A Real World Review
A Review of Week 8 for RSL
(Courtesy of Realslfan)
A Review of Week 8 for RSL
(Courtesy of Realslfan)
This Weeks Results: 2-0 Loss against Colorado
Record: 2-4-2
Points: 8
Key Developments: The midfield looks extremely anemic. Sturgis still out. Talley traded. Morales hurt. Cutler a starter? Where is Cordoba? Announcement that Real Madrid is not coming.
What's right in the Real World: Unfortunately, it’s getting harder to find positives, but here’s my best shot: First, we’re due for a road win. Second, we have generally been competitive in every match we’ve played. The second half of the Colorado match was hopefully an exception. We have looked extremely good for long stretches but still do not have the consistent quality that we need to be a top tier team in this league. We have still scored enough goals to this point in the season to put us in the middle of the pack for goals scored. We are still not out of contention in what is shaping up to be a weak Western conference.
What's wrong in the Real World: Would it surprise you to learn that this is a little easier to talk about? Problem #1: Personnel. To me it’s becoming obvious that we have several weaknesses on this club. It does not appear that these can be addressed by current players. Outside back is proving to be a weakness. Ian Joy has yet to perform up to MLS standards. He has not shown the ability to push forward effectively, has been caught out of position and appears to be quite late on many tackle attempts. Tony Beltran has good pace, and high energy but has been beaten frequently and has made several poor clearance attempts. The midfield has some talent, but as a group they are lacking several important qualities. This group does not possess much speed. There are no true wide midfielders on the roster other than Matias Cordoba who has not seen much action. This makes us look very limited on a wide pitch. Without (and sometimes even with) Javi Morales in the lineup this group looks lost, either unable to possess the ball or unable to convert the possession into danger. The forwards are equally ineffective yielding 5 goals, but missing numerous opportunities. None of the forwards have stepped forward to any great degree although Espindola and Deuchar generally give the most confidence. Problem #2: Tactics. This has been a problem in at least 3 matches this season. Against Toronto, Kreis accepted the blame for having the team pull back and accept Toronto’s attack in the first half of the 1-0 loss. Against Dallas, despite the 2-1 victory Kreis admitted that the 3-5-2 was not a good match against the 3-4-3 that Dallas opened the match in. Surprisingly a change was not made until the 40th minute. Finally, the midfield did not hold it’s ground against Colorado in the 2-0 loss. The 3-5-2 that Colorado played in overwhelmed our lackluster 4 man midfield, and no adjustments were made to meet that mismatch.
A brief look at the week ahead: RSL @ FC Dallas. We beat them 2-1 at RES just a little over a week ago. Since then Dallas seemed to have a meltdown against the Galaxy in a 5-1 loss with Serioux picking up a red card. Word is that there are some serious problems in the lockerroom at Dallas. Might this be a good opportunity to steal a road victory?
Final thoughts: We are reaching a critical stage of the season. Players such as Cordoba, Yura, Deuchar, Findley, Joy and Morales need to step up and show what they are made of or they may find themselves either deep on the bench or on the way out the door. The same may go for the coach. We were told that it would take a while for this team to gel. It should be now that we are coming together, but I’m not sure that is really happening.
