Earning it?
July 5, 2007 by f4denz.
OK, so you have to ask yourself the same thing I intend on asking Jason Kreis on Tuesday at the coach’s show. When Jason took over, he stated “everyone has to earn their spot”. I love that, he stuck to his guns when asked when Freddy Adu would get his shot at attacking midfielder, and he again said “when he earns it”. So if everyone has to earn their spots, what has Medhi done to earn his? He was proclaimed the “goto guy” at the end of last season and so far this year he has done nothing, zip , nada, to prove that he has even earned a place on the team, let alone on the starting 11. He has shanked almost every shot 10 wide or 10 over. He has had more unforced turnovers than a human being can count. He is under 10% on getting set pieces or corners anywhere near a team mate. Jason, if this kid is your leader on the field, the guy whom everything is supposed to go through, then understand that we may only win 2 more matches all season and you may be unemployed sooner than later. We have 17 matches left and it would take at least 10 wins to even come close to a playoff spot, I have given up hope by the middle of the season that we will even pull out 5 wins. Please make me eat my words, please.
I would rather watch guys who are hungry to play, I love the effort that Esky made against his former team. I knew that expecting another goal from Findley was unrealistic, but I did, at least he gave an honest effort. Talley keeps going for those “goal of the week” type goals, god bless the effort but come on we need real team effort, not a wing and a prayer. Andy, I was not sure he was even in the match, he was so quiet. Atiba, did what he does, give his all. He makes some mistakes but you can not question his effort. Our defense, never mind it would take an hour to vent on our defense. Nick Rimando, “wow” is all I can say, without his effort it would be a lot uglier, and that would be very hard to do. I thought that Kyle Brown gave us 20 decent minutes, from a very shallow bench (offensively). I love and have always loved the energy and effort from Jamie Watson (no it is not a man crush), he runs for every ball, he doesn’t stop even on occasion when he should. He gave us two great shots to score in the last 15 minutes of the match, made some great passes and to be honest deserves the start on Saturday.
I hear that we will be announcing a DP soon, may we only hope that it is someone who can shore up our midfield. There will be a lot less pressure on our defense if we can control the ball better, score first, and have some type of threat that the other team will have to counter. I really hope that the answer to who is RSL’s DP is Claude Mackelele, one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. Perhaps then, we could actually make a run at picking up 4 wins out of our last 17 matches, a long shot with our current starting 11.
In a couple weeks the US U-20 team will most likely finish 2nd or 3rd in the U-20 World Cup and, I hope that some team does not snatch up Freddy “hasn’t earned it” Adu, but a couple more matches like he had this week against Poland and teams from Europe will be calling and I fear that RSL will listen (it is all about the dollars). I understand our coaches not wanting to put Freddy in control of our team on the pitch, hell he will most likely be gone within 12-16 months, but if you want to put some goals in the net and add some wins to our record, use the tools we have. Nate Sturgis, should be able to help us out in either defense or midfield, and we do need some help in both. It will be nice to allow Chris Seitz to get a little playing time, and give Nick a break. I love having two solid keepers on our roster, Nick is still got a number of years left to play and Chris is a great prospect. I expect Chris to be challenging for a spot on the 2010 World Cup roster, yes he is that good.
OK, so I have not missed a single RSL home match since the very beginning, and I have to be honest I have only kept attending this season to hang out with the RCB and other friends. The play on the pitch has been as frustrating to us fans, who were promised a run at the playoffs, as it is to the coach, players, or other staff. WE EXPECT BETTER, WE DESERVE BETTER, AND WE WILL BEGIN TO DEMAND BETTER IF THINGS DO NOT CHANGE SOON.
OFF MY SOAPBOX