03/02/13 :: SSFC : Montreal -- KICK 19:30

[finnfan]

For me Yedlin showed he can play with men, nothing more quite yet. In other words, the rest remains to be seen, and I'm note ready to call him either way quite yet. He has a lot of potential for sure.

[SeattleCalcio]

For me Yedlin showed he can play with men, nothing more quite yet. In other words, the rest remains to be seen, and I'm note ready to call him either way quite yet. He has a lot of potential for sure.

This will be a confidence builder for him, if nothing else. His first game in MLS with no big mistakes will be equally important to his career as his first pass, first tackle first time pushing forward and having to race back, etc were to his confidence during the match.

[finnfan]

Agreed. That's why my initial one liner comment right after the comment was "big night for Yedlin". His MLS debut was a very positive one.

[Ajas]

I'm a big fan of Yedlin, but when Sigi said "he had some opportunities to play an early cross, and didn't" I think the major play he was talking about was at the 18:00 mark...

It was actually a very beautiful tactical play... Zak tucked in to receive the ball from the CB, while MM snuck over to the left wing in front of him, EJ also dropped back into midfield while Mauro and Yedlin sprung forward. The net result was-- almost all of MTL's defense was smooshed into a 10-yard radius following EJ and Zak, who beat all of them by playing a simple pass through to Yedlin in space... At which point it looked like this:

Instead of ripping a cross first touch, he took 2 touches and lost the ball which set up a counterattack.

If he can not only get forward, but learn to play with a 1-touch brain instead of a 2-touch brain, he will be a huge asset for us.

[bulldog]

Zak was awful..his positioning was crap....the left flank was none existent for large portions of the first half..
and positioning for Yedlin needs to be better..hopefully that will come with experience..
Ej Crap...you wanna be the big man..step up m8...

purgatory to watch that game....
Montreal weren't that special...we made them look better..
listing missing players is easy to use as an excuse....that's our modus operandi...excuses..

it's your season opener at home..have some pride / fire

Rosales was played out of position...

it's going to be a long season..get this crap out of our system quickly and get into a rhythm

[Ultra666]

I am glad that other noticed how much of a non-factor both Zak and EJ were.

We must do better.

[vallenato78]

Zak was awful..his positioning was crap....the left flank was none existent for large portions of the first half..
and positioning for Yedlin needs to be better..hopefully that will come with experience..
Ej Crap...you wanna be the big man..step up m8...

purgatory to watch that game....
Montreal weren't that special...we made them look better..
listing missing players is easy to use as an excuse....that's our modus operandi...excuses..

it's your season opener at home..have some pride / fire

Rosales was played out of position...

it's going to be a long season..get this crap out of our system quickly and get into a rhythm

In agreement with pretty much all of this, especially the bold.

[fortuna88]

Lack of Effort.

Way too much of that for a home opener.

EJ needs to step it up if he wants the big bucks.
Zak was a non factor
Guys just didn't seem to be playing with much heart.

Hopefully this changes.
Yedlin played well. We'll see how much time he gets and if he improves more.
At least he seemed like he wanted THE WIN. Tha'ts more than I can say about a few who played saturday.

I want to see more effort.

[bgix]

1. We played like we didn't know how to play in the rain. Way to many passes getting picked off, and corners that never got above waist high. The turf was very slow with all the water I suspect.

2. Singing in the rain? I like it in principle. However would prefer it get pulled out after we have taken a lead, or at least scored a goal. Singing it while defending in a hairy position was just painful. It is "too happy" to sing while panicking..... Something much angrier like Take-em-all needed there. Even something more hopeful like come-on-sounders-score-a-goal.

[Llarian]

2. Singing in the rain? I like it in principle. However would prefer it get pulled out after we have taken a lead, or at least scored a goal. Singing it while defending in a hairy position was just painful. It is "too happy" to sing while panicking..... Something much angrier like Take-em-all needed there. Even something more hopeful like come-on-sounders-score-a-goal.

Heh, yeah. Love te concept, but the timing was off. It was pretty short lived, something happened on-pitch (forgot what now) that cut it off early.

[IVIaN1aC15]

While it's nice to use the excuse that we were missing several players, we weren't missing any of our creative players in the final 3rd. Having HB, Joseph, or Traore back doesn't change the fact that Zak and Mario were unable to get behind their mark all match. EJ was stuck with his back to goal for the lion's share of the match, and there was very little movement in and around him when he received the ball. I'm also not disappointed in us defensively either considering Montreal really didn't create much. Sure it's upsetting to give up a goal on basically 2 chances, but it's unrealistic in MLS to expect a perfect performance where the other team isn't going to get at least a few looks.

What is upsetting is how reliant we are on EJ to score right now. And if EJ is going to have a off match in front of goal, who is going to be able to pick up the slack for him?

Most people automatically assume Zak will be that guy, and maybe he will but I think we need to be prepared for if he isn't. (Yes it's been one game this year, but he had the same issues last year when he came back regardless of falling into the one goal) His confidence just isn't there which is understandable, but while he wasn't a physical player to begin with he clearly is subconscious of it now which is affecting him. Players rarely comeback the same player after something like that, but we're putting a lot of eggs that he will be in my opinion.

[jbraaten]

What is upsetting is how reliant we are on EJ to score right now. And if EJ is going to have a off match in front of goal, who is going to be able to pick up the slack for him?

I wouldn't say reliant. We have enough offensive players who are dangerous; look at the off season. However, with tougher defenses (now that we're in league matches) it gives our midfield less roam for goals. They're still working on gelling out there. We do need more out of EJ though, and we need someone dangerous next to him. Or... we just put Mario on top of the box and keep lobbing the ball to him all match. I was bummed to not see that left foot have shooting action on Saturday.

EDIT: I accidently said would instead of wouldn't. haha

[finnfan]

There needs to be several guys, kind of like in 2011. In addition to Zakuani, I would mention Evans, Rosales, and Martinez. And Alonso even, needs to get that powerful shot from distance on frame more. Basically all of our midfield needs to score a few goals this season.

[StrikingMidfield]

For me Yedlin showed he can play with men, nothing more quite yet. In other words, the rest remains to be seen, and I'm note ready to call him either way quite yet. He has a lot of potential for sure.

Agreed. Not feeling one way or another with this guy yet, really hope he can pull off something great with us tho.

[cethe]

There needs to be several guys, kind of like in 2011. In addition to Zakuani, I would mention Evans, Rosales, and Martinez. And Alonso even, needs to get that powerful shot from distance on frame more. Basically all of our midfield needs to score a few goals this season.

i do miss the 2011 "goals from everywhere" midfield we had..i really hope to see that return