How much does it matter with WPS on BS? There is no general discussion on the WPS side and a few teams have no traffic on their boards.
Pretty sure a goal. I read it on the internet. Must be true. You can find all sorts of things on the internet.
Well, there are some of us who post stuff. But you're right that there are a couple of boards...cough SkyBlue cough...that have little to no traffic. I think there are people who obsess, I mean care. But of course, there will be much less traffic on the Women's soccer side than the rest of BS.
Yeah, I've had a very light hand when people post on other boards. I figured we'd let it play out and see how it goes. So long as people are civil, I don't think it matters.
Thanks for that response. I was about to edit my post because I wasn't sure if my comment would look like it was taking a shot at the posters who umm... care.
Although I would like to add that when WUSA was around, we developed some pretty serious rivalries between teams and fans. But then again, we had about 5 times as much traffic then.
Pretty pathetic today. How can a team look so good offensively in the pouring rain last game and then on a dry beautiful pitch look so bad, I don't know. I met a fellow fire/redstars fan on the concourse before the game and I said "I don't want to see a tie today",as I had watched the fire tie for the 5th time in a row the night before and was expecting an easy redstars win. Well be careful what you wish for, the old saying is.
Red Stars looked awefull today. They looked slow and couldn't put passes together. Carli Loyd has not shown up since the season started. The defense was swiss cheese today. Cristiane showed some signs of brilliance when she came in but she should have come in for Loyd and not Klein. Jonsson had no chance on any goal. Jen Brannam was brilliant in goal for Sky Blue. Why Chicago released her is beyond me. Rapinoe didn't look good either. She looked tired and fell a lot. Carney looked frustrated. The Red Stars better get their act together before next Saturday when Gold Pride comes in town. It doesn't get any easier. I would bench Carli Loyd and start Cristiane.
Don't know about benching Lloyd (she has her brilliant times, too), but we'd all like to see Cristiane start - if she's in shape to play a full game. Until she is, probably better to save her for later in the game - put her in when she's fresh, everyone else is tired, and you need her. And Plan A: tell her to get in shape for Pete's sake.
They looked tired like they had been partying all night. Only Carney and Masar had any energy. Rapinoe in particular looked completely spent tem minutes before she was subbed out. Also, when you're in a 4-5-1 and the opponent is clogging the middle, you have to adjust and go to the wings. We didn't do that. We tried to run most attacks through Loyd who, frankly, has been a big disappointment this season. Amen to "Loyd should have come out instead of Klein". Klein is our d-mid workhorse in the midfield. We were already losing the battle for the midfield but once Klein left, it became a total rout and SBFC were able to pour through at will. I'm not sure what Osterg was supposed to be doing out there and it looked like neither did she. I think we should try a diamond 4-4-2 next week: --------Cristiane------------Masar----------- ------------------Tarpley-------------------- Carney-------------------------------Rapinoe -------------------Klein--------------------- Igwe--------Deike--------Krzysik-------Dalmy -----------------Jonsson-------------------- After Cristiane fades, we can move Tarpley up top and bring in Ostberg.
A poster mentioned the team had had hard practices last week. That along with them returning for the second half late made me wonder if things were okay. Any ideas on morale?
The whole team ran w/ tired legs. I wonder (as did another poster early in the game thread) if the bye week practice (or the practice the week of the game) was extra hard and perhaps they didn't recover. I'm another that doesn't think Lloyd has shown up yet this WPS season. Sitting her might just be the sort of motivation she needs. Lori Walker suggested that she's heard that Lloyd doesn't bring it in practice every day. Not sure the veracity of Lori's statement but I thought it was an interesting call out. Frida seemed to be doing a lot of chasing & running around. I wonder if that is b/c she was confused about her duties or b/c there were people running free that she felt she needed to dash around to try to cover (ie someone else didn't track/defend as they were supposed to). Skyblue won a lot of the air balls. The long ball passing, which had been decent to almost good in previous games was piss poor in this game. Pointless ball after pointless ball. All credit to SkyBlue. They seem to be a team that likes to press that back line and their through balls & runs clicked better this game. In the clips from the FCPride game, they got chances but did not finish. In this game they finished two chances. Dowling had a strong game as well. Branam had a serviceable game. Her kicking (supposedly a strength) was very inconsistent. I was surprised to see Yael come in as a forward as she (to my mind) is very much a holding mid.
I don't know about practice but Lloyd did not bring it during game for sure. I don't think she liked playing defense mid (no glory). When Skyblue had the ball ,they went straight at the backs a lot. Lloyd did not protect the backs like other def. mid. (ie. Boxx). When Chicago had the ball, she did not help organize the attack from the back either. When her backs or outside mids still had the ball, she only showed sometimes and if she did not get the ball, she stopped which caused the backs to have to send the ball long a lot. I think Loyd also caused Ostberg to scramble around more than she should. When Loyd did get the ball, she did some good and some bad things. She liked to go on her own a lot, her 1st choice was always to turn and go. The defenders knew to converge on her right away and took the ball. If she'd just learn to one touch the ball away a few more times (ie Sawa), they will have to back off from her.
Lloyd wasn't supposed to be playing dmid (or at least based on the other personnel shouldn't have been). Based on the personnel, I think Östberg was the dmid and I don't think Klein was the amid, either. I agree w/ much of the rest of your assessment. If I were the coach, she would not start the next game. Of course, I would have yanked her in this game, too. When she didn't get the ball, much of the time she stopped/walked. Except for the time when she totally pushed Carney off the ball (when Carney was onside & Lloyd was off) killing a play that could have sent Carney in alone. Now, I know I may not be the best person to evaluate Lloyd's game as I've never been in love w/ her game to begin w/. I see the potential in her shot & some of the offensive combos she's managed w/ other WNT mates. But she disappears far too often for my liking. The d did not have its best game but on multiple occasions they were on their heels from the start due to poor midfield defense. I don't think the midfield tracked runners well and they gave SkyBlue players WAY too much room on the ball at times. Watch how much space SkyBlue players have to receive & pass the ball on the 1st goal. Even if Walsh had shot wide left, there was a runner (from midfield) that would have been in alone to tap it in. Igwe had a poor game but she didn't get much help dealing w/ HAO or whichever forward happened to make the run to her side. All of the Chicago players looked slow and tired. Why the heavy legs?
That was a great play by Cristiane (she needs to get fit asap). And what was Lloyd thinking? She practically ran over Carney.
I only watched 2 games Chicago played on TV. I know the prev game, Lloyd played attacking mid. In this game, she stayed back much more. She was in front of the defense a lot. Osberg was on the other side and she indeed played defensive mid and she was even with Lloyd quite a bit. I also thought Klein played higher than both of them.
i was about to start a thread entitled "what's wrong with carli lloyd". i see you guys have been discussing her going missing in games. but what do you think is wrong with her? i fully expected her to be showing her class and ripping balls at the gk from all over. something is definitely wrong.
I don't know. Maybe she hasn't got the system quite yet. Maybe she needs certain players around her. IMO, on the Red Stars there are a lot of players who want the ball. Carney wants the ball, Loyd wants the ball, Rapinoe wants the ball, Cristiane wants the ball, Tarpley wants the ball, and the ball seems to go through Klein before it gets to any of them. So this early in the season I'm not sure everyone knows their roles. What happens when you have similarly skilled players like that, they all want the ball and sometimes in the same space. So what does Sky Blue do?, they clog up the midfield and played offside trap all game. It seemed to me that the Red Stars were are all running into each other Sunday. Loyd ran over carney to get the ball one time where she should have let Carney get it and she run into space. This what I observed during Sundays game someone else may have a different opinion. I will watch FOX replay this week to see if what I saw from the stands was correct. On the National Team, Carli Loyd knows her role and she plays it even though once in a while her and Boxx run into each other. It may be a case where a team just has too many stars that are similar. The Red Stars are loaded with talent and when that talent clicks and everyone is feeling good and has rhythm then they can destroy you like they did Boston a few weeks ago. But when they get frustrated and the rhythm isn't there, then the look flat. I am a Red Stars fan and am happy with the roster so far, and I think once they get into a groove, timing and each player figures out their role then you will see better play from everyone even Loyd. Just my opinions.
your argument about not enough ball to go around a lot of good players who want the ball makes sense. but there are other teams with a lot of good players who seem to get them in sync with each other. but the coaches of those teams like a more structured style. my feeling, of course, is that it's because emma wants that free flowing, uncharted, player-interchanging total football. some of her players don't seem to know what their role is, and lloyd certainly doesn't look plugged in. now, of course, after a few more games when everything is clicking like clockwork and they are playing like arsenal or barcelona, it will be beautiful to see, and we will be singing her praises.