The one where the south might have something to say

1: Hell of a good day for the unity kit. Something is happening here. The play is coming together. There’s an understanding and UNITY amongst the squad. The movement on and off the ball is so good. Everybody looks like they are on the same page. Hell they look they are on the same damn sentence. The schedule continues to be packed, but the opponents we face with a long string of home matches sets us up very well to have something to say this season after all. I think Rob Valentino deserves a ton of credit for getting things turned around and set up well for when Pineda steps in. 

 

2: The play out of the back was soooooo good today. A couple nervey moments but all around, cool, calm, and confident. We controlled the play for the overwhelming majority of the match and limited LAFC to the occasional counter attack and set piece opportunity. Walkes did a fantastic job taking Vela out of the game. 

 

3: Speaking of set pieces, our defending against them was much improved today. The clearances were really good. We didn’t just clear balls. So often we actually just played a good ball out and immediately went forward. 

 

4: Josef loves going out on his boat and he went sailing again today. This is the Barco we all want to see. His work rate and his effort has never been in question. His consistency and decision making has, and that’s really come good since his return from the Olympics. If he can continue to play like this for the remainder of the season, moving him on should be no problem. He may even give the club something to think about. 

 

5: Rosetto and Miles get my vote for men of the match. How much more at ease do we all feel with Miles on the backline? It allows us to play out of the back like we did so well today. Rossetto has been a big part of that too. I lost count of how many times he won the ball and neutralized a counter attack. It just feels like so many players are having their true potential unlocked. We can only hope the transition over to Pineda is smooth. With Rob staying on and Pineda’s full recognition of how important he has been, I think it will be.