Hey all, It dawned on me that we get a bunch of scattered comments about individual games here and there, but no real focus on, well, the big picture. Basically, the in-depth stuff we'd love to see Sean and John cover on FSW, but don't. So, what did we learn this week? Obviously, LA has, in the space of two games, gone from treading water on the road trip to sinking. Organization in the back and on the defensive side of midfield is pretty miserable. SJ and Chicago stay unbeaten, with the big difference being SJ holding first in the West and Chicago all the way back in fourth in the East, although they've still got two games in hand on Columbus. By and large, the East is playing out as Columbus and then everybody else, which if it wasn't what we all expected, should have been. At least for the first half of the season while the rebuilding projects in Chicago, DC and the Swamp get it together. Speaking of which, Metrostars may be gelling as a team even sooner than we thought. Did MLS Wrap get it wrong, or was it really Mathis in the midfield and Lisi up top with Magee? Colorado, Dallas and DC are all looking really slow coming out of the gate, without the road trip excuse LA has. Have there ever been so many teams looking for their first win this late? And, as Andy Mead pointed out, it's good to see Kansas City driving both goal-scoring (for and against, but whatever) and attendance. And they held on to a lead! Later, COZ
Columbus is weak. All their bases are belong to us. MLS Wrap got it wrong. Clint started up top with Magee (though both did a nice job of tracking back to help the midfield), while Lisi and Guevara were attcking midfielders. Lisi's been a revelation. Two weeks ago we were wondering when he'd be cut. Now we can't imagine him out of the starting lineup.
Re: Re: The Big Picture: Week 6 [R] I think he's played well, but I can certainly imagine him out of the lineup.
Re: Re: The Big Picture: Week 6 [R] Lisi's nonchalance still cost the Metros possession on multiple occasions. He needs to come to the ball and play quicker. It almost seems like he's picked up bad habits by trying to emulate Guevara and Mathis. He simply can't hold the ball as well as those players. Lisi would do well to take a page from Ricardo Clark's book. Clark routinely plays the right ball and hardly ever loses possession. Lisi should learn from the rookie!
Teams with creative attacking mids (Columbus, KC, and possibly the Metros in the future) score goals. DC continues to suffer due to the deterioration of Etcheverry. Valderrama was important to Colorado. Cien was important to LA. Nowak was important to Chicago. Pareja is important to Dallas. MLS needs to replace its aging or retired #10s with new foreigners or start developing more Martinos.
My take on the big picture is this: In MLS, don't bet against a good coach. The cream is quickly rising to the top this year. Yallop & Bradley, maybe Sarachan. Andrulis, Gansler, Schmid are contenders, although Andrulis may rely on great talent rather than great coaching. (Still counts in the standings if you can consistently get good players). LA certainly is not proving my point on Schmid yet, but you have to give him credit based on previous years results and the whole endless road trip thing. Bottom feeders: Ray Hudson, Hankinson, Jeffries. Jury is still out on Nicol IMHO.