Post-Match Wrap | United vs. Crew

Alright, seeing as how the lights seem to be out over at the usual post-match sorting and collating station, what say we do a little experiment to try and gather the assorted strands of pixelated wool, shall we?


Your Friendly Neighborhood United Bloggers...

BLCKDGRD..."United won, but Columbus is the better team with the better future. They were the better team last night, playing their B-Squad. If United does make the playoffs, it's likely they'll draw Columbus, and I'll be there to watch that full-strength Columbus squad dismantle United." (Sad but true...)

DCUMD..."Even though the team was playing in a 3-5-2 to specifically take advantage of his talents, Christian Gomez was a complete non-factor in this match. [...] It sure felt like our team in 2009 was better than our team in 2008, yet we are somehow right back in the same spot as last year - needing a win in the last week to continue playing." (So who takes the blame, and does the ownership hold them accountable?)

Kick This!..."From the opening whistle Columbus looked quicker and more purposeful. They would continue to be more succesful in winning and keeping the ball as the match wore on. [...] To the extent you could call walking the ball up the middle of the field and then resorting to square and back passes "offense," United played its slow build up game. Thus, in addition to reverting formations, United had retreated from the wide and penetrating patterns of play it had been developing recently." (Sigh...couldn't agree more)

Yours Truly..."To me, the Crew looked like they were an artist with a paint by numbers set. Sure, they weren't making brilliant art, but they were consistently making art, in the form of keeping the ball in our end, moving off each other with confidence that the ball would be on the other end of the movement, and generally getting the ball into dangerous areas to fashion chances. United? They were up in their loft in a black turtleneck and beret, smoking a clove and waiting...always waiting for inspiration to strike like a bolt from the blue. And it did. Once. Hard to consistently take that approach and be a winner though..."


The Fourth Estate...

Goff (WaPo)..."Knowing a loss would extinguish United's chances, Soehn abandoned the four-man back line and committed an extra player into midfield. United attacked well in the first half, producing quality opportunities, but failed to generate a shot or corner kick after intermission." (Ouch!)

Boehm (MLSNet.com)..."The visitors enjoyed more of the ball and created more attacking danger for most of the evening. But United made the most of one of the game's only bright spots [...] Earlier in the week United coach Tom Soehn had spoken of the Crew's tendency to sit in on the road, and his starting lineup reflected an urgency to take the game to the visitors." (Hahahahahahahaha...oh how we laugh at Tommy Tactics!)


The Unwashed Masses...

Taking the temperature of the BigSoccer post-match thread (usually a dangerous and divisive operation), the consensus seems to be...

• Cronin is the second coming
  
• Boyzzz can't defend for crap
• We got damned lucky
• Our glacial attack prefers back and sideways to forward
• The fighting spirit we've been missing seemed to be back
  

In Match Tweet of the Night...

@cboehm: #DCU is winning...it's the 43rd minute and Tom Soehn hasn't made a substitution...what the h*ll is going on here?!!?!!?


Looking Forward...

1. On the strength of one game, can Cronin suddenly be vaulted to front-runner status for the starting keeper job next year? And will the FO pay to land him?
2. KC's tiny ballpark might be the only pitch in the league where we can play three at the back and not have to worry terribly about width. That said, we won't hugely benefit from five in midfield in the cramped conditions either, and any advantage of having a dedicated playmaker will probably be irrelevant in the compressed space.
3. Miraculously (and with a little help from the men with whistles), we still have a shot at grabbing the #2 spot in the East. Holy crap, imagine if we'd actually won just one of these last three home matches!
4. The playoff permutations are mind-numbing.
   

Feel free to fill in the blank spaces in the comments, I just thought I'd try this format on for size...does it make my ass look big? ;-)