The Fullback Files: August 2011

Rain Delay

Wee Folk in the Rain (courtesy DCUnited.com)

Nice gallery of rain shots up over on United's site (though apparently it didn't rain from '97 to '07). First glance at this particular shot had me thinking Photoshop because the ball looked so huge. Then I realized who the players were...

So no match = no reaction post, though I would have hit significant delays with youth soccer conflicts and the mid-afternoon reschedule anyway. Instead, I'll react to those conditions above.

As a fullback, those were games to dread because a tricksy winger might leave you red-faced and sodden-arsed on the slick surface. But they were also games to savor when you started getting pockets of standing water. The ball just stops dead, the winger comes for it, and man-oh-man can you slide forever on wet grass without losing momentum. I know the laws of physics say it's not possible, but there were times I swore I gained speed as I slid into tackles.

I know a few wingers who might agree...

Memories.

Sigh.

Predictable

Couldn't find a reliable stream in the bunker at an undisclosed location last night, so no reaction piece to United's 1-0 loss away to KC. Watching the condensed match wasn't much help save that Willis looks a reliable #2, we backpass too much, we carry no threat without De Rosario, and any match where we're looking to Ngwenya to save us is an automatic loss.

Glimmer of hope? Early in the season (or last season), this would have been 3- or 4-0. Of course, better finishing by KC and we're looking at the same scoreline so...meh?

Weakest link? Second straight match where the opposition's lone tally comes courtesy of an assist off Woolard's noggin. Of course, same could be said of a Jakovic failure to close down.

Ugh.

There are still games in hand to claim a playoff spot, but they've yet to be taken advantage of. Even if they are, I don't see any signs that this current lot is going to be doing any post-season damage.

Eau de Pessimisme | a DC United Match Reaction

Listen.

I sat down at the keyboard last night and stared at the screen. Nothing. I just couldn’t get jazzed to write a reaction piece. Some of that was because I could copy and paste many of my prior talking points. Some was because the match was pretty dull.

But the main reason was because the result was so infuriatingly predictable. Set aside for the moment United’s inability to string consistent results together1. This is MLS. This is no-holds-barred Parity Police action.

Draw was writ large all over this one from the outset. The only surprise for me was that I expected United to score first on the counter and then surrender a late goal through a moment of defensive stupidity.

Talking points?

Having just lobbed the “defensive stupidity” hand grenade, allow me to address the goal. Was Jakovic not strong enough against Nyarko? Of course. But to claim he was terrible given that one incident is to ignore the body of good work that preceded and followed it. Though his distribution didn’t always match his casual killing of dangerous moments and advancing from defense with the ball2, in the main I thought he had a pretty good game. Instead I choose to focus on Woolard’s poor clearing header and a quality finish past a keeper who might have done better (odds that Willis would have given the limited body of his work we’ve been exposed to?)
On the other end, I’m sure Quaranta’s being in the box to assist on Wolff’s (offside?) equalizer will be used to highlight King’s weaknesses going forward. While I agree that King didn’t have a stellar game, I think some attention has to be paid to United’s away tactic being to sit two deep in midfield, limit chances, and look for Najar and Pontius to be the creative engines down the flanks and pinching into attacking midfield areas. Also, if you weren’t worried that Simms was going to see a second yellow when he was robbed of his King-shaped cover by the Quaranta substitution, you weren’t paying attention. He was fortunate to only receive one yellow for two gridiron tackles on Grazzini.
I don’t think it’ll surprise anybody when Davies rides pine on Sunday. His futility was summed up by having the ball at his feet with one defender between him and goal. Result? Hesitate. Hesitate. Try to beat him on the dribble. Fail. Rather than worry about if we can hang onto him post-loan, I think the worry for me is that we will and we’ll overpay in the bargain. He’s young. Maybe someday he’ll be a quality player again. Right now, even with 8 goals, he’s not. Whiny petulance and diving are par for the course in modern striker-dom, but there’s usually some quality against which to balance these negatives.
The larger worry in the context of attack is that we’ve got precious little else. There’s a reason we have to play De Rosario up top. Sure, sure, Wolff finished his chance and continues to infuriate by doing One Good Thing that negates all his uselessness otherwise and brings him back to equilibrium on the loathe-love scale. Given that we have the danger-trident of Najar, Pontius, and De Rosario able to drag defenses around and penetrate on the dribble, even a semi-reliable front-man would do the job as complement. Josh Wolff, Mr. Semi-Reliable? Not sure that gets you to the post-season.

Quick hits.

Bum Hammy Hammer strikes again. Pathetic
Olsen wins the subs battle. Klopas seemed intent on removing his most dangerous pieces, while Benny’s moves paid dividends. Also, credit where credit’s due for heads not dropping.
Yes, yes, better finishing by Chicago and we’re singing a different tune. But there’s a reason for their current cellar-dwellling status.
Hey, John Harkes and Rob Stone. Remember when you announced that Pappa had been subbed out? How come you kept saying that he was creating space for himself and getting shots off? Was that from the bench? (sigh)

There’s more, and I’m sure you’ll let me know about it in the comments or the email (for the publicity-shy amongst you), but that’s about all I can scrape up for now. KC on Sunday provides a similar test (athletic, problem-causing front- and flank-men; keeper capable of astonishing saves; short rest period) and I wouldn’t be me if I weren’t wearing my eau de pessimisme (stuff reeks, but it’s more than often appropriate to the occasion).

I’ve seen the unrealistic expectation of 6 points from these two road matches bandied about the blogosphere and am wondering just what some of you folks are imbibing, inhaling, etc. Sure, Chicago suck, but they’ve always been a tough ask for United and are draw-merchants to boot. Likewise, KC have problems, but they’ve also been doing reasonably well in the league of late and have the tools to cause problems, particularly in their new house.

Given injuries, fixture congestion, jack-booted Parity Police, and that United are a middle of the road team to begin with, two points from six seems a much more likely outcome (and one that would still see us in a good position for a playoff run after five games unbeaten). Setting my sights too low? Perhaps, but maybe riding the mean rather than being dragged back to it is precisely the platform United needs to build upon.

I don’t have to trot out the BTTM catchphrase; Landru already did it. ↩
Though there’s a case to be made for a lack of quality movement ahead of him. ↩

It's That Time of Year Again

Oh. Dear.

Football Manager 2012 allows you to take control of any club in over 50 nations across the world, including all of the biggest leagues across Europe.

You’re in the hot-seat, which means you decide who plays and who sits on the bench, you’re in total control of tactics, team-talks, substitutions and pitch-side instructions as you follow the match live with the acclaimed 3D match engine allowing YOU to make the difference!

It's back. Here's hoping MLS gets sorted...

Tournament Tea Leaves?

Sorry for no United match reaction this weekend; a youth soccer tournament intervened. That said, watching my girls roller-coaster through the tournament was a lot like watching United's uneven 2011 progress. So much so, in fact, that those thirteen girls in red shirts running through the rain were starting to look distinctly like tea leaves in which I could read United's valiant, but ultimately futile, stretch run.

We started with a 1-1 draw that we should have won by four or five goals save for the intervention of the post and a couple of shots dragged just wide or thumped into the keeper's midriff. That was followed by a 2-1 victory where we had to re-take (and consequently have saved) a PK and contrived to hit the post three more times. Through those first two games, our top forward was responsible for pinging it off the frame an incredible five times, mostly in the wake of a Pontius-like cutback move in the box. Strange symmetries suggesting themselves there...

After two games, we were tied atop our group and facing the other team level on points with us in the final group-stage game. Problem was, we had lost our key defensive cog to family commitments for the remainder of the tournament. Consequently, we came unglued at the back and got hammered 6-0 to finish third place in the group by a single lousy point.

Sounding familiar?

The placement match was where I finally lost my voice. In the early going, we were rampant, but only managed a single goal from the penalty spot despite six or seven quality chances from the run of play. They, by contrast, had only two breaks on the counter that our keeper snuffed out. You can see where this is going, can't you?

They equalized on a third counter chance and we wobbled severely, but somehow managed not to go behind despite coming under heavy pressure. We even managed to rally for a second late in the half, only to be pegged back a minute or so later, unable to maintain the advantage.

Creepy, huh?

2-2 at the half, and I gave my most rousing, "last game, leave it all on the field" speech only to see us ship two just after the break (Mourinho-style master of motivation I, apparently, am not). They were pouring it on and looking to bury us, but couldn't find another. We finally came back into the match, a series of chances finally resulting in a goal to pull us back to 3-4 with only a minute or so left on the clock.

We almost pulled it out. We took the ball away immediately after the restart, got it forward on the right and had our second-leading scorer make a break from midfield onto a cross that found her one on one with the keeper. Predictably, she mis-hit the shot just wide of the post and the whistle went as the resulting goal kick was taken.

You'll pardon my jaded response when the inevitable happens in October, won't you?

I'm sure there will be similar moments of joy that make the journey worthwhile.

(or so I keep telling myself)...

Quick Thoughts on USA v. Mexico: Klinsmannia!

Los Eternos Rivales, eh?

It certainly started to look like it after about 30 minutes when the Mexico we’ve come to know and love started asserting is prickish best after looking in a different class for the first half hour. It’s been weird lately, watching Mexico play within themselves, so it came as something of a relief when their true colors started bleeding through. Not that they didn’t “win” the match before the waves of subs threw entropy into the mix, but this outing, as the scoreline indicated, presented a US that’s at least in the same neighborhood as our neighbors to the south.

Talking points?

Collective intelligence. The difference between the first XI’s seemed to me to be Mexico’s collective effort and intelligence both with and without the ball. Without, they pressed as a unit, rarely allowing exploitable gaps and tilting the field in their favor. With the ball, they moved for each other, always with runners ahead of the ball looking to shoot the gaps. By contrast, what little pressing the US enacted looked disjointed and ineffective, and far too often the only play with the ball was lateral or backwards. This changed as the US rode the emotional crest in the broken half-hour toward the end, with more willing runners getting after Mexico in possession and creating transition opportunities.
#10? First half I would have said of Donovan: “useful, but not the presence he should be unless cutting inside.” Early in the second I would have said, “flicks and tricks, poor decisions, cough, cough, ugh.” But the move to the middle with three young guys eating up ground around him in attack made him look a completely different player. Might it happen that he’s ready to be the #10 advertised on his jersey for the US? He certainly looked more effective and involved in the middle, with the added bonus of being willing to take on defenders1. If there’s a perfect spot for him going forward as he pushes past 30, you’d think it would be there. Donovan underneath Agudelo or Altidore with Shea and Dempsey wide?
Latinferno? I’m struggling to find an equivalent to “youthquake” in response to Klinsmann’s stated goal of incorporating more latino players, so we’ll go with “latinferno” for now. Evaluation? Not terrible, but not great. Orozco didn’t look like he’d be higher than 4th in a pretty weak center-back corps, and Castillo looked like Bornstein with slightly better touch. I wouldn’t dismiss either entirely, but nor would I be looking at them as starters. Torres, on the other hand, I’ve always been fond of, and he certainly had his moments, though I think he’s largely wasted out wide. I’d like to see him paired with a destroyer in central midfield behind Donovan2, though I’d also like to see Holden here when he returns.
Emotional response. That certainly was a spirited close to affairs, wasn’t it? Forget for a moment that the numerous subs made things a bit chaotic. I think what the take-away should be is that Klinsmann, for all my other suspicions about his qualities as a head-man, can be an emotional leader/catalyst in ways that Bob Bradley could never hope to be. It’s funny, isn’t it? For so long there have been calls for a high-level Euro or Latin boss who could get the best out of the US tactically with the hard work and energy being some native birthright of the players. But here comes a Euro-boss, and a German one to boot, that brings more energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration than tactical nous. That said, one game does not a trend make…

Quick hits?

Torrado should have walked for dragging down Rogers. Not that it would have made a difference with only a few minutes left, but seeing he and Marquez getting frustrated/animated was a pleasant change.
Buddle and Beckerman can safely return to the shallow end of the player pool. I’d send Orozco there as well and Castillo were it not for (a) the complete lack of left backs and (b) the depth issues at the back.
Having found Castillo wanting, it’s interesting as I think back that there were only a couple of decent Mexican moves coming down their right flank, a flank patrolled in turns by two players that gave us major troubles in the Gold Cup. Hmmm.

In the end, I think the biggest take-away message isn’t the formation shift3. Nor is it the Latin Invasion or giving young MLS wingers a chance. All of those have their role to play going forward, but what felt different was the shift in attitude. The starters seemed at first a little bit in awe of their opponents, perhaps still reeling from the Gold Cup final and lacking in confidence. But that changed as the game progressed, and all hell broke loose when Klinsmann unleashed the young guns up top and went with only one holding mid in the middle rather than three.

Not that I’m ready to declare a new dawn by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s certainly a slight lifting of this summer’s gloom. Costa Rica next month is probably too soon for Holden to be fully back in the mix, but I’d like to see…

Agudelo/Altidore up top. Donovan underneath with Shea and Dempsey out wide and a sub’s role for Adu. Bradley and Torres/Holden deeper in midfield. Castillo/Lichaj at left back, Cherundolo/Chandler on the right. Bocanegra and whoever is showing best of Ream/Gooch/Orozco/Goodson in the middle. Howard in net.

And you?

Something loyal readers know has always been a bugaboo of mine when it comes to Donovan. ↩
I assume, of course, that Klinsmann doesn’t intend to persist with three holding/defensive mids in the middle going forward. If the last twenty minutes or so showed him nothing, I hope he saw that. ↩
Though it might be in the longer term. ↩

Hello Mean, My Old Friend | a DC United Match Reaction

Astonishing. I’m not really sure what to think, what sort of coherent narrative I can assemble to summarize the absolute incompetence that defined this match. It was like Christmas in August: both teams (or all three if I include the officials) dishing the gifts left and right. Should I be pleased with a point having played a man down for over 90 minutes (stoppage time included) or disappointed at not beating a side we need to be beating? Should I find comfort in not losing at home for once or should I be nauseated by the errors (two by United, one by the ref) that led to three goals being allowed at home?

To the Talking Points…

De Rosario up top. Not that it takes any special genius to see it, but it looks like Olsen was reading the same tea leaves as I was when it comes to De Rosario needing to play up top. In a match defined by mistakes and poor decisions, his trio of goals both rescued a point and highlighted that if United are to make the playoffs, it will be on his back, particularly on the back of his clutch goals. Keep him up top. Given all that positive noise, I’m loathe to point out that he did miss a chance to grab an unlikely three points heading into stoppage time. Still, we’d be moribund without his addition…
Clumsy like the Wolff. By contrast, I was less pleased with Olsen’s choice of his partner up top. I won’t fault Wolff’s work rate or desire. But am I the only one who sees him killing more danger than he creates? The worst moment in this match? Quaranta hustles and spins to knock a ball across the box. Pontius is steaming in alone from deep. Wolff…cuts out the ball, dallies on it, loses possession. Sure, he’s a striker and he wants a go at goal. And maybe he doesn’t get the shout, though it sure looked like Pontius was pissed he didn’t let it run. I also don’t see the sense in Wolff, who tends, in his advanced age, towards a deep-lying forward role, playing alongside De Rosario, who wants to exploit those same areas. Is Olsen too married to Wolff’s fighting spirit and leadership qualities at the expense of all other advantage?
Our fearless leader. While I’m on Olsen…I’m not going to fault him for going ballistic and getting sent off; that was clearly the only sane response to an abomination with a whistle. I’m also not going to question leaving two up top when down to 10 as that demonstrates a desire to attack at home and wasn’t really exploited (as I assumed it would be) by TFC’s flying wide-men1. But I do have a couple of questions. First, why pull King when losing a man with 83 minutes to play? Not only were both Wolff and Quaranta in their first matches back from injury (not to mention Jakovic being in his second back) and probably not fully fit, but neither Quaranta nor Pontius is particularly adept defensively in midfield. Then again, in Olsen’s favor, we weren’t obviously punished by that decision. I do wonder about TFC’s third goal though. The obvious bit of concern comes courtesy of the center official for allowing the throw to go forward as White is still sprinting on to the field. Ridiculous. But MacDonald was clearly done with a muscle injury when the training staff went out to have a look at him. Why wasn’t that sub up and ready to come on immediately? Surely the switch could have been made sooner?
Hamid’s red. Let’s continue with the whistlemen a touch, shall well? Happily, my angry note: “idiots with flags and whistles ruin this as a contest 7’ in” was ultimately proven wrong as there was still entertainment aplenty. That still doesn’t excuse the first of the two big mistakes (amidst a parade of smaller ones) by an officiating crew clearly not up to the task of handling a match at this level. But let’s stick with this one moment. Granted, Avila’s flip was spectacular, MacDonald should have taken charge and cleared into touch beforehand, and Hamid shouldn’t have been charging out in that situation, particularly on a wet field. But…Hamid’s feet were tucked beneath him, he was trying to minimize contact, the field was wet, it was the 7th minute, there was no goal scoring opportunity prevented, and the challenge was clearly more clumsy than malicious. There will be plenty similar that won’t even be (and haven’t been) whistled for fouls this year. It’s a yellow in mind, no doubt. But the AR was right there. He’s the one who whispers that this was a sending-off offense2. He’s the one waving his flag and begging for attention. Sounds like prime MLS center official material to me…
Weakest links. Sticking with the officiating: how did Andy Iro finish the match without a card? Besides being generally clumsy in the tackle and missing clearances to gift chances to United, his foul in the box that led to the equalizing PK sure looked like “denial of a goal-scoring opportunity” to me. Even if it’s not a straight red, it’s a yellow at bare minimum. That failure is on the officials; the rest of Iro’s miserable outing is one United fans can be thanking their lucky stars for. Sad. Of course, United had their own high-profile mistakes from Cronin in their own net. To be fair, he had to be surprised at coming on and hasn’t played significant first team minutes for quite a while. His early efforts had me fearing the worst after he started punching everything lobbed into his box. I thought he’d settled well by halftime, but the flap shortly after the break that gifted TFC their opener was pathetic.

Quick Hits?

How does the ball fall to an unmarked player’s feet in the six-yard-box off a corner? Set piece weakness continues.
Pontius is a terror with the ball at his feet. Pity his defense is so weak…(4-2-3-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-2-3-1…)
Ethan White had two excellent headed chances in the dying minutes. The first might have been a touch high for him off the corner, but the second was a free header at the back stick that he put right at Frei.
Six minutes of stoppage time? Playing to nearly eight? Par for a downright miserable course from a clown with a whistle.
Torsten “Busy Hands” Frings. Remember 2002 and the famous non-call of the handball on the line against the US? Tonight I saw him sneak a hand up to grab at De Rosario’s shorts as he was falling in the box. Was it enough to put DDR off?
The general putzing about with the ball in the center of defense and center of midfield needs to stop. We give up way too many counter chances from these situations and have been doing so for ages.

So, having worked my way through all of that and having had time to let the emotions settle a bit, what conclusions do I reach? TFC suck. MLS whistlemen suck. DC United? We don’t quite suck, but that’s mostly because we have Dwayne De Rosario. He’s not the only good thing about this team, but at the moment, he seems to be the only productive good thing about this team. That said, we’re still very much a work in progress and DDR is still very much into his 30’s.

Sigh.

Besides, I play the same 4-3-2 in FM when I’m down to 10 as well. ;-) ↩
And I really do wonder if the AR’s word is what seals the sending-off. What was the center official’s inclination? I don’t even know if he was going to blow the whistle before that flag started waving maniacally. ↩

FBF Grab Bag

Busy couple of weeks, busy weekend. All conspiring to keep my post production low, and that means…Grab Bag time.

Better Up Top

Those damnable “local blackouts” applied, leaving me with only the Match Day Live condensed version of the United vs. Quakes tilt. Obviously, I feel pretty unqualified to deal in minutiae as a result, but that won’t keep me from making the one obvious observation: De Rosario needs to be up top.

Why? Well, quite simply, he’s our best finisher1 and the only one who can create for himself (assuming Najar and Pontius are not also tried as forwards). The counter-argument goes something along the lines of, “but he was brought in to be a #10, to dish from midfield!” Perhaps he could do that, but it isn’t (a) what he does best2 or (b) what United needs most.

United has created chances. Not in any vast numbers, true, but chances nonetheless. The current batch of front-men haven’t consistently finished those chances. De Rosario does. Does that mean he needs to be playing up top? Not necessarily, but being there affords him the most touches on the ball in goal-scoring areas, which can only be a good thing.

Allow me to anticipate the argument that runs, “but he can make runs from deep in midfield, thereby putting him in a position to both distribute and finish. Maybe. Truth be told, I’d prefer him as a free-role “tweener” with support from two deeper- (though not necessarily deep-) lying midfielders, thus relieving him of defensive responsibilities and allowing him, both as our best player and most dangerous attacker, to shine.

Of course, if we had a mobile destroyer who could eat up turf (and attackers), it’s possible that we could play a single player behind De Rosario in central midfield. Instead, we have Simms. Competent enough in his way, but not up to such a task on his own, necessitating help from either a central partner or pinching shuttlers on the wings. Which, of course, puts shackles Najar and Pontius, our next-best attacking options, neither of whom are particularly great shakes getting back on defense.

Make the best with what you’ve got.

Klinsmann

I’m still on the fence over the Klinsmann appointment. On the one hand, it will probably prove a long-term bonus if he’s given the freedom to implement changes that bring about a more technical, quick, and attacking style of play for the program in general. Does that lead to immediate results in 2014? Doubtful.

It’s all about rolling the dice. Sticking with Bradley would have resulted in qualification and early dismissal in Brazil. Results with Klinsmann depend on delegation. The whole thing might click wonderfully or explode in our faces.

Given solid, experienced heads around him, he can focus on what he does best: being the motivational figurehead. That leads to Germany in 2006. If instead he thinks he’s the next Rinus Michels, we get the Bayern abomination.

If nothing else, a more “agile” style of play will probably shake our regional doldrums against less-talented opposition and lead to more consistent results against lesser opposition in general. The real test will be what happens when the US comes up against superior opposition, an area where Bradley more often than not shined.

The notable exception of course being the Gold Cup. And, like it or not, Mexico are superior opposition now. The rematch on August 10th will almost definitely be too soon to make a judgement call on Klinsmann’s approach, but his team selection and tactics should provide a fairly good barometer of where this whole thing is heading.

What the Hex?

I was relieved to see that the crackpot plan to revamp CONCACAF’s World Cup qualifying with more giants v. minnows action and two final groups got the axe, leaving things much the same as in previous years (welcome back, Hex). That leaves the US facing a home-and-away group with a much-improved Jamaica, likely to be joined by Guatemala and Haiti, in order to qualify for the Hex.

All well and good, and nary a Barbados in sight. But what left me scratching my head were the six teams automatically passed to the second group stage. US, Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica…duh. Jamaica? Given their decent showing in the Gold Cup, I’d give that one a thumbs up too. But Cuba? Seriously?

Besides hemorrhaging players every time they play abroad, what puts Cuba here? Is it not appearing in a World Cup final since 1938? Is it that lone advancement from the Gold Cup group stage in 2003? Oh wait, it’s being ranked 64th in the FIFA World Rankings, making them the sixth highest in CONCACAF. Which then begs the obvious question…What the hell did they do to be ranked 64th?