MLS - March 18 - D.C. (Home)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
Can’t believe no one has mentioned the audacious attempt from midfield. Lots of love for Pelligrini after that.
Yes, awesome. And the most promising thing I saw from last night is how strong he was on the ball - on that assist he managed to stay up and hold off the defender - at times last season he would have been knocked off on contact. I am not sure if he added strength or muscle, but he is playing like it.
I agree, but I'm hard pressed to understand why Pellegrini's aerial challenge was even conceivably a yellow and this was nothing. It seems if you hit an opposing player in the head with your head it might be a foul, if you hit the head with any part of your elbows, hands or arms it is either a yellow or red, and if you kick or knee someone in the head, even if he puts his head 6" away from the ball or less, it's definitely at least a foul and maybe worse (and even if you get ball, eg Villa/Martinez a few years ago). But hit someone in the head with your shoulder so hard he plants in the ground and that's OK. Again, this all seems consistent with general handling of things, so I'm not knocking the ref (who had a bunch of other issues) for the Parks no-call.
That was great. Miller was desperately scrambling. Too bad it wasn't on target. After Villa made his against the Union he seemed to get a little too eager to do it again in situations where normally progressing the ball might have been better, but this was a shot worth taking. Disappointed it's not in the Recap. Instead, the Recap does feature at least 2 instances where it replays the same sequence for no reason: not from different angles, but literally the live initial feed and commentary is shown twice, both involving nice saves by Barraza.
I can't get too annoyed with our defending on their goals, though there were opportunities to do better. But they were mostly the result of 2 big guys playing strong plus very nice service. Sometimes that happens.
AppleTV only seems to make the radio feed available for the home team and during the live broadcast, which means if you go to games, the feature is useless.
DC fans whined about the field dimensions a lot on socials last night, which is odd given their offense consisted mostly of Miller booting the ball 70 yards straight down the field, and then sending a lot of crosses from maybe 18 yards from goal. I certainly haven't done a study, but it feels like the pitch size complaints have increased this year, as if everyone wants to get in their allotted ration of whining before the new stadium is built.
It wasn't too cold, but the wind where I was in the 200s made it really uncomfortable. About a dozen guys spent most of halftime in the bathroom huddled under the air heaters.
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Surprised the referee didn’t call the foul on GP and halt the advantage, which he did separately twice in the match against us.
The first half was the best we’ve played so far this year. The second half was…not
Hope Keaton’s ok so we can start photoshopping big bird into a #9 shirt
Hope Keaton’s ok so we can start photoshopping big bird into a #9 shirt
yep. It was brick out there last night (up in the 200s) in the second half. At the beginning of the game they flashed up “game forecast 55 degrees.” Felt more like 39 by the end. Glad March games are over.
The first public address announcer was in D.C. working the NBA game, so we got the backup guy.
Kinda feel like GP had another less than GP like match. Any astute observers out their have any analysis of why that may be or if the eye test is wrong and he had a good performance. I was wondering if the way the team was moving the ball last night just didn’t get him involved in a way that uses his best attributes. Also, what’s the feeling about Talles last night? Great that he got his first goal (Hebert 2-1 Talles). A couple times I was like,Santi looks more forward than Talles. Talles seems to drop pretty deep looking to get the ball.
gray doesn't progress the ball well on the right side. gabby doesn't get the ball as much. it's that simple.
he looked dangerous when he got the ball, but I also think DC were aware of his ability to unlock games and defended him well.
It seems to me Gabi falls off a little when Tayvon is at right back. He looked a lot more involved and dangerous when Ilenic was out there.
I think the Talles experiment allows him to play 9 or false 9. Dropping back to get the ball and linking play is standard False 9 activity.
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There was one play where its clear as day why Gaby isn't dangerous with Gray in. Pereira had the ball and was going at and attacking a defender going up the right side and Gray was (i think) sprinting full tilt and still not quick enough to even get even with gaby for a ball. To be honest, I thought he was injured during that play i was so shocked at his lack of speed
He's quick, not fast, which is why he's such a good one-v-one defender and not very good as an attacking right back. Run at him and he has the first step and body control to position himself and the feet to poke the ball away. When he runs at you he doesn't have the pace to escape into open ground (which is probably why he back-passes so much).
Ultimately, it leaves Gabi hung out to dry. No support, no outlet.
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On the broadcast the ref looked like he pulled out the yellow late as a gut reaction to seeing blood on the DC players face, terrible call, nothing about Pellegrinis action warranted a yellow, just a simple clash of head by two players going for a ball.
The sooner they move Gray to centerback, the better. He can be if great value to the team. Love his attitude. However, he is better defending one on one than he is providing offensive support or stopping crosses - as evident last night.
Didn’t he only move to right back after Tinnerholm was hurt? Any need to keep him there?
Didn’t he only move to right back after Tinnerholm was hurt? Any need to keep him there?
