Alejandro "Phocking" Pozuelo with his 3rd successful panenka of the season
What a guy
What a guy
MLS 2019 Season Thread
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You just gotta love it
Holy...I...I'm in disbelief!
3 finals in 4 years!
We were such heavy underdogs this year. No one expected us to make it all the way from the very beginning!
3 finals in 4 years!
We were such heavy underdogs this year. No one expected us to make it all the way from the very beginning!
And without Altidore or Gonzalez. I wonder if they will play in the final. And what a goal by DeLeon...Holy...I...I'm in disbelief!
3 finals in 4 years!
We were such heavy underdogs this year. No one expected us to make it all the way from the very beginning!
DeLeon's been one of our shrewdest signings. He's delivered every time.
At this point, I think Vanney will continue with what we have. Gonzalez has been fit for some time now, but the Ciman-Mavinga partnership has been quite good for us so far. Ciman makes those aggressive challenges that Gonzalez wouldn't, and Mavinga has developed enough of an understanding to sweep up whatever gets past him.
I really do hope that Jozy gets fit. As well as we've done without him, he frees up Pozuelo and makes us even more of a goalscoring threat.
I don't like Ciman at all. There were a couple of challenges tonight that he just dove into. First was on the penalty. He had every chance to get goal side and tried some lunging tackle from behind a good 25 yards out. He takes 3 more steps and he's caught up to him. The other was late in the second half where he lunged at a player at the top of the 18 who just side stepped him but then luckily lost control of the ball. Ciman is a player who wants to make a big tackle rather than a smart tackle and he's an accident waiting to happen...
I agree, he tends to take unnecessary risks, but besides those risks, he has become more proactive in his defending. Instead of stepping back, he has started to push up and put in an early challenge on the opposition. That approach made him one of the best defenders in MLS in 2015. When Biello had him reined in, he was exposed, and that also made him a liability for us at the start of the season.
Hernandez's willingness to step off pushes us back and puts us under more pressure, particularly when opposition players aggressively take him on and keep testing him. Ciman aims to prevent that, at least, and I think that's why Vanney is continuing with this partnership.
What a game, backs against the walls type squeaky bum time. Our central defence was trying to play a high line, didn't work, neither player has the discipline to hold that line, it consistently got beat. Bradley got done for 1st goal trying to hold the line. We needed the organisational leadership of Moor when we won in 2017, we need Gonzalez back for the final to provide that organisation back there. Ciman and Mavinga have both done well in fairness so far, but both are prone to jumping in and both aren't the greatest positionally particularly Mavinga who is all over the pace.The advantage Mavinga has is he has the pace to recover for his lapses. I'd imagine he and Gonzalez start as the pairing for the final.