Rapids - San Jose : The Aftermath
What a terrible game by the Rapids last night. It was a painful example of the cliche about a team not showing up to play. They didn't last night and instead of getting 3 realitvely easy points at home, they gave San Jose their first franchise win. Nick at We Want Rapids Man was right about confusion in the Rapids back line. Keel and Erpen struggled to get things right quite a few times. It cost the Rapids their first goal. And it could've been another one or two in the first half if not for Bouna. The real stinker last night for defense was Jose Burciaga. Jose's off night was compounded at half-time when Clavijo opted for a a 3-5-2. When the Rapids traded for the Burciaga we all knew there would be times when he was a defensive liability. Seeing him with 3 in the was horrifying. He was being constantly beat. With 3 in the back he wasn't able to get some extra cover other than Colin Clark coming back. That in turn made it difficult for Colin to get forward. Which brings me to Clavijo. Rumor had it going into the game he was going to tinker with tactics and the lineup. After the New England game we could see why. The team did nothing offensively in the 2nd half other than LaBrocca's goal (off a nice cross from Burciage? Or was it Clark?). In their first 3 games they didn't make much use of Christian Gomez. The tinkering though didn't appear to result in an improvement. The Rapids were still playing too many long balls out of the back, Gomez was still not getting the ball and seeing Burciaga in a 3-5-2 left me wondering if Clavijo's actually paid attention to Burciaga's previous 7 years in the MLS. Is Clavijo actually capable of coaching well in the MLS? His history says no. Last night has many of us wondering why we should have hope that this year is going to be any different than the last 3 with Clavijo in charge. Is this making too much from one off night from the team?
4 comments:
Allen, I prefer the more optimistic route and maybe you are reading too much into one defeat, a miserable one at that. I agree that Burciaga was disappointing, especially after he had shown much to admire in the opening games. But he wasn't alone. If we continue that kind of form, then we have something to worry about. But I think we should put it behind us, move on, and stuff Chicago and DC in the next two games. We have it within us to do so.
As bad as the first goal was Colin Clark had a bad case of ball watching. Had he aggressively attacked the ball it would have at least made it a difficult finish instead he watched it like the rest of us. Granted this does not make up for Ferdinands horrible coaching.
out - pele.o.rei
you are SO right about the long balls. when the team got desperate in the second half, that's all they did. often the game was being played from cannon to bouna and back. down by one, the Rapids looked like they were willing to work hard to get the equalizer. down by two, the Rapids looked like a team in full panic mode.
I tend to lean towards Nick's viewpoint on this loss. Every team has a few games where multiple players are not on their game. This one looks particularly bad considering the opponent and being at home. This is still the same team that had many writers talking about their youth and potential for the season. Let's hope the team realizes that they must take every game seriously. Also, I'd rather have a coach that will make adjustments after games. This change did not turn out OK. However, if every player played to potential, it could have been a great move.
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