Okay, that was fun. In fact, have we had more fun watching SKC in 2024 than in this one? A very deserved 4-1 win. Pulido was great. Afrifa was great. Bassong was great. Agada needs to understand that it's balls that go inside the goal that count, but his movement is so good. Thommy came on and was great. A question: WTF is up with Pulido. As noted earlier, he's doing just enough in this run-in to allow Vermes to say he was just a smidge off his best pace. He's on 7 goals, and will will probably get a couple more. Im now hoping he lights up the USOC final, and on this form he will. More than that, he looks good, again. Why was he so bad for the first 3/4 of the season? Maybe we got it wrong, maybe he was feeling overwhelming pressure to be the man because of his wages (he'd never been in that spot before) and was choking, for months and months. I mean, that sucks and there really isn't an excuse for that. But this guy, in this game? He's a star. Now, he probably won't be this guy again for a while. Sigh. Bassong is turning into a very legit 6 in a double pivot. He covers massive amount of ground, I think. anyone have a heat map on him? He and Davis might be our guys in that role. They not. But two things I came out of this game thinking were shown to be true. We do not need Salloi. He's a $1m player being outplayed by sub $100,000 players. Ten times the cost, but does he add anything Afrifa isn't now bringing? If your manager is Nancy, this is when he makes the sale. We have loved Salloi for years, and he's had some really great seasons. But I'm not sure what the upside is to keeping him around. This should be Melia's last season with SKC, at least as a player. Pulskamp was fine in this one. He's a good backup and occassional starter. but he wasn't any worse than Melia. Oh, and while we managed the game well and he was barely exposed, Fontas is slow AF. Anyway, 4-1 and we looked good doing it. It is amazing how willing I am to feel overwhelming joy at this.
As much fun as that game was I still wish I was cheering on a late run for the supporters shield rather than a late run to barely make the playoffs. What is worse is that the momentum SKC seems to find at the end of the season does not survive the off season. Here is hoping that this off season is different!
Oh, yeah. No doubt. Still being relevant would be really great. And i don't see this momentum carrying over because it's not possible. Right now, i just see some lessons learned for next season as mattering. And while far from perfect, winning and playing like that, against a good and in form team, is nice. Gives me hope for the USOC final, which is what I really want right now.
Bassong and Davis just tell me that Vermes is best building a team of smart, scrappy players. Too many "finesse" players and it all gets a little weird.