Five Takes On The Five Stripes

1: If/when Miles leaves, it’s George Campbell’s job. His progress has been really similar to Miles’ in fact. He’s developed, he’s had time with the 2’s, he’s taken his opportunities well with the first team and made the case for himself. He needed a big performance tonight and he was absolutely immense. The goal is just the cherry on top.    2: Someone check the crest, since when does Atlanta Unit...

1: A one, a two, a one two three FOUR! The last two games may not have been the prettiest but we are finding ways. Moreno continues to be a key reason for us finding points. He broke out the Gorilla Glue on the goal tonight rooting the DC keeper to the spot. Couple that with an assist and chance creations. Moreno is a complete player and he’s our best signing since Miggy.    2: Gressel created and...

1: Hell of a good day for the unity kit. Something is happening here. The play is coming together. There’s an understanding and UNITY amongst the squad. The movement on and off the ball is so good. Everybody looks like they are on the same page. Hell they look they are on the same damn sentence. The schedule continues to be packed, but the opponents we face with a long string of home matches sets...

1: Barco out there making my takes look like crap. Hey I love being wrong. I will say that this does fit his profile perfectly. He’s hot and cold. More often cold but I’ll take the hot version right now. Also full credit to Barco for letting Moreno take the 2nd PK.  He would certainly be within his rights to go for the hat trick. So, well done Barco, my only concern is that so often we see the boa...

1: I think the Sosa hype train may have mad too many passengers. He hasn’t looked great lately and he looked shaky again tonight with missed passes, miss timed tackles and just bad positioning off the ball. Very little impact on the game.    2: We need a boat sale. Fleeting moments of individual brilliance and the occasional good ball in is not enough. How many times has Barco killed a counter? Th...

1: it’s been a long time since Daddy’s visited his children and so it’s only fitting he bring them a gift in the form of a Goalazo. It was great to see Josef bag one, and even better to see him do it like that and EVEN EVEN better to see him do it against Orlando. That being said, it’s concerning to see him totally spent at the end of the match both physically and emotionally. It almost looked lik...

1: Well I dare say that is the most consistent and threatening we have looked all season. We certainly haven’t created that many quality chances since……Philadelphia? I felt like we were finally a threat that had to be taken seriously at all times. A lot of that has to do with…… 2: Marcelino Moreno was TREMENDOUS and gets my vote for MOTM. Shades of Miggy out there. He was running at Cincy’s back l...

1: Credit where credit is due. Cubo shot the ball, at the goal, with his foot and with his head. In all seriousness, despite not scoring, probably his best game so far. He had a number of shots on goal but converting chances is what matters and as per usual it ain’t happening. However you wanna look at it, his performance today will only reinforce Heinze’s decisions to keep starting him. Coupled w...

1: Well, we certainly looked more up for it then our previous 3 matches. It does suck that we are at the point of being happy that we’re at least trying. Tho to be fair we’ve never faced this many absences and injuries. I’m not sure any club has in MLS. We applied the press in Nashville’s final third and actually did more than just stand there. We actually pressed, and we actually had some success...

  1: I’m not even going to bother calling out individual player performances here. I mean yes in the 19th minute Cubo had a great touch and turn and then once again, once he’s in the box he’s utterly useless and that continued throughout the match, as it does with Cubo. But this was an utter and total team collapse. Tho I will say Cubo continues to be employed with this club as a striker whose job...

1: 20 East at 5:00 in the afternoon has more going forward than we do. It’s not that we look afraid to go forward it’s that we know we have nothing and have sort of accepted it. It wasn’t until the 41st minute that we can crossed a dangerous ball into the box. Truly our best chances came from just lobbing in a couple dangerous balls into the box and creating a bit of chaos. There wasn’t much to sp...

1: Cubo is like my dog with her food at night, he refuses to finish. HIs work rate and effectiveness outside the 18 and final third is great but I don’t believe he could walk a ball into the net. It doesn’t matter how good the ball in is, he can’t convert and it’s infuriating.    2: Set piece defending is much improved. Man marking was effective and no Philly player was able to find space for a fr...

1: Route One United. Robinson was like an overturned brinks truck dropping dimes. That ball to Moreno....with 3 defenders.....c’mon. Great finish from Moreno as well. He had another great direct ball to Mulraney as well. Route one hasn’t been a big part of our game but I like that we added it in this game. It gave Nashville big problems. Miles and Bello are the case studies for what our developmen...

1: That’s it. Set piece clinic. We need it. We are abysmal at defending them. I’m tired of conceding goals off of corners and free kicks. Not letting your man get in front of you should not be something  professional players of this caliber need to work on but clearly we do. It’s unacceptable and cheap goals can be game changing for a team that’s just probably not going to be scoring a ton of goal...

1: Moreno can probably dribble anyone off the pitch but he absolutely cannot shoot. He had a sitter of a shot in the 15th thanks to a lovely cutback ball from Lennon and he just whiffed. You CANNOT miss those. Forget putting it on frame, you gotta at least make contact with the ball. He doesn’t have his confidence and I don’t know how he gets it.    2: Sossa showing just a little immaturity and th...

1: Little surprised by the aggression from the Union. They were trying to put this thing to bed from the word go. And then it didn’t stop. Even after our goal. They never really took up a more defensive posture. They expanded a ton of energy which in terms of the CONCACAF tournament won’t let mean much since the next match for the union is months away but they’re gonna be cooked for league play. ...

1: Cubo Torres should be in his prime and he just hasn’t produced. Currently he’s little more than a reserve player who can step in when we really don’t have anyone. A striker for the sake of having a striker. Honestly I was surprised to see him resigned. But, with Lisandro still out because of the death of his father, he was really the only option tonight. He didn’t get much service tonight but e...

1: Hyndman with a great extended tackle in the 18th. Tremendous half volley strike in the 32nd. Tremendous defensive work. Tremendous offensive work. Hyndman was everyone tonight and was surprisingly our most threatening player on the ball. He was tremendous.    2: Damm was not having success with the dribble. I’d rather see him play the ball out in front and sprint after it to the end line and th...

4-24 Chicago Fire   1: Barco out there working on that transfer fee. It’s a ridiculous goal and one that goes sailing over the bar in previous iterations of Barco. For the first time we are seeing real consistency out of little boat. He’s still getting chopped down like a tree in the Amazon, but we’re not seeing his frustrations with that take over. Goals will do that for a player.    2: Heinze ha...

1: Barco even putting in tackles now to win the ball back. I continue to be really happy with pretty much everything he is doing. When Josef is fully back I think lil boat is gonna be even more of a handful for teams as they all Josef watch.    2: Heinze with a bit of gamesmanship after that no foul on Pato in the box. The ball went out of play and he quickly grabbed it and tossed into the arms of...

  1: We started off the match on the front foot. We were lively and creating chances straight away but I feel like Ala lolled us to sleep a bit because after about the 15th minute they really came alive. Full credit to them too. They’re down 6 key starters due to COVID restrictions and they still acquitted themselves very well. Maybe it motivated them. This was not an easy match. I saw some score...

1: Pretty pleased with our overall shape especially defensively. Apart from Guzan having to come off his line in the 33rd and then channeling his inner LGP and coming off in the 42nd , I didn’t feel too nervous when Ala got forward. Yes the 2nd half was more of a scramble at times but that’s to be expected when we’re down a man and the opposition is throwing everything forward. Sosa and Walkes wer...

It's good to be back! We meander a bit on this one and talk about our hopes and aspirations for the club in 2021. 

1: It’s a penalty. That’s it, that’s the whole take. 2: The first Columbus goal was expected. We got out right robbed and then we had a momentary switch off and they got something completely against the run of play. Actually both of their goals came against the run of play. The second we have to be more alert to. 3: In terms of the attack, this was the best game of the season. Really bright start...

1: Well, this is probably the best starting 11 (minus maybe Franco Escobar) that we are going to be able to field. We looked up for it. We had a good amount of possession and we’re creating the opportunities for opportunities but we still can’t get much in the way of SOG. It wasn’t until the 31st minute that we had a SOG and that came from a set piece. It was until about the 40th that we had somet...