My observations of the match…

fuegote · 05-08-2005, 07:01 AM

Now keep in mind I’m still learning the game but I couldn’t help but post these after the match last night.

When someone said we played a 3-4-2 because you couldn’t count Rojas…you weren’t kidding. We really missed Rusty tonight, Eddie had a fantastic match and played well mostly throughout, but most of the defensive errors and most of the turnovers when we started a drive, started (and ended of course) with Rojas. I felt like I was gripping the entire match when he touched the ball.

Anyone else like Tiger in the middle better than on the wing? I sure did. Williams (who eventually came up limp) still hasn’t been the player I was expecting and with Tiger in the middle, we got more aggressive and almost scored down a man. I would like to see him there more often where his footwork would do ReAL some good, instead of dancing in the corner and not getting the cross off.

DJ Countess could be the man of the match for ReAL in my opinion. He had a great match, even guessed the right side on the penalty kick. I hope he’s okay because the back up from Indiana has me worried.

That penalty kick for the hands ball was pretty bad, but it was warranted. Rojas touched the ball with his hand, but why not call the tackle from behind on Chivas in the second half? That was a horrible no call.

I’m kind of glad Mathis was hurt early in the match. Had he stayed in the match he would have certainly had another yellow to his collection. The yellows were out last night.

How is it Chivas was more aggressive the entire 90 minutes? How is it they were able to be in open corners all night?

I’m really looking forward for a game where we can be consistent and aggressive the entire match. Let’s hope our Home field advantage works next week, we really needed at least one point last night.

montgjules · 05-08-2005, 08:21 AM

Are you kidding? Rojas was my MOTM for the first half of the game. That shot that he deflected was awesome... But seeing the way DJ was giving 100%, even while writhing in pain.... I still don't know how I'll vote. Maybe I'll vote for Keeper Kamler! 😉

Deuce · 05-08-2005, 09:43 AM

I agree with Jules on this. If I had to vote just on the first half I would have voted for Rojas. However if there was a vote for "most improved performance" it would have to go to Rojas.

Tiger is one of my MotM candidates. He was all over on the wing in the first half and the match seemed to take on a new life in the second half when he moved to the middle. After he moved to the center we started getting the opportunities that we didn't seem to capitalize on. Williams is supposed to be our play creator but last night it was Tiger.

DJ was phenomenal as usual. 6 saves and that last one was while injured. some clown over on BS was saying that save proved he was faking. BUT I disagree cos no goalkeeper is going to force his team to play a man down and have a fielder as keeper. NO WAY! That play was just an iteration of DJ's desire to never give up, and not stop till the whistle...

Passing was our achilles heal last night. AGAIN! although we held on to the ball longer we still suffered from lackluster passing and ill-planned attempts to move the ball forward.

Why was Whitfield standing on the side with not a single person to pass to going forward? The amount of times we moved the ball forward, then had to stop and wait for someone to come forward or worse... pass backward two or three times and lose all ground gained, was un-acceptable!

Where were our players when we were moving forward? Why were they so slow getting to the ball?
Why are Rusty and Tiger the only two that seem to challenge an opposing player in open field? Our boys just seemed to run along beside the attackers instead of defend, tackle or challenge for the ball.

My MotM vote is a toss up between Tiger Fitzgerald and DJ Countess. I will watch the match again later and make my decision then.

My vote for most improved performance was Marlon Rojas. Now if we can get that 1st half performance for an entire 90, we will have our back line complete. and i will be happier.

Jim Umber · 05-08-2005, 10:01 AM

Thanks for the reports. I was not able to see the game, but now I have at least a notion of what happened. It sounds like a lot of the same things we have been seeing. But the injuries probably hurt us pretty bad.

Next week, of course they will be playing perfectly and we'll have an easy win. RIGHT?

Aerick · 05-08-2005, 10:17 AM

Nice breakdown Deuce! I was mostly frustrated by the way our players didn't seem to aggressively get after it. It seemed to me like they were tired or something - especially when Whitfield took it down on the corner of the far side and no one was there! That was a bugger.

I have a question, though. What's the point of putting O'Brien in? Is it because of his height, and therefore his better ability to win headers in the middle? Whenever I've seen him, I haven't been impressed at all.

Deuce · 05-08-2005, 10:36 AM

Who else would you put in for Williams?
Tiger was already in.

One other thing I noticed was when Kamler took Goal the defending stepped up a notch and we only allowed 1 shot on goal. So my question is, naturally, why do they not defend that aggressively when Countess is in goal?

If I were Coach E, I would be asking that question this morning.

Stucki · 05-08-2005, 11:04 AM

I am most disturbed by the unwillingness to go forward. There have been many potential scoring opportunities all season that were wasted because there was no support from the midfield. Our guys do know how to make runs, don't they?

I agree about the defending. We have given up way too many shots on goal this year. If DJ hadn't been outstanding this year, we would be the laughingstock of the league.

I know we have had good crowds, but the team can't depend on us to pick them up every game. If the playoffs are a realistic goal, we have to pick up some road points.

Rover · 05-08-2005, 12:04 PM

Tactical stuff covered well already, so I'll go strategic.

This was a bad one (mastery of the obvious here). A six point game with a team below us in the table and we can't get it done. It's still early in the season but these are the games we need to win. We need three points when playing the CRapids, Cheetos, and San Jose--not one, and certainly not zero.

So we've played all three teams, and we pulled four points out of it. We need to do better.

Here's the thing--if we want to make the playoffs we need two teams below us on the table at the end of the season. That's it. Say what you want about too many teams making the playoffs--that's another thread. We're playing in the system currently used, and that means we have to put away the lesser teams and take our points when we can get them against the teams ahead of us.

In six games I'd say FCD and the Galaxy have an edge on us but the other three do not.

So we now get the Galaxy at home on the 14th, cheetos at home on the 18th, and then away to the Crew on the 21st. We can win all three, especially since our home field is a tough place to play and the Crew are down wherever they play.

The Galaxy will be tough but if we can finally get Pope, Dunseth, and Pierce, and Countess on the field at the same time we'll be a much tougher opponent than LA expects. Hopefully we're not so badly banged up that we can't field our strongest team. I haven't read the full injury report so this may already be impossible.

Ellinger has assembled a good team, but the critics are right when the say we have no depth. We're seeing that time and time again.

We're still in OK shape for the season, and one game is not that important over the 32 we'll play, but we should have won the last two and only took a point. We'll see if the team can put a full game together against the Galaxy.

montgjules · 05-08-2005, 01:08 PM

Everybody make a decision and then email your MOTM to: rslmotm [at] gmail.com

I've only had one vote so far, so if y'all just think about it and say nothing, your voice is as good as ... well, it's not good for anything.

fuegote · 05-08-2005, 01:09 PM

Thanks for your responses. Again, i'm still a newbie, I just wasn't impressed with Rojas...so if you say he's improved, I'll agree.

I agree the MOTM comes down to DJ (for improving his league leading saves stat) and Tiger.

IN regards to leading the league in saves....is that such a good stat? I'm glad his % is high as well, but would rather see the same % without as many saves.