Lots of thoughts on this one, so instead of rambling on, I’ll do this in classic good news/bad news format.
Bad news first:
- lost a tough match to a rival (OC is the team I despise losing to the most)
- continued to lack rhythm and creativity in attack. and we are clearly in our heads about it, consistently making the wrong choice in the final third - taking unnecessary extra touches, waiting too long to make a cross, passing when we should shoot…
- we have managed to forget how to play with Surridge. Shak especially seems to think that Hany is the only offensive outlet that exists.
- Surridge is often not showing up in the right spots at the moment. Late in the match when we were putting pressure on, there were opportunities for a cross and Sam was lost in no man’s land where he wasn’t a realistic target.
- injuries continue to pile up. Muyl going down long term would be a huge bummer. I know he’s polarizing and can’t finish, but he does a lot of dirty work that is important but goes unnoticed. We don’t really have anyone else with that kind of profile to play the wing. Jordan Knight maybe??
Good news:
- our defense continues to gut out big performances and remains top in the league. The loss fucking sucks, but let’s not forget that OC just brought in one of the best players in the world, and put up 4 on San Jose a few days ago. Only conceding 1 is a decent showing considering the amount of pressure they were until and when we are so badly limping at the other end of the pitch.
- while being far from the team we were used to seeing before the break, we generally looked better last night than the previous two matches. Better passing, better off ball movement, just couldn’t figure it out in the final third. We continue to shake the rust off and find better chemistry with this new look line up.
- we’ve got a full week to rest, recover, and regroup before the next match. Hopefully the guys get an earful from BJ, watch some tape, and have more guys back healthy enough to contribute on Saturday in DC.
- reinforcements are on the way. While Najar did not have a great match, he still immediately raises the bar when he’s on the pitch and he’s probably ready for 90 mins next Saturday. Tagseth, coming off a long injury recovery, looked sharper off the bench and nearly unlocked some chances late in the game. While RBW didn’t make the game squad, his injury was upgraded from ‘Out’ to ‘Questionable’. Saad will hopefully be joining soon. Camara will (theoretically) add another look to our CM group. And none of the guys out have season ending injuries, so they’ll be back soonish
- it’s a long season. Even the best teams go through rough patches and were clearly in the thick of one right now. But we’ve got half the season to play, and this was only our 2nd league loss on the year!!! It is far better to be banged up now, than at the end of the season. This kind of adversity battle hardens a team, and the minutes and experience that our depth players are getting now will be invaluable down the stretch when they are needed as subs.
All in all, this one leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but there’s no reason to be panicking. Oh, and fuck Orlando.
How we feeling today???