Well, I’m sure I’m not alone in expressing disappointment in disappointment in yesterday’s performance…
I’m sure I’m also not alone in expressing some confusion in RSL’s game plan. Chivas did exactly what everybody expected them to do. RSL on the other hand…hard to imagine how they planned to win this game. They certainly pressed hard for the tie, despite some bizarre substitutions at the end of the game…but we’ll leave that for a minute.
After a strong performance last game, Kotschau was hit and miss again tonight, giving up position to players near the goal. Exactly what he thought he was preventing by taking away Marsh’s turn, rather than cutting off the post on that goal is a great mystery to me. In fairness, it was at least partially a misread from Rimando, who made no play to the post, but still. Several times in the game, Kotschau gave up position around the goal, leaving Rimando high and dry. On the whole, barring a couple of times when RSL gave away the break (which thankfully Rimando was there for), the defense didn’t look particularly weak. Instead, our most infuriating core was once again our midfield, who had some woeful giveaways. RSL once again struggled to find good transition. Andy, while holding the ball and finding space for himself repeatedly missed good opportunities to advance the ball into dangerous space, effectively stalling the transition before it began. OK, so be it, but if you aren’t going to transition quickly, then you MUST shoot from outside when they give you the space. If you don’t take those opportunities, your opponent will simply collapse in to eliminate passes around the goal*sigh*. Once again, our defensive midfield transition left us in uncertain territory creating some good opportunities for Chivas (most of which failed to materialize more from their ineptitude than from our ability to shut them down. I swear that these posts are beginning to all sound the same to me. This is basic football, not radical thinking.
I did like the decision to play Harris in the midfield, and when he actually played wide, he was dangerous, creating the best opportunity of the night for RSL…still can’t get that miss out of my head. Really, I thought Harris played courageously all game, fighting to create something from nothing near the end of the game. I just wish he had a bit more control…he’d be so much more effective. Where is Javi??? The game report shows he was on the bench…wouldn’t he have been a better option late in the game than Chris Lancos??? Chris Brown came on for Findley, only to show how much Findley was working I guess, since he promptly disappeared from the pitch, only occasionally materializing in the wrong place to take advantage of an RSL cross…oh, and to trip over the ball…THAT was priceless. Then, as if the addition of Lancos to replace Fabian wasn’t odd enough for you, Kreis opted to bring in Matias Mantilla to replace Andy Williams. In truth, he brought in Lancos to push Harris up front (apparently Brown wasn’t providing enough of a punch for us…go figure), and then Mantilla to spring Wingert and Kipre to the midfield (Kotschau, Mantilla and Pope played a 3 back)…But the question still stands, Why, if we were in need of some more innovative play at A-mid, did Kreis opt to sit Morales? There is no injury report on him, so what’s the deal? I did like Mantilla’s play in the center, which if a little more South American in approach, was nevertheless effective.
RSL certainly had opportunities to tie and win this game, better opportunities than against Chicago frankly, but nevertheless failed to find much in the way of attacking rhythm…Espindola looked out of sorts with a lot of what Williams was doing in the middle (a reaction which was evident from several players), and though he occasionally created a spark, there simply wasn’t enough in the way of kindling around to ignite the offense.
-Heretic
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