United 3, San Jose 1

.....

I grumble after beautiful and comprehensive 3-1 victories, why wouldn't I grumble after ugly and discouraging 3-1 victories?

• Hey, Fred, that's it, dumbfuck, make the first accurate pass all day your right foot slamming into the bench after Soehn pulled your ass. How about chasing down some balls lifted to you on the flanks like you have both desire and decent depth perception? There's something wrong with Fred's head.
  
• Burch is not the answer at midfield if either Fred or Quaranta can't go. Please don't accuse me of kpenevision when I say I want to see whether Cordeiro sucks there or not. Burch has been tagged, and though he can't get rid of that hitch he needs for his left foot - and he can't; you don't think he's tried? - he may still be better than Cordeiro, but Cordeiro hasn't yet proven worse. Maybe there's something there with Cordeiro: find out.
• Simms - United kept the right midfielder in expansion draft - doesn't play well yet with Gallardo. Simms was much quieter - despite the goal - than he was v Metros, which doesn't mean he didn't play as well; it may be a matter that he was asked to do more v Metros. It does seem to me that he and Gallardo are still figuring each other out.
  
• GALLARDO IS NOT THE PROBLEM. He's clearly the best player on the field, and if United players would just continue their runs rather than pulling up, thinking, fuck it, that ball isn't getting to me, things could be beautiful. Finish your runs. If you see Gallardo see you start them, finish them. (I also think the disconnect is not Gallardo/Simms, it's Gallardo/Fred, with an emphasis on the Fred half of that either/or.)
• McTavish is ordinary, and was awfully ordinary most of the game, but with the score 2-1, Zach Wells fucked up for the thirteenth time - or was it the fourteenth? - and McTavish hustled back and slid block a San Jose shot away from an open net. So, thank you. Other than that, he looked gassed early, middle, late.
• Zach Wells. I'll leave it here: I think this defense with an in-form Troy Perkins is good enough. I think this defense isn't good enough to survive Zach Wells.

Here's Goff's player ratings:

Wells 4; Namoff 7, Peralta 6, McTavish 7, Martinez 8; Fred 5, Simms 7, Gallardo 6, Burch 5; Moreno 7, Emilio 7. Subs: Cordeiro 6, Dyachenko 5, Mediate 6.

I'm tired of typing "good teams win games they ought to win" because United is not yet a good team, and a decent team beats United yesterday. United is not good enough, cohesive enough, organized enough, or fluid enough to take halves off against anybody.

"Good teams stomp teams they ought to stomp" is not the same as "good teams gut out games they ought to win." The second United begins to think they are all that, they aren't.

Here's D grumbling too. I especially agree about the referee, though I'd point out that if Martinez was in the middle that'd seriously impede the offense. I agree that Peralta/McTavish is soft, but I'm not sure that Peralta/Martinez in central defense is better overall than Martinez on the left going forward.

UPDATE: DCenter's debriefing up w/LOTS of linky goodness.

Fullback ain't happy either, sings the same chorus.

Updates, edits, links, later. Or not.

   *

HEY! Why weren't we allowed to bring water into the stadium?

I was stopped at the gate. I asked the blue shirt in charge of the gate whose decision was it to not allow people to bring in water for a 3PM sunny summer game, and he claimed United management made the decision. I asked a United representative inside the stadium why they decided this year not to allow us to bring in water for summer day games, and he said they didn't, that it must have been a stadium service's decision.

Fix this. Please.