Five Takes On The Five Stripes

The one where it’s no longer a Pity that we can’t score goals

1: The whole match was very similar to the match against Orlando. We looked very hesitant in the final third. We weren’t quick enough on the ball. We’re missing a leader, a driving force that holds everyone accountable and can at times, put the team on his back. Just someone who puts in the work and makes everyone else work that much harder.

 

2: Brooks Lennon was MOTM for me with an honorable mention to Anton Walkes. He was everywhere. Right back, left back, Center mid, Christ at one point I swear I saw him run up to the VAR booth and run that for a minute. He was doing everything he could to provide that spark and be that leader with his work rate but it’s not enough for us. All fairness to him, he wasn’t meant to be that guy. If we can ever get going and if he can get linked up with Torres or Jahn, I think he can be every bit as effective as Gressel. Certainly so when Josef gets back.

 

3: Look if all these changes are going to happen, At least they’re happening in a year like this. I don’t think anyone is going to look back and really remember this year for it’s quality of play. I’m not trying to downplay anything and there’s definitely an argument to be made about this season actually being tougher to win it all, but for me this is an *. It’s an anomaly. Hopefully 2021 comes around and we have our roster and coaching staff sorted out and oh yeah, have Josef back. This team is built around him.

 

4: There was no build up of play in the first half. I think I can count the number of chances we created on one hand, even if that hand was in a horrible accident and only had three fingers. We had one half chance that Escobar couldn’t get on the end of. Then there was a ball that pinged around the box in the second half. The best chance of the entire match was with Cubo from a beautiful cross for Lennon but he Pity’d it. It felt like we were just running passing drills for most of the match. We didn’t create. It’s unexpected with news of Pity today.

 

5: Part of me just wants to call this season done. The problems we have are going to linger, to a degree at least, for the remainder of the season. Especially now with Pity gone and what’s sure to be another DP coming in, it just feels like there’s literally not enough time to get things to gel and sync up. I worry about what the frustration and lack of success is going to do to the morale and desire of the players. Maybe the plan is to just make the playoffs and then hit our stride?

 

 

 

 

The One Where 2020 Remains Consistent

FTOTFS 

8/29 OFYO

Recording the pod later tonight. 

1: We were on the front foot at the start. An incredible save kept it at 0-0 but Remedi had a great follow up effort. Eric has really stepped up his game and his role in this club since Nagbe’s departure. The middle of the park was not the issue for us tonight. 

2:. We had loads of defensive problems in the final third in the first half. We just looked totally disjointed and not in sync. Set piece defending was really poor. It could have been 3 or even 4-0 off of open headers on goal. There was utter confusion in the box on the first goal. Guzan probably should have had that, but it just looked like we weren’t set. You could see with the reaction off the first goal how serious Orlando took this. No major celebration. Straight to midfield and restarting play. The 2nd goal was a perfect example of the lack or organization. Yes, Lennon was off, but that’s no excuse. Someone has to drop back and cover. 

3: Orlando was the opposite of us on defense. They were solid and well organized for the entirety of the match. They didn’t have many egregious errors that we were able to take advantage of. Ultimately we gave them more than they gave us. We threw everything we had at them in the last 30 and they handled adversity very well. 

4: It was nice to see Adam Jahn be more involved. Honestly he probably saw more action tonight than he did all of his previous matches combined. Not only were we looking for him more but there a number of moments where he got stuck in. It was a much more aggressive and determined performance from him. 

5: Look it was never going to be Father’s Day without Daddy. Credit to Glassy, he was effective and aggressive with substitutions. He didn’t wait and made them early and they were impactful. I would have liked to see Damm come on a little earlier. He had an impact straight away. Clearly he’s been working on his crosses.

The One With Good Trouble

1: The Kenosha police deputized the people calling themselves the Kenosha Guard the moment they said "Appreciate y'all being out here" What they should have said was "GO HOME. We don't want you to get hurt and we don't want you to hurt anyone." They didn't and people are hurt and people are dead.

 

2: I don't know how we move forward in any meaningful way. I know that real progress is only going to occur when people on both sides of an issue make an earnest effort to understand the others POV. I don't know how we get to a point where that can happen.

 

3: For the Law and Order crowd out there that has been calling for an end to lawlessness, where you at? There was an armed militia taking the law into their own hands dispensing justice as they saw fit. You're either against lawlessness wholesale or not at all. It can't just be when it serves you and your worldview.

 

4: Stick to sports is dead. It really grosses me out when I hear people say shit like, they just need to do their job and not bring politics into the game. Entertain me peasant. Athletes are real people, that make real sacrifices to provide an escape for all of us. They're voices deserve to be heard as much as the next person.

 

5: To quote Bilbo Baggins "I feel like butter scraped over too much bread." There's so much going on. There's so much to care about. It can really drag you down but we all have to do our absolute best to not let ourselves become desensitized and apathetic.

 

 

The One Where We Stay Glassy

touches were sloppy. We had our pocket picked a few times. Eric Remedi was vital early on, breaking up Nashville opportunities and winning back possession.

2: For all of Nashville’s talk about how they’re not just a team that sits back and plays for the counter, that’s kinda exactly what they did for most of the match. It really wasn’t until around the 25th minute that we began to find a way through their block. We started putting more pressure on their defense and forced some errors. We started winning the ball back in their half.

3: Walkes had a standout defensive performance. The yellow card was 100% crap. In fact I’m not sure what game Ted Unkel was watching but he got a number of calls wrong. You could hear Guzan barking at him all night. “It’s a fuckin handball....TED!”. Not TED’s best performance.

4: Pity had the kind of confident game we’ve been looking for. Lovely goal in the first and how about Eric Remedi throwing on a suit and tie, grabbing a platter, and absolutely serving that up from 60 yards. I think that’s exactly the ball and position that can yield dividends for Pity. He just needs half a yard and a couple good touches on the ball. He absolutely tore the net off with his second. A not confident Pity sends that ball into the rafters.

5: Overall a good win and we get to add another team to the list that hasn’t beaten us. Based on the players’ performance tonight and from their statements over the last week, they seem to be enjoying playing again. I’m sure being home and playing in AC helps. There is still some sloppiness that needs to be cleaned up for sure, but everyone just seemed more comfortable on the whole.

The One Where Our Hashtags Become Reality

1: I don’t think Frank was a crap coach. I don’t think he ever really gelled and connected with the players. He never struck me as someone who inspires his players to run through a wall for him.

2: Yes FDB’s results are on par with Tata’s in terms of win %. Yes we did win 2 trophies last year and made it to the conference final. There was a rough start to the season and then there was that big players meeting and things turned around. You now gotta question how much of that turnaround you attribute to Frank and his tactics and how much you attribute to him sort of acquiescing to the players.

3: Since this was a “mutual parting” it further reinforces the suspicion that there were problems with chemistry. To me that says the coach didn’t sync up and enjoy being with players and vice versa with players attitude towards the coach.

4: It is gonna be tough and complicated to find a new manager. Covid 19 is going to further complicate things. The US has not done a good job getting this pandemic under control and bringing anyone in from Europe, South America or anyone else in the world is gonna be difficult for a number of reasons. Acquiring Visas will be tough, there are travel restrictions across the globe and especially coming to and going from the US. Also, you gotta factor in personal feelings from potential coaches. We don’t even know what the MLS regular season is gonna be like. Would an international coach want to travel right now and be away from family? There’s just sooooo much uncertainty.

5: Overall I think this can be viewed positively. Certainly if you were on team FDB out, you’re probably very happy but look, Darren and Boca and I’m betting a large number of the players weren’t feeling it. Something wasn’t working. We don’t know all the details about what wasn’t working but they made a decisive decision. They didn’t just wafer back and forth for months. They felt a new direction was needed and didn’t hesitate. This sets the tone for the future of the standard of this club that must be met and if it is not, we are not afraid to make moves and adjustments.

The One Where We Are Not Mad, We're Just Disappointed.

1: We continue to have problems defensively on the left. Shoot, we continue to have problems defensively all around. The back three are constantly pulled out of position. 

 

2: Pity is not showing his quality. He attempted a number of difficult passes and they’re not coming off. It’s like he sets his sights on the harder options but isn’t up to the task. Pity just keeps trying to do too much. He needs to keep it simple. There were times when there was no pressure on him and he skied balls and made glaring errant passes. 

 

3: We LET Columbus play their system. Their high press in the first half was very effective. Columbus looked comfortable all night. We weren’t disruptive. We weren’t threatening. We looked very passive. In the first half we had about 2 free kicks and maybe one other look at goal. That was it. 

 

4: We came out with more urgency in the first 15-20 of the second half but what good is urgency if you don’t have any flow? We didn’t build up any sort of attack. There were a few individual performances that were ok but it’s really hard to talk about those when the entire unit didn’t perform, AT ALL. 

 

5: I can’t believe I’m saying this.....I agree with Taylor Twellman. But it’s not even that we look like we are playing with a man down, it looks we have 11 guys that haven’t bought into a system, if there is one. I saw no heart or desire to go out and give ourselves a chance tonight. 

 

 

 

 

The One Where We Can't Mask Our Disappointment

1: Fatigue and frustration was the theme of the day. This was just sluggish ugly football from both sides with a moment of brilliance from Amaya. Clearly the heat and match time played a role. I’m not using either of those factors as an excuse but they are factors. I’m not a fan of these 9am games. I don’t think the conditions lend themselves to entertaining football. There is no clearer example than the fact that you saw a side up a man, and no attack or press came from them.

2: Mulraney’s sloppy foul changed the entire game. He’s a professional and he has to be aware of where he’s at on yellows. That’s not rust, that’s just really poor decision making. Surprisingly enough Cincy did not press us when we went down a man. They continued to sit deep and really not threaten us consistently. If I’m Cincy I would have gone for the knockout blow in the first half, but they eventually got it but it wasn’t from organized play or a high press. It was just a flash of brilliance.

3: We still don’t look organized in our attack, even before the second yellow. I don’t want to believe it but we look lost without Josef. I really thought given the length of time we had to train without him we would have worked out a system to produce goals without el Rey.

4: For me, that was a penalty. I don’t think there was anything conclusive in the video to call that back for offsides. Maybe there’s a camera angle we didn’t get to see but from the angle we saw on ESPN it didn’t look like anything was conclusive to me. It certainly was not clear and obvious.

5: I don’t see this match or even this tournament as a referendum. We’re missing Josef, we had a 3 month stoppage, the time is weird, the weather is stifling, we were down a man. I just don’t see this as indicative of how the rest of the season (if there is one) will go. We just haven’t had a chance to really get anything going so I’m going to refrain from the sky is falling fire FDB #’s.

 

 

 

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