This board is dying. Half of our games don't even get game threads anymore. Anyway... good to get the three points, but that was some low quality soccer on display. Kinda is not a forward. Please Peter, stop playing him up front. Either put Khiry up top or use Hurtado. Speaking of Khiry, that was one of the worst games I've seen from an SKC player in awhile. He dribbled it out of bounds twice, passed it to the other team at least that many times, and managed to use his concrete-filled boots to foil two easy goals. How in the world he managed that really great finishing flick a few games ago is beyond me. Melia, dude, have you ever kicked a ball before? How many did he put straight out of bounds in the first half? That was following that ridiculously poor clearance that should've doomed us in the very first minute. Thank goodness he's superhuman on penalty kicks. Who was it that made the hospital pass from the right side of our D to no one at the top of our own box? Was that Lindsey? Just awful. It'd be awesome if we could start pointing the gun forward instead of down at our own feet. Salloi... my man... what in the holy hell happened to you? It was on a platter, and the only way you could've done worse is if you'd injured yourself whiffing on the shot. I'll tell you what he needs to do. He needs to take a couple shots from deep. You don't have to think to do that. Let your muscle memory take over and just thump it, man. I don't give a damn if it goes into row Z. Get that feeling back of assaulting the goal... the aggressiveness and the fire and the desire. Then the next time he's in with it on his feet in the box with a clear chance, he'll think less and be more instinctual... and honestly, a bit more arrogant. I want my strikers to be like my wide receivers. Gotta have a bit of arrogance about them. Zusi and Busio pick up injuries. Just great. I mean, I have no problem with Zusi not being on the field since he's basically a traffic cone on defense and can't even put a shot on frame or an accurate cross into the box anymore, but I don't want it to be because of injury. I want it to be because Vermes uses that big brain inside his chin and makes a goddamn proactive move instead of waiting for players to run themselves into the ground or have his hand forced because of injury. If Lindsey isn't good enough to replace him, then bring someone else in. That should've been done in the winter. Chicago, you suck. Seriously, we tried to give it to you multiple times and you refused. Your play is almost as bad as your ... logo? Jesus tits that thing is embarrassingly awful. Imagine going from one of the best badges in the league to that. Unreal. Glad to see Pulido get called up, forcing him to miss at least 5 games during our most critical game crunch of the season, and then not even use him. He'd better get some game time on Tuesday or it'll have been a complete waste. I like Pulido (not his hair, seriously, that's the worst), but this makes me hate Mexico even more. Nothing like starting a thread after a win and have 95% of it be negative, eh? What can you do, though? That's how bad that game was. I seriously got a lot more enjoyment out of watching a fly lay eggs on a dude's head.
MLS has apparently dropped Audi numbers, or at least I can no longer find them, so basic stats: Chicago completed a higher percentage of their passes, 82-78. They controlled just shy of 58 percent of possession, to our bit more than 42. But, before the goal, we looked to have been edging the possession battle (leaving room for edging jokes here). We also had more shots (13-10. though 3-3 on target), more corners, 7-4 and. uhm,. more fouls 16-13 and yellows, 5-3. My takeaway: in 2020, SKC is only as good as Pulido on the night. When he's on, we look to be a threat to any side in MLS. When he's off, or worse off on injury or Mexican nats duty (congrats to him, i hope he finds it fulfilling and as the extratime folks thought might happen, fills him with confidence for our playoffs). But without him, we just look lost. there is no point to our attack, at least not beyond go johnny go. Also, the mental mistakes, idiotic passes that set up clubs behind our defenders, have to stop. that's a concentration thing, and ffs. but 3 is 3. and this is the sort of 3 you can say is really huge, because we have deserved points on nights when we haven't won them, so it's nice to balance some of that off with a night on which we didn't really deserve much.
Honestly I'm more optimistic than either of you - getting at least a goal every game is not an easy feat to accomplish - and several of them were without Pulido or with Pulido not playing like an $ 8 million man. We might not have the best offense in the league, but in my view we have the most versatile one in terms of different kinds of threats. The one thing we are missing are goals from late runs into the box by our midfielders (goals that previously mainly Gutierrez scored). That being said, I still agree with a lot that has been said. This game WAS uglyyyyyy. So many yellow cards, every single one deserved, and afaik none of them for complaining/time wasting / shirt pulling - they have all been awful tackles, not surprised to see injuries arising out of this game. Shelton was awful - he's reverting with the speed of light back to 2018 Shelton, the most indecisive striker in the history of strikers. Perhaps he needs to get an injection of Germany every couple of months? Perhaps @mschofield can send over some bratwurst? At least he was decent tracking back and helping out on defense while he was on the wings. I was complaining that Salloi made so many great runs in the time he was on and was wide open multiple times and didn't understand why his fellow players ignored him - but then I saw his 'finish' the one time he did get the pass.. case closed. And seriously, the amount of times that we just pass the ball out back to the opponent striker is just embarrassing .. this time we got lucky but several other times this season it cost us dearly. Our defense isn't great to begin with and gets outplayed all the time, but we gotta at least make our opponents put in the effort of doing so. Finally, Busio needs to learn what his strengths are and what aren't. Sure, you had that one goal from outside the box a couple of games ago, but until you gain another couple pounds of muscle your 5 mph shots aren't gonna bother anyone. Both times he made the shot there was another player open in the box.
Agree with everything kcscsupporter said about this game, I was right behind the goal, looking straight at Salloi as he whiffed, and couldn't believe it. On the positive side, Reid is getting stronger and stronger, hope he can avoid any injuries the rest of the way. Tough break for Zusi to get injured but it will help the team. Dia continued to impress me. Just glad to get three points with a shot at the team's first 3 game winning streak of the season on Sunday.
I explained to my kids a few years ago, both high level soccer players, when they complained about their coaches getting on them. I said, do your teammates still pass you the ball when you are in a dangerous position? Yes...then you are OK no matter what coach is yelling at you. No, then your teammates think you suck. Salloi - teammates have given up on you. So have the fans. That's what you get for the no look tap in.
Can't watch because of right shenanigans, of course. That said, a win and a clean sheet, even if they come real-ass ugly, are very desirable achievements for this squad. That was only our second clean sheet since the season resumed, and only the fourth in regular season play at all. Tim and the defense need that kind of boost, even if it comes scrappy and awkward! Did Zusi get hurt?
I do believe he will refind what he has lost. I do not believe he will do that with SKC. He needs to move. An overseas loan might work, but better to part ways and let him start over.