer is just awful. It was nice to have a pleasant game to watch and I especially liked seeing Arriola, Stieber, DeLeon, Durkin, and Asad all make good decisions throughout the game.
Very good analysis, EB. Jalen Robinson was on the bench last night. Hasn't he played fullback before, or is he considered only a possible sub in central defense? I think I would rather see him than Fisher out there. Of course, it's academic since we will have Mora back for our next match, and Nick can go back to the right side.