AU vs Philly 9.17.2022

Not yet. 46 points if we win out could give us a chance.  

Today's game was among the few good ones this year. A solid tactical plan was evident and the preparation behind it to start the match. The players' effort was excellent. Based on performance and chances we should have won but, once again, we did not. Score should have been 3-0 or 4-1 depending on the shot each team hit the post once. That Philly team was lucky and unimpressive offensively yet they have the best record this year thanks to their defensive plan. Not pretty but -as they say- offense sells tickets, defense wins championships.

When teams like Philly start to lose more often to teams that want the ball, and those refs start going unnoticed will be a good sign the level of the MLS is finally getting higher. 

Both CBs and all three of our CMs were outstanding today in physical game won most duels. Gutman & Lennon both also did well, Mosquera impactful off the bench -all very good- except the strikers and Hernandez offensively (was better 2nd half though). Our GK was not busy at all, almost not needed!
 
Unfortunately we did not win because
1) Dwyer's 1st half open miss over the crossbar,
2) Josef's open header miss (any other time or year would have been automatic),
3) three other chances on good but more difficult shots/headers not going our way, and
4) Pineda's odd idea to put Cisneros in and then shift him to the right where he was completely out of position and a non factor. He's done it before to fit both him and Josef in. Unless he wants to play with 2 centrally, it makes no sense and did not work this time either.  
 
When the team needed that width to create space 2nd half, we needed the explosiveness of our two best 1v1 dribblers Mosquera and Araujo at the same time to penetrate from the flanks (not in the middle where he often does not make good decisions and he looks frustrated). With Gutman and Lennon behind them overlapping and/or combining it would have been too difficult for Philly to double or triple team all of them on both sides on a day were lucky to have all three of our CMs on a great day except they could find no space. It would have taken incredible speed of play, combination plays to penetrate or shots from outside or a defensive error to break them down without width. 

Another option could have been the forgotten Moreno. He has been clutch a couple times this season with last minute winners ... No idea why he hasn't played a single minute in almost a month, we are wondering why but coach knows best I guess… 

They are and always good to see, within the limitations we've seen all season, but may be too late. 

We still do not win enough, not even when we play well. With injuries, striker issues, tough luck, awful calls, VAR etc etc that may have cost us 12-15 points, we should still be around 48 points by now. 1.5 pts/game is not unreasonable with this roster, we also "stole" a couple games. I want us to be positive but not at the expense of honesty or denial. We can always look for different excuses all year -valid or not- to justify underachieving, but excuses don't help us improve, just to feel better and comfortable. With the 46 points max in 34 games we would just touch the 500 mark (if we can call that an accomplishment) but may not be enough for the playoffs in a format that half the MLS teams make it. If that's where we want to be, fine. 
  
I hope I'm wrong, but looks the real problems aren't going away for next season. AU will likely try sell some of our best players we would hate to lose before winning something at least, and replace them with "God knows what". I understand business and we should definitely do something about some non DP contracts that are too high for the value on the field to free up money for players we need in key positions and depth in case of injuries, but I've lost faith in the front office. Many others seem to keep accomplishing far more with less resources. Let's see how much more "rebuilding", learning on the job and recoveries we'll have the patience to go through again...   

if AU makes the playoffs, it's an embarrassment for the league.

well i've also become very grumpy since bally isn't on youtube tv......

but unless apple gives away the mls package next year, no way am I spending additional monthly money to watch our local team play games. (we gave up our season tickets, kids didn't enjoy going anymore after tata's departure. deboring destroyed the vibe for my family and with the kids training schedules, middle of the week games never worked out)