Columbus - Postmatch

[Midas Mulligan]

LB is less of a concern than the clear need we have for a manager that can motivate the players, define clear tactics, and identify talent and the lack there of. But none of that has anything to do with your initial post illogically calling out Sweat when there were multiple guys on the team that played worse: Wallace, TMac, Mata, Tinny, Isi save for his freaky goal, and Ring who had a bad match.

You still haven’t provided a list of reasons why Sweat was so bad he had to be called out by name over others you admitted were worse. Hell, Sweat delivered the most bone-crunching tackle of the entire game that had Santos practically in tears, but surely you’ll find fault of some kind in that play.

Th only reason no one is talking about it is Columbus didn’t convert the big chances coming from his mistakes.

I couldn’t see all of the match because espn+ was sucking and I was watching on my phone. What I did see Sweat make several stupid passes. There’s nothing about logic involved in that.

Why evaluate U3? I just ignore him at this point. Better off with 10.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Midas Mulligan gets laser focused on specific people based on I would assume is his first impression of a player.
Ben Sweat has provided significantly more value to the team this season than Rodney Wallace has, but the focus from Midas has always been on Ben Sweat. It's kind of weird.

Not first impression. I thought Wallace was great at first. Now, it’s like he forgot fundamentals and looks like garbage any time the ball is near him in attack. He constantly makes technical, physical errors.

I think Sweat makes the sort of mistakes that indicate lack of awareness and hustle. That is unconscionable to me for someone plucked from USL after already failing at one MLS team. Notice, I don’t harp on his physical limitations, only pointing out it makes him more suited to CB.

We all agree that Wallace has been a black hole going forward. But we have 93 wingers, it seems.

We needed a box to box and a leftback. We got another damn winger and an old man who hadn’t played competitive football in 18 months. This is who we are. It sucks that our team sucks in completely correctible ways that were ignored.

I can’t even begin going off about the team selections. I prefer not feeling suicidal.

 

[LeeNYCFC]

If you’re going to allow Tommy to go on what was essentially a fun run, since he was almost always bypassed by our own passing and never interrupted Columbus, why on earth would you do it in the away game of our 3 games in 8 days. Tommy has no business on a full-sized pitch in this league.

 

[Keith Putnam]

Tommy has no business on a full-sized pitch in this league.

Herrera is out. Ofori is out. Amagat (whatever he may be) is out. Berget is out. Lewis is a winger. Medina is out (and also a winger). Domé needed a body in midfield to do one thing: make himself available to receive the ball and then make the simple safe play. He wasn't necessarily up to even that job (though he did nearly put Villa in on goal early on), but we are literally at the barrel-bottom in terms of squad depth.

 

[DeGrozz]

Herrera is out. Ofori is out. Amagat (whatever he may be) is out. Berget is out. Lewis is a winger. Medina is out (and also a winger). Domé needed a body in midfield to do one thing: make himself available to receive the ball and then make the simple safe play. He wasn't necessarily up to even that job (though he did nearly put Villa in on goal early on), but we are literally at the barrel-bottom in terms of squad depth.

This is what absolutely kills me about this year. Early on, we looked like the deepest team in the league.

Now we are struggling to field a team with MLS-level players. How the turn tables...

 

[Ulrich]

Herrera is out. Ofori is out. Amagat (whatever he may be) is out. Berget is out. Lewis is a winger. Medina is out (and also a winger). Domé needed a body in midfield to do one thing: make himself available to receive the ball and then make the simple safe play. He wasn't necessarily up to even that job (though he did nearly put Villa in on goal early on), but we are literally at the barrel-bottom in terms of squad depth.

I’d start Bedoya or awuah over TMac. Dome was gushing over Bedoya when he signed him. And yet last night, the perfect opportunity to get him minutes, was skipped in favor to the traffic cone. Surely Bedoya was a better option than TMac; everybody on the team passed to the guy farther downfield than TMac who was the guy closer in a short-passing scheme, it was obvious they did it on purpose.

 

[dummyrun]

Just want to share my favorite moment in the game (the pressing gif, I mean, although the throw-in was pretty great too).

https://twitter.com/x/status/1036271190783025152

 

[Christopher Jee]

Just want to share my favorite moment in the game (the pressing gif, I mean, although the throw-in was pretty great too).

https://twitter.com/x/status/1036271190783025152

Is it just me or is he doing a really bad job of closing down passing lanes and just wasting energy chasing the ball? Maybe you were being sarcastic but it looked like turned a 3 v 3 into a 3 v 2 by not being spatially aware.

 

[dummyrun]

Is it just me or is he doing a really bad job of closing down passing lanes and just wasting energy chasing the ball? Maybe you were being sarcastic but it looked like turned a 3 v 3 into a 3 v 2 by not being spatially aware.

I think what you're seeing is what happens when only one player is committed to the press. In almost every pass in that sequence he's cutting off the preferred pass: to Trapp, then Pipa twice, then Santos (although Sweat and Ibeagha allow the better look to Pipa), then Pipa again, then Santos again. He drives the possession back singlehandedly while nobody else is closing down.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I think what you're seeing is what happens when only one player is committed to the press. In almost every pass in that sequence he's cutting off the preferred pass: to Trapp, then Pipa twice, then Santos (although Sweat and Ibeagha allow the better look to Pipa), then Pipa again, then Santos again. He drives the possession back singlehandedly while nobody else is closing down.

They were some lazy dudes last night, and Ring called them out for it.

 

[Christopher Jee]

I think what you're seeing is what happens when only one player is committed to the press. In almost every pass in that sequence he's cutting off the preferred pass: to Trapp, then Pipa twice, then Santos (although Sweat and Ibeagha allow the better look to Pipa), then Pipa again, then Santos again. He drives the possession back singlehandedly while nobody else is closing down.

Eh, we had people to stop those guys from turning. I think if keeps the passing lane to Trapp closed then they have a lot more trouble there.

Who else was supposed to join him in the press? It's a dangerous place for either Santos or Higuain's defender to be taking risks of getting turned.

 

[Ulrich]

They were some lazy dudes last night, and Ring called them out for it.

Ring is playing hurt, shouldn’t even be out there, and he’s putting in more effort than Wallace/TMac/Mata. Ring was chasing a play and it was apparent he couldn’t get up to his full speed from the wincing on his face. Half his game is the speed in which he can close down an opponent, so to have so many guys sucking up and stationary just puts unnecessary pressure on him to clean up after them. If we’re gonna continue to put out crap-assed lineups, that have no chance of winning, then go ahead an put Ring under the knife so he has time to heal.

I stand by Kjbert ’s revelation a few matches ago, that it was Lewis that made Dome look good his first few matches by being an ultimate super sub and saving points. Last night, save for Maxi’s first minute shot and the pinball goal, the only times we looked dangerous was with Lewis.

 

[dummyrun]

Eh, we had people to stop those guys from turning. I think if keeps the passing lane to Trapp closed then they have a lot more trouble there.

Who else was supposed to join him in the press? It's a dangerous place for either Santos or Higuain's defender to be taking risks of getting turned.

If our defenders can't close down in the defensive third for fear of getting turned, that's the whole problem, isn't it?

 

[Christopher Jee]

If our defenders can't close down in the defensive third for fear of getting turned, that's the whole problem, isn't it?

This is difficult in text but I don't think the need to contain is a problem. The outcome of the clip you showed is solid. 3 v 3, make them try and find an overload somewhere else.

We are lucky Trapp didn't run off of Lewis when Lewis went (late) to close Higuain. If Trapp makes the right move at the right time, Lewis is out of the play and they have a 3 v 2 deep and in the area if Trapp can get either of the other two defenders to come off their marks to commit to him.

First priority is not to get beaten, second is to win the ball. Particularly that deep into one's own half.

 

[dummyrun]

This is difficult in text but I don't think the need to contain is a problem. The outcome of the clip you showed is solid. 3 v 3, make them try and find an overload somewhere else.

We are lucky Trapp didn't run off of Lewis when Lewis went (late) to close Higuain. If Trapp makes the right move at the right time, Lewis is out of the play and they have a 3 v 2 deep and in the area if Trapp can get either of the other two defenders to come off their marks to commit to him.

First priority is not to get beaten, second is to win the ball. Particularly that deep into one's own half.

We need one of those TV studio video boards where we can rewind and scribble stuff on it and break this play down.

 

[FredMertz]

Can Dome be so desperate to show he's head coach material that he puts out subpar starting lineups in a perverse effort to show he's good at making adjustments?

 

[sundance]

Can Dome be so desperate to show he's head coach material that he puts out subpar starting lineups in a perverse effort to show he's good at making adjustments?

Come on, man. That’s a silly fantasy even by the fan-fiction standards this board regularly observes

 

[dummyrun]

Come on, man. That’s a silly fantasy even by the fan-fiction standards this board regularly observes

I don't know, he did say when he came in that he wanted to keep things like they'd been under Vieira.

 

[Ulrich]

I don't know, he did say when he came in that he wanted to keep things like they'd been under Vieira.

You mean like losing on the road, sending the team out unmotivated in the first half, playing guys that have no business being on the field, blacklisting others that do, and playing down to the level of lesser teams?

 

[Annagram]

In a way Midas is right (the club didn't address the weakest point before the season: the left back), but to single out Sweat week in week out is a bit tiring. He's nowhere near the level of the better left backs in the league, but what can we do at the moment to replace him? The problem atm is the depth of the team. The striking options are few, the defense is chopped and changed from game to game, and half-fit Ring is supposed to hold it all together in the midfield (impossible). Herrera's absence seems to be more troublesome than we thought.