I’ll elaborate: Villa is up there with Etcheverry, San Jose-era Donovan, Nowak, and Schelotto as the players in MLS history who did the most to elevate their teams. Most other successful sides (Galaxy, mid-2000s Revs) had more distributed talent (even Novak had Kubik). We will not see the likes of Villa often. And I’m hoping we’ll see more Giovincos.He’s a unicorn. Half that would be fine.
Everyone who touched the field tonight deserves praise. Except Pirlo. Why, Patrick? Why?I know that White and Sweat were more defensively sound as FBs and that might make more sense for the away leg, but everyone with a brain could see how much better we were with Struna and Mata.
Major props to our defense this game. It gotta damn nervy a couple of times, but considering we were missing both our starting CBs, to get a shutout was impressive. Did not think that was possible when the starting XI came out
Wait, so Mata and Struna should have started in the first leg and we should have controlled possession and attacked?We were all reminded today why we were so dangerous to start the year. Mata had a great game and we needed him to start in the first leg. We defend best when we attack and we did that continuously tonight. Struna... why would he not play him in the first leg? The two guys that arguably brought the most tonight going forward were absent in the first leg.
Subs were too little too late. I knew as soon as we scored the second that he would wait too long to make a substitution. But the game needed something when they went to a 3 man pairing. I agreed with twellman for a change. He was basically yelling at PV to bring in Okoli and once he did we finally started winning some balls in the air since we had to play the boot it forward approach.
THANK YOU BOSS !! My tears Thank You as well ! Andrea's Gone there was no need for the hate shown here ! PV could only give him his so called last 15 minuets of fame . Dan I know we've had a lot of differences in the past but to tell everyone not to blame Andrea took balls . Thank you again Boss !!Don't blame the game on Pirlo at all. You're spot on with putting some of the blame on those two. Back line stepped up today. The guys up front couldn't finish, again.
Damn Who is this New and Improved Boss ?? What he do with Dan ? LoL !!Now let's all relax and debate about next season. We're all forum nerds and our opinions don't matter.
WHAT THE FUCK AND WHY ????It's 2017 and Andrea Pirlo is playing soccer. Let this sink in...
If he cares so much, he should have seen how much I deflated when he sent on Pirlo.Vieira was the most visible frustrated with us missing chances of the season. He kicked the video board so hard, I thought it would break.
Glad to see thisWhoever did this well done.
Hey buddy.LDS Lion...
Well gosh darn it. We gave it all our all and we nearly got the results we wanted in the end. It just wasn't in the Lord's plan. Congratulations to Columbus.
Regular Lion...
1. The referee today was a complete joke. Thank god Kevin Stott called the penalty but where were many goal kicks that should have been corners. But my biggest gripe in the 5' of added time considering there were 3 injures that all took at least 2-3 minutes to address on the field. But even more than than is the time wasting by Zack Steffen. On several occasions I've counted to 14 before the ball was kicked. That's a fucking joke. If you're aren't going to give a yellow for time wasting, then you need to add more minutes at the end.
2. Before the game, Gregg Berhalter walked by our section to get to his side of the bench, truly odd. I said to him, "How is Justin Meram's face. Is he okay? Have a good game today." He shook my hand but didn't save anything. After the game, a friend on the other side wanted to give Meram an Oscar statue. A staff person on the Crew took it and crew it across the bench hiding the other side. It obviously broke. I screamed out, "Why would you that, it's a nice gesture." He replied, "Fuck off." I reply, "Why are you cursing at me?"
3. I think I counted three big missed chances and four other missed chances. Can't convert our chances is the slogan of 2017. We scored 13 goals less over the course of the season compared to last year. We need another goalscorer.
3. Maxi Moralez is not a DP in the way that NYCFC should have DPs. He's not worth the spot. We can and must do better with the scouting network and finances of CFG.
4. Jack Harrison got by players today and did well with the ball on his feet, but didn't finish. And he needs to finish.
5. Ben Sweat filled into the CB position well. With his, Brillant, and Sean Johnson's effort we kept a clean sheet. I think the only mistake that Johnson made was punching the ball directly to the middle that hit Meram's face. Ben Sweat truly has been the revelation of the season. Especially considering his salary.
6. Vieira was the most visible frustrated with us missing chances of the season. He kicked the video board so hard, I thought it would break.
7. Okoli was supposed to come in at the 75', but Vieira then pushed back the sub until 80'. I don't understand the Pirlo substitution. I don't understand Lewis coming on with 5 minutes of added time to play.
8. Fuck Columbus. I'm rooting for Toronto. I want a CCL spot in 2019 and a Canadian team winning MLS Cup helps us get that spot.