I think they got their best crew together for this game. Just to contrast, Gómez was a hair offside when he jumped and missed a header over his head but the ball made it to us, but that whole play was dead because he makes a play for it. Chicho gets run over right as Julio sends in a pass to him, and nothing.
Well, we didn't lose. That is, we played fairly decently in the second half. We were supposed to lose the score line. The only loss that would have mattered is us playing like utter crap, which, IMO, didn't happen.
I'm not sure. He set a pretty ridiculous precedent with the yellow on Ruiz. I think that impacted the rest of the match.
I watched both games. The first half and the second half. It's just one game but I really can't see Miami being an MLS Cup contender. I can't see RSL either but really good teams are going to kill Miami with speed. They still have Messi and will be good but they looked really old and slow but they still have Messi so who knows? I'm really hoping that Crooks and Katranis are decent and impactful because this "best 11" from RSL leaves a lot to the imagnination. It's just one game and we don't have Messi but cause for concern? Brody is not an MLS starting RB or LB or back. He's just not. Good dude, great dude actually, but he's just not starting material. Depth for sure but come on. Hopefully Katranis at LB pushes Eneli or anyone else for that matter to RB and Brody to the bench. Gomez has not changed a bit. Still wants to the be the man when he's not even the kid. I agree 100% with 15, what the hell was the emergency kid even doing in the game? Just dumb. Good for him but geez. Play. the. kids. What does that say about the team depth, or obvious lack there of, if this cat gets in opening day? Find that GM? It is just one game and not really sweating it but the second half was better for RSL for the most part. Miami got tired and RSL possessed the ball of which I am a big fan. If you have the ball then the other team does not. Miami's goal, though it never should have happened sorry Zach, was the culmination of 29 passes. I counted. Not even really good passes but RSL was parking the bus until Busquets sliced a pass through 2 rsl midfielders to Messi and then you know the rest. Still not a Pablo M fan.
We have enough talent to have won that game. Our shots were atrocious aside from Vera, a CB. This game was a coaching mistake.
There is talent on this team for sure but at the moment, one game in and not seeing the new guys, it's not MLS Cup obvious contender talent. Make the playoffs, sure. Win the thing, nah. Which is where we have been for a long, long, time. I do think that things could look very different at the end of year even if RSL finishes right where they did last season. We shall see.
I disagree Pablo can’t take the literal shot. Pablo M wasn’t perfect, but the dropped points here sit on a terrible GK error, a bad midfield turnover, and subpar finishing
My issues are the same as they were last year - we spent a lot of money on both Ojeda and Palacio but those two don't work together well. I hope the Ruiz-as-a-10 experiment only lasts one game, but that does mean that at least 1 of our high-priced international signings will be a bench player. I think the idea is that Crooks is the 10 when he's available but he won't be available every game - I'd really hope Luna takes over if he's not available, instead of playing Ruiz out of position.
Palacio may be a U-22 signing, but a <$2m transfer fee is not a high priced acquisition. He's a good 3rd DM on this team. Fans need to pay attention to what players are getting bought) sold for, getting a guy like Chicho is commonplace. It's not the best tool, but transfermarkt says this is one of the least valuable rosters in the league. One of 3 teams with an average value under $1m. Playoffs aren't guaranteed for this team as is.
Saw this posted over on Reddit and thought to share it here to lighten the mood. credit to u/Rory-mcfc https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/s/Qb0uL9CXpi
... Chang? Either that or <Insert DP signing here>. Not a great set of options at the moment but I'd rather start from putting our best player in his best spot, and fill in around that.
I think the team came out way too timid, and just like last year, seemed fairly bereft of ideas going forward.
So for the next 10 years, we're going to be the club that had the guy screaming on the ground who Messi turned into a dribbling obstacle.
That’s fair. The first half was largely disappointing but, if not for a bad gk error, it’s likely 0-0 at half. There were multiple clear cut chances to start the second half, that continued on for about 30 mins. That rsl had nothing to show for it wasn’t on the coaching at that point. Actually the opposite. The team was far more advanced and in very dangerous spots. Not scoring was inexcusable. That’s on the players
Or, hear me out, it's on the club for not bringing in enough talent? I know it's early, but I still think this team has a talent deficit against most teams. Goal scoring and outside back (waiting on Katranis) in particular. MLS is leveling up, quickly.
I thought Julio should start. He was one of the most consistent players in pre-season. But yes, this team needs to add difference makers with it's open DP slots.
Pretty interesting discussion on was it the coaching, the players, etc. First half coaching and I will tell you why. Even though no one is asking. To me it is absolutely inexcusable that RSL came out and started the game anywhere near as flat as they did. First minute or two were ok but after that not so much. I can't think of another game where one team and more motivation to come out with a chip on their shoulder and xDawg determination to show the world that they could give rats ass about aging superstars in pink. It was there for the "master" motivator in Pablo M to really have this team focused, disciplined, and ready to go and instead the moment was way to big for them. I found that very surprising. Maybe they should pretend they already played 45 minutes and Pablo can yell at them just like it was half time to start the game because that just wasn't good enough. It's not like they didn't know for months that they would be starting the season in Miami. That was very disappointing and frankly I was more than surprised. I have been saying all off season that I don't expect much from this squad early with all of the changes in style, coaching and players so I'm not really sweating it too much. But, RSL has been known to over value their players ability. I saw on Twitter that someone made the comment that Brody is not an MLS starter and Trey said he would start on at least 20 other MLS clubs. I don't see it. I think that RB is one of the more plentiful positions out there with guys that have played it all of their career and others that have moved from everywhere on the pitch to land at RB. That position should not be one that is hard to find quality. I happen to agree that Brody might be the weakest starter on the team and I seriously doubt he would be a starter anywhere else. Harsh for sure but is the irrational fan wrong or is the team a little to comfortable and in love with the story of the player and not upgrading the team because they're getting a kick back from Uber? Inquiring minds want to know. On Saturday if RSL comes out flat against a St. Louis team that I can't imagine wont be pumped to start the season at home they could find themselves down 2 or 3 goals by half. One bonus is that according to JK this morning Crooks is in Florida this morning practicing with the team so if the universe says it's ok maybe we see him sometime during the game.
I really like Brody and I truly hope he finds his 2022 form again, but it won't be playing on the left. However, if Katranis is the man on the left, he's easily the weak link. A high TAM level RB would make a world of difference, I'd be fine with that and a Chicho or better DP being the only two other additions. This team has 2 difference makers in Arango and Ruiz. I'm optimistic Luna will be before long, he's close, just need to see it consistently. There just needs to be more top end talent. Crooks might be it, but he may not even replace Musovski in production. They have a chance to surprise a distracted (CCC) STL team on Saturday. I'll be there, waiting to see a better team than Wednesday.
Is chicho not talent enough? I wouldn’t use this game as argument to say the team has a talent gap. That wasn’t on display. What was was some really poor execution from players that, even at their attacking level, should be converting
I’d also say that in the first half we were absolutely dire going forward. There was literally no one to pass to other than Chicho with 3guys on him. The team was so drilled to cover in defense. Luna was kind of a non-factor, which was sad.
Chicho is good. The better teams have ~5 more players on, near or above his level. RSL might have 2 others. This team lost a lot of talent and it remains to be seen if they replaced any of it. There was definitely a talent gap on Wednesday, we'll see how often that occurs over the next couple months. I hope to see more than the 2 ideas we saw Wednesday. Those were: force it to Chicho and don't support the lone attacking player. I agree we should expect better finishing, at least more on frame. But it'll be easy for opponents if they only have to worry about Chicho.