Despite being a bitter neutral, I'm still watching as much of the MLS playoffs as I can. And I'm sure the imps over at MLS HQ are getting hot and bothered right about now dreaming of a NY v. LA final. Me? Not so much. But it wouldn't be a hard case to make after the professional away wins both managed to post this weekend.
Colorado 1:0 Columbus
Colorado hold serve at home in a match that will probably look quite similar to what we'll see in the return leg next week (save for the stands being more full). The Crew are patient, like to get the ball down, and run things through their playmaker. Colorado have no use for such niceties. They get the ball wide and forward quickly, playing a direct, counterattacking style. You've got to hand it to Gary Smith. He may not be the most tactically progressive coach, but he's set a style and crafted his roster to suit, trading away pieces that didn't fit in order to build the beast he wanted. You've got to figure that the Crew will be able to sustain more pressure at home, but if Colorado nick one on the break, a feat they're admirably built to achieve, do the Crew have enough firepower and enough legs (remember their Champions League participation) to recover the tie? No away goals in the MLS playoffs, so they wouldn't need three. Still...
FC Dallas 2:1 RSL
RSL would have probably been my tip to repeat before the playoffs began, but they're in a tough spot now, down a goal and with Morales suspended for the second leg. And it's that late Avila goal that changes the complexion of this tie completely. RSL have been dominant at Rio Tinto, so it looked like 1-1 going home, even with Morales out, would prove clear sailing into the conference final, particularly with Dallas so banged up. Now? Not so sure. Rodriguez's injury opens the door for Cunningham, and you wouldn't put it past him to exploit his speed on the counter to up that goal tally. Still, RSL have a relatively deep bench. Will that be enough to overcome both a goal deficit and the drain of the extra Champions League fixtures?
San Jose 0:1 New York
Big win for New York in a game that they might have won by a more comfortable margin. Soccer being a game of inches, they equally could have gone home with a draw, but they always looked the more likely to score. Makes you wonder where the recently prolific Wondolowski was hiding. If I was San Jose, I'd be looking to heavily exploit the flanks in the second leg, because that was where the Red Bulls looked most fragile. Should be an interesting second leg, and all signs seem to favor New York, but I have this little itch that says the Quakes will make things interesting before the final whistle blows.
Seattle 0:1 Los Angeles
LA had their predictable little wobble, but they look to have righted the ship in time. With a hot Buddle, the best player in the league (Donovan), and the bonus of Beckham's quick recovery providing added danger from set pieces, I wouldn't be surprised to see them make another run to the cup final. On the other side, Montero's dip has come at the worst time for Sigi's men, rendering them far less fearsome in attack. And I'd be shocked, media blowhards' opinions notwithstanding, if Seattle doesn't bring in some real competition for Keller. He's turned in some shaky, if not downright laughable outings this year, and that inevitable ride into the sunset shouldn't be long in coming.
Second Leg Predictions?
Colorado counter KO's Crew.
RSL dominate, but need Rimando PK heroics to advance.
Red Bulls advance, but only narrowly.
LA push on, Seattle go down swinging (literally — at least one red card).
Seriously?
Now I can understand Jaime getting the sympathy vote and pulling a quarter of the Goal of the Year voting (when this post went live) despite Najar's Open Cup overtime goal against RSL being the obvious choice. That's a given considering external circumstances. But how in the hell is Najar only getting 40% of the Fan's Choice vote? True, there are only three players (at the time of this post) pulling over 10%, but the others are (drumroll, please): Jed Zayner (11%), who only joined us mid-summer, and Kurt freakin' Morsink (27%)?
Seriously?
Who the hell is voting in these things? I mean, Morsink's attitude and fire are commendable, if sometimes bordering on the ridiculous, but in terms of making an impression and having an impact, I can't see how Najar isn't your man. The only one I'd rate as even being close would be Julius James, who really stepped up his game this year. Yet somehow, the voting public puts him at a lowly 2%, below Devon McTavish.
Sigh.
Another big fail for the internets. No wonder Payne isn't worried about accountability.
Seriously?
Who the hell is voting in these things? I mean, Morsink's attitude and fire are commendable, if sometimes bordering on the ridiculous, but in terms of making an impression and having an impact, I can't see how Najar isn't your man. The only one I'd rate as even being close would be Julius James, who really stepped up his game this year. Yet somehow, the voting public puts him at a lowly 2%, below Devon McTavish.
Sigh.
Another big fail for the internets. No wonder Payne isn't worried about accountability.
Yanked Abroad | 09. The Home Stretch
Down the home stretch we come in Season #1 of Yanked Abroad. My Randers team sit fourth in the Danish Premier, holding a slight edge in the race for Euro-spots and still technically alive in the title chase, though it would require a monumental collapse by all three of the teams ahead of us to open that particular door. Silverware is not out of reach however, as we have made it to the Danish Cup final.
Danish Premier - Randers 2:0 FC Nordsjælland
Eleven days before the cup final against this same opposition, so I play my cards close to the vest, running out a team of veteran squad players, benchwarmers, and youth teamers in my usual 4-4-1-1. Because of injury, I'm forced to go with my only two healthy center backs in the middle of defense. I also run out Sane, a usual starter who's lost his place owing to bad form. But the rest are not regular starters, and one, Rune Hastrup, is an 18 year old from the U19's that I've been giving garbage minutes to. I've got another couple of U19's on the bench.
Despite the changes, I still expect to get something from this match, and we start the game pushing forward in numbers. Seven minutes in and Alex Fischer goes storming down the right flank from his fullback position, hitting a cross that curls back across the six for Mikkel Beckmann, our left wing, to nod home with a well-placed header. Nordsjælland respond, earning a series of corners, one of which provides two consecutive chances for American defender Michael Parkhurst from short range, but our backup keeper saves the first before Parkhurst smacks the rebound off the post and out.
We pull back slightly with an eye to controlling possession, and our control gradually returns with the wings, Beckmann and the youngster Hastrup, making a series of dangerous dribbling runs. Beckmann, despite having taken a knock, finishes the half strong, ensuring his man of the match award in first half stoppage time by splitting two defenders on the left flank, cutting back, dribbling across the top of the box, following the arc of the "D", and hitting a laser into the bottom right corner of the net.
The second half is predictably dull. We concede a couple of chances, but have double that on the break ourselves. Nobody manages to score, and I get my kids in for some first team experience. Smiles all around, though one of the U19's gets a facial injury that will see him sit out a week and change. We currently top the injury table in the Danish Premier with four injuries, three defenders (starters Ripson and Gray, plus utility defender/midfielder Mads Fenger) out for the remainder of the season, and the kid, Sørensen, out for 8-11 days.
Danish Premier - AGF 1:1 Randers
Black magic, man. That's the only explanation for the length of this unbeaten run. Okay, so maybe I'm getting the best from a limited set of players, but they are completely overmatched in some of these games, and there has to be a huge element of luck keeping this run alive. True, AGF were without their string-puller in chief, Feilhaber, but they've got the kind of quality throughout their roster that we can only put forward with a handful of standouts. In the first half, things looked true to form, they had an initial flurry of chances, capped off by a fourth minute goal from a corner. Instead of sitting deeper, I trusted to our confidence, pushing one d-mid (we started in the 4-2-2-2 with two deep d-mids and two wide attacking mids) forward. We responded, but the chances were pretty even for the rest of the half.
I laid into the boys at halftime, telling them were were handing our arch-rivals the title and embarrassing ourselves in front of the traveling support. The response was excellent. Man of the match and veteran target-man Marc Nygaard, after issuing a pre-match rallying cry, answered his own bell by getting everywhere, winning innumerable headers. The chances came thick and fast, Movsisyan, Zhou, Nygaard, and Lorentzen all went close. A flowing team move resulted in Movsisyan charging down the left, floating one across that Nygaard powered on frame, only to have it saved. Sivebæk hit a followup, also saved, before Lorentzen came in on that rebound, hitting a low drive that was parried wide. From the resulting corner, Movsisyan took the low ball played to the edge of the box, raced across the middle, and got sandwiched. The ball popped loose to Nygaard, who turned and rifled in a volley that bounced around the middle. In the ensuing mad scramble, an Aarhus defender tried to clear, only to have the ball bounce back and dribble, ever so slowly, across the line. Own goal. You make your own luck.
We dominated the remainder of the match save for one excellent chance when the defense got caught napping. In the final reckoning, the chances were about even, but we had 78% pass completion to their 63% and had 62% of the possession. Though the draw eliminates us from the title race with two games remaining, it also has the distinct pleasure, for our supporters, of damaging AGF's cause in the same race. They were running away with the league before a lukewarm patch allowed København back into the picture. A short recovery put them nine points clear, but they've since gone cold, making it a three horse race with the aforementioned Københaven and a surging Brøndby. With two games left, AGF are on 66, København on 64, and Brøndby on 63. We trail comfortably in fourth on 57, Ondense needing to win both matches remaining (and have us fail to pick up two points) to catch us.
To add to our small-squad worries, two of the kids I've been giving first-team minutes to, Hastrup and Sørensen, have been called up to the Danish U19 side for the U19 Euro Championship qualifiers. They'll miss the next week, meaning we'll be without them for our last two league matches and the cup final. Still, it's good to see our youngsters getting recognition.
Danish Premier - Randers 2:1 Sønderjysk
The scrubs almost gave it away late, but they managed to hang on. With an almost entirely second-team lineup (the center back injury crisis forced me to field one of my normal starters) and teenagers on the bench, I was keeping my powder dry for the cup final in three days. Still, I expected to make a good go of it against the third from bottom team. Likewise, a win would ensure our Euro-qualification for next year and keep the long unbeaten streak alive.
We had a couple of early chances, but the visitors started to come back into it, fashioning a few of their own. In response to their getting too much space between the lines, I pushed higher and dropped one of the central mids to a d-mid spot to fill the space their forwards were exploiting. Control returned, but not completely. We traded attacking sequences, with theirs usually ending in long shots and ours in corners. Towards the end of an unremarkable half, young striker König rose above two defenders and nodded a floated cross home. 1-0 at the break, and I encouraged the boys at halftime, challenging a few of them that I thought were underperforming.
The boys responded initially, creating two fantastic chances that were wasted by König and Sane respectively. Without outlets up top, we were struggling a bit as the half wore on. I pushed Sane up from a-mid to forward, going to a more traditional 4-4-2 with one of the central mids dropped deep. Immediately our possession soared, and all the action was in their end. With 15 minutes to go, Ricki Olsen finally found the breakthrough, racing onto a through ball from a deep midfield position and firing home at the near post. 2-0 and we dropped back to counter. I was so comfortably that I brought on a 16 year old center back to log some minutes out of position at right back (a spot I'm training him for since he's weak and tiny — not exactly center back material).
And it all went swimmingly until stoppage time. The fourth official signaled three minutes to be added on, but in the first minute, a scramble in the box resulted in a ball poked home for them. Still, not too much of a problem, right? Less than two minutes? Almost immediately, the 16 year old, one Nicolai Poulsen, the youngest ever to represent Randers FC at the senior level, dawdles on the ball, loses possession at the edge of the box, and forces creative mid Jonas Damborg to fling himself into a last-ditch tackle, promptly injuring himself with all of our subs used. Down to ten, but we should only have a minute to kill...or so I thought. We had three more scares before the ref finally blew the final whistle after 8 minutes of stoppage time.
In the process, we managed to lose Pedersen and Damborg, our first two options off the bench in central midfield, for the remaining two games of the season. The number three option, Olsen, hit the disciplinary limit for yellow cards as well, and Sørensen, the youth-teamer who's been logging minutes of late, is away with the Danish U19's, so our cup team is going to be thin not just in central defense, but central midfield as well.
Still, Euro-qualification is assured; we will finish fourth, regardless of what happens in the final weekend. And it should be an interesting one in the title chase. København have clawed their way back into the top spot, sitting on 67 points, just one clear of both AGF and Brøndby on 66. Goal difference? København and Brøndby on +37, AGF on +38. My money's on København, who are home to the Sønderjysk side we just beat and hold that slender one-point lead. Brøndby are home as well, to winless Køge, while our rivals AGF are home to Aalborg. It'll be sweet if they finish behind København, because our draw against them in the last match will have been what cost them the title.
Before we get to our own cup final, I note that the team that knocked us out of the Europa League, Roma, made it all the way to the final of that competition before being beaten in extra time by Brad Friedel's Aston Villa. Roma's Daniele De Rossi was, predictably for US fans that remember 2006, sent off in extra time.
A quick peek in at the Danish U19's qualifying campaign saw none of my boys feature in their opening win against Estonia (Hastrup played 90 for us the previous day and Sørensen was coming back from his facial injury), though Hastrup and Sørensen both got on the scoresheet in a 4-0 rout of Scotland, with Sørensen both captaining the side and winning man of the match. His only competition would have been Hastrup, as both finished with ratings above 9. A stiffer test awaits against Russia, though a draw will see them through to the U19 Euro championships.
Danish Cup Final - FC Nordsjælland vs. Randers FC
The current rash of injuries, suspensions, and call-ups limited my choices, but fortunately, my squad rotation policy left me with fresh legs for my starting eleven, which I ran out in a fairly standard 4-4-2 with both central mids detailed as ball winners, the left wing a pure winger, the right wing a defensive winger, and both fullbacks given orders to get forward as wingbacks. We lined up thus...
Movsisyan, Nygaard
Lorentzen, Zhou, Karlsen, Sivebæk
Krol, Egholm, Ahmed, Fischer
Ellegaard
subs: van Duin (GK), Antón, Beckmann, Sane
Nordsjælland came out in a 4-5-1/4-3-3, so I focused on marking their three front-runners tightly and closing down their d-mid and fullbacks. Inside of a minute, Nygaard was slipped through and thundered one off the post. Inside of ten we had hit the bar again. They were reeling, but rallied, only for Ahmed to rise and head home a corner on 15 minutes. We stuck to our guns, playing the "Standard" wait-and-see approach. But again they rallied, going close a number of times. Despite my orders to close down their d-mid, he was still directing traffic, so I detailed Nygaard to drop off the front line to man-mark him when they had possession. The tide swung back to us, with a couple of good chances spurned before the half.
At halftime I told them that I didn't expect their performance to drop, and I laid into Fischer, who was having a real stinker. The second 45 began indifferently. Both sides had chances from set pieces, but weren't creating much from open play. A series of corners for them had me scared. Could we hold a one goal lead for 35 more minutes against a team that clearly saw this as their one chance at doing anything this year and was threatened with relegation?
I decided to be brave and attacked. I told the boys to get forward and cause them problems, to start dictating the game. And we did. Three chances in quick succession finally led to a corner that Movsisyan controlled near the edge of the box, danced in at a tight angle, and blasted through a pack of bodies, the shot deflecting in off a defender. 2-0 with 62 minutes played, but I kept the hammer down. Zhou and Lorentzen both went close, and Nygaard hit a rocket from distance that the keeper parried with some difficulty.
With a quarter of the game remaining, I pulled back on the reins a bit, trying to keep things tighter at the back. Antón came on for the yellow-carded Egholm, detailed to play as cover while Ahmed stuck tight to their lone forward. With Nygaard tiring rapidly, having been asked to do double duty as target-man and man-marker on their d-mid, I brought Sane in to midfield and shifted the athletic right winger Sivebæk up top with the same brief as Nygaard had been given.
They had two good chances to pull one back before we made our definitive grab for the trophy. Told to sit back and counter, we did just that. Lorentzen picked up a headed clearance on the left wing and raced forward, beating the fullback for pace and crossing low and hard across the face of goal. Movsisyan went near post but couldn't stretch to reach the cross. Sivebæk, who's spurned great chances thus far this spring, finally buried one, darting in front of his defender and bundling the cross home from close range. His first senior goal, and it put us up 3-0 on 77 minutes. After that, it was just keep-away and running out the clock as we shifted to a 4-1-3-2 to counter their move to a 4-2-3-1. I did bring Beckmann on for Lorentzen with a few minutes remaining, both as a reward for Beckmann for having such a quality year and to let man of the match Lorentzen soak in the applause.
Final score - FC Nordsjælland 0:3 Randers FC
Our reward? $29,000. Sigh.
The plaudits are better.
Sadly, the Danish U19's fail to qualify for the Euros, losing 1-0 to Russia in the final group match, with both Hastrup and Sørensen picking up their second youth caps.
Danish Premier - Randers 1:1 Esbjerg
Fitting end to a strange season and a condensation of the whole affair in miniature. I ran out a somewhat changed lineup, holding out some of my regulars in favor of what I might be looking at as a starting lineup next year. We came out in an offset 4-4-1-1 that more resembled a right-leaning 4-3-3. Sadly, the new look wasn't paying dividends. Esbjerg, who will finish just below us in the table, had all of the early running, capping their dominance with a header inside the six just before the half-hour mark. I didn't panic, merely shifted the formation a bit to get the wide men more involved. We had a couple of chances near the end of the half, but nothing clear-cut.
I demanded more at halftime and saw a couple of half-chances early but nothing more. I went to the "swoosh" 4-4-2 and told the boys to attack, trying to get more numbers forward, but nobody was having a really outstanding game. I swapped out the forward line and brought on Sivebæk on the right wing, hoping a transfusion of fresh blood would raise us from our torpor. And we did start to come into it, but, after watching yet another hoofed ball fail as we closed on the 85th minute, it was the switch to a short passing game that began to open up the game. Suddenly we were stroking it about with confidence. A delightful series of triangles resulted in Zimmerman slipping in Beckmann to blast home a powerful equalizer with minutes remaining. And in the three minutes of stoppage time, we must have had five really solid chances. Couldn't finish, but draws have been the name of the game this year. Nobody lost fewer games than us (only the champions, København, who lost 7, were close to our 4 losses), but a rash of draws (our final record was 16 wins, 13 draws, and 4 losses) left us trailing the lead trio.
Still, we finished the spring season unbeaten and managed to land some silverware and a Europa League spot in the bargain. An almost $4 million payout for our final league position more than makes up for the lousy prize money on offer in the cup. I finish second in the Danish Manager of the Year award, just behind København's title-winning boss.
The tale of the tape...
In the next, and likely final, installment of this series, I'm going to look at the tactics I employed, what I'll be looking to change in the offseason if I do continue this game, and an honest assessment of what went right and the little that went wrong.
Why might the next post be the last installment? Well, FM 2011 will be released on November 5. I'm already kicking the tires on the demo and will likely want to have a go at rescuing DC United. My only question now is whether to wait for the December patch to tackle that job. I'll share more when I'm ready to kick off that series, but I think I'm going to be approaching it in a different manner — less detail on individual games and a more long-term approach (3-5 seasons?).
Danish Premier - Randers 2:0 FC Nordsjælland
Eleven days before the cup final against this same opposition, so I play my cards close to the vest, running out a team of veteran squad players, benchwarmers, and youth teamers in my usual 4-4-1-1. Because of injury, I'm forced to go with my only two healthy center backs in the middle of defense. I also run out Sane, a usual starter who's lost his place owing to bad form. But the rest are not regular starters, and one, Rune Hastrup, is an 18 year old from the U19's that I've been giving garbage minutes to. I've got another couple of U19's on the bench.
Despite the changes, I still expect to get something from this match, and we start the game pushing forward in numbers. Seven minutes in and Alex Fischer goes storming down the right flank from his fullback position, hitting a cross that curls back across the six for Mikkel Beckmann, our left wing, to nod home with a well-placed header. Nordsjælland respond, earning a series of corners, one of which provides two consecutive chances for American defender Michael Parkhurst from short range, but our backup keeper saves the first before Parkhurst smacks the rebound off the post and out.
We pull back slightly with an eye to controlling possession, and our control gradually returns with the wings, Beckmann and the youngster Hastrup, making a series of dangerous dribbling runs. Beckmann, despite having taken a knock, finishes the half strong, ensuring his man of the match award in first half stoppage time by splitting two defenders on the left flank, cutting back, dribbling across the top of the box, following the arc of the "D", and hitting a laser into the bottom right corner of the net.
The second half is predictably dull. We concede a couple of chances, but have double that on the break ourselves. Nobody manages to score, and I get my kids in for some first team experience. Smiles all around, though one of the U19's gets a facial injury that will see him sit out a week and change. We currently top the injury table in the Danish Premier with four injuries, three defenders (starters Ripson and Gray, plus utility defender/midfielder Mads Fenger) out for the remainder of the season, and the kid, Sørensen, out for 8-11 days.
Danish Premier - AGF 1:1 Randers
Black magic, man. That's the only explanation for the length of this unbeaten run. Okay, so maybe I'm getting the best from a limited set of players, but they are completely overmatched in some of these games, and there has to be a huge element of luck keeping this run alive. True, AGF were without their string-puller in chief, Feilhaber, but they've got the kind of quality throughout their roster that we can only put forward with a handful of standouts. In the first half, things looked true to form, they had an initial flurry of chances, capped off by a fourth minute goal from a corner. Instead of sitting deeper, I trusted to our confidence, pushing one d-mid (we started in the 4-2-2-2 with two deep d-mids and two wide attacking mids) forward. We responded, but the chances were pretty even for the rest of the half.
I laid into the boys at halftime, telling them were were handing our arch-rivals the title and embarrassing ourselves in front of the traveling support. The response was excellent. Man of the match and veteran target-man Marc Nygaard, after issuing a pre-match rallying cry, answered his own bell by getting everywhere, winning innumerable headers. The chances came thick and fast, Movsisyan, Zhou, Nygaard, and Lorentzen all went close. A flowing team move resulted in Movsisyan charging down the left, floating one across that Nygaard powered on frame, only to have it saved. Sivebæk hit a followup, also saved, before Lorentzen came in on that rebound, hitting a low drive that was parried wide. From the resulting corner, Movsisyan took the low ball played to the edge of the box, raced across the middle, and got sandwiched. The ball popped loose to Nygaard, who turned and rifled in a volley that bounced around the middle. In the ensuing mad scramble, an Aarhus defender tried to clear, only to have the ball bounce back and dribble, ever so slowly, across the line. Own goal. You make your own luck.
We dominated the remainder of the match save for one excellent chance when the defense got caught napping. In the final reckoning, the chances were about even, but we had 78% pass completion to their 63% and had 62% of the possession. Though the draw eliminates us from the title race with two games remaining, it also has the distinct pleasure, for our supporters, of damaging AGF's cause in the same race. They were running away with the league before a lukewarm patch allowed København back into the picture. A short recovery put them nine points clear, but they've since gone cold, making it a three horse race with the aforementioned Københaven and a surging Brøndby. With two games left, AGF are on 66, København on 64, and Brøndby on 63. We trail comfortably in fourth on 57, Ondense needing to win both matches remaining (and have us fail to pick up two points) to catch us.
To add to our small-squad worries, two of the kids I've been giving first-team minutes to, Hastrup and Sørensen, have been called up to the Danish U19 side for the U19 Euro Championship qualifiers. They'll miss the next week, meaning we'll be without them for our last two league matches and the cup final. Still, it's good to see our youngsters getting recognition.
Danish Premier - Randers 2:1 Sønderjysk
The scrubs almost gave it away late, but they managed to hang on. With an almost entirely second-team lineup (the center back injury crisis forced me to field one of my normal starters) and teenagers on the bench, I was keeping my powder dry for the cup final in three days. Still, I expected to make a good go of it against the third from bottom team. Likewise, a win would ensure our Euro-qualification for next year and keep the long unbeaten streak alive.
We had a couple of early chances, but the visitors started to come back into it, fashioning a few of their own. In response to their getting too much space between the lines, I pushed higher and dropped one of the central mids to a d-mid spot to fill the space their forwards were exploiting. Control returned, but not completely. We traded attacking sequences, with theirs usually ending in long shots and ours in corners. Towards the end of an unremarkable half, young striker König rose above two defenders and nodded a floated cross home. 1-0 at the break, and I encouraged the boys at halftime, challenging a few of them that I thought were underperforming.
The boys responded initially, creating two fantastic chances that were wasted by König and Sane respectively. Without outlets up top, we were struggling a bit as the half wore on. I pushed Sane up from a-mid to forward, going to a more traditional 4-4-2 with one of the central mids dropped deep. Immediately our possession soared, and all the action was in their end. With 15 minutes to go, Ricki Olsen finally found the breakthrough, racing onto a through ball from a deep midfield position and firing home at the near post. 2-0 and we dropped back to counter. I was so comfortably that I brought on a 16 year old center back to log some minutes out of position at right back (a spot I'm training him for since he's weak and tiny — not exactly center back material).
And it all went swimmingly until stoppage time. The fourth official signaled three minutes to be added on, but in the first minute, a scramble in the box resulted in a ball poked home for them. Still, not too much of a problem, right? Less than two minutes? Almost immediately, the 16 year old, one Nicolai Poulsen, the youngest ever to represent Randers FC at the senior level, dawdles on the ball, loses possession at the edge of the box, and forces creative mid Jonas Damborg to fling himself into a last-ditch tackle, promptly injuring himself with all of our subs used. Down to ten, but we should only have a minute to kill...or so I thought. We had three more scares before the ref finally blew the final whistle after 8 minutes of stoppage time.
In the process, we managed to lose Pedersen and Damborg, our first two options off the bench in central midfield, for the remaining two games of the season. The number three option, Olsen, hit the disciplinary limit for yellow cards as well, and Sørensen, the youth-teamer who's been logging minutes of late, is away with the Danish U19's, so our cup team is going to be thin not just in central defense, but central midfield as well.
Still, Euro-qualification is assured; we will finish fourth, regardless of what happens in the final weekend. And it should be an interesting one in the title chase. København have clawed their way back into the top spot, sitting on 67 points, just one clear of both AGF and Brøndby on 66. Goal difference? København and Brøndby on +37, AGF on +38. My money's on København, who are home to the Sønderjysk side we just beat and hold that slender one-point lead. Brøndby are home as well, to winless Køge, while our rivals AGF are home to Aalborg. It'll be sweet if they finish behind København, because our draw against them in the last match will have been what cost them the title.
Before we get to our own cup final, I note that the team that knocked us out of the Europa League, Roma, made it all the way to the final of that competition before being beaten in extra time by Brad Friedel's Aston Villa. Roma's Daniele De Rossi was, predictably for US fans that remember 2006, sent off in extra time.
A quick peek in at the Danish U19's qualifying campaign saw none of my boys feature in their opening win against Estonia (Hastrup played 90 for us the previous day and Sørensen was coming back from his facial injury), though Hastrup and Sørensen both got on the scoresheet in a 4-0 rout of Scotland, with Sørensen both captaining the side and winning man of the match. His only competition would have been Hastrup, as both finished with ratings above 9. A stiffer test awaits against Russia, though a draw will see them through to the U19 Euro championships.
Danish Cup Final - FC Nordsjælland vs. Randers FC
The current rash of injuries, suspensions, and call-ups limited my choices, but fortunately, my squad rotation policy left me with fresh legs for my starting eleven, which I ran out in a fairly standard 4-4-2 with both central mids detailed as ball winners, the left wing a pure winger, the right wing a defensive winger, and both fullbacks given orders to get forward as wingbacks. We lined up thus...
Movsisyan, Nygaard
Lorentzen, Zhou, Karlsen, Sivebæk
Krol, Egholm, Ahmed, Fischer
Ellegaard
subs: van Duin (GK), Antón, Beckmann, Sane
Nordsjælland came out in a 4-5-1/4-3-3, so I focused on marking their three front-runners tightly and closing down their d-mid and fullbacks. Inside of a minute, Nygaard was slipped through and thundered one off the post. Inside of ten we had hit the bar again. They were reeling, but rallied, only for Ahmed to rise and head home a corner on 15 minutes. We stuck to our guns, playing the "Standard" wait-and-see approach. But again they rallied, going close a number of times. Despite my orders to close down their d-mid, he was still directing traffic, so I detailed Nygaard to drop off the front line to man-mark him when they had possession. The tide swung back to us, with a couple of good chances spurned before the half.
At halftime I told them that I didn't expect their performance to drop, and I laid into Fischer, who was having a real stinker. The second 45 began indifferently. Both sides had chances from set pieces, but weren't creating much from open play. A series of corners for them had me scared. Could we hold a one goal lead for 35 more minutes against a team that clearly saw this as their one chance at doing anything this year and was threatened with relegation?
I decided to be brave and attacked. I told the boys to get forward and cause them problems, to start dictating the game. And we did. Three chances in quick succession finally led to a corner that Movsisyan controlled near the edge of the box, danced in at a tight angle, and blasted through a pack of bodies, the shot deflecting in off a defender. 2-0 with 62 minutes played, but I kept the hammer down. Zhou and Lorentzen both went close, and Nygaard hit a rocket from distance that the keeper parried with some difficulty.
With a quarter of the game remaining, I pulled back on the reins a bit, trying to keep things tighter at the back. Antón came on for the yellow-carded Egholm, detailed to play as cover while Ahmed stuck tight to their lone forward. With Nygaard tiring rapidly, having been asked to do double duty as target-man and man-marker on their d-mid, I brought Sane in to midfield and shifted the athletic right winger Sivebæk up top with the same brief as Nygaard had been given.
They had two good chances to pull one back before we made our definitive grab for the trophy. Told to sit back and counter, we did just that. Lorentzen picked up a headed clearance on the left wing and raced forward, beating the fullback for pace and crossing low and hard across the face of goal. Movsisyan went near post but couldn't stretch to reach the cross. Sivebæk, who's spurned great chances thus far this spring, finally buried one, darting in front of his defender and bundling the cross home from close range. His first senior goal, and it put us up 3-0 on 77 minutes. After that, it was just keep-away and running out the clock as we shifted to a 4-1-3-2 to counter their move to a 4-2-3-1. I did bring Beckmann on for Lorentzen with a few minutes remaining, both as a reward for Beckmann for having such a quality year and to let man of the match Lorentzen soak in the applause.
Final score - FC Nordsjælland 0:3 Randers FC
Our reward? $29,000. Sigh.
The plaudits are better.
Sadly, the Danish U19's fail to qualify for the Euros, losing 1-0 to Russia in the final group match, with both Hastrup and Sørensen picking up their second youth caps.
Danish Premier - Randers 1:1 Esbjerg
Fitting end to a strange season and a condensation of the whole affair in miniature. I ran out a somewhat changed lineup, holding out some of my regulars in favor of what I might be looking at as a starting lineup next year. We came out in an offset 4-4-1-1 that more resembled a right-leaning 4-3-3. Sadly, the new look wasn't paying dividends. Esbjerg, who will finish just below us in the table, had all of the early running, capping their dominance with a header inside the six just before the half-hour mark. I didn't panic, merely shifted the formation a bit to get the wide men more involved. We had a couple of chances near the end of the half, but nothing clear-cut.
I demanded more at halftime and saw a couple of half-chances early but nothing more. I went to the "swoosh" 4-4-2 and told the boys to attack, trying to get more numbers forward, but nobody was having a really outstanding game. I swapped out the forward line and brought on Sivebæk on the right wing, hoping a transfusion of fresh blood would raise us from our torpor. And we did start to come into it, but, after watching yet another hoofed ball fail as we closed on the 85th minute, it was the switch to a short passing game that began to open up the game. Suddenly we were stroking it about with confidence. A delightful series of triangles resulted in Zimmerman slipping in Beckmann to blast home a powerful equalizer with minutes remaining. And in the three minutes of stoppage time, we must have had five really solid chances. Couldn't finish, but draws have been the name of the game this year. Nobody lost fewer games than us (only the champions, København, who lost 7, were close to our 4 losses), but a rash of draws (our final record was 16 wins, 13 draws, and 4 losses) left us trailing the lead trio.
Still, we finished the spring season unbeaten and managed to land some silverware and a Europa League spot in the bargain. An almost $4 million payout for our final league position more than makes up for the lousy prize money on offer in the cup. I finish second in the Danish Manager of the Year award, just behind København's title-winning boss.
The tale of the tape...
In the next, and likely final, installment of this series, I'm going to look at the tactics I employed, what I'll be looking to change in the offseason if I do continue this game, and an honest assessment of what went right and the little that went wrong.
Why might the next post be the last installment? Well, FM 2011 will be released on November 5. I'm already kicking the tires on the demo and will likely want to have a go at rescuing DC United. My only question now is whether to wait for the December patch to tackle that job. I'll share more when I'm ready to kick off that series, but I think I'm going to be approaching it in a different manner — less detail on individual games and a more long-term approach (3-5 seasons?).
Nomination Time
Sadly, DC United is smack dab in the middle of the same quag they were mired in last year, and it falls to me, your humble blogging buddy, to fire up the machinery of the Next Coach Cup for the second year running. Starting next Monday, we'll start voting potential bosses off the island, but I need your help.
"How can I help?" you ask?
I need nominations. Send me your candidate (or candidates — your list can be as long as you need) for the vacant hot seat on the United bench. You can send me who you actually want to be the boss, who might be a decent boss, who's worth a flier, who will piss off the most people by being included in the cup, or anybody you consider to have even the most marginal shot at the job. I'll collect the nominations and fill out the brackets for the cup all week. As I said, I want to get this puppy rolling next Monday, so nominations will be accepted until the evening of Sunday, October 31 (no nominations of dead candidates will be allowed, date be damned!).
You can submit your list in any of the following ways.
If you see a name already mentioned that you want to include on your list, please do so. I'm going to be weighting the draw for the cup based upon how many nominations each candidate receives.
So get those thinking caps on and start firing off the submissions. And thanks.
"How can I help?" you ask?
I need nominations. Send me your candidate (or candidates — your list can be as long as you need) for the vacant hot seat on the United bench. You can send me who you actually want to be the boss, who might be a decent boss, who's worth a flier, who will piss off the most people by being included in the cup, or anybody you consider to have even the most marginal shot at the job. I'll collect the nominations and fill out the brackets for the cup all week. As I said, I want to get this puppy rolling next Monday, so nominations will be accepted until the evening of Sunday, October 31 (no nominations of dead candidates will be allowed, date be damned!).
You can submit your list in any of the following ways.
- Olde School. Email your list to fullbackfiles at gmail dot com.
- Blog Fundamentalist. Drop your list in the comments section of this post.
- New Media Maven. DM or tweet @mshund on Twitter.
If you see a name already mentioned that you want to include on your list, please do so. I'm going to be weighting the draw for the cup based upon how many nominations each candidate receives.
So get those thinking caps on and start firing off the submissions. And thanks.
Blind Homerism or Rank Stupidity?
Or, "How I learned to stop thinking and bend over for Landon Donovan."
Case #1: Wherein the commentary team initially makes the right call, but, owing to a slavish devotion to Donovan, reconsiders their perspective in light of his bitching to the linesman Revisiting the replay at the end of the clip, they are presented with proof positive that not only is Harris onside, but so is Cunningham (witness the defender at the top of the screen), so it doesn't matter a whit if the AR considers him "inactive" or not. That's not a "judgement call," boys. Sigh.
Case #2: Now maybe that first example is a case of them not being focused on where all the defenders are when the ball is delivered (though if you're making an offside call, that would seem to be among an observer's higher concerns). But this second one boggles the imagination. Does the defender go over a bit easily? Perhaps. But he's also quite obviously shoved in the back by — you guessed it, Landon Donovan — with nary a mention from our eagle-eyed men with the mics, even after multiple viewings. I don't know where else your attention can be focused in this instance, but there's not a single mention of a possible foul having occurred. Instead, we're encouraged to delight in Beckham's strike and the dogged persistance, of course, of Little Lord Donovan. Sigh...again.
And let's not even get into the fact that they want to give Donovan an assist on LA's second despite his cross having been headed away before it reaches Juninho.
Case #1: Wherein the commentary team initially makes the right call, but, owing to a slavish devotion to Donovan, reconsiders their perspective in light of his bitching to the linesman Revisiting the replay at the end of the clip, they are presented with proof positive that not only is Harris onside, but so is Cunningham (witness the defender at the top of the screen), so it doesn't matter a whit if the AR considers him "inactive" or not. That's not a "judgement call," boys. Sigh.
Case #2: Now maybe that first example is a case of them not being focused on where all the defenders are when the ball is delivered (though if you're making an offside call, that would seem to be among an observer's higher concerns). But this second one boggles the imagination. Does the defender go over a bit easily? Perhaps. But he's also quite obviously shoved in the back by — you guessed it, Landon Donovan — with nary a mention from our eagle-eyed men with the mics, even after multiple viewings. I don't know where else your attention can be focused in this instance, but there's not a single mention of a possible foul having occurred. Instead, we're encouraged to delight in Beckham's strike and the dogged persistance, of course, of Little Lord Donovan. Sigh...again.
And let's not even get into the fact that they want to give Donovan an assist on LA's second despite his cross having been headed away before it reaches Juninho.
Blow. It. Up.
Not much more to say save except "Thanks, Jaime."
Expect the season autopsy to be forthcoming.
Expect the season autopsy to be forthcoming.
Yanked Abroad | 08. A Chance For Glory
If you missed the start of this FM Tale, you can catch up here as you eagerly await FM 2011 (Demo available).
Thus far, my Randers team has had a fairly successful season by the standards of the club and the expectations of fans and board alike. I'm not so naive as to have expected to start winning trophies right off the bat, but my personal targets have been elevated by our recent good form. Whatever happens with the rest of the season, we'll still finish comfortably midtable, having made a relatively deep cup run. That said, there is a significant chance of glory lying on the far side of 8 games in 24 days, a stretch that includes both legs of the cup semifinal. A cup win? Europa League qualification? The pessimistic side of me says that the game is only setting me up for disappointment by allowing my good run to have continued this long...
Danish Premier - Randers 2:0 Køge
Despite resting half of my starters in anticipation of the first leg of the cup semifinal, I expected to win this home match against the cellar-dwellers with ease. The boys didn't disappoint. Within 3 minutes, König, Movsisyan's understudy, showed that maybe he's learning a thing or two from the Armenian, grabbing a ball at midfield and racing down the left flank, outpacing the defense before cutting inside, sidestepping a last-ditch tackle, and slotting home. König was everywhere in the first half, turning in a dominating performance that culminated with a good piece of holding play before feeding in Nygaard for 2-0 near the half-hour mark.
The second half was grind-it-out stuff. We controlled the ball, wobbled a bit on a couple of set pieces, but finished the game missing half a dozen great chances. Man of the match König had to hobble off after an hour, but the greater damage was done when Dutch center back Niek Ripson, who's been the rock at the heart of our newly solid defense since his acquisition in the winter, went off injured. Torn groin. Out two months. And before it's even started, our make-or-break stretch looks to be decidedly tilting towards the break end of the scale. This could get ugly.
Danish Cup Semifinal (First Leg) - Randers 0:0 København
I had some faint hopes for this game, hoping to take advantage of squad morale before it fades with the inevitable collapse in the wake of Ripson's absence. Instead, I pick up an early injury to another stalwart, Kelly Gray, who damaged some knee ligaments and will also be out for this crucial 2 month stretch. Was I tempting fate when I said our good autumn season owed much to a lack of injuries to key players? We're now down two starters for the rest of the season. Ugh.
Back to the game. We shaded the chances in both halves, my Bob Bradley-style 4-2-2-2 counter-attacking formation providing the three biggest opportunities of the game. First, Nygaard intercepted a poor back-pass to go one-on-one with the keeper, but he kicked it right into the keeper's gut. Next, Movsisyan broke through the middle of the defense on 65 minutes only to be caught and brought down just as he entered the area. Sadly, the ref swallowed his whistle on what was a clear-cut penalty and red card. Guess our 7,000-strong fan support wasn't sufficient to intimidate the ref into making the right decision. In the followup to that play, Lorentzen stabbed at a loose ball from a bad angle, only to have it go out off the foot of the post. We also hit the bar twice from long range, but just couldn't find the breakthrough. If it weren't for the injuries, however, I'd be pretty pleased with a 0-0 in the first leg. Our counterattacking against the big boys always seems to work better away from home.
Danish Premier - FC Midtjylland 0:0 Randers
The unbeaten run extends to 14 games in the league, 17 overall, but only just. The gaps are starting to appear in the defense with two of our automatic starters injured and another, Ahmed, unhappy that I didn't let him move on to bigger and better things in the transfer window. We controlled much of the first half and had the better chances, but they weren't really great ones. In the second, Midtjylland poured on the pressure and hit the crossbar three times. There was only ever going to be one winner as I scrambled to keep them out. Fortunately, they never found the back of the net, but it's just a matter of time now. The whole damn house of cards is teetering.
Danish Premier - Randers 1:1 Silkeborg
Damn. We needed this one. Silkeborg were the soft, chewy center of our death march, the three points we really needed to keep pace in the Europa League chase. And we looked to have it in the bag. Just 53 seconds in, Nygaard flicked on for Lorentzen, and the left winger raced in, dribbling right through the keeper and into the net. We were completely dominant in the first 20 minutes, having at least 8 efforts on frame and one that hit the post. Silkeborg mounted nothing. There was a brief flurry around the middle of the half, but we came back into control. The whole time, the "not taking our chances" cliché kept rolling around uncomfortably in my head.
We got off to a decent start in the second, drawing a tremendous save from their keeper that kept them in it. Unfortunately, the tired legs started to tell. Most of the team started the game at 93-95%, and they were suffering as we got past the hour mark. Silkeborg put their foot on the collective pedal and pressed hard, finally getting their equalizer after a defensive breakdown on our right flank, where Kelly Gray's understudy, Alexander Fischer, isn't quite the same quality of defender. We pressed for a winner, but always looked more likely to concede. Damborg had a speculative try from distance that almost crept in, but we went into a shell after Lorentzen had to limp off with 10 minutes remaining and all of our subs used up. He joins the growing injury pile, out two weeks with a bruised shin.
Crap.
Danish Premier - Brøndby 0:0 Randers
And against all odds, the unbeaten run goes to 19, with a clean sheet to boot, though four draws in succession doesn't bode well for the future. In deference to the brutal stretch of games and the second leg of the cup semifinal in three days, I ran out a mostly second string eleven against a superior side, with a couple of youth teamers called up in desperation. The first half was dull; a couple of chances either way, but nothing to write home about. The second started in perilous fashion for us. They came full bore, though their goal threats came mostly from set pieces. I had run out the 4-2-2-2 counter formation, but quickly pushed one of the deeper lying mids into the gap between the two midfield lines since our opposition were in a wide diamond, leaving a lot of space for that free mid to operate in. To neutralize their d-mid's effectiveness in possession, I told one of my forwards to man-mark and harass him.
They had plenty of chances down the stretch, but we missed a golden opportunity to snatch an unlikely win with a quarter-hour to go. Egholm headed a corner off the bar, and the rebound dropped to our other center back, Ahmed, wide open inside the six with the keeper stranded. At least he got it on frame. But that tame effort, easily saved by the retreating keeper, was the best chance we had outside of a trademark corkscrewing effort by left winger Beckmann from well outside the box that got tipped over.
Danish Cup Semifinal (Second Leg) - København 0:2 Randers
With the semifinals using the away goals rule, I came to attack from the kickoff, hoping to snatch an early goal and then try to frustrate them. We almost succeeded, Sivebæk maneuvering through the middle, only to slip his shot just wide. That initial 10 minute spell ended, however, and they were all over us. I dropped back into my 4-2-2-2 counterattacking shell but was getting almost no service to my forwards. Ellegaard had to come up with three tremendous stops during the half, while Krol and Haibin both cleared balls off the line in the wake of corner kicks.
I sat the boys down at halftime and told them we just needed to find one goal. I also gave the centerbacks (young Mads Fenger and the unhappy, want-away Issah Ahmed) the hair-dryer treatment as they were both playing poorly and the København forwards were running amok. Oh for my injured Dutch giant, Ripson! We came out in the second in much the same manner, under heavy pressure and creating little of note up top.
That's when I made my gamble. I brought on the athletic and in-form König to run at tired defenders, pulled Movsisyan back onto the left wing position with winger orders, pushed Haibin up from d-mid to central mid, and pulled right wing Sivebæk back to right mid to form the "swoosh" midfield. That gave us three forwards on the field, and I went direct with Nygaard as a target man, hoping that we could lump it up for him to knock down for the speedy König or the onrushing Movsisyan. Instead, it was a magical bit of play ten minutes after the change that unlocked them.
After a bit of head-tennis in midfield, we worked a series of short, triangular passes down the left before Movsisyan cut inside and delivered a ball through for Nygaard, who fought off his defender and slotted home to the far post. 72 minutes gone, and we just needed to hold them to one goal. Unfortunately, Ahmed had to limp off, forcing a shift wherein Krol had to go inside to play in a less-favored centerback role alongside the kid Fenger. Neither are the titans in the air that Ahmed is, so it was serious fingernail-assault time.
I stayed with the counter, suffered a couple of scares, then leapt off the bench, fist pumping as Nygaard won a ball deep and played König through on the right wing. With two defenders closing him down, he launched a deep cross. Movsisyan, ghosting in at the back stick, got his head on it and put the ball into the narrow gap between keeper and post. 2-0 with 10 minutes left! We went full-on bunker, had to make another change as our other starting center back, Fenger, went down injured, but survived unscathed with two left backs playing in the middle of defense and a midfielder covering at right back.
Post-match, the media claim a "triumph of tactics for the Randers Football Club head coach." Damn straight! And for making it to the cup final, we're awarded...$3,300? WTF? Is this the US Open Cup? In other bad news, Fenger's late injury was a broken jaw, meaning our fourth-string center-back is now out for a month. That leaves us with two healthy first-team central defenders available for the congested run-in. I knew the injury bug was likely to strike sometime, but couldn't it have spread the damage around a bit?
And that's where we'll leave it until next time. We have just half of a month remaining in the season, but those first 16 days of May contain five matches: four in the league and the cup final. See you next time for the barnstorming finish to my first year in charge of Randers FC.
* * *
Danish Premier - Randers 2:0 Køge
Despite resting half of my starters in anticipation of the first leg of the cup semifinal, I expected to win this home match against the cellar-dwellers with ease. The boys didn't disappoint. Within 3 minutes, König, Movsisyan's understudy, showed that maybe he's learning a thing or two from the Armenian, grabbing a ball at midfield and racing down the left flank, outpacing the defense before cutting inside, sidestepping a last-ditch tackle, and slotting home. König was everywhere in the first half, turning in a dominating performance that culminated with a good piece of holding play before feeding in Nygaard for 2-0 near the half-hour mark.
The second half was grind-it-out stuff. We controlled the ball, wobbled a bit on a couple of set pieces, but finished the game missing half a dozen great chances. Man of the match König had to hobble off after an hour, but the greater damage was done when Dutch center back Niek Ripson, who's been the rock at the heart of our newly solid defense since his acquisition in the winter, went off injured. Torn groin. Out two months. And before it's even started, our make-or-break stretch looks to be decidedly tilting towards the break end of the scale. This could get ugly.
Danish Cup Semifinal (First Leg) - Randers 0:0 København
I had some faint hopes for this game, hoping to take advantage of squad morale before it fades with the inevitable collapse in the wake of Ripson's absence. Instead, I pick up an early injury to another stalwart, Kelly Gray, who damaged some knee ligaments and will also be out for this crucial 2 month stretch. Was I tempting fate when I said our good autumn season owed much to a lack of injuries to key players? We're now down two starters for the rest of the season. Ugh.
Back to the game. We shaded the chances in both halves, my Bob Bradley-style 4-2-2-2 counter-attacking formation providing the three biggest opportunities of the game. First, Nygaard intercepted a poor back-pass to go one-on-one with the keeper, but he kicked it right into the keeper's gut. Next, Movsisyan broke through the middle of the defense on 65 minutes only to be caught and brought down just as he entered the area. Sadly, the ref swallowed his whistle on what was a clear-cut penalty and red card. Guess our 7,000-strong fan support wasn't sufficient to intimidate the ref into making the right decision. In the followup to that play, Lorentzen stabbed at a loose ball from a bad angle, only to have it go out off the foot of the post. We also hit the bar twice from long range, but just couldn't find the breakthrough. If it weren't for the injuries, however, I'd be pretty pleased with a 0-0 in the first leg. Our counterattacking against the big boys always seems to work better away from home.
Danish Premier - FC Midtjylland 0:0 Randers
The unbeaten run extends to 14 games in the league, 17 overall, but only just. The gaps are starting to appear in the defense with two of our automatic starters injured and another, Ahmed, unhappy that I didn't let him move on to bigger and better things in the transfer window. We controlled much of the first half and had the better chances, but they weren't really great ones. In the second, Midtjylland poured on the pressure and hit the crossbar three times. There was only ever going to be one winner as I scrambled to keep them out. Fortunately, they never found the back of the net, but it's just a matter of time now. The whole damn house of cards is teetering.
Danish Premier - Randers 1:1 Silkeborg
Damn. We needed this one. Silkeborg were the soft, chewy center of our death march, the three points we really needed to keep pace in the Europa League chase. And we looked to have it in the bag. Just 53 seconds in, Nygaard flicked on for Lorentzen, and the left winger raced in, dribbling right through the keeper and into the net. We were completely dominant in the first 20 minutes, having at least 8 efforts on frame and one that hit the post. Silkeborg mounted nothing. There was a brief flurry around the middle of the half, but we came back into control. The whole time, the "not taking our chances" cliché kept rolling around uncomfortably in my head.
We got off to a decent start in the second, drawing a tremendous save from their keeper that kept them in it. Unfortunately, the tired legs started to tell. Most of the team started the game at 93-95%, and they were suffering as we got past the hour mark. Silkeborg put their foot on the collective pedal and pressed hard, finally getting their equalizer after a defensive breakdown on our right flank, where Kelly Gray's understudy, Alexander Fischer, isn't quite the same quality of defender. We pressed for a winner, but always looked more likely to concede. Damborg had a speculative try from distance that almost crept in, but we went into a shell after Lorentzen had to limp off with 10 minutes remaining and all of our subs used up. He joins the growing injury pile, out two weeks with a bruised shin.
Crap.
Danish Premier - Brøndby 0:0 Randers
And against all odds, the unbeaten run goes to 19, with a clean sheet to boot, though four draws in succession doesn't bode well for the future. In deference to the brutal stretch of games and the second leg of the cup semifinal in three days, I ran out a mostly second string eleven against a superior side, with a couple of youth teamers called up in desperation. The first half was dull; a couple of chances either way, but nothing to write home about. The second started in perilous fashion for us. They came full bore, though their goal threats came mostly from set pieces. I had run out the 4-2-2-2 counter formation, but quickly pushed one of the deeper lying mids into the gap between the two midfield lines since our opposition were in a wide diamond, leaving a lot of space for that free mid to operate in. To neutralize their d-mid's effectiveness in possession, I told one of my forwards to man-mark and harass him.
They had plenty of chances down the stretch, but we missed a golden opportunity to snatch an unlikely win with a quarter-hour to go. Egholm headed a corner off the bar, and the rebound dropped to our other center back, Ahmed, wide open inside the six with the keeper stranded. At least he got it on frame. But that tame effort, easily saved by the retreating keeper, was the best chance we had outside of a trademark corkscrewing effort by left winger Beckmann from well outside the box that got tipped over.
Danish Cup Semifinal (Second Leg) - København 0:2 Randers
With the semifinals using the away goals rule, I came to attack from the kickoff, hoping to snatch an early goal and then try to frustrate them. We almost succeeded, Sivebæk maneuvering through the middle, only to slip his shot just wide. That initial 10 minute spell ended, however, and they were all over us. I dropped back into my 4-2-2-2 counterattacking shell but was getting almost no service to my forwards. Ellegaard had to come up with three tremendous stops during the half, while Krol and Haibin both cleared balls off the line in the wake of corner kicks.
I sat the boys down at halftime and told them we just needed to find one goal. I also gave the centerbacks (young Mads Fenger and the unhappy, want-away Issah Ahmed) the hair-dryer treatment as they were both playing poorly and the København forwards were running amok. Oh for my injured Dutch giant, Ripson! We came out in the second in much the same manner, under heavy pressure and creating little of note up top.
That's when I made my gamble. I brought on the athletic and in-form König to run at tired defenders, pulled Movsisyan back onto the left wing position with winger orders, pushed Haibin up from d-mid to central mid, and pulled right wing Sivebæk back to right mid to form the "swoosh" midfield. That gave us three forwards on the field, and I went direct with Nygaard as a target man, hoping that we could lump it up for him to knock down for the speedy König or the onrushing Movsisyan. Instead, it was a magical bit of play ten minutes after the change that unlocked them.
After a bit of head-tennis in midfield, we worked a series of short, triangular passes down the left before Movsisyan cut inside and delivered a ball through for Nygaard, who fought off his defender and slotted home to the far post. 72 minutes gone, and we just needed to hold them to one goal. Unfortunately, Ahmed had to limp off, forcing a shift wherein Krol had to go inside to play in a less-favored centerback role alongside the kid Fenger. Neither are the titans in the air that Ahmed is, so it was serious fingernail-assault time.
I stayed with the counter, suffered a couple of scares, then leapt off the bench, fist pumping as Nygaard won a ball deep and played König through on the right wing. With two defenders closing him down, he launched a deep cross. Movsisyan, ghosting in at the back stick, got his head on it and put the ball into the narrow gap between keeper and post. 2-0 with 10 minutes left! We went full-on bunker, had to make another change as our other starting center back, Fenger, went down injured, but survived unscathed with two left backs playing in the middle of defense and a midfielder covering at right back.
Post-match, the media claim a "triumph of tactics for the Randers Football Club head coach." Damn straight! And for making it to the cup final, we're awarded...$3,300? WTF? Is this the US Open Cup? In other bad news, Fenger's late injury was a broken jaw, meaning our fourth-string center-back is now out for a month. That leaves us with two healthy first-team central defenders available for the congested run-in. I knew the injury bug was likely to strike sometime, but couldn't it have spread the damage around a bit?
And that's where we'll leave it until next time. We have just half of a month remaining in the season, but those first 16 days of May contain five matches: four in the league and the cup final. See you next time for the barnstorming finish to my first year in charge of Randers FC.
Huzzah, A Mobile Strategy!
Apparently, MLS HQ's imps don't have their heads as buried in their collective crack as many (myself most definitely included) might fear. Witness...
MLS Matchday 2010
Huzzah, a mobile strategy presents itself!
Initial impressions?
Looks pretty slick, though I'm not enamored of the "scarf-ish" logos in the MatchDay section...
and the stats don't seem to be up to date, viz...
Shouldn't these be polling the same data?
The ability to choose "My Club" to get a specific tab for your team is nice...
...though having it default to playing a "team chant" when the app opens is annoying (and shouldn't the color behind the logo at the top be black?). Fortunately, you can turn the chanting off (no such luck with color preference ;-) in the options, where you also control what gets pushed to you from MatchDay...
Hmmm. Who's this defender "-" on our roster? The mythical Mivdun? And...Josh Wicks? Really? Lyle Adams? Hmmm.
The "Videos" tab is a nice option and I haven't (yet!) seen any annoying Fifa 11 ads in the highlights, though the video doesn't follow screen orientation, meaning it's locked in the rather tiny portrait mode [UPDATE: Don't know why this wasn't working on my initial test, but it seems to behave as expected (rotating with the device and filing the screen) on second launch].
Actually, backing out now, that's an app-wide complaint. We're fixed to portrait mode. Given that this is a 1.0 release, I'm sure we'll get incremental improvements. [UPDATE: Or before. As I mentioned earlier, the videos rotate with orientation changes. Also, I noticed when using the MatchDay tab tonight that rotating brings up a Google map of the stadium and some rudimentary shot/goal tracking on the virtual pitch.] I'll test out the "MatchDay" experience tonight (it promises highlights soon after the fact and push notifications for goals, cards, subs, etc.)
The app is iOS only, so Android users are out of luck (as are Blackberry / Symbian / Windows Phone folks, I suppose), and is only in iPhone/iPod touch format for now, so iPad folks will have to do the ugly 2x dance. It's also free, which is a price that's hard to beat.
The biggest thing missing here is obviously integration with the MatchDay Live service, meaning no full matches (or even their horribly put together "condensed" matches--seriously, can't you hire one of those guys from the MaXxed forums?) on mobile for subscribers. Baby steps, I suppose. Also, what's with putting the year in the app title? I guess the implication is that the app will grow year upon year, adding features, etc. Still seems strange though, as does the MatchDay moniker if MatchDay is only one tab in the application, but I suppose it has to have a name beyond "the MLS app," and MatchDay could be worse.
MLS Matchday 2010
Huzzah, a mobile strategy presents itself!
Initial impressions?
Looks pretty slick, though I'm not enamored of the "scarf-ish" logos in the MatchDay section...
and the stats don't seem to be up to date, viz...
vs. MLSSoccer.com's
Shouldn't these be polling the same data?
The ability to choose "My Club" to get a specific tab for your team is nice...
...though having it default to playing a "team chant" when the app opens is annoying (and shouldn't the color behind the logo at the top be black?). Fortunately, you can turn the chanting off (no such luck with color preference ;-) in the options, where you also control what gets pushed to you from MatchDay...
Hmmm. Who's this defender "-" on our roster? The mythical Mivdun? And...Josh Wicks? Really? Lyle Adams? Hmmm.
The "Videos" tab is a nice option and I haven't (yet!) seen any annoying Fifa 11 ads in the highlights, though the video doesn't follow screen orientation, meaning it's locked in the rather tiny portrait mode [UPDATE: Don't know why this wasn't working on my initial test, but it seems to behave as expected (rotating with the device and filing the screen) on second launch].
Actually, backing out now, that's an app-wide complaint. We're fixed to portrait mode. Given that this is a 1.0 release, I'm sure we'll get incremental improvements. [UPDATE: Or before. As I mentioned earlier, the videos rotate with orientation changes. Also, I noticed when using the MatchDay tab tonight that rotating brings up a Google map of the stadium and some rudimentary shot/goal tracking on the virtual pitch.] I'll test out the "MatchDay" experience tonight (it promises highlights soon after the fact and push notifications for goals, cards, subs, etc.)
The app is iOS only, so Android users are out of luck (as are Blackberry / Symbian / Windows Phone folks, I suppose), and is only in iPhone/iPod touch format for now, so iPad folks will have to do the ugly 2x dance. It's also free, which is a price that's hard to beat.
The biggest thing missing here is obviously integration with the MatchDay Live service, meaning no full matches (or even their horribly put together "condensed" matches--seriously, can't you hire one of those guys from the MaXxed forums?) on mobile for subscribers. Baby steps, I suppose. Also, what's with putting the year in the app title? I guess the implication is that the app will grow year upon year, adding features, etc. Still seems strange though, as does the MatchDay moniker if MatchDay is only one tab in the application, but I suppose it has to have a name beyond "the MLS app," and MatchDay could be worse.
No Love For the Whistlemen
Boskovic, talking to Jonathan Wilson for SI...
...the nearest he got to a complaint about skill being drowned out by physicality [in football in general--ed.] is an eye-rolling riff on officials in MLS during which he repeatedly pushed me to show exactly how much force is required (apparently far more than in Europe) before a U.S. referee will deem contact a foul.
What, no love for the inconsistency, the inability to use cards to manage a game, the mocking little "shut up and go away" smiles, the deer-in-headlights reaction to big matches, the...?
sigh.
Yanked Abroad | 07. Bring on the Spring
This is the latest in my current Football Manager Tales series, Yanked Abroad. Go back to the beginning of this series on the FM Tales page.
The Spring season gets started, and to add to my tactical issues and the new players not exactly setting the world on fire in the friendlies, I get the bad news that midfielder Zhou (kind of rolls off the Maoist tongue, doesn't it?) has been injured on international duty. Mix-and-match is the name of the game away to Nordsjælland as we get the ball rolling.
Danish Premier - FC Nordsjælland 0:0 Randers
Big disappointment. True, my first goal was not to concede. But Nordsjælland are second from bottom, and even on the road we should be causing them more problems than we did. One sustained period of pressure in each half might have resulted in the three points we so desperately needed, but the finish just wasn't there. A pretty boring match to get this sprint to the finish started.
Danish Premier - Randers 3:1 AGF
Huge result at home against our bitter rivals, who also happen to be the league leaders. And a result that came completely out of the blue. I started in the counterattacking 4-2-2-2 that found the same opponents out in the cup, but they were dominating the early stages of play, mostly because my two deep-lying mids were too far off Feilhaber, working his creative mojo in the center of the park. So I pushed one of them up into the space Feilhaber was exploiting, dropped my right wing deeper to allow the other holding mid free-range in front of the two center backs to kill their a-mid's space (they play 4-4-1-1), and pushed Movsisyan from a central striker role to one level with the other striker but far out on the right flank, providing width that the now more defensive winger would rarely be advanced enough to supply. A bit of an unorthodox shape, but within a minute of the switch Movsisyan pounced on a rebound to send the fans into raptures.
Five minutes later, my tactical switch played out nearly perfectly, the d-mid feeding my withdrawn winger, who pushed up the right flank before feeding a ball behind the fullback to Movsisyan, pulled wide on the right. Movsisyan proceeded to race into the box and blasted one home from a tight angle (think Donovan in the World Cup). We went to the half up 2-0, and should have been up 3 just after the break, but Nygaard was denied after he skied over three defenders to nod home, only to see the flag waving for a push. Eight minutes later he grabbed a ball fed through by Movsisyan and placed one in the far corner from the edge of the box. Sadly, they clawed one back just three minutes after that on a brilliant individual effort. I brought in a third center back to close off space before any more such nonsense could occur and went 3-5-2 with wingbacks. That worked brilliantly until Ahmed picked up his second yellow. The remaining half hour was a holding action as I slowly pulled back men and reduced attacking runs, clogging the middle and hanging on for a memorable win that extended our unbeaten run to seven games.
Unfortunately, Ahmed is going to see his suspension extended from the automatic one for a red card to three games as he hits the disciplinary points limit, which will put our new center backs firmly on the firing line and in three consecutive road matches to boot. In the press conference afterwards, the ink-stained media wretches are going gaga over Man of the Match Movsisyan, wondering how I'll be able to hang onto him after the season he's been having. Fortunately, I may have an in: I just looked at his Personal Information page and saw that I'm listed under his Favored Personnel.
Danish Premier - Sønderjysk 0:2 Randers
The announcer summed it up at the final whistle: "Hund's boys never looked like losing!" Damn straight. With our new center backs starting in defense both out of necessity (their forwards are too quick for Egholm) and suspension (lacking Ahmed, who would have been a first choice), I opted to play with a more conservative midfield approach in the middle of the park, reducing the more attacking of the holding pair to a support role and giving both holders roles as ball-winners. To make up for a lack of attacking thrust and to take advantage of what my staff perceived as my opponents' weakness against width, I gave both fullbacks orders as wingbacks to encourage them to get forward. Otherwise, it was our bog-standard 4-4-1-1.
The home side showed early signs of making something happen, but then Movsisyan, at the top of his form, gathered a ball wide near the midfield stripe, charged down the left flank, cut in when none of the defenders closed him down, and then fired through the keeper before they woke to the danger. Minutes later, Krol, well advanced in his new wingback role, beat a defender to the endline, paused, got his head up, and rolled one back for the charging Pedersen to slam home. 22 minutes in and we were coasting. They had a brief flurry, but it ended when one of their guys got sent off for a vicious foul on Sane. We came to counter in the second half and probably should have added three or four more only to have the finishing come up short or the flag waving with the ball already in the net. Krol won man of the match and is attracting massive transfer interest, though any potential suitors will have to wait to see him play as he hit the disciplinary limit, meaning he'll be out for the next game.
Danish Premier - Esbjerg 1:1 Randers
This was a huge match in the race for Europe. We went in fourth, but level on points with our hosts, who started fifth. I set out to frustrate, packing the midfield and looking for Movsisyan to do his magic on the break. Unfortunately, most of our chances fell to Zhou in the first half, and his long distance efforts were well off target. We were dominating much of the ball despite Sane, who was playing in the a-mid role under Movsisyan, having an off game.
I decided to swap things around in the second stanza, bringing on Nygaard for the unimpressive Sane and going to the counter in a 4-4-2. Sadly, though our chances started to improve, our possession started slipping away. They got chances, but none were very good. In fact, we had a great chance to go up with twenty minutes to go after Sivebæk played in Movsisyan, but our key man choked. With tiring bodies in the overworked midfield, I made a couple of swaps for fresh legs, getting more attacking on the left wing, but more conservative in central midfield. I thought it was going to be a bore 0-0 with ten minutes left, but they finally fashioned a chance from the wing which one of their strikers promptly slotted home, darting near post in front of the glacial Egholm.
I needed this one and didn't want to let the unbeaten streak lapse. I went on overload, pushing the wings forward and employing wingbacks behind them, launching balls for Nygaard, now playing as a target man. A couple of offsides calls ruined immediate chances, but in the 88th minute Movsisyan flicked on a corner at the near post for new center back signing Niek Ripson to power home with his head from point blank range. Honors even; we hold serve and cling to the final Euro-spot (two other sides are level on 38 points, but we have the edge in goal difference) with a third of the season remaining. Our eleventh game unbeaten means a new entry in the club record books.
Danish Premier - København 0:2 Randers
Fantastic result away from home with a weakened side against one of the two leading clubs in the league. With our rivals AaB visiting on Wednesday, I ran out a starting lineup on Sunday that, while not my best, was certainly my most physical. I also switched formation to one that worked in the cup against better opposition, starting in a direct counterattacking 4-4-2 with the wings pushed high and two d-mids screening the back four and taking away the space that their forwards, Santín particularly, look to exploit between the center backs and central mids.
The opening stages were pretty tame, with little constructive possession. Our first coherent move saw Movsisyan slip Lorentzen through down the left. The winger beat his man to the byline and crossed for Nygaard to power home from close range. They piled on the pressure for the rest of the half, hitting the bar twice, but generally having only shots from distance or well-challenged headers in the box.
The second half started in a similar fashion. I was content to let them have the ball as long as they were reduced to speculative attempts. I gave the shout to have my boys sit deep, resulting in little pretty football, mostly my guys hitting it around the back or lobbing free kicks and corners into the box. Just after the hour, we got a free kick just outside the box, and d-mid Karlsen bent one around the wall and in at the near post to put us up two.
I pulled back further, getting a few of my tiring guys that I expect to start in midweek off the field and going to a 4-1-3-2. We created little for the remainder of the match, while they had three pretty good chances, put they either hit the woodwork or pushed them wide, so we retained the clean sheet to stay level with OB and Esbjerg in the fight for that final Europa League spot (we need that money to match my ambitions for the club).
København are, of course, our competition in the upcoming cup semifinal, so I hope I didn't just blow my chances of springing a tactical surprise...and the lovely media aren't slow to point out that there were bosses from other teams in the stands having a look at my boys with an eye to prying them away from me.
Danish Premier - Randers 2:0 Aalborg
Big result against a rival though we made heavy weather of it. I started in my normal 4-4-1-1 with my strongest eleven, but Movsisyan was getting zero service up top. Fortunately, we also looked pretty solid at the back. They did manage to stick a ball in the net, but it was called back for offsides. As the half wore on, our confidence began to tell, a few exchanges in and around the box producing decent chances we couldn't finish.
To start the second, I encouraged my wingbacks to overlap more and went to the "swoosh" 4-4-2 midfield (Beckmann advanced on the left, Karlsen sitting deeper as the right-central mid. Sane wasn't finding the game at all (a problem that's becoming something of a trend), so I pulled him for Nygaard. Five minutes later, Nygaard justified his selection, turning quickly on the edge of the box and hitting a wicked curler that the keeper could only parry into the middle of the box. Movsisyan pounced, beating the defenders to the ball and rifling home a thunderous volley. Five minutes after that, Beckmann hit a Ronaldo-esque screamer of a free kick from well outside the area that confused their keeper to no end. He deflected the dancing ball, but it wound up in the roof of the net anyway.
For the remaining twenty minutes, we sat back and countered, clogging the middle with an anchor behind two ball winners and leaving three spread high on the front line, the wide men playing as inside forwards. Aalborg created nothing, while we had a couple breaks down the wing that resulted in corners.
In the lull between matches, I get standout d-mid Morten Karlsen to ink a 2-year extension to his contract, which would have run out in June. He just turned 31, but relies more on his smarts and motor than on sheer physicality and isn't asking for the moon, so I'm happy to keep him in the fold. The only other big name whose contract is expiring is Nygaard. He's willing to take a pay cut for next year, but he'll still easily have the highest wages at the club. Though he's a club icon, he'll also be turning 34 at the start of next season, and there are some mid-sized clubs from big leagues sniffing around. Hmmm.
Danish Premier - Odense 1:2 Randers
And here I learned the lesson of being too much of a tactical tinkerman. A little goes a long way. Let's begin with the good. I took my usual approach to sides playing a wide 4-4-2 diamond: dropped one holding mid and had him man-mark their a-mid, pushed one wing forward, and set our a-mid to harass their d-mid. They had a couple of chances early, but we soon started to control possession, creating a handful of half-chances before the breakthrough. Movsisyan, all alone up top, raced onto a clearance behind their left back and took it down the left flank. One of their center backs came across to meet him, with the other covering in the center. Meanwhile, Sane, Zhou, and Lorentzen all busted a gut to get forward from midfield. Movsisyan beat the center back to the byline and floated a cross far post. Their covering center back went with Sane near post. Zhou headed on frame from point blank at the far post, but it was saved. Fortunately, the rebound dropped to Lorentzen, who finished from a tight angle.
Five minutes later, Movsisyan made a similar sort of run down the flank, but had only one target against three defenders in the box. So he took it on himself, blasting away from the tightest of angles just as he came into the box. The keeper tried to get in the way, but the ball caromed off him at the near post. 2-0 up and rarely under threat, we were playing some really nice stuff, creating another half-dozen chances before the break.
I stood pat at halftime, telling the boys not to get complacent. They didn't. We should have tacked on another, but couldn't find the finish. That's when I got stupid. On 67 minutes, I pulled back into a 4-1-3-2 and set things up to counter. Almost immediately, they started finding success down the flanks. I gave my guys orders to get wider and gave them a chance to find the game again. They didn't. A looping cross found one of their guys alone on the far stick and he took the chance. I shifted back to a 4-4-2 "swoosh" and set out to counter their asses. The change was instant and obvious. Suddenly, my wingers were getting onto balls into space. Their fullbacks and wingers, forced to defend, lost their attacking impetus. Lorentzen and Zimmerman both blew one-on-one chances on the break, but I was satisfied that we didn't give them a sniff in the final 15 minutes.
In fact, that's going to be the biggest positive I take from the seven games since the break: we've only allowed 3 goals. Adding some athleticism to the back line seems to have done the trick. I'm still worried about how we'll cope with the coming month, a death march if I've ever seen one. In 28 days, we'll play 9 of the 10 games remaining on our schedule, including both legs of the cup semifinals. That's three games in a week to start, followed by three consecutive weeks of Sunday-Wednesday fixtures. In the unlikely event we make the cup final, we'll tack a Sunday-Thursday-Sunday caboose on the end. Gulp. Can't see the unbeaten streak extending too much longer, particularly if we suffer any significant injuries, something we've been desperately lucky to avoid thus far.
Note to the interested. The US release for the next version of the game, FM 2011, will be November 8th, though it will be available for import pre-order and on Steam on November 5th. You better believe I'll have my order in and get started on a "Saving United" series as soon as the first patches come out.
* * *
Danish Premier - FC Nordsjælland 0:0 Randers
Big disappointment. True, my first goal was not to concede. But Nordsjælland are second from bottom, and even on the road we should be causing them more problems than we did. One sustained period of pressure in each half might have resulted in the three points we so desperately needed, but the finish just wasn't there. A pretty boring match to get this sprint to the finish started.
Danish Premier - Randers 3:1 AGF
Huge result at home against our bitter rivals, who also happen to be the league leaders. And a result that came completely out of the blue. I started in the counterattacking 4-2-2-2 that found the same opponents out in the cup, but they were dominating the early stages of play, mostly because my two deep-lying mids were too far off Feilhaber, working his creative mojo in the center of the park. So I pushed one of them up into the space Feilhaber was exploiting, dropped my right wing deeper to allow the other holding mid free-range in front of the two center backs to kill their a-mid's space (they play 4-4-1-1), and pushed Movsisyan from a central striker role to one level with the other striker but far out on the right flank, providing width that the now more defensive winger would rarely be advanced enough to supply. A bit of an unorthodox shape, but within a minute of the switch Movsisyan pounced on a rebound to send the fans into raptures.
Five minutes later, my tactical switch played out nearly perfectly, the d-mid feeding my withdrawn winger, who pushed up the right flank before feeding a ball behind the fullback to Movsisyan, pulled wide on the right. Movsisyan proceeded to race into the box and blasted one home from a tight angle (think Donovan in the World Cup). We went to the half up 2-0, and should have been up 3 just after the break, but Nygaard was denied after he skied over three defenders to nod home, only to see the flag waving for a push. Eight minutes later he grabbed a ball fed through by Movsisyan and placed one in the far corner from the edge of the box. Sadly, they clawed one back just three minutes after that on a brilliant individual effort. I brought in a third center back to close off space before any more such nonsense could occur and went 3-5-2 with wingbacks. That worked brilliantly until Ahmed picked up his second yellow. The remaining half hour was a holding action as I slowly pulled back men and reduced attacking runs, clogging the middle and hanging on for a memorable win that extended our unbeaten run to seven games.
Unfortunately, Ahmed is going to see his suspension extended from the automatic one for a red card to three games as he hits the disciplinary points limit, which will put our new center backs firmly on the firing line and in three consecutive road matches to boot. In the press conference afterwards, the ink-stained media wretches are going gaga over Man of the Match Movsisyan, wondering how I'll be able to hang onto him after the season he's been having. Fortunately, I may have an in: I just looked at his Personal Information page and saw that I'm listed under his Favored Personnel.
Danish Premier - Sønderjysk 0:2 Randers
The announcer summed it up at the final whistle: "Hund's boys never looked like losing!" Damn straight. With our new center backs starting in defense both out of necessity (their forwards are too quick for Egholm) and suspension (lacking Ahmed, who would have been a first choice), I opted to play with a more conservative midfield approach in the middle of the park, reducing the more attacking of the holding pair to a support role and giving both holders roles as ball-winners. To make up for a lack of attacking thrust and to take advantage of what my staff perceived as my opponents' weakness against width, I gave both fullbacks orders as wingbacks to encourage them to get forward. Otherwise, it was our bog-standard 4-4-1-1.
The home side showed early signs of making something happen, but then Movsisyan, at the top of his form, gathered a ball wide near the midfield stripe, charged down the left flank, cut in when none of the defenders closed him down, and then fired through the keeper before they woke to the danger. Minutes later, Krol, well advanced in his new wingback role, beat a defender to the endline, paused, got his head up, and rolled one back for the charging Pedersen to slam home. 22 minutes in and we were coasting. They had a brief flurry, but it ended when one of their guys got sent off for a vicious foul on Sane. We came to counter in the second half and probably should have added three or four more only to have the finishing come up short or the flag waving with the ball already in the net. Krol won man of the match and is attracting massive transfer interest, though any potential suitors will have to wait to see him play as he hit the disciplinary limit, meaning he'll be out for the next game.
Danish Premier - Esbjerg 1:1 Randers
This was a huge match in the race for Europe. We went in fourth, but level on points with our hosts, who started fifth. I set out to frustrate, packing the midfield and looking for Movsisyan to do his magic on the break. Unfortunately, most of our chances fell to Zhou in the first half, and his long distance efforts were well off target. We were dominating much of the ball despite Sane, who was playing in the a-mid role under Movsisyan, having an off game.
I decided to swap things around in the second stanza, bringing on Nygaard for the unimpressive Sane and going to the counter in a 4-4-2. Sadly, though our chances started to improve, our possession started slipping away. They got chances, but none were very good. In fact, we had a great chance to go up with twenty minutes to go after Sivebæk played in Movsisyan, but our key man choked. With tiring bodies in the overworked midfield, I made a couple of swaps for fresh legs, getting more attacking on the left wing, but more conservative in central midfield. I thought it was going to be a bore 0-0 with ten minutes left, but they finally fashioned a chance from the wing which one of their strikers promptly slotted home, darting near post in front of the glacial Egholm.
I needed this one and didn't want to let the unbeaten streak lapse. I went on overload, pushing the wings forward and employing wingbacks behind them, launching balls for Nygaard, now playing as a target man. A couple of offsides calls ruined immediate chances, but in the 88th minute Movsisyan flicked on a corner at the near post for new center back signing Niek Ripson to power home with his head from point blank range. Honors even; we hold serve and cling to the final Euro-spot (two other sides are level on 38 points, but we have the edge in goal difference) with a third of the season remaining. Our eleventh game unbeaten means a new entry in the club record books.
Danish Premier - København 0:2 Randers
Fantastic result away from home with a weakened side against one of the two leading clubs in the league. With our rivals AaB visiting on Wednesday, I ran out a starting lineup on Sunday that, while not my best, was certainly my most physical. I also switched formation to one that worked in the cup against better opposition, starting in a direct counterattacking 4-4-2 with the wings pushed high and two d-mids screening the back four and taking away the space that their forwards, Santín particularly, look to exploit between the center backs and central mids.
The opening stages were pretty tame, with little constructive possession. Our first coherent move saw Movsisyan slip Lorentzen through down the left. The winger beat his man to the byline and crossed for Nygaard to power home from close range. They piled on the pressure for the rest of the half, hitting the bar twice, but generally having only shots from distance or well-challenged headers in the box.
The second half started in a similar fashion. I was content to let them have the ball as long as they were reduced to speculative attempts. I gave the shout to have my boys sit deep, resulting in little pretty football, mostly my guys hitting it around the back or lobbing free kicks and corners into the box. Just after the hour, we got a free kick just outside the box, and d-mid Karlsen bent one around the wall and in at the near post to put us up two.
I pulled back further, getting a few of my tiring guys that I expect to start in midweek off the field and going to a 4-1-3-2. We created little for the remainder of the match, while they had three pretty good chances, put they either hit the woodwork or pushed them wide, so we retained the clean sheet to stay level with OB and Esbjerg in the fight for that final Europa League spot (we need that money to match my ambitions for the club).
København are, of course, our competition in the upcoming cup semifinal, so I hope I didn't just blow my chances of springing a tactical surprise...and the lovely media aren't slow to point out that there were bosses from other teams in the stands having a look at my boys with an eye to prying them away from me.
Danish Premier - Randers 2:0 Aalborg
Big result against a rival though we made heavy weather of it. I started in my normal 4-4-1-1 with my strongest eleven, but Movsisyan was getting zero service up top. Fortunately, we also looked pretty solid at the back. They did manage to stick a ball in the net, but it was called back for offsides. As the half wore on, our confidence began to tell, a few exchanges in and around the box producing decent chances we couldn't finish.
To start the second, I encouraged my wingbacks to overlap more and went to the "swoosh" 4-4-2 midfield (Beckmann advanced on the left, Karlsen sitting deeper as the right-central mid. Sane wasn't finding the game at all (a problem that's becoming something of a trend), so I pulled him for Nygaard. Five minutes later, Nygaard justified his selection, turning quickly on the edge of the box and hitting a wicked curler that the keeper could only parry into the middle of the box. Movsisyan pounced, beating the defenders to the ball and rifling home a thunderous volley. Five minutes after that, Beckmann hit a Ronaldo-esque screamer of a free kick from well outside the area that confused their keeper to no end. He deflected the dancing ball, but it wound up in the roof of the net anyway.
For the remaining twenty minutes, we sat back and countered, clogging the middle with an anchor behind two ball winners and leaving three spread high on the front line, the wide men playing as inside forwards. Aalborg created nothing, while we had a couple breaks down the wing that resulted in corners.
In the lull between matches, I get standout d-mid Morten Karlsen to ink a 2-year extension to his contract, which would have run out in June. He just turned 31, but relies more on his smarts and motor than on sheer physicality and isn't asking for the moon, so I'm happy to keep him in the fold. The only other big name whose contract is expiring is Nygaard. He's willing to take a pay cut for next year, but he'll still easily have the highest wages at the club. Though he's a club icon, he'll also be turning 34 at the start of next season, and there are some mid-sized clubs from big leagues sniffing around. Hmmm.
Danish Premier - Odense 1:2 Randers
And here I learned the lesson of being too much of a tactical tinkerman. A little goes a long way. Let's begin with the good. I took my usual approach to sides playing a wide 4-4-2 diamond: dropped one holding mid and had him man-mark their a-mid, pushed one wing forward, and set our a-mid to harass their d-mid. They had a couple of chances early, but we soon started to control possession, creating a handful of half-chances before the breakthrough. Movsisyan, all alone up top, raced onto a clearance behind their left back and took it down the left flank. One of their center backs came across to meet him, with the other covering in the center. Meanwhile, Sane, Zhou, and Lorentzen all busted a gut to get forward from midfield. Movsisyan beat the center back to the byline and floated a cross far post. Their covering center back went with Sane near post. Zhou headed on frame from point blank at the far post, but it was saved. Fortunately, the rebound dropped to Lorentzen, who finished from a tight angle.
Five minutes later, Movsisyan made a similar sort of run down the flank, but had only one target against three defenders in the box. So he took it on himself, blasting away from the tightest of angles just as he came into the box. The keeper tried to get in the way, but the ball caromed off him at the near post. 2-0 up and rarely under threat, we were playing some really nice stuff, creating another half-dozen chances before the break.
I stood pat at halftime, telling the boys not to get complacent. They didn't. We should have tacked on another, but couldn't find the finish. That's when I got stupid. On 67 minutes, I pulled back into a 4-1-3-2 and set things up to counter. Almost immediately, they started finding success down the flanks. I gave my guys orders to get wider and gave them a chance to find the game again. They didn't. A looping cross found one of their guys alone on the far stick and he took the chance. I shifted back to a 4-4-2 "swoosh" and set out to counter their asses. The change was instant and obvious. Suddenly, my wingers were getting onto balls into space. Their fullbacks and wingers, forced to defend, lost their attacking impetus. Lorentzen and Zimmerman both blew one-on-one chances on the break, but I was satisfied that we didn't give them a sniff in the final 15 minutes.
In fact, that's going to be the biggest positive I take from the seven games since the break: we've only allowed 3 goals. Adding some athleticism to the back line seems to have done the trick. I'm still worried about how we'll cope with the coming month, a death march if I've ever seen one. In 28 days, we'll play 9 of the 10 games remaining on our schedule, including both legs of the cup semifinals. That's three games in a week to start, followed by three consecutive weeks of Sunday-Wednesday fixtures. In the unlikely event we make the cup final, we'll tack a Sunday-Thursday-Sunday caboose on the end. Gulp. Can't see the unbeaten streak extending too much longer, particularly if we suffer any significant injuries, something we've been desperately lucky to avoid thus far.
* * *
Thoughts on USA v. Colombia
In the spirit of the season, Bob Bradley pulled the tactical equivalent of lighting a sack of dog crap on fire and leaving it in the center circle. 4-1-4-1 with three holding mids, and the midfield four all in a line? The only thing that could possibly save such a pile of...well, flaming dog poop, would have been overlapping fullbacks. Hello? Jonny Spector? No-'stache, hairband Pearce? Anybody? I didn't see either of them forward of the halfway stripe on more than three occasions. Gooch may have been in an advanced position more often. The result? A predictably isolated Altidore. Loads of meaningless possession (save when giveaways turned into chances for the opposition). And one, count it, one "shot" in the first half: Onyewu, falling down, heading well wide from a set piece. Yuck.
Even in the second stanza, when Bob went 4-4-2 and loosened the reins a bit, allowing the game became more open and exciting, real chances were few and far between, generally coming from the usual US route to goal: set pieces. Still, with Dempsey willing to take on defenders, Altidore with bodies around him for flicks and quick touches, the fullbacks getting forward, and the central midfield cycling possession more quickly and changing the point of attack more often, there was certainly more entertainment to be found after the break than watching a sack of crap burn in the center circle.
Marginally.
Player-by-Player? Thought you'd never ask.
Guzan - Really only called on once, and he did the business. Little more you can ask of your #2. Still wish Villa would let him go out on loan to get some serious playing time.
Spector - Find a club, play regular minutes, find your form, then come back to the fold. Simply awful. Nothing going forward. Multiple giveaways. Scrambling defensively. Ugh.
Onyewu - Better than against Poland, but then he wasn't really tested much, was he?
Goodson - Again, not tested terribly often, but usually answered when called upon. I'd pencil him in firmly as part of the "core" group going into qualifying. Cut out a fair number of passes, wasn't wasteful with the ball, starting to absorb the local flavor at his club and look like a viking. Thumbs up.
Pearce - Tale of two halves. Didn't do much wrong in the first half besides not get forward much, and that looked to have been on Bob's orders. Even had me cautiously optimistic after cutting out a few dangerous moments. But the second half? Can you drop any farther off an attacker and still be on the field? Gave the ball away multiple times through dalliance and poor passing. Did combine well at times with Dempsey, but still isn't the answer to permanently fill the gaping left back void. Best of a bad lot?
Edu - Terrible. You would have thought restoring him to his proper position would have allowed him to play with more confidence. Nope. Gave the ball away with assorted terrible balls. Wasn't quick enough to switch play. With him out of the equation in the second half, the ball cycled from side to side and back to front with much more rapidity and precision.
Bradley - Along with Dempsey, looked a class above the rest of our players. Still a bit wasteful and casual with his passing, but drove the team forward, particularly in the second half.
Jones - One or two passes made you forget that he otherwise looked like an exotic Rico Clark. Foolish tackles, often slow and indecisive on the ball (though that got much, much better in the second half). He's still finding his way, and I'll hold out hope. I like when he plays deep, surveys the field in front of him, and distributes.
Holden - Had little to do in the first half, but came more into the game in the second when he had targets to pick out ahead of him and drifted into the middle, looking to play clever little balls. Also benefited from having an overlapping fullback. I thought he was just starting to find the game when Bob yanked him for Feilhaber.
Shea - Not quite ready. Thinking was about a half-step behind the game and he looked tentative. Still worth a couple of starts in the January camp to bring him along for his undoubted potential.
Altidore - Isolated and frustrated in the first, not just by a lack of service, but by a ref who clearly wasn't going to give him a call unless somebody shot him. Better in the second with a partner and more of the ball. Started to become a handful for the Colombia backs. Still, he had that chance from the Lichaj cross, but headed right at the keeper. That has to be better for a top-class striker. Lack of PT?
Parkhurst - Smart. Always cutting out the angles, connecting the passes. It's just a shame he's not either taller or stronger.
Lichaj - Looked good. Much more confident than Shea, the other debutant. Early promise was tempered somewhat by a couple of late giveaways that lead to breaks, but I liked what I saw: a proper attacking fullback, comfortable on the ball, able to cross (Holy crap! A US fullback that can cross? Am I dreaming?). Questionable positionally at times, but I'd like to see more please.
Feilhaber - Meh. I think we lost some impetus by bringing him on in place of Holden. Generally tidy, but a bit too static for my liking. Didn't do as much prompting as the rest of midfield. Hell, Parkhurst probably played more balls into dangerous positions.
Dempsey - Certainly looked a class above at times. Slick on the ball, combined well with others. Confident and willing to take on defenders. If I have one complaint, it's that he dropped a bit too deep as the second half wore on. Would have liked to see some attempts on goal.
Johnson - Not abominable, but not great either. Defining moment? Isolated against 34 year old Mario Yepes near the edge of the box and elects to pass backward. Really? Ugh. Go back to England.
* * *
To be completely fair, Colombia rarely sent more than 3-4 attackers forward, and they generally sat deep, frustrating any counter opportunities and making it hard to play through them. They played a smart game against better opposition and had their chances to steal something. That said, a more ambitious approach from Bradley in the first half may have applied the pressure that forced Colombia to come out of their shell more.
As a tactical experiment, I think we can call the first half a failure, but we did learn some things about the player pool. I'd take Lichaj over Spector if I had to make call ups tomorrow. Likewise, I'd leave Shea and Johnson home, but definitely pencil in Goodson and think long and hard about Parkhurst, particularly if he can play on the flank. With Donovan in the mix and Jones learning his teammates and the system, the midfield is strong. The problem, as it's been for a while now, is the lack of goal threat from the forwards and the sorry, sorry state of our fullbacks.
Even in the second stanza, when Bob went 4-4-2 and loosened the reins a bit, allowing the game became more open and exciting, real chances were few and far between, generally coming from the usual US route to goal: set pieces. Still, with Dempsey willing to take on defenders, Altidore with bodies around him for flicks and quick touches, the fullbacks getting forward, and the central midfield cycling possession more quickly and changing the point of attack more often, there was certainly more entertainment to be found after the break than watching a sack of crap burn in the center circle.
Marginally.
Player-by-Player? Thought you'd never ask.
Guzan - Really only called on once, and he did the business. Little more you can ask of your #2. Still wish Villa would let him go out on loan to get some serious playing time.
Spector - Find a club, play regular minutes, find your form, then come back to the fold. Simply awful. Nothing going forward. Multiple giveaways. Scrambling defensively. Ugh.
Onyewu - Better than against Poland, but then he wasn't really tested much, was he?
Goodson - Again, not tested terribly often, but usually answered when called upon. I'd pencil him in firmly as part of the "core" group going into qualifying. Cut out a fair number of passes, wasn't wasteful with the ball, starting to absorb the local flavor at his club and look like a viking. Thumbs up.
Pearce - Tale of two halves. Didn't do much wrong in the first half besides not get forward much, and that looked to have been on Bob's orders. Even had me cautiously optimistic after cutting out a few dangerous moments. But the second half? Can you drop any farther off an attacker and still be on the field? Gave the ball away multiple times through dalliance and poor passing. Did combine well at times with Dempsey, but still isn't the answer to permanently fill the gaping left back void. Best of a bad lot?
Edu - Terrible. You would have thought restoring him to his proper position would have allowed him to play with more confidence. Nope. Gave the ball away with assorted terrible balls. Wasn't quick enough to switch play. With him out of the equation in the second half, the ball cycled from side to side and back to front with much more rapidity and precision.
Bradley - Along with Dempsey, looked a class above the rest of our players. Still a bit wasteful and casual with his passing, but drove the team forward, particularly in the second half.
Jones - One or two passes made you forget that he otherwise looked like an exotic Rico Clark. Foolish tackles, often slow and indecisive on the ball (though that got much, much better in the second half). He's still finding his way, and I'll hold out hope. I like when he plays deep, surveys the field in front of him, and distributes.
Holden - Had little to do in the first half, but came more into the game in the second when he had targets to pick out ahead of him and drifted into the middle, looking to play clever little balls. Also benefited from having an overlapping fullback. I thought he was just starting to find the game when Bob yanked him for Feilhaber.
Shea - Not quite ready. Thinking was about a half-step behind the game and he looked tentative. Still worth a couple of starts in the January camp to bring him along for his undoubted potential.
Altidore - Isolated and frustrated in the first, not just by a lack of service, but by a ref who clearly wasn't going to give him a call unless somebody shot him. Better in the second with a partner and more of the ball. Started to become a handful for the Colombia backs. Still, he had that chance from the Lichaj cross, but headed right at the keeper. That has to be better for a top-class striker. Lack of PT?
Parkhurst - Smart. Always cutting out the angles, connecting the passes. It's just a shame he's not either taller or stronger.
Lichaj - Looked good. Much more confident than Shea, the other debutant. Early promise was tempered somewhat by a couple of late giveaways that lead to breaks, but I liked what I saw: a proper attacking fullback, comfortable on the ball, able to cross (Holy crap! A US fullback that can cross? Am I dreaming?). Questionable positionally at times, but I'd like to see more please.
Feilhaber - Meh. I think we lost some impetus by bringing him on in place of Holden. Generally tidy, but a bit too static for my liking. Didn't do as much prompting as the rest of midfield. Hell, Parkhurst probably played more balls into dangerous positions.
Dempsey - Certainly looked a class above at times. Slick on the ball, combined well with others. Confident and willing to take on defenders. If I have one complaint, it's that he dropped a bit too deep as the second half wore on. Would have liked to see some attempts on goal.
Johnson - Not abominable, but not great either. Defining moment? Isolated against 34 year old Mario Yepes near the edge of the box and elects to pass backward. Really? Ugh. Go back to England.
* * *
To be completely fair, Colombia rarely sent more than 3-4 attackers forward, and they generally sat deep, frustrating any counter opportunities and making it hard to play through them. They played a smart game against better opposition and had their chances to steal something. That said, a more ambitious approach from Bradley in the first half may have applied the pressure that forced Colombia to come out of their shell more.
As a tactical experiment, I think we can call the first half a failure, but we did learn some things about the player pool. I'd take Lichaj over Spector if I had to make call ups tomorrow. Likewise, I'd leave Shea and Johnson home, but definitely pencil in Goodson and think long and hard about Parkhurst, particularly if he can play on the flank. With Donovan in the mix and Jones learning his teammates and the system, the midfield is strong. The problem, as it's been for a while now, is the lack of goal threat from the forwards and the sorry, sorry state of our fullbacks.
Pings From the Satellite Mind
This just in...
Well....yeah.
But thank the sweet lord the birdies inside MLS are as sane as some of us in the flock outside. Can you imagine?
The horror indeed.
In other news, football-brain-in-a-jar Jonathan Wilson says, in reference to our DP's wing duties with Montenegro...
Boskovic, who never settled in France, rebuilt his career at Rapid Vienna and is now at DC United in the US, is a calmer, more languid figure, who admits he does not really relish the defensive responsibility that comes with his new position. (full story)
Shocking, I'm sure.
This is part of the reason I don't see him as a solid fit in a holding pair in midfield. So do you let him play-make in front of a holding pair? If so, where does that leave Hernandez? Maybe go diamond with shuttling wide-men? That kinda blunts Najar...unless you play him up top of course. Hmmm.
Transmission over.
Thoughts on USA v. Poland
Given the length of look he had at them, I'm guessing that this is the team Bradley wants to build from going forward into the next cycle. The exception being, of course, Donovan in place of Feilhaber on the left flank. So where do the immediate issues lie? Bocanegra may play left back for his club, but he's going to get torched at a higher level, particularly without significant help from a flank midfielder. Do we have any real alternatives though? Secondarily, we're going to be playing hamstrung until Onyewu and Altidore start getting significant minutes of game action with their clubs. And finally, Edu probably deserves to be on the pitch, but not as a centerback.
But what of the match? Two phrases spring to mind: too narrow and too casual.
Narrow
Playing Holden and Feilhaber on the flanks pretty much guaranteed that the attacking portion of midfield would fold in on itself, requiring overlapping fullbacks to provide width. Cherundolo did so successfully, while Bocanegra, never the most effective going forward anyway, was far too occupied with his defensive duties. This might have been alleviated somewhat with a strong left winger (Donovan?) forcing the Polish right flank to defend more, or, as happened in the second half when Bradley went 4-4-1-1 with Dempsey on the left flank, by giving him some significant midfield help.
A secondary problem caused by both wide men drifting to the middle was that they were choking the space that the dynamic Jones and Bradley wanted to exploit in alternating runs from deep in midfield and that Dempsey wanted to drop into underneath Altidore. Speaking of the central midfield pair, I'm not convinced of their ability to play together yet. They took about half an hour to figure things out, when Jones started playmaking from a deeper position, allowing Bradley his runs forward. But Jones wasn't providing the same type of defensive bite or clogging the passing lanes as Edu or the much-maligned Rico Clark would have. We shall see if time proves the pairing an effective one. I wouldn't dismiss it given just one test.
Casual
But the bigger (biggest?) problem was the casual play, particularly in midfield. In the first instance, you can point directly to Holden and Jones as the starting point of the Polish goals. Holden's wild clearance, and Jones getting caught in possession led, within a touch or two, directly to the goals. But those were isolated examples of a larger problem.
Consider the inability to maintain possession in that long stretch after the US opening goal: the giveaways, the inability to get to second balls, the ball-watching on defense, the long clearances to nowhere, the lax tracking of runners. All were symptomatic of a team that lost focus and commitment, that took their foot off the pedal. We can't leave Poland entirely out of the equation because they're not a useless side, and I would have expected patches of play where Poland gained control. But for them to have as much domination for as long as they did is inexcusable and a problem that needs to be fixed.
Going Forward
It will be interesting to see what lessons Bradley takes from this match. For me, the primary considerations are: (1) Dempsey is more effective with space to operate on the flank, (2) the left back spot desperately needs to be addressed, as it has for some time now, (3) does the Bradley-Jones pairing provide enough defensive cover in the middle of the park?
With the full squad, I'd be tempted to try Altidore up top; Dempsey and Donovan on the flanks with license to be mobile, Donovan pushed very high; Holden and Bradley central ahead of Jones, the latter given a brief to sit deep and pick out passes; Cherundolo and Pearce on the defensive flanks outside Bocanegra and Onyewu, with an eye to giving Gonzalez, Marshall, and Goodson significant chances to try and displace Bocanegra. Though that's what I'd want to try, I'm far from happy with big chunks of it.
Et tu?
But what of the match? Two phrases spring to mind: too narrow and too casual.
Narrow
Playing Holden and Feilhaber on the flanks pretty much guaranteed that the attacking portion of midfield would fold in on itself, requiring overlapping fullbacks to provide width. Cherundolo did so successfully, while Bocanegra, never the most effective going forward anyway, was far too occupied with his defensive duties. This might have been alleviated somewhat with a strong left winger (Donovan?) forcing the Polish right flank to defend more, or, as happened in the second half when Bradley went 4-4-1-1 with Dempsey on the left flank, by giving him some significant midfield help.
A secondary problem caused by both wide men drifting to the middle was that they were choking the space that the dynamic Jones and Bradley wanted to exploit in alternating runs from deep in midfield and that Dempsey wanted to drop into underneath Altidore. Speaking of the central midfield pair, I'm not convinced of their ability to play together yet. They took about half an hour to figure things out, when Jones started playmaking from a deeper position, allowing Bradley his runs forward. But Jones wasn't providing the same type of defensive bite or clogging the passing lanes as Edu or the much-maligned Rico Clark would have. We shall see if time proves the pairing an effective one. I wouldn't dismiss it given just one test.
Casual
But the bigger (biggest?) problem was the casual play, particularly in midfield. In the first instance, you can point directly to Holden and Jones as the starting point of the Polish goals. Holden's wild clearance, and Jones getting caught in possession led, within a touch or two, directly to the goals. But those were isolated examples of a larger problem.
Consider the inability to maintain possession in that long stretch after the US opening goal: the giveaways, the inability to get to second balls, the ball-watching on defense, the long clearances to nowhere, the lax tracking of runners. All were symptomatic of a team that lost focus and commitment, that took their foot off the pedal. We can't leave Poland entirely out of the equation because they're not a useless side, and I would have expected patches of play where Poland gained control. But for them to have as much domination for as long as they did is inexcusable and a problem that needs to be fixed.
Going Forward
It will be interesting to see what lessons Bradley takes from this match. For me, the primary considerations are: (1) Dempsey is more effective with space to operate on the flank, (2) the left back spot desperately needs to be addressed, as it has for some time now, (3) does the Bradley-Jones pairing provide enough defensive cover in the middle of the park?
With the full squad, I'd be tempted to try Altidore up top; Dempsey and Donovan on the flanks with license to be mobile, Donovan pushed very high; Holden and Bradley central ahead of Jones, the latter given a brief to sit deep and pick out passes; Cherundolo and Pearce on the defensive flanks outside Bocanegra and Onyewu, with an eye to giving Gonzalez, Marshall, and Goodson significant chances to try and displace Bocanegra. Though that's what I'd want to try, I'm far from happy with big chunks of it.
Et tu?
No Such Conundrum
Well, I was having this debate with myself: do I watch a meaningless United game with half the lineup missing due to call-ups and suspensions, or do I watch a meaningless USA friendly where Bob will most likely just rehash the World Cup and get a few kids in for 10 minutes of scrub-time at the end?
In the end, my only option for the United game being an online stream, and MLS region-blocking me, and nobody else caring to pop the stream on atdhe.net, I'm left with the USA game.
Huzzah.
In the end, my only option for the United game being an online stream, and MLS region-blocking me, and nobody else caring to pop the stream on atdhe.net, I'm left with the USA game.
Huzzah.
Mile High Surprise | a DC United Match Reaction
Imagine my surprise last night when I hit the rewind button and was treated to a rare United victory. A shutout? In, of all places, our bugaboo central, Colorado? With Jed Zayner at center back?
Sure, there were weak patches, and a healthy, 90-minute performance from Omar Cummings might have made a significant difference, but United's compact 4-4-2 did a reasonable job of containing what can be an explosive Rapids offense. In fact, when Cummings came on, I was pretty sure we were in for a repeat of the standard "play well but give it up late" performance. Despite some early threats, that never materialized. United rode their luck a little, but considering how little they've had this year, that in and of itself was surprising.
At this point, it's all about evaluating who stays and who goes. So, for a change of pace, let's go player-by-player, shall we?
Allsopp - I can't see the back of him quickly enough. Sure, he was in the right place at the right time to flick home the winner, but that ignores the two earlier goals he might have had: the Boskovic cross that Allsopp's "granny with a walker" pace was unable to get to and the one-on-one that he dribbled right into Pickens. It also ignores the number of times he killed attacks by trying to dribble defenders or making poor passes. It's a sad thing to see a series of one- and two-touch passes navigate the midfield only to hit the brick wall of Allsopp and crumble. And would it kill him to hustle on defense?
Hernandez - Despite the flopping, I'm impressed by his technique and defensive work rate in putting pressure on defenders (sadly unassisted by Allsopp). He combines well with others and would certainly benefit from an attacking partner with the speed to stretch the defense vertically and open space in front of an opponent's back four. A little off-season work on staying on his feet, and we might have a gem.
Najar - Our constant bright spot. Set up a chance that even Allsopp couldn't blow. Pretty much our only flicker of attacking quickness. Which makes me wonder...Why push Quaranta up top when you're sitting deep and looking to counter? Surely Najar's trickery on the ball and speed would do more to worry the opposition and keep them honest at the back? Of course, maybe somebody on the bench realized that Tino's less likely to have what he considers shooting opportunities from 40 yards or hit monster through balls to nowhere if he's up top?
Quaranta - Still frustrating. Given the rest of the midfield's focus on maintaining possession and playing sharp, short, quick touches, Quaranta's impatience becomes even more glaring...except when it's not. And therein lies the frustration I speak of. Every once in a while, the risky play pays off and makes you reconsider whether all of the failures were worth that one moment. But oh that heavy first touch...
Boskovic - Solid player with a fair amount of guile, but not bringing the DP-worthy goods. A DP worth his salt takes that chance storming into the box and at least puts it on frame. That said, he combines well with the rest of midfield and serves a pretty good dead ball. Worth the investment? I'm still willing to see what he can bring in a second season.
Morsink - I've blown hot-and-cold on Morsink, but he had a decent game, playing simple passes to maintain possession and contributing a few efforts from distance. Even his jawing at the refs and opposition was restrained. I wonder if he would have been more exposed defensively if Colorado still possessed a between-the-lines central creative threat like Belouchi or weren't so intent on exploiting the flanks?
Graye - Still needs major seasoning. His positioning goes out the window on occasion, and his crossing is downright Hejduk-ian. Despite those failings, the physical tools are there. Can coaching prevail and turn him into a reliable back or is he another Marvell Wynne?
McTavish - I was certain he was going to be the point of failure for much of the first half, but Mullan never quite won the battle, or when he did, there was cover. Zayner's turn at centerback says to me that he's a far better option as a utility defender than McTavish. Does McTavish's ability to play multiple spots in midfield still make him a useful asset? Perhaps. But I, for one, would let him find his level in the lower divisions. He hasn't been good enough for a few years now, and it's a wonder he's still clinging, barnacle-like, to the bottom of this roster.
Zayner - Not a bad turn in the middle for a fullback, and that versatility to play well across the entire back line has me firmly considering him for the protected list. At this point, with everybody healthy, I'd pencil him in as a starter at right back.
Jakovic - Good in the air, tracked back well on the one occasion when the Rapids pushed a ball into space behind the back line. Most important? Didn't make any bone-headed decisions or keep the ball too long in defense. Sadly, that meant we also only saw one Kaiser-esque carry out of defense as well, but I think you take that tradeoff given this season's defensive woes.
Perkins - Much-maligned, but he had a pretty good outing here. Held onto shots from distance, came confidently for crosses and free kicks, and generally looked to have some of the confidence he's been lacking this season. Still gets paid too much, but this was the Perkins that we signed up for when the FO traded the farm for a reliable netminder.
Varela - Meh? I don't see anything here to get excited about.
Junior - Not enough time for an impression.
So what to take from this match? Clearly, the team still has some fight in it, despite the trail of tears this season has turned into. Of course, by contrast, Colorado didn't seem to be too up for this game. Still, that ignores the fact that United controlled possession on the road in a place they normally struggle against one of the hotter teams in the league. With more pace to stretch the defense and more reliable finishing, this one may have been put to bed by halftime, preventing what seemed to be an inevitable Rapids' recovery. Fortunately, in what must qualify as a minor miracle in United's 2010, that recovery never materialized.
Sure, there were weak patches, and a healthy, 90-minute performance from Omar Cummings might have made a significant difference, but United's compact 4-4-2 did a reasonable job of containing what can be an explosive Rapids offense. In fact, when Cummings came on, I was pretty sure we were in for a repeat of the standard "play well but give it up late" performance. Despite some early threats, that never materialized. United rode their luck a little, but considering how little they've had this year, that in and of itself was surprising.
At this point, it's all about evaluating who stays and who goes. So, for a change of pace, let's go player-by-player, shall we?
Allsopp - I can't see the back of him quickly enough. Sure, he was in the right place at the right time to flick home the winner, but that ignores the two earlier goals he might have had: the Boskovic cross that Allsopp's "granny with a walker" pace was unable to get to and the one-on-one that he dribbled right into Pickens. It also ignores the number of times he killed attacks by trying to dribble defenders or making poor passes. It's a sad thing to see a series of one- and two-touch passes navigate the midfield only to hit the brick wall of Allsopp and crumble. And would it kill him to hustle on defense?
Hernandez - Despite the flopping, I'm impressed by his technique and defensive work rate in putting pressure on defenders (sadly unassisted by Allsopp). He combines well with others and would certainly benefit from an attacking partner with the speed to stretch the defense vertically and open space in front of an opponent's back four. A little off-season work on staying on his feet, and we might have a gem.
Najar - Our constant bright spot. Set up a chance that even Allsopp couldn't blow. Pretty much our only flicker of attacking quickness. Which makes me wonder...Why push Quaranta up top when you're sitting deep and looking to counter? Surely Najar's trickery on the ball and speed would do more to worry the opposition and keep them honest at the back? Of course, maybe somebody on the bench realized that Tino's less likely to have what he considers shooting opportunities from 40 yards or hit monster through balls to nowhere if he's up top?
Quaranta - Still frustrating. Given the rest of the midfield's focus on maintaining possession and playing sharp, short, quick touches, Quaranta's impatience becomes even more glaring...except when it's not. And therein lies the frustration I speak of. Every once in a while, the risky play pays off and makes you reconsider whether all of the failures were worth that one moment. But oh that heavy first touch...
Boskovic - Solid player with a fair amount of guile, but not bringing the DP-worthy goods. A DP worth his salt takes that chance storming into the box and at least puts it on frame. That said, he combines well with the rest of midfield and serves a pretty good dead ball. Worth the investment? I'm still willing to see what he can bring in a second season.
Morsink - I've blown hot-and-cold on Morsink, but he had a decent game, playing simple passes to maintain possession and contributing a few efforts from distance. Even his jawing at the refs and opposition was restrained. I wonder if he would have been more exposed defensively if Colorado still possessed a between-the-lines central creative threat like Belouchi or weren't so intent on exploiting the flanks?
Graye - Still needs major seasoning. His positioning goes out the window on occasion, and his crossing is downright Hejduk-ian. Despite those failings, the physical tools are there. Can coaching prevail and turn him into a reliable back or is he another Marvell Wynne?
McTavish - I was certain he was going to be the point of failure for much of the first half, but Mullan never quite won the battle, or when he did, there was cover. Zayner's turn at centerback says to me that he's a far better option as a utility defender than McTavish. Does McTavish's ability to play multiple spots in midfield still make him a useful asset? Perhaps. But I, for one, would let him find his level in the lower divisions. He hasn't been good enough for a few years now, and it's a wonder he's still clinging, barnacle-like, to the bottom of this roster.
Zayner - Not a bad turn in the middle for a fullback, and that versatility to play well across the entire back line has me firmly considering him for the protected list. At this point, with everybody healthy, I'd pencil him in as a starter at right back.
Jakovic - Good in the air, tracked back well on the one occasion when the Rapids pushed a ball into space behind the back line. Most important? Didn't make any bone-headed decisions or keep the ball too long in defense. Sadly, that meant we also only saw one Kaiser-esque carry out of defense as well, but I think you take that tradeoff given this season's defensive woes.
Perkins - Much-maligned, but he had a pretty good outing here. Held onto shots from distance, came confidently for crosses and free kicks, and generally looked to have some of the confidence he's been lacking this season. Still gets paid too much, but this was the Perkins that we signed up for when the FO traded the farm for a reliable netminder.
Varela - Meh? I don't see anything here to get excited about.
Junior - Not enough time for an impression.
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