This Seems To Be DC United, Sadly

I was out of town last week and didn't get to see the destruction of DC United last week in KC, so tonight's game was my first look at the club.

All I can say is...fuck me. This was not a case of a team that just looked bad on a given evening. This. Team. Sucks.

Where to start? OK, it is time to face facts. Jamie Moreno's days a an MLS caliber player are over. He's been slow as molasses for a few years now but he had made up for that by being damn near impossible to push off the ball. Tonight Kate Moss could have muscled him off the ball. Its time for us to enter the second decade of the 21st century already, and Jaime needs to ride off into the sunset. I'll miss him, but somebody buy the man a gold watch.

I know its early days, but Christian Castillo looks like a bust. He lacks the pace to play wide, he lacks the touch to play inside, and he lacks the vision to play as a withdrawn striker. He's a triple threat.

Based on what I saw tonight I have serious reservations about the ability of Curt Onalfo to guide this team. The lineup was suspect, the scheme lacked imagination, and his substitutions were hit and miss. Generally speaking, the team gave off an air of laziness most of the evening, which often speaks to the coaching.

On the plus side Pontius played pretty well. Thus endeth the "plus side."

GASL's DC Player Ratings:

Troy Perkins - 5
Carey Talley - 4
Dejan Jakovic - 4
Juan Manuel Pena - 5
Rodney Wallac - 5
Brandon Barklage - 5
Kurt Morsink - 4
Santino Quaranta - 4
Cristian Castillo - 3
Jaime Moreno - 4
Chris Pontius - 6
Thabiso Khumalo (62) - 4
Andy Najar (70) - 5
Julius James (76) - 4

Comments

Early Thoughts on City 2025

There are few things harder to keep track of than an MLS side in their off-season, at least for me. Despite the fact it takes place roughly during the time the MLB Hot Stove season is in full swing, it is nowhere near as easy to follow along with as baseball. Part of it is how disconnected MLS is with the international soccer calendar. St. Louis City SC is still digesting the moves it made last summer even though those players have already played important games for the club. It is all weird and disjointed, and I always feel like I am playing catch-up. Happily, the moves made in the off-season this year were not numerous. German Timo Baumgartl comes over from Europe as an option at center back, which is good because that was a position that was a little rocky for City last season. Given his own troubles over the last few seasons (cancer and uneven play in the aftermath of that), a spell with City can give Baumgartl a chance to have a re-set. Given his pedigree and the fact City si...

Blues Fall Off a Cliff

Hockey seasons will have their ups and downs. For whatever reason, be it injuries, a challenging schedule, an inexplicable loss of form, it is difficult for teams to maintain a good level of compete for an entire season. The good teams just limit their funks. The St. Louis Blues, however, are not a good team. They are a poor team, and poor teams sink under the weight of "here we go again" night after night. I will admit I only watched the first two periods of last night's 5-0 loss to a Colorado team that had been scuffling of late. Two periods were more than enough to get the gist of it. It was also enough to lead me to a diagnosis as to what ails the team. It isn't that they are young and are going through growing pains. No, the reason the Blues are so bad is that the veterans who are being paid to be the backbone of this team are not doing their jobs. I'm talking about Schenn, Buchnevich, Faulk, and even Binnington and Parayko. Over $30M of the salary cap is b...

A Note of Optimism About the Note

If you have been trying to watch the St. Louis Blues attempt to play hockey of late it would be hard to believe the word optimism could ever be in play. The losses continue relentlessly, often in the "never in the game" style, but increasingly in a "lose from winning position" flair which is enough to make someone turn on the news for an upbeat change of pace. (Wow, plane crashes and LUNACY!) This team still can't score with the regularity needed to win consistently in this league. The coaching staff knows they have precious few natural goal scorers (one is precious few), so they attempt to make up for it by getting what I call "process" goals, i.e. goals scored by virtue of constant pressure, crazy bounces, accidental deflections, etc. Basically, any goal you can get from a player who doesn't have the knack for scoring them on their own. The Blues are something like zero for their last 12-15 breakaway chances, and zero for their last 25-30 2 on 1...

(Get) A Sporting Life

Search This Blog