Alright, here's my lineup guess. This is assuming Cesar is still in the doghouse for who-knows-why. I mean, honestly. You can argue that Vermes rates Nagamura higher than Cesar at this point, and you'd have a good argument. But does he rate Michael Thomas higher than Cesar, also? Because like aletheist said, I think our best midfield right now would be Zusi-Nags-Cesar. Guess we'll see. ---Convey-----Sapong-----Kamara--- -----------------Zusi-------------------- -------Nagamura----Thomas---------- -Sinovic---Besler---Collin---Harrington- By the way, can we get a prayer of thanks for Michael Harrington? What a luxury it is in this league, to have a quality guy like him that can fill in at both left and right fullback, as the need may be.
I will qualify this first a couple of ways: 1 - I like Harrington, he's a quality team guy and a good player 2 - I did not watch the whole Houston game, just ff'd to the cards and goals on DVR BUT - It looked like he was caught flat footed near the shooter on both of Houston's goals the other night. I am open to being wrong, but from what I saw I thought that was the case.
First goal I think is less on him and more on the great passing the Dynamo had leading up to that goal. It was 3v2 in the box with Collin and Harrington against three Houston players, the odds were greatly against him. On the second goal, I think the issue was two fold. 1 Myers had just entered the game, changing the dynamics of the defense as Myers pushed Harrington from the right to the left and the team hadn't really settled back in. The other probably was Myers got sucked into the middle on that play, leaving Davis with tons of space on that side to put the cross in. Although there is some blame on the defenders in the middle (Besler and Collin as well as Harrington).
... because I liked his play when I saw him at practice/reserve matches? And then they had an ENTIRE article about him on sportingkc.com. ... but really - I do think he provides something that we don't have in our starting XI and I think he can be very useful in particular situations against particular teams. I also really liked what I saw from him in terms of work rate... Well, I just kinda wonder what slotting him into that Espinoza spot might do. If they're already considering wingers for that spot, Aiyegbusi fits that mold to an extent. That's if you think Nags is really suited for Espinoza's position. I tend to think he isn't one to get forward very much or create much on offense, so I don't think it's a great fit - particularly at a home game.
This is EXACTLY how I saw it... particularly the second goal. Could Harrington do better? Sure, but I really don't think he did all that bad.
This might be REALLY random, would Soony Saad observing Ramadan effect his play/playing time? Hunger certainly isn't beneficial while playing. I assume he won't be eating pregame meals, right?
the second goal was all on myers. for some ungodly reason, he moved inside to double-team the guy with the ball (collin was already there) leaving davis wide open. he gets a tiny bit of slack because he had just come on, but it was still very, very poor defense by him. seriously, when you're down a man, you can't afford to use up two defenders on one man like that.
Vermes gives a little more information about Cesar, and also mentions a brief injury update for tonight.
Kei by his own admission did not fast last year because of the heat. There is precedent in Islam, they just have to make it up in the off season.
Yeah but in other years he's done it. I remember him talking about it, I think it was his first full year here.
So reading into this it appears Cesar does not start? So then Nags, Zusi, and Thomas in the midfield I suspect. Wed nite showed that there is no Roger replacement. I would hope for Convey CJ Kei up front. Convey will help control possession moreso then CJ Teal Kei together. I would like to see a Little more 1-2 combo plays, ala Petersons goal on wed. Convey can provide this
I sure hope Zusi and Kamara don't play in the ASG. We don't need our midfield to be tired from pointless competitions that could be losing us points.
This rant has been brewing since I got in the car....consider yourself warned. It's not necessarily coherent. It ignores the absence of Espinoza and Myers, which I am sure contributed to some of the crap we saw out there tonight. But here goes.... Nagamura over Cesar? Seriously, Peter? Cesar is good for 3 or 4 useful through balls every game. Nags is ABSOLUTELY USELESS at creating any kind of offense. USELESS. I absolutely hate the way we play offense. Cross from the wing, cross from the wing, lather, rinse, repeat. IT SUCKS. It accomplishes damn near nothing most of the time.If Zusi is incapable of attacking through the middle, either change the damn formation or find someone who can. That's a pretty important skill for the AM in a 4-3-3. It's a good thing our defense is solid. And that we are the luckiest bunch of SOBs who ever put on a jersey. And that NE pretty much squandered a number of good chances. We didn't deserve this point.I'm tired of watching this team play like this. I would not wager 5 bucks on our chances of painting any damn walls. Rant over. Time for beer.
Here is my rant... Attn: "it's just a piece of paper" group Stop ********ing puking in the god damned cauldron. I've seen 4 people puke this year, two of which were from your group. Sort your shit out...
Vermes did a horrible job on substitutions tonight. Two defensive subs and he leaves Bunbury on the bench when the whole Revs team is cramping?
Could not agree more. Several times tonight while we on the attack I saw no one in the midfield. We had players lumped in defense and forward. How can we build an attack, and get our opponents off footed, without decent passes available. Not to mention our anemic counter attack. I am drowning my sorrows in the sangria my Aunt has made.
It's bad enough when a team can only score through the middle. Apparently, we can only run down the wing and cross 50/50 balls into the box, and that's not dangerous. It's hard to win a trophy being that predicable and easy to bunker. Bravo turned out to be a big loss.
FYI, only stretch I can find with longer between home goals is from the second to last home game of the 98 season when we scored in the 80th minute, through the 3rd home game of the 99 season when we scored in the 87th. A stretch of 367 minutes.
Though, to be fair, those weren't played in 100+ degree weather. I'm not saying that it entirely excuses it all, but it does change things.
My sentiments exactly. I'm happy about new young talent but veterans like Bravo and Cesar make a big difference in how we form an attack. We are getting to be extremely boring. I really miss Bravo. I can't believe how much crap people gave him last year. We're hurting now and we don't have much leadership in the attacking third.