Montreal Postmatch

[S1ARK5]

In an ideal world he wouldn't have been starting this game in the first place!

100%. I was expecting to see EJ vs MTL but for some reason PV, just like JK last year, keep giving this clown the starting role and he is costing us big time. Even last year, when he was making all these crazy saves I was telling folks be careful, Saunders is not good etc etc.

 

[Seth]

With all due respect, you have no clue, when it comes to that play and Saunders getting the blame.

Well to be honest, when someone says "with all due respect" it sounds more like they're actually saying "you're a complete fucking moron and here's why."

There's a huge difference between saying to someone you don't know that "you have no clue" when perhaps maybe in a public forum it might be better to say something more like "well, perhaps we disagree as we're seeing things a little differently."

So, with all due respect, we seem to disagree.

 

[FootyLovin]

Moving on from the whole goal debate of multiple people being to blame but one person being 100% to blame. Maths.

There was one particular play last night that caught my attention. It was 2nd half and Lopez made a run into the box. For some reason he cut off his run right as Pirlo was chipping the ball into what would have been his pathway. Lopez then picked his run back up but didn't have nearly the speed to get to the ball which would have been easy if he had just kept his run in the first place.

I bring this up because I think there are numerous things going on with the team. (1) The players are still learning each other and AHABS (new acronym: as has already been said) changing lineups contributes. (2) Young, less talented/savvy players don't get Pirlo and what he can do which makes Pirlo look less effective. (3) This seems like a coaching opportunity related to our need for more movement in general. Make runs. Make them often. And don't break them off until you are certain that you are offsides and the ball has not yet been played to you.

 

[FredMertz]

The goal was so much Saunders' fault that for the first time in my memory, instead of yelling/blaming someone around him he just made a sad puppy dog face. When a goalie actually takes blame upon himself you know it had to be his fault.

 

[Gene]

Good points Footy, and I'd like to add one more.

Michallik pointed out once or twice the younger guys are showing to much deference to Villa and Pirlo. They have to lose that mind set that they have to feed the ball to the super stars. If the better option is to play the ball in another direction they should do so and stop forcing the ball to the wrong spot on the field.

 

[Seth]

The goal was so much Saunders' fault that for the first time in my memory, instead of yelling/blaming someone around him he just made a sad puppy dog face. When a goalie actually takes blame upon himself you know it had to be his fault.

Or, perhaps he was so upset that they equalized in stoppage time with him being unable to do anything about it because he had no defenders there to help out that he was just too bummed to yell at people. Slightly different perspective, no?

 

[CCMore]

In the post match interview with Vieira he said Allen was getting an x-Ray today because of the challenge

 

[Tony L]

I'm sure we've all heard the idiom 'the straw the broke the camels back'. For many of us, every goal Saunders concedes is a straw on the camels back. Some of our camels already have broken backs. A few more of our camels are dead from broken backs and are slowly decomposing under a pile of straw. It's just built frustration from the one consistent piece of the defense that let's us down, namely Saunders. Is our defense great, not really. But Saunders is our last line of defense and his performance is no longer inspiring to me when he concedes a goal with every one or two saves. And usually the ones he saves are kicked right to him. I think that ray of hope you see guys see in Saunders is just YS staff playing with the lights again.

 

[Keith Putnam]

the commentator "everyone's looking for drogba". what? who was looking for drogba, he was taking the kick..... wait, were they looking for him in the box? I don't put it beyond some of our players to be that inept.

Maybe that's why Drogba put on that jersey in the second half which had no name or number printed on the back. That magnificent bastard!

 

[21Architect]

Moving on from the whole goal debate of multiple people being to blame but one person being 100% to blame. Maths.

There was one particular play last night that caught my attention. It was 2nd half and Lopez made a run into the box. For some reason he cut off his run right as Pirlo was chipping the ball into what would have been his pathway. Lopez then picked his run back up but didn't have nearly the speed to get to the ball which would have been easy if he had just kept his run in the first place.

I bring this up because I think there are numerous things going on with the team. (1) The players are still learning each other and AHABS (new acronym: as has already been said) changing lineups contributes. (2) Young, less talented/savvy players don't get Pirlo and what he can do which makes Pirlo look less effective. (3) This seems like a coaching opportunity related to our need for more movement in general. Make runs. Make them often. And don't break them off until you are certain that you are offsides and the ball has not yet been played to you.

Post Of The Month nominee

 

[Ulrich]

Maybe that's why Drogba put on that jersey in the second half which had no name or number printed on the back. That magnificent bastard!

How was that even legal with no number? Seriously. Seems he didn't have a full kit which should not have allowed him to play.

 

[Keith Putnam]

How was that even legal with no number? Seriously. Seems he didn't have a full kit which should not have allowed him to play.

I was honestly wondering the same thing, and expected him to get yellow-carded or something for having an incomplete kit. But I guess I don't know the full rules about having a name and number on the back.

Or maybe it's only something a football megastar who everybody knows can get away with because it's unlikely the ref will mistake him for someone else?

 

[danger]

How was that even legal with no number? Seriously. Seems he didn't have a full kit which should not have allowed him to play.

https://twitter.com/x/status/725485659956371456

 

[SoupInNYC]

I watched the match just now and I think for the second match in a row all you Saunders haters are nuts. There were two Montreal players going for that header and not a single defender to be seen. Could Saunders have stopped that? Yeah, he could've. Is it his fault it went in? Nope, not at all. It's the same as the goal last weekend where the defender was behind his man who was three feet from the goal and yet everyone here said it was Saunders' fault.

I'm not saying Saunders should be starting for the USMNT or anything but the level of Saunders-hate we've got going on here is just getting a little ridiculous.

I agree with you on parts of this. I didn't quite get the faulting Saunders for the goal against Philly last week, I'm not sure what he could have done there. And while I am definitely in the #StartEirik camp, I do agree that the level of Saunders hate is getting a bit out of control.

But Saunders play on that FK was atrocious. Additionally, the defending on that play by Ethan and co. was equally atrocious. I know there were some jokes about blame percentages not adding to 100%, and what not, but both mistakes made (Saunders and defenders) were so bad, I'd say they were both 80% responsible for the goal.

Had the defenders done any kind of marking on that, there would not have been a goal. Had Saunders performed any kind of goalkeeping there, there would not have been a goal.

 

[Ulrich]

https://twitter.com/x/status/725485659956371456

Shouldn't be allowed. The issue is that even though Drogba is recognizable, the Ref keeps track of players via jersey number - that's why it's in the rule book, same as offsides, handball, etc. What happens if a second player rips their jersey and they don a numberless shirt? Answering that the second player can't step on isn't valid - neither would be playing with the number assigned to them on the starting card, so neither should be allowed on the field.

MLS dropped the ball here by not ruling him ineligible. It'd have been a tough pill to swallow for Montreal by forcing them to burn a sub, but it comes down to Montreal's equipment manager not being prepared - same as if he bring three types of cleats for each player - be prepared for anything.

 

[Seth]

Shouldn't be allowed. The issue is that even though Drogba is recognizable, the Ref keeps track of players via jersey number - that's why it's in the rule book, same as offsides, handball, etc. What happens if a second player rips their jersey and they don a numberless shirt? Answering that the second player can't step on isn't valid - neither would be playing with the number assigned to them on the starting card, so neither should be allowed on the field.

MLS dropped the ball here by not ruling him ineligible. It'd have been a tough pill to swallow for Montreal by forcing them to burn a sub, but it comes down to Montreal's equipment manager not being prepared - same as if he bring three types of cleats for each player - be prepared for anything.

Don't know what the rules are on this but I've seen a number of times in EPL matches where players got bloodied jerseys or something and had to wear high-numbered spares.

*goes to look up rules*

OK, looks like number requirements are per each competition:

6.1 The numbering of the Players shall be regulated by the relevant
Competition Regulations to be issued by FIFA.​

PDF link: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/51/54/30/equipment_reg_26032010_en.pdf

And of course I wasn't able to find anything in the MLS Competition Rules about numbers, so who knows?

 

[Ulrich]

Don't know what the rules are on this but I've seen a number of times in EPL matches where players got bloodied jerseys or something and had to wear high-numbered spares.

*goes to look up rules*

OK, looks like number requirements are per each competition:

6.1 The numbering of the Players shall be regulated by the relevant
Competition Regulations to be issued by FIFA.​

PDF link: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/51/54/30/equipment_reg_26032010_en.pdf

And of course I wasn't able to find anything in the MLS Competition Rules about numbers, so who knows?

A high number spare is still a number that is discernible amongst the other players. So I'll buy that that is ok, because two different players could have #66 & #77, but how can two different players potentially have blank shirts? It's BS, and the league should have yanked him off he field immediately.

-edit- if blank shirts are ok, then next game I want every player on our team to rip their jersey and change into a blank. Let's see how the opposing team deals with identifying their marks and how the ref writes down yellow card offenses. MLS can bite it - they will have created this problem.

 

[Seth]

A high number spare is still a number that is discernible amongst the other players. So I'll buy that that is ok, because two different players could have #66 & #77, but how can two different players potentially have blank shirts? It's BS, and the league should have yanked him off he field immediately.

-edit- if blank shirts are ok, then next game I want every player on our team to rip their jersey and change into a blank. Let's see how the opposing team deals with identifying their marks and how the ref writes down yellow card offenses. MLS can bite it - they will have created this problem.

I'm actually sort of OK with one player not having a number. I mean, you can definitely tell them apart from the other players after all. Two players without numbers would be a problem though. Hard to believe they don't have a few spare shirts for just this sort of thing though.

I think the Yankees were the team that started using numbers back in the 1920s. Before that there were no numbers on uniforms. (Also, putting names on jerseys started in the 1960s, and the Yankees are the only team who don't do that.)

 

[Ulrich]

I'm actually sort of OK with one player not having a number. I mean, you can definitely tell them apart from the other players after all. Two players without numbers would be a problem though. Hard to believe they don't have a few spare shirts for just this sort of thing though.

I think the Yankees were the team that started using numbers back in the 1920s. Before that there were no numbers on uniforms. (Also, putting names on jerseys started in the 1960s, and the Yankees are the only team who don't do that.)

Are you ok with one player being allowed to always be offsides and not called for it, or one player being allowed to handle the ball and not called for it? Can't pick and choose which rules to enforce and which to let slide. Of all things, rules regarding jerseys & kits are black/white.

 

[joe]

the Yankees are the only team who don't do that.

False.

"As of 2010, the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants do not display their players' names on their home uniforms (the Giants did adopt the names in the 1970s, but removed them from the home uniform in 2000); the Yankees also do not display them on their road uniforms. The New York Mets used alternate home uniforms without last names for the 1999 season. The names were returned the next season. The Chicago Cubs did not have names on their home or alternate jerseys for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. The names are now back on both jerseys. The Los Angeles Dodgers did not have names on the back of their home and road jerseys for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Names returned on both jerseys in 2007. The Minnesota Twins did not feature names on the back of three different "throwback" alternate uniforms, used in 2009, 2010 and 2011."