Player ratings

Analysis & player ratings: Union 1-1 TFC

What is left to say that hasn’t been said about the Union midfield?

For the duration of play against Toronto FC on Saturday evening at BMO field, they were outplayed, outclassed and out-thought by a quartet of players who lack even the basic chemistry that comes from playing together. Against a side that hasn’t grabbed all three points from a match since March 9, the Union came up second best. And they played up a man for 50 minutes.

The point gained from Jack McInerney’s stoppage time heroics is undeniably vital, and winning a point on the road after a long stretch of games and travel with little time for rest is commendable. But in the long term, games like Saturday’s will become important more for points lost than points gained.

Starting slow, finishing slower

The Union had clearly been handed an edict from their coaching staff. Sit behind the ball, play defense and look to spring the counterattack.

In certain situations, it is not at all the wrong strategy. At least, it is not the wrong strategy when playing elite MLS sides like the Galaxy, Dynamo or Sporting KC or going on the road to hostile (or west coast) grounds in Seattle, Montreal or Portland. But against a Toronto FC side languishing at the bottom of the table, a team that managed to score just a single goal in the month of May, the Union’s game plan and respect shown to their hosts was disappointing.

Once Doneil Henry was given his marching papers, things had to change. Playing on the road has been a strength for the Union in 2013, and up a man against a team as poor as Toronto, Hackworth had everything going his way.

Yet, Plan A turned into Plan B: more of the same.

Against Montreal and plenty of other top teams, Hackworth has not hesitated to throw on all of his strikers, usually at the expense of his midfield. Yet in a game where getting bodies into the attacking third was critical, Conor Casey exchanged places with Sebastien Le Toux in a direct swap, and Antoine Hoppenot came in for Michael Farfan and stayed wide, playing midfield. It was a timid, cautious approach in a match that, simply put, should not have required it.

This is MLS, time to buck up

Before his early departure, the man tasked with leading the Union’s offensive charge, Kleberson, failed to complete a single pass. Slow and plodding in midfield, the Brazilian looked disinterested in the physical treatment showed to him by Matias Laba and Jeremy Hall. Considering the manner in which he shrunk from the fight against Patrice Bernier in Montreal and was dominated by Jeff Larentowicz and Logan Pause the week prior, there is cause for alarm with respect to the Brazilian playmaker.

What MLS lacks in craft and guile, it more than makes up for in force and physicality. Toronto’s full-blooded play is no aberration. That is MLS. If Kleberson can’t get used to it, he will continue to disappear from matches for the rest of the campaign.

Fixture congestion and the shallow Union

When the Union take to the field on Wednesday against Columbus Crew, they will be playing their eighth match in 32 days. With Hackworth failing to rotate his squad not only in league matches, but also in the US Open Cup, he walks a dangerous line. More than a handful of times, Union players hit the deck against Toronto. Sure the challenges were often flagrant, but the Union is an exhausted side, physically and mentally. The youthfulness of a side is no excuse for overplaying them, especially when many of the Union’s young stars have never before competed through an entire MLS campaign. Thus far in 2013, Amobi Okugo has already played more than half the minutes he saw last year and has played every minute of the 2013 campaign, as has Zac MacMath. Jack McInerney has played more than 70 percent of his 2012 total. Rewarding players for their form is one thing, but giving them a day off is no demotion. Hackworth is running the very real risk that his players will simply break down as the year wears on.

The MLS season is a long race, the Union coaching staff is treating it like a 40-yard dash.

Player Ratings

Zac MacMath – 5

Played with both anger and inspiration after Caldwell’s early elbow nearly ended his day prematurely. Must do better to keep his emotions in check in instances like Henry’s kick out, as it could have landed him in hot water despite being the victim.

Sheanon Williams – 3

Had Osorio tracked all the way into the box for Toronto’s opener, yet somehow lost him at the vital moment.

Amobi Okugo – 4

Held his ground well and tried to push his stagnant midfield forward whenever possible. Put Carroll in a bad spot with a loose pass, forcing the Union captain into a professional foul. Won’t enjoy the look of Caldwell rising high over him to head at goal on replay.

Jeff Parke – 4

Made a few vital challenges, but was also threw in some clunkers. Very lucky not to have conceded to Earnshaw when he missed his clearing header. Could have easily been sent off for his dangerous, late tackle on Laba after he had been caught in possession.

Ray Gaddis -5

Stout defensively, Gaddis did not give an inch to the experienced Convey, who suffered a sloppy, inconsistent day at the office under the Union fullback’s watchful eye.

Michael Farfan – 3

Asked to play three midfield positions on the night, Farfan played them all without conviction. For a player who plays defense with such reckless, overzealous abandon, it’s hard to understand why he fails to bring any of that venom to the offensive side of the ball.

Kleberson – N/A

As mentioned above, failed to complete a single pass before going off injured after 15 minutes.

Brian Carroll – 4

Could have easily been sent off himself with a second yellow on a handful of different occasions. Slow and weak in the tackle. Showed precious little leadership despite his team imploding around him.

Danny Cruz – 3

Struggled to make an impact despite completing 82 percent of his passes. Continues to draw fouls in dangerous spots.

Sebastien Le Toux – 3

Barely found the ball, and when he did his touch was lacking. The quality of his set piece delivery took a disappointing dip.

Jack McInerney – 6

The Union are approximately one Jack McInerney away from the Toronto FC and DC United level doldrums in 2013.

Substitutes

Keon Daniel – 3

After a smart, early ball to send Le Toux on his way, Daniel regressed to the ponderously slow, negative-thinking player he has become over the past two months.

Conor Casey – 5

Added a new element to the Union’s attack, considering keeping the ball on the deck wasn’t working.

Antoine Hoppenot – 3

Playing midfield simply does not work for Hoppenot. A non-factor replacing Farfan.

Geiger Counter

Geoff Gamble – 5

Missed a perfect opportunity to set the tone 2 minutes in when he failed to properly admonish/caution Steven Caldwell for his dangerous elbow on MacMath. Always looked timid and slow to make up his mind, but showed poise and character to listen, reconsider and ultimately send off Doneil Henry.

Preferred Starting XI for Wednesday’s matchup with Columbus

4-4-2

MacMath; Gaddis, Jordan, Parke, Anding; McLaughlin, Torres, Okugo, Fernandes; McInerney, Casey

After a performance this poor, it’s time to send a shock through the locker room, reminding everyone that selection is a privilege, based on performance, and not a right.

Expected Starting XI for Wednesday’s matchup with Columbus

4-4-2

MacMath; Williams, Okugo, Parke, Gaddis; Cruz, Daniel, Carroll, Farfan; McInerney, Le Toux

56 Comments

  1. Your words / though true hurt on Daniel.

    He was playing so much better early on/end of last year. What’s the sentiment on Kleberson now that he’s been a non-factor since the fanfare of his signing?

    • scottymac says:

      Kleberson played well in the CHI matches, the whole team disappeared in the second half of the LAG game. Daniel’s play is so bad he negates a man advantage.

  2. “A point is a point”!?!
    John, is that you?!

  3. If we see that preferred line up I will be very happy even if we don’t win

  4. Kenso Josh says:

    I can’t take this negative soccer. I saw nothing to admire about the Union.

  5. Andy Muenz says:

    Eli, I have to disagree with most of these ratings. Despite being a man up for 50 minutes, the U could only get a point against TORONTO! Even if they are trying to play a defensive shell, they can at least try kicking the ball downfield rather than straight to a red shirt everytime. My wife had it right when she asked if the Union are red/blue color blind.

    Somebody (or manybodys) need less than a 3 for this performance. I would keep Zac at a 5 (goal wasn’t his fault and he drew the first yellow against Henry). I would raise Cruz to a 4 or 5 for drawing the second yellow. I would raise Jack up to a 7 since it wasn’t his fault the rest of the team didn’t even try to get him the ball. Everyone else I would lower at least a point and maybe 2.

  6. Until you noted it, I had not even realized that Gaddis was so effective against Bobby Convey and that side of the Toronto attack. Gaddis seems like such a good guy, and it hurts to say it because I think that he does have a mental toughness and willingness to take people on one-on-one that I admire. That being said, I am so accustomed to thinking about Gaddis as a one footed liability that it didn’t occur to me that there had not been as many jailbreaks on his side of the field on Saturday.

  7. I’ve been pretty supportive of Hack. I haven’t minded the player choices all that much, but this game showed one glaring problem…The Union are playing SCARED.
    .
    The fact that we go out trying to “absorb pressure” from Toronto shows that this irrational fear starts with our coaching staff. We then see it translate to the pitch with the constant possession in the defensive third and lack of inspired movement off the ball (except for Jack) or penetrating vertical passes.
    .
    As much as we’ve beaten up on Cruz, he is one of the few players that have not succumbed to this culture of fear. Farfan needs to get some guts and start taking on players.
    .
    I really hope we go after Columbus. I know we desperately need a result, but I’m a firm believer (especially in MLS) that a proactive offense is the best defense.
    .
    Also…W.S.S.B! (are we getting t-shirts made up?)

  8. Man… If that Preferred Starting XI actually took the field, I might die of excitement. If only Hackworth knew that he was allowed to play those guys…

  9. Mother of God... says:

    “Preferred Starting XI for Wednesday’s matchup with Columbus:
    .
    MacMath; Gaddis, Jordan, Parke, Anding; McLaughlin, Torres, Okugo, Fernandes; McInerney, Casey
    .
    After a performance this poor, it’s time to send a shock through the locker room, reminding everyone that selection is a privilege, based on performance, and not a right”
    .
    …it’s so crazy it just might work. Okay, so it’s not crazy at all. With all the frequent games it might even make sense to give the regulars a bit of a break too.

  10. This team simply does not look like they ever play together… there is no chemistry between anyone… even the Casey/Mac chemistry that looked like it was blossoming in the beginning of the season is no more…
    .
    Mac gets (what I think) is a good share of his goals by his magical goal-sensing-fu, simply being in the right spot at the right time… not from ANY buildup or flow of play from his teammates…
    .
    sigh…
    .
    I’m all for a wholesale change in the lineup, it just *can’t* continue as it has for the rest of the season…
    .
    And why Daniels keeps stepping onto the field week after week is beyond me… do the coaching staff actually look at tapes afterwards?
    .
    Ok.. enough venting
    .
    Regardless… I’ll be there week in and week out.. it is Philly sports after all, gotta expect pain and suffering as part of the package

  11. I love the idea of dradtically changing the line up but if do this.

    Konopka
    Williams okugo parke anding
    Caroll kassel
    Gaddis casey torres
    mcinerney

    -Macmath is too unstable
    -the defense is bad we need another defensive midfielder to help: kassel
    -gaddis does well on the right id like to see him on the right wing.
    -maybe ur right about kleberson not fitting in to this physical league, so casey can fill that role.
    -torres on the left
    -lets leave mcinerney up front by himself hes the only one scoring anyway. Just give him all the service.

  12. Keon Daniel is horrible. Lacks confidence and creativity. Just look at the direct kick he took which he kicked directly into the wall. REALLY! HORRIBLE! He cannot connect a pass to save his life! Why does Hack keep playing him?!!? Please put in Roger Torres to help spark something in the midfield. Farfan is really playing like crap. With all his skill he is non factor on offense. Does not create and never takes the ball upfield. I agree with changing the line up to at least send a message in the locker room.

    • “[Keon] cannot connect a pass to save his life!”
      .
      Right, except he is 5th on the team in passing, behind 2 CB’s and 2 DMid’s, with 78%. I’m not sure if you’e mistaking him for #25 or #21…? Sheanon has the worst passing % of all the defenders with 67% and Mike has the worst of all midfielders with 71%. Maybe you’re watching a different Union team in an alternate universe?
      .
      Sidenote: Why do so many people on here post things that are factually inaccurate without checking them first? If the personnel and starting 11 decisions were up to some of these “emotional thinkers” as I like to call them, the team would be in a worse spot and less fun to watch than Chivas…

      • Excuse me if I don’t have the time to check every stat or figure. I go by what I see watching every game and Keon is not a good passer. Those stats may reflect when he passes the ball back but you watch the next game and see how many of his passes he connects moving forward. He may not be the worst on the team but he has lack luster performances week in and week out. And when you relate that to the team having a midfield that cannot create any offense, he and Farfan are dragging us down!

      • I don’t care if a player has 110% completion rate if every pass is backwards or sidewards, which is the case for Daniel.
        The fact that Daniel is tasked with playing CAM or another position that requires offense ability damages him even more.
        Daniel would be a great player … if he was playing DMid.

      • The Black Hand says:

        Michael Farfan should be taking as much, if not more, heat. Keon, as bad as he has shown of late, has performed better than Farfan.

      • Yes he has a high passing % but his passes contribute to negative possesion. I define negative possesion as possesion for the sake of possesion and not possesion with a purpose. If you’re so concerned with the actual stats, go look up his passes on Opta and see how many he sends forward…or how many oppurtunities he has created… or how many assists he has or how many times his passes lead directly to an adjacent completed pass. The stats are all there if you want to see. Passing % alone does not indicate how succesful someone is on the field. Your point is valid about Williams, but they are 2 different players. People are concerned about Daniels’ passing because he plays the middle of the pitch!!!! There is a reason we now have the “lock up Keon” chant going in 103!!!!!!!

      • http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2013-06-01-TOR-v-PHI/chalkboard This is a link to Keon’s succesful passes, out of 36, only 7 were forward or kind of forward, only 1 pass was considered key, he had 6 crosses, all of which failed, he had 13 unsuccesful passes, all of which were forward!
        http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2013-06-01-TOR-v-PHI/chalkboard this is a link to his possesion, tackled and lost possesion 15 times, ZERO, yes ZERO succesful dribbles!!!!

        Now that we are using ths stats, please tell me what HE does that is so great. I’m not denying the other guys suck, just that Keon sucks SO MUCH!!!

      • A few points here, too deep in the comment stack to reply to individuals:
        .
        Pat R – I’m not expecting you to check the stats, but if you’re actually watching the games, you’ll see him connecting passes. Calling him not a good passer doesn’t really apply. I’m pointing out objective reasons to support that he is a good passer. Saying that he “isn’t a good passer” is subjective. How would you measure whether he is good or not without using actual data?
        .
        James, every pass is not backwards or sideways. If you look at the chalkboards, you can see that there is a fairly even mix. I look at every player’s distribution each game and Keon’s are usually lateral, which doesn’t mean they’re bad. Not every pass has to be forward all the time. Keon has had a few nice layoffs – one in particular to Kleberson in the LA game – that I know people overlook because the shot gets saved or someone else gets the assist. I definitely agree that he is not a CAM, nor does he want to be. He is clearly comfortable on the left or a more reserved CM role. He is the best LM we have, so that is where he should play. He could also be successful in a 4-2-3-1 at the LDMish spot, so long as he and Carroll don’t end up occupying the same space.
        .
        Black Hand: No kidding. That’s why I finally decided to bring up this point in a somewhat formal comment. There is so much bias against Keon (and I cannot understand why), but Marfan is free to do whatever he calls his current play and slip by unnoticed.
        .
        Dan C: There is no such thing as negative possession. Possession for the sake of possession is for the purpose of possession. When you have the ball a few interesting things happen that you might want if you were a coach or player: A) The other team can’t score unless you have Stegen in goal and B) Your players have time to make runs and get open(Jack Mac is great at this). Also, your point about going to look at the chalkboard, idk why that was even brought up. Of course I looked at the chalkboard, thats where my data came from. When looking at Keon’s passing directions, I have no problem with them. Where the player passes a ball is also heavily dependent on where other players are on the field. I would much rather have him complete a lateral pass than launch the ball forward and lose possession.
        .
        The problem, I think, that everyone has with Daniel is that he is not attack-minded enough. This point I totally agree with. However in his last 1-2 appearances, I think he is slowly improving on that, and I base this idea off of us actually seeing a few shots from him as of late. My comment was not to falsely dispute claims against his attacking aggression. It was to refute and hopefully put an end to all of the false comments about him losing possession and being an inaccurate passer, when the numbers clearly show the opposite of these. A minor sub-point was to present whose head(s) we really should be calling for.

    • Andy Muenz says:

      Keon didn’t just kick it into the wall, he kicked it into the bottom of the wall! It had a better chance of tunnelling under the wall then going over it. (Maybe he figured everyone would jump real high and the ball would go through the vacated space).

      • The Black Hand says:

        Sometimes driving at the lower portion of the wall works. As the wall lifts to defend, the defenders legs open up space; screening the keeper or deflecting the trajectory of the shot. It’s a crafty move by the kick taker, though I’m not sure that was Keon’s objective. Cristiano, he is not.

      • Dan C you Da Man! There go your stats and Keon still sucks.

      • Yeah, that’s it! Stats are for suckers, right guys!?

      • Pat, in keeping with the current theme, I believe what you meant to type was ” There go your stats and Keon still sucks so much”

    • Jim Presti says:

      If we consider that Daniel, Farfan, and Cruz are the only attacking/creative [supposedly] Midfielders that play on a consistent basis and if we also consider that passing [attempts and completion], dribbling, and tackled/possession lost are the more important metrics for measuring a midfielders standings, the stats for the season are as follows:
      .
      Passing
      Farfan 349/485 71.96% or 33.558 completed per 90
      Daniel 412/531 77.59% or 38.109 completed per 90
      Cruz 194/257 75.49% or 20.59 completed per 90
      .
      Dribbling
      Farfan 20/42 47.62% or 1.9231 completed per 90
      Daniel 8/19 42.11% or 0.74 completed per 90
      Cruz 6/19 31.58% or or 0.6368 completed per 90
      .
      Tackled and Possession Lost
      Farfan 185 or 17.788 per 90
      Daniel 170 or 15.725 per 90
      Cruz 95 or 10.083 per 90
      .
      The infographic does not have TPL per 90 but for comparative purposes, the results are below:
      Williams 18.386
      Marfan 17.788
      Casey 17.483
      Hoppenot 16.588
      Daniel 15.725
      Le Toux 14.446
      Kleberson 14.333
      Gaddis 14.123
      Lahoud 13.065
      Garfan 12.115
      Carroll 11.429
      Cruz 10.083
      McInerney 9.3103
      Okugo 7
      Parke 5.1429
      .
      Any players left off were due to low sample size.

      • Hey Jim,
        Thanks for the post, that’s some really comprehensive data. When looking at those stats, I think I agree with C-Dawg. Whether Keon’s passing is forward or not, he is still not the main problem in the starting 11. This is a good heated discussion on this topic. While Keon is not my favorite player(Amo-beast is), he is definitely one of the least problematic players to get regular starts in this lineup. For some reason on here though, he gets a very bad rep(rap? wrap?). I’d be interested to see what Dan C or Pat R have to say when faced with those numbers, specifically the tackled and possession lost that Dan mentioned.

      • ~

      • Whoops, accidentally submitted that.
        .
        Bobby: That’s because my argument is based 100% on facts and not subjective concepts that don’t exist. Glad someone can see the light when looking at the stats. Maybe if Jim keeps posting the stats and doing those monthly infographics, eventually we can right this ship back to some meaningful conversation.
        .
        On second thought, nah! Let’s just put Keon on a cross and find the next player in line to blame.
        .
        Kudos to Jim for posting the stats. I had no idea that Mike such a high rate of getting dispossessed, but that would have been my guess. That isn’t a stat that I normally track, or a combination thereof, so thanks for posting.

      • As far as the MF is concerned, the Union need a playmaker. Daniel does a solid job of maintaining possession, but doesn’t have that aggressive/offensive edge needed in a CAM role. Farfan does horribly out on the left. He likes to slot inside and frequently drifts into space. Cruz just runs a marathon on the right and is often out on his own island. There are plenty of times where I saw Keon looking for an outlet pass, and his other MF were no where to be found. In fact, this is half the reason Jack Mac plays so deep into the middle.

  13. Mike Farfan was the worst player on the field on Saturday.
    .
    Well, worst behind Cruz who only attempted 22 passes(18 completed) despite playing the full 90 this time.
    .
    And behind Kleberson, who only amassed a whopping 3 touches in 15 minutes to start the match off on the right foot. Those 3 touches resulted in 2x tackled & possession lost and an unsuccessful pass. If he plays like that again, he should just sit. 3 touches in a quarter of an hour extrapolates to 18 for the whole game. Not nearly active enough for a CAM, who IMO should have at least 100 touches on the ball a game. What happened to this guy? He was pretty good against LA, or so I thought.
    .
    Still, Mike is one of the biggest problems on this team right now. If he is deployed on the left, he simply cannot stick to his position. We saw him cut inside in the same spot every time. This is two games in a row of severely bad play from a guy who is supposed to be one of our more talented players. It’s hard to tell which shift was the worst for him between his “invisible man” impression in the MTL game, his lazy and sloppy performance against OC, and this game. This is starting to be a really bad run of form for Mike, so I’m sure Hack will just continue to start him on the left where he doesn’t belong. Too late to take Gabe back and give Chivas Mike? If we’re going to play a Farfan on the left, I’d prefer it be the one with some practice on that side.

    • The Black Hand says:

      This was a loss. No excuse for drawing against Toronto, while playing a man up. Hackworth may be a “good guy” but, as far as managing a professional club goes, he is worse than Nowak. Our club lacks heart and that is Hack’s doing. We will jog in place, as long as he is at the helm.
      As far as ratings go; I think that Eli is pretty spot on. With exception to Gaddis (who’da thunk it?) and Mac (huge equalizer, otherwise lost in no man’s land), we were pitiful.
      It’s time to see some new faces. Fernandez is just as good of an option as Michael Farfan is, at this point. Torres should get his crack at CAM. Oddly, I would keep Cruz in the XI. Gaddis should switch to RB (he is better than Shaenon), allowing a look at Anding at LB. We could try Shaenon as a sub at RM.
      It’s time to kill the Hack Machine!!!

      • Black Hand, I agree. It felt like a loss. No reason not to get the full 3, there was no attack.

  14. According to MLS, Keon Daniel wasn’t even supposed to be available. Anyone know what happened? Did Nick Sak change his mind about letting Daniel go?http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2013-06-01-TOR-v-PHI/preview

  15. “We suck so ba-ad,
    Oh, yes we do-oo,
    We suck so ba-ad,
    You know it’s tru-ue,
    When you’re not near us,
    We’re glad,
    Oh Union, we suck so bad!”
    .
    C’mon you SoB’s – if we go down to Columbus, can we please hear this ring out from the River End? Let’s embrace our current suckness. Philly proud!

  16. Great One says:

    I really like your idea of changing up the lineup. The only problems I see are that Hackworth will never sit Carroll and will never start Torres, ever.
    .
    Realistically I do think he have a chance at seeing Hernandes start for Daniel/Kleberson.
    .
    Speaking of the Casey/Macinerney partnership, what ever happened to that? Le Toux had a couple good games off the bench, Casey took a knock, and now Le toux starts every game? I really liked Le Toux and Hoppenot coming off the bench.
    .
    Given that Hack has his certain guys, and the fact that we’re on the road and he will most certainly play defensively, my proposed lineup is:
    4-2-3-1
    Macmath
    Gaddis, Williams, Parke, Anding
    Okugo, Carroll
    Le Toux, Macinerney, Cruz
    Casey

    • Andy Muenz says:

      The game is at PPL Park Wednesday, so not really on the road (although last game, there were close to as many OC supporters as Union).

    • Mcinerney at center mid? Really??? Um, no.

      And that’s just the start. This lineup puts Williams at CB, which is not his best position (though he’s done OK in a pinch). It puts Anding at LB, where we’ve never seen him. It puts Cruz in front of him, which will leave him exponentially more exposed. It puts Okugo at DMid, where we haven’t seen him in like a year. It puts Brian Carroll flat with someone, which always hampers his performance. And it puts LeToux in midfield, where he does not perform as well. But other than that it’s a nice idea.

  17. I missed the last 25 minutes of the game — I turned the TV off right after Toronto scored — but I thought that was the most dismal display I have seen from the U this year. TFC had guys charging into the 18, and nobody is picking them up until the last minute. Offensively the Union couldn’t string anything together to save their lives. Most of Farfan’s passes were backwards to Carroll or Okugo. Michael, what the %^*!& do you think those guys are gonna do with the ball if you can’t find an outlet??

    I agree with several of the commentators that these ratings appear generous, if anything. Jack Mac does not deserve a 7 despite his excellent point-saving goal. He was totally invisible for most of the match. I was actually surprised that Seba was subbed out — I would’ve let Casey play with LeToux, who was more involved. So maybe Hack was smarter than I on that score. Or maybe he (and we) are just getting lucky.

    • I turned it off as well. I just couldn’t watch that display of soccer anymore. It just got me upset and angry that someone up a man was still getting pinned in its own half. The Union are playing really ugly, and it’s not the style of soccer I want to watch.

  18. The Union play in Reading on Friday night. Normally I wouldn’t be concerned, but given the complete lack of depth this team has right now, combined with the City Islanders playing Saturday night, I’m worried we’ll be seeing some starters for that game as well. They have an Open Cup game the following Wednesday (6/12), so I hope Friday night we see the few bench players we have, academy players and -hopefully- some of the players loaned to Harrisburg. Otherwise next Wednesday may be more of the same.

  19. Before we get too negative about our players. Is anyone surprised that we now have a team too tired at many positions to think about being effective and a team with so little confidence in each other that everyone runs up field to try and score and gets beat on the break.
    Now for the person to get angry with. The coach. he obviously has no ability to rally the troops, give them discipline and shape them into a team. He clearly can’t demand and recieve a certain style of play. He “may be” a good judge of talent but this is what a scout or player development person does. a coach must do much more.
    I encourage everyone to go easy on the players as frustrating as their play may be as they do not put themselves out there. To think keon will ask the coach to cut him to avoid bad play is not going to happen so its up to hack to make him effective or sit him. the players may not be up to standards or good enough for us but they only play at the pleasure of the manager.
    lastly at least we have a team to make us miserable. I was a DC fan prior to the announcement of our team. think how bad things must have been then.

  20. I would give le toux a better rating relatively. (I felt he certainly was not as bad as keon, farfan or cruz)Yes he barely touched the ball but that wasn’t for lack of trying. He had almost no service and the one piece of good passing he got ( suprisingly from keon) he almost buried. He however never stopped running and trying to integrate himself in the game. No one played well as a team. no one really shined. This game probably deserved a team score of 2 without any individual grades.

  21. OneManWolfpack says:

    Love the “Preferred Starting XI”… although I think the sun would have to explode first. Either way this team better be tired, because they have looked progressively worse (the obvious exception being Jack Mac) as this season has gone on. This is not going to bode well in the next two months. If this keeps up I shutter to see where they are at in the table come August.

  22. Imagine if Jack didn’t get that goal..the conversation would be much more colorful.

    KLEBERSON-Can we trade him back for Adu? LOL

    MARFAN-Can we give Chivas a call and see if they’ll make us a generous offer?

    WHEELER-Can we get him back from HCI and either start him with JMac or give him Hopps job?

    As for the rest of the team (with the exception of Jack), no one should be safe from the bench or trade!

  23. How much faster could Keon Daniel be if he cut his hair?

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