.....
Better. I'm not sold.
I was enjoying a good fume at halftime, having watched United stumble about pointing and grimacing and shrugging and shouting at each other for being out of position or not delivering the ball or delivering the ball poorly. United didn't look like it knew what it wanted to do and couldn't have done what it wanted if it did.
The second half was better, kick-started with a soft penalty - imagine the howls had the same call been made on a United defender - and the final two goals were beautiful but against a team that sagged once Morales' free kick hit the post.
Meaning, all applause for avoiding the horrific, but little credit for beating a team United should have knocked out in the first twenty minutes. All applause for avoiding the crisis another embarrassing home loss would have created, but nothing I saw assures me the crisis has been averted rather than just delayed. Hope, but.
Here's Goff's player ratings:
Wells 5; Namoff 7, Peralta 7, Martinez 7; Quaranta 8, Stratford 4,
Simms 6, Fred 5, Gallardo 8; Moreno 8, Emilio 5. Subs: Burch 7,
Dyachenko 6, Kirk 5.
Width! and Burch and Quaranta are better on the wings
than Fred and McTavish. Both goals in play came from outside in, and
neither would have happened if Fred was on the left. This is not a
declaration of Fred-hate, just a fact: he can't cross from the left. But before getting excited about United's new width, remember RSL was jamming the middle because United had lacked width. Let's see what happens when teams scout and prepare accordingly, if in fact this is new found width.
UPDATE:
Remember, Quaranta and Burch were on the wings because McTavish didn't dress and Fred went out injured, so before praising the wisdom of Tom Soehn, I'm guessing at least one of these and maybe both weren't his first choices for the respective positions.
And did you see Fred walk over to Talley and just KICK him in the shins to take that yellow?
Hah! I mean, boo!
Gallardo's goal
was stunning. More importantly, he demanded the ball, he made runs with
the ball, he tried to command the game, he played with the impetus a 10
should play.
UPDATE:
Pulling Stratford was the key move. Gallardo was much more effective, and had much more space, with Dyachenko on the field rather than Stratford. See Dyachenko, two paragraphs down. See Stratford three paragraphs down.
Martinez is terrific, absolutely terrific; he's the reason United can play a 3-5-2.
Dyachenko has the best first touch on the team. He can pull a ball out of the air with a deftness that's beautiful. I can see what United sees in him. It's what he does with the ball once it's at his feet that's the issue, but last night was very encouraging. If he can play behind Gallardo, one of the back two on the pentagon, he might yet prove valuable.
UPDATE:
And for better or worse, so much depends upon Rod Dyachenko graced with plain talent besides the slight pickings rides on Rod Dyachenko's performance, if for no other reason, who else do they have?
So, did you like Dan Stratford's Armada?
UPDATE! Kinney does this edition of DCenters debriefing.
*
OH!
I know United management isn't reading this blog, but the stadium experience? The assclowns running the parking in Lot 4? All the ATM machines out-of-order? The assclowns in concession stands who don't know how to run cash registers?
I watched a little girl a row in front of me in tears because it took her father a half-an-hour to get her dinner and she was worried where he was (even though she was with the father's friends), and then the dinner her dad brought back was a piece of half-cooked gristly chicken and half-cooked greasy fries (even by last year's RFK concession standards). The dad and kid had seats via regulars who were out of town, and were excited to be at their first United game. They're not coming back.
WTF is the problem? Why the hell are you putting out a shittier product - stadium experience-wise - this season?
It's not just me. People throughout the section were bitching about it, people in lines were bitching about it, people with blue parking passes in the parking lot were bitching about it.
United, you have a problem. Fix it.