I thought it was a very fun game with the first 30 minutes being especially exciting to watch. All of those crosses to no one were a bit assey, but they'll dial those in. I look forward to seeing what they can do when they're firing on all cylinders. What did the supporters think of the drum line playing for the first half? Did you feel they were stepping on any toes or did you enjoy the added ambience? I liked having a funky soundtrack for the half. Overall, I enjoyed the gameday experience more than last year. No Big Mike was OK by me. No jock jams was certainly OK. I only heard one music cue over the loud speaker during a corner. I'm liking these changes.
Tons of fun. They were great at latching onto whatever we were trying to sing and adding a funky beat behind it. They were having a blast, we were having a blast. Win-win. I wish they'd come every week.
This is only the second game I've been able to get to. Last year I thought was a pretty horrible experience. The hawks were hard to watch, and the music and announcements were mind numbingly awful. Last night was a completely different experience. I only heard music a couple of times. It sounded like it was only coming out of the speakers at the open end of the park. And only recall hearing a couple of 'commercial' announcements. Much much more enjoyable overall. And the fact that the team seems to be playing a much better style this year makes it just that much better. I loved the drum line too btw. Also I thought the hawks had a much bigger supporters section judging from the game we caught last year, and from seeing some pictures online. Seemed like you guys were missing some people last night maybe?
I guess I did come off a little negative last night but I was just frustrated because we were absolutely dominating in terms of chances on goal and after that red card, I thought we were going to blow them away... and of course, a few minutes later, we fell asleep and they scored. So I'll post a couple of positive thoughts I had, so you don't all think I'm permanently negative... It's amazing how often Bundu will get and retain possession even if he's outnumbered 3 to 1. I also think Paladini can run an effective midfield, we just opted to forego the midfield in the 2nd half, which seemed odd to me because of the man advantage. I thought Kreamalmeyer had a great game, he's so quick and he can beat guys in tight spaces... makes him real dangerous. The Gardner-Bundu-Kreamalmeyer lineup seems very solid up top for us and the defensive four we had seemed pretty solid (aside from the lapse during the goal) so I guess the real question marks are the midfield. I have no problems with last night's, I'm just trying to figure out will Watson will fit in. As far as subs/starting XI competition: Glinton/Kabwe, Plotkin/Paladini, Lowery/Romero?? (there has to be something behind that story), Bundu/Diallo, King/Kreamalmeyer or Gardner. And for the defense, all we know is what we've seen and it looks like that four will be what we see.
I was hoping to re-watch the match on USL Live before posting my thoughts on the game but it seems that for whatever reason, the archive of last night's game is still not posted (everybody went on Easter holiday immediately following the match?). I think all of the supporters were elated by how entertaining the game was last night...and how we walked away top of the league with a full 3 points from our season opener for the first time in franchise history. On the other hand, I think we were all disappointed this game wasn't an absolute blowout. Even before Minnesota was down to 10 men, they were sloppy. It was obvious to me that Carolina was the team that had 30 days more in training camp than their competition. When the red card came out, my first thought was that we'd win 3 or 4 to zero. Schulte's goal was an absolute screamer. It kind of reminded me of how Low opened the scoring in the inaugural season. I have no doubt it will be USL Goal of the Week for Week 1. The long throw in that Schulte brings is amazing and as we saw last night, it lead directly to two goals. The only down side is that we don't have his big body in the box crashing the net because I think he'd be pretty effective there too. I agree with 'aimorris' about how surprising Bundu is on getting and holding the ball up top. Several times last night I thought the midfield had played him a wasted ball, but then he'd end up slipping 2 or 3 defenders, manage not to draw the referee's whistle, and control the ball enough to lay it off somewhere or start an attack himself. Kreamalmeyer was easily my favorite to watch. His work rate will definitely earn him 'fan favorite' status in no time. If he were a couple of inches taller, we'd have probably had another goal last night. I told Coach in the pub last night to put him on the Rack this week in practice. I've even coined a new phrase. Anytime a defender gets made to look absolutely silly because he has been outworked by a short, fiesty, spritely attacker...I'm now calling that 'Getting Kreamalmeyered'. I originally thought Watson would replace Luke in the lineup when he returned but after talking to Selby Wellman last night in the pub, I'm thinking Matt may be utilized more in the central midfield...the slot that Kabwe played last night. While I think Watson would be very effective up top on the right, I like what I see from Kreamalmeyer and like the idea of Watson slotting in behind. Another reason I think Kreamalmeyer shone so much last night was the work Devon McKenney was doing behind him. Devon is probably going to be the lowest profile player on the pitch for us. I doubt many folks have even noticed him or Gilkerson playing the opposite role on the left flank. But those two outside backs are so important in Rennie's system of using 7 men in the attack. I love the way McKenney chooses when to get forward, when to overlap, and how quickly he recovers after a foray into the offense. Schweitzer's outside backs never had the latitude to make those runs...it seems it's not only a freedom they enjoy under Rennie but a central element of the tactical system he employs. I think Gardner is another player that may be a little underappreciated by the fans. He's not flashy at all but he does a great job of getting into the play and then crossing the ball back into a dangerous area. One element of both Gardner's and Kreamalmeyer's game that I loved to watch last night was how high and wide they would get when the ball was on the opposite side of the field. They were just holding the offside line on the opposite side and then Gilkerson or McKenney would skip a man in the swing pass and pick them out from 40 yards to reverse the field and change the attack. This is a great weapon and we used it very well last night. My final thought on the game has to be about the substitutions Rennie made. First of all, Glinton scored the game winner a mere 4 minutes after entering the match. Inspired substitution or dumb luck? Who is to say. But what I will say is that it was Rennie's second and third substitutions that caught my eye. With us leading by a goal and with a man advantage, I thought about all those times last season where we retreated into a defensive posture and gave away the game late. In fact, it had become a bit of our signature as a team for much of last season. I mentioned to my seatmate that who Rennie brought on at that point in the match would tell us a lot about what we were going to see from him this season. I was ecstatic to see not a defensive-minded sub -- someone like Norkus, Sama, or Ritchie, but instead, Rennie brought on our leading goal scorer from last season and Diallo proceeded to stretch the game with his speed. Plotkin, a very offensive minded midfielder was the third sub -- again, no sense that we were settling back but applying the "offense is the best defense" axiom to killing off a game. After the match, the supporters had a great time hanging out with the players and coaches at Spirits Pub & Grub. It's a new place that just opened on Friday in the space that Triangle Grille used to occupy. Good food and a great beer selection means we'll likely be back after every match. The mood was festive on both parts and Rennie and each of assistants came by and spoke with the supporters at different times during the night. Rennie got a raucous greeting from the fans and when Gavin Glinton came by towards the end of the night, I'm sure we thoroughly embarrassed him with chants of "Super Sub, Super Sub" ringing out all around the bar. I'm looking forward to Tuesday night when I hope to make the short trip down to Wilmington to see us play the Hammerheads and also check out how Steven Curfman and former UNC standout Jamie Watson are fitting into the team at our USL-2 sister team down I-40.
So what we do know is this. 1) Romero has a nagging injury, I think it is to his knee, and apparently it is severely limiting his mobility. I do not believe he showed up in camp fit. I do not know if this is something the team was expecting or if it caught them by surprise. 2) The 2009 Carolina RailHawks Yearbook that was on sale at last night's match doesn't have a single reference to Romero in it. Nothing on the roster, nothing on the player profile pages, no pictures of him either. I would have expected him to be on the cover. Given the fanfare with which he was unveiled to the Hispanic community, his absence in the yearbook speaks volumes in my mind. While no one in the front office is saying anything more than "he's injured". I think it must be more than that. He must be gone from the roster. Otherwise, why didn't they report him on the injury report in the pre-game notes like they did Low, Norman, and Tolleson? Something is amiss here. Then again, I wonder if we will really miss him? I've been very impressed with Lowery so far this season. If Romero's apparent departure opens up the roster to bring in Budnyy and Cunliffe, two more attacking options, I think I can live with that.
To go along with this point and if we're assuming Rennie will use the same type of substitution pattern as your previous post pointed out and it wasn't just because of the man-advantage last night... it's definitely telling about the style of play we're going to see this year. Bringing in two forwards instead of a defensive midfielder... subbing on offensive weapons in a close game... Rennie is either a balls-to-the-wall attacking minded coach or he's that confident in our current defense/defensive midfielders. Either way, that's excellent news for fans.
I think he's THAT confident. Think Jose' "Special One" Mourinho. He doesn't come off as a cocky or arrogant, but everything about him exudes confidence. Don't know if you listened to the podcast the team put out on Friday but it really struck me in the discussion of him passing over "good" players because they weren't the right players for the "system" or the current position. I remember Bruce Arena's philosophy being "get your good players on the pitch, even if they are playing out of position". Rennie seems to have a different philosophy and his two years with Cleveland seem to indicate the confidence in warranted.
I was finally able to watch the game last night, and two things stood out most of all. 1. The current set of players have a much better "touch" than the previous two seasons. Their trapping was a lot cleaner, and their ball handling was a lot better than what I've seen before. 2. This team was playing a lot higher than the previous years. It seemed as though everyone was set up about 10 yards further up field than we're used to seeing. I'll be curious to see if this was due mostly to being a man up for most of the game, but I don't think it was. Overall, I was impressed by the level of play. The finishing could have been better, but at least the chances were there.
No, this is not because of the 10 men. This is consistently the way they played every scrimmage and pre-season game too. There are always 7 men in the attack and sometimes as many as 9 in the opposing half. That's Rennie's 'system'. I love it! ...however, it is going to be nerve racking on the counterattack and we'll definitely give up some goals this year because of it.
I think you probably meant this to be in the Rochester match thread, but either way, I've been blown away by Lowery's contribution to our midfield. I think beast is a good description.