I remember 2016 & 2017 when our defence was good - Moor, Bradley, Mavinga + Bono confident or Irwin commanding the zone.
Its gone.
Like others on here, I am beginning to think this team didn't learn the right lessons from last season. The attacking portion of the midfield and the attacking line is still an MLS playoff quality team - what we saw tonight is a really really bad preseason version of what a lot of MLS teams are going to look like in the next couple of weeks.
But our defence is bad with little to no hope of it changing.
Before this game started, I thought we had an MLS playoff quality team. OK, I was worried about Auro on the right. But, everything I saw in Ciman & Mavinga last year and Moor when he was with us indicated to me that the bad defence would not repeat itself
I was wrong.
As people know on here, I have been supportive of the changes to this team and of the management. I still think our current coach & manager area step above most in this league. BUT, I think tonight shows that the team has not learned from 2018 & thus have pooched away another year.
I am resigned to once again, like in the days before 2014, be supporting a team that will not make the playoffs not matter how much it is discussed.
Everything we saw tonight was what we saw during the season last year. This isn't rust - its what these people are. And, that..that...is just sad.
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Other thoughts.
What we have that can make the 4-3-3 work
- a couple of decent LBs
- a decent CB
- a couple of good box to box midfielders
- a decent DM
- 3 decent enough central forwards
To make the 4-3-3 work, we would need
- a faster partner with better positional sense to go with Mavinga
- two wingers who can cross, score and play defence
- an AM
- a RB who can play defence
- a goalie who commands his area
We bet on Ciman & Auro & Bono. Tonight, they failed, as did everybody else around them not a youth project or named Osorio.
I look forward to watching my team. But, hope for this season? Gone. I fully expect every game to be a struggle, to not trust in that backline ever, to see some goals scored by our guys through hard work & graft. I also think we will figure out a way to win the Voyageurs. But....success? Like, even 2015 level success? Nope.
All in all....I'm just so