Away - March 1 - Columbus (Postmatch)

Early red cards are such a buzz kill either way. With that said, we played hard defensively but were so sloppy with possession and so awful with execution. There was a point to be had here. Oh well - CCL makes me feel a little better.
 
I think our front line lost this game for us. yea it sucks to be down a man but if our front guys had held up the ball better, executed better, and took the slim chances we had on goal, we could have come away with a point, maybe more.

a lot of what ifs. i'm annoyed but proud that we played pretty well defensively. ref was giving a lot of soft calls FOR the crew but not calling them for us. Maybe it's the biased eyes but just seemed pretty inconsistent to me.

gotta put this behind us, learn from it, and go to toronto looking to perform better and seek some revenge. obviously will be without chanot and who knows if ibby can play. may see sands starting at CB and parks starting in the midfield. parks needs to work on his finishing... a lot.

if we are sloppy with possession against TFC, they are gonna rip us to shreds. hope ronny can rally the troops to put in a better performance.
 
It wasn't the worst team effort, but a couple of individuals let themselves down. A pity that they couldn't pinch a point, but it wasn't in any way too discouraging. Ibeagha's injury is a problem, as Chanot will be suspended.
 
Part of me feels you can write this game off because of a freak red card so early. Another part of me thinks that we really should have found a way to adjust after 90 solid minutes with 10 men. And we didn't - we looked totally, totally lost out there. Playing with 10 men shouldn't be a death sentence.
 
I don't like taking out an offensive player after an early RC at 0-0 because I would rather try to stretch the other team than immediately go into a shell. It's complicated in this game because the player sent off was a CB, but Sands's flexibility should have allowed us to pull it off. Also, I wonder if Deila thought this was a move to benefit the offense, oddly. Subbing in Ibeagha should permit Sands to help the midfield function better, and between the RC and the sub we were not moving the ball well out of our end. The problem is the midfield didn't get better after the sub anyway and we were left with a pair of forwards who were doing nothing. OTOH what makes me think Medina was the answer to that? But then why was he starting?

Bottom line this it was not a reasonable test (and Ibeagha getting hurt made Ronnie's options even more limited), but I did not like Deila's decisions this game.
 
So that studs up challenge by their CB Dutchman...... yeah, could have easily restored the equilibrium of the earlier poor call, but the ref was in over his head.....
 
So that studs up challenge by their CB Dutchman...... yeah, could have easily restored the equilibrium of the earlier poor call, but the ref was in over his head.....

I'm sure Porter screaming.."that's not even a foul" made him hesitate. Not sure why var did not intervene and recommend review for the studs up challenge.

Seems like all the refs in this game were all new

also - just watched a bit of ronny's post game interview (it was very short). he seemed pretty annoyed, but maybe that's just how i perceived it. anybody else get that vibe? i'm sure he was upset at the red card, but he didn't seem like his usual positive self.
 
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Poorly refereed game. Out of bounds called not properly called. Missed fouls that would have led to free kicks (Mitrita was fouled on the play to earn Columbus possession where in the same attacking phase of play they scored). And that challenge by Vito on Tinnerholm I've seen been called red before.

There isn't much to take from this match. Opening weekend of MLS ruined by poor officiating. Typical with MLS. I'm pissed.
 
Poorly refereed game. Out of bounds called not properly called. Missed fouls that would have led to free kicks (Mitrita was fouled on the play to earn Columbus possession where in the same attacking phase of play they scored). And that challenge by Vito on Tinnerholm I've seen been called red before.

There isn't much to take from this match. Opening weekend of MLS ruined by poor officiating. Typical with MLS. I'm pissed.
Seeing such horrendous officiating in the first three minutes and then uneven for the next big call really makes the league difficult to watch and take seriously. A ball moving diagonally, and not even controlled, is not a goal scoring opportunity. To change the complexion of the match so early, first match of he season, ya better get it right. I’d even argue per the replay Zelarayan dragged his foot and clipped himself.
 
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The usual rationale for a team that gets an early red card in their favor is that they need to be very clean because the ref would look for any advantage to even the game back up.

and then their hulking CB goes studs up not even TEN MINUTES LATER and the ref doesn’t red card him. Come on.
 
The usual rationale for a team that gets an early red card in their favor is that they need to be very clean because the ref would look for any advantage to even the game back up.

and then their hulking CB goes studs up not even TEN MINUTES LATER and the ref doesn’t red card him. Come on.
50/50’s were closer to 25/75’s. There was that play where Aful launched for a header from 5-10 feet away, got some amazing air, and went right through Mitrita who had position, but they called it on Mitrita for dangerous play.

Or where Mitrita spun away from the defender and was tugged down with no call.
 
I don't like taking out an offensive player after an early RC at 0-0 because I would rather try to stretch the other team than immediately go into a shell. It's complicated in this game because the player sent off was a CB, but Sands's flexibility should have allowed us to pull it off. Also, I wonder if Deila thought this was a move to benefit the offense, oddly. Subbing in Ibeagha should permit Sands to help the midfield function better, and between the RC and the sub we were not moving the ball well out of our end. The problem is the midfield didn't get better after the sub anyway and we were left with a pair of forwards who were doing nothing. OTOH what makes me think Medina was the answer to that? But then why was he starting?

Bottom line this it was not a reasonable test (and Ibeagha getting hurt made Ronnie's options even more limited), but I did not like Deila's decisions this game.
Agreed, I thought Ronny made a mistake when bringing Ibeagha in that early. Shortly after the red, and before Ibeagha came on, we were playing well. Almost seemed 11v11. Granted that was a small sample size, but as you noted, with Sands’ positional flexibility, a sub wasn’t necessary, at least that early.

So then Ronny moved to 3/5 at the back and we were getting killed. The silver lining I had in this was Ronny at least saw what was happening out there, and didn’t hesitate to make a tactical change to go back to a back line of 4, and push Jimmy further up. That worked much better for us, even though they ended up getting a goal while we were in that setup.

All in all, hard to take much from this given the so early red. And while I think Deila did make a mistake early, I was happy to see he wasn’t hesitant to try to remediate it.
 
i'm just gonna address the elephant in the room...

yea we were down to 10 men, but subbing of Medina was Ronny's mistake. He was preparing to score a hat trick toward his golden boot/mvp mission this season, which I am predicting :p
I had a good chuckle when it happened. Confirms that RD knows, based on the tactical needs, he’s the least effective player on the field. Not that Mitrita wasn’t too far behind today.... only one of three effective DPs.....
 
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I thought the Sub was more of a reaction to Tinny almost having his ankle broken and Ronny figuring he was going to be off the pace a bit after it so Ibeagha was there to help him out
 
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Agreed, I thought Ronny made a mistake when bringing Ibeagha in that early. Shortly after the red, and before Ibeagha came on, we were playing well. Almost seemed 11v11. Granted that was a small sample size, but as you noted, with Sands’ positional flexibility, a sub wasn’t necessary, at least that early.

So then Ronny moved to 3/5 at the back and we were getting killed. The silver lining I had in this was Ronny at least saw what was happening out there, and didn’t hesitate to make a tactical change to go back to a back line of 4, and push Jimmy further up. That worked much better for us, even though they ended up getting a goal while we were in that setup.

All in all, hard to take much from this given the so early red. And while I think Deila did make a mistake early, I was happy to see he wasn’t hesitant to try to remediate it.
I really thought when he did that it’d make it 4 ATB, the original 3 in midfield, and two dual strikers up front. The 5 ATB was a head scratcher because it completely conceded territory.
 
I had a good chuckle when it happened. Confirms that RD knows, based on the tactical needs, he’s the least effective player on the field. Not that Mitrita wasn’t too far behind today.... only one of three effective DPs.....

our front line was in shambles today. taty showed some fire when he came on but it was too little too late. heber picking up a stupid yellow card wasn't good either.
 
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Not sure what analysis of merit can come from today's game other than it was Medina's best start in some time.
 
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