There are so many different things that can be said about this match, it's just sad. The midfield didn't even show up for the first half and only showed up in the second when Williams came on. The back four played ok, considering there was no help from anyone else on the field, but even then, they sure weren't pressuring the ball in the final third. The forwards made either no run at all or only half-assed it. It was like RSL was just walking the whole match. It was completely horrible. Thank god we got a PK (not really sure why, but oh well) that Adu buried. Lot of cards, for a while it seemed the ref was giving a card for every foul. Nicky Rimando had a great game, made some great saves, the two goals were nothing he could have stopped, especially Gbandi's laser shot (which will probably be GOTW).
Going through the lineup, using standard international assessments:
Rimando-8 made some great saves and played smart. RSL MOTM.
Stewart-4 got beat again, way too slow to play RB.
Torres-6 played overall well, kept things going in back. Made some great stops.
Pope-6 same as Torres, nothing really came through the middle
Forko-4 not near fast enough for Oduro, and didn't push up like he needs to. Off at half.
Klein-4 absent for large portions of the game. Had a couple of good shots but nothing on frame.
Talley-5 just because that's the default. Off at 10 minutes.
Adu-5 nice PK, his first RSL goal, but otherwise too little and definitely should not have been playing forward.
Ballouchy-3 until his yellow (much deserved if you come back and retaliate) you wouldn't have even known he was on the pitch. Could not count how many times he either passed to nobody or lost possession
Harris- 6 played overall well, drew the PK. Only player up front with anything approaching an work rate.
Cunningham-4 Didn't do much at all. Off at 62.
Subs:
Lancos-6 played well, a capable d-mid, would have liked to see him get more involved in the offense.
Williams-7 played well, did what Andy always does, created and made it look like we actually had a midfield. I hope that if his ankle is ok, that he will get the start for Ballouchy. Mehdi has been looking really bad since the season started.
Kipre- 6 looked good pressing up into the attack. Extremely fast, he could run with Oduro.
I was surprised to say the least with the Cunningham sub. Cunningham coming off to me seems like a bad sign. Perhaps he's the one that was referred to when Kreis became coach and mentioned he wasn't sure if one player would be ok with him becoming coach. Even though he didn't have a great game, he's still your most dangerous scoring threat and by taking him off, we didn't have much to replace him with. Adu is a great player, but playing with his back towards the goal isn't where he will be successful. Andy should have come on as attacking mid and Ballouchy should have come off.
And of course the worst part was that there was not the fire and not the killer instinct. It's sad to say that the playoffs are now looking pretty far away. The part that bothers me the most is that we do have the talent, but we lack the will to win and to put someone away. This was just like watching Ellinger coach, sub that made little sense (bringing Cunningham off) and no drive, and little team ball.
