Comments on: Loss To The Crew Highlights Red Bull Deficiencies Ahead Of Thierry Henry’s Debut

By: Dave Martinez

Dave Martinez — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:13:36 +0000

Larry – read it! Good stuff. Ill look into it!

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:03:29 +0000

Dave, I sent that tip about Tottenham to your hotmail account. Don’t post it please. Thanks.

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:01:56 +0000

Lets face it too, injuries has forced Backe to uncomfortably start Stammler and Richards more than he would like to. He brings in Nielson, injured. Carl Robinson, injured. Two midfielders right there that are in my opinion, better than the two aforementioned players. Be nice if you had maybe those two with Lindpere. And don’t forget Mac..he just came off injury and is probably not 100 percent yet. Lets wait for Henry, Lets wait for the other DP and lets hope Nielson can get back and Robinson’s knee works out and he stays healthy. Aight!~

By: Dave Martinez

Dave Martinez — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:36:30 +0000

Dave,

By calling Hans Backe’s move Osorioesque, I am not indicting him. I quote “It is a clear sign of Backe’s uncomfortability with the teams depth chart to this point” and at no point do I fault him for that. Garcia, da Luz, Tchani . . . they are all unproven commodities at this level. Backe is simply not comfortable with the pieces he has. And neither is Soler, if you judge their own words and actions.

Now, do I think Backe should experiment or givee chance to the younger guys every now and again? Of course. But I see his point as well; the Bulls are in the middle of a chase for first, and that kind of gamble may not pan out for him.

Easy brother. I just call it as I see it.

Stammler – I think we all agree on this point too – lots of heart and desire, but lacks the skill set to be the starter, hence why the Bulls continue to look for a CDM when they have a glut of em on the team.

Overall? This midfield has played above it’s skill set under Backe. But as the league catches up to them, it is becoming more and more apparent that they are a few pieces away from truly being an elite team. And what is wrong with pointing that out?

By: RobStyles

RobStyles — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:21:24 +0000

Dave McB. I agree with most of what your saying but in Dave M’s defense, there are certain players who have proven that they don’t deserve to play never mind start (ie Dan Richards and Roy Miller) yet Backe continues to play them – out of position none the less. To play Richards up top in a match of this magnitude is unacceptable. The guy is worthless. Woly or Kandji should have got the start, even Chinn would have been a better option. Obviously none of us are at practice so it is hard to make an argument without knowing all of the facts but from what we can see some of his decisions are mind boggling.

By: Cubillas

Cubillas — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:17:52 +0000

Dave you have some great points and although I will agree that we are certainly playing better than last year I do disagree with your assessment of when a player is ready to be on the pitch. For example, saying that Garcia is not ready to be on the field just because he needs to improve on his defensive skills is the same as saying that Dane Richards is ready to be on the field because he’s a great midfielder with excellent defensive skills and we both know that this is not the case by a long shot.
All we are asking is that kids like Da Luz, Garcia and Chinn be given more opportunities on the field, you get praise for what you do right, point out what you need to fix and help them achieve it so next time they are playing they are a better than the last time they played. If some of our players are indeed mediocre footballers then that it is enough reason not allow a player to continue to disgrace us on the field. We have options; proven or unproven that is something that Hans needs to explore because not using them is more foolish than using them and not fully reaching expectations.
The goal of our team should always be to win games and to do this the coach has to device a plan of action, put it in place and then assess after the game what/who worked and what/who did not work and fix it so next time we get on that field we are a little better than the last time we played. We can accept defeat when faced by a superior opponent on any given day but we should never accept failure. Only then we will see a consistent and improving level of play.
I will say it again, I love this club and its supporters and do so till the end but I can’t accept any players insulting our colors by putting a performance that was dismal and substandard. There are just no excuses that justify that.

By: DaveMcB

DaveMcB — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:25:08 +0000

And let me just echo karlomabo’s comments on Stammler. He is truly a liability on this team. I suppose because he hits a long shot once per season and recklessly goes into tackles he has been given a pass by fans. But this is just a poor player. His tactical awareness is just plain awful and his positioning causes more trouble for the backline than any d-mid I have seen in quite some time. And let’s not even talk about his passing which is nothing short of tragic.

I like the boy’s heart, but like Woly, heart alone does not make a soccer player. We will be better when Stammler finds a seat on the bench and is used as a substitute in a utility role. Asking more than that from him is a bad idea, but right now we have little choice but to run him out there

By: DaveMcB

DaveMcB — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:20:15 +0000

I am sorry, but I can’t disagree more with the premise of this article. Why wouldn’t a manager experiment during the season? Why wouldn’t he try and find if he has solutions to the team’s issues in house? They played a poor game against a quality side on the road…and this is the response?? We scored, I believe, 6 goals in 3 league games in June, and now after a run of 3 poor games, inclduing 2 road games against good teams, we call our offense an “act in futlity”? that’s just silly!

There are problems, and Backe has addressed them more successfully than anyone could have expected. But he can’t polish a turd. This team SUCKED last year, and it was not just because of Osorio. Some of our players, like Stammler, Richards, and Mendes just to name a couple, are simply below average players and there is nothing any coach can do about that. But still, he has made a winning team. We have added young players with promise who may replace them some day, but they simply are not ready. Irving Garcia? While he has some attacking flare, the man is a defensive joke! Tchani has loads of talent, but has much to learn tactically.

There will be games this season when we look like this. You simply can’t turn a historically bad team into one that can be expected to look great playing a first-place team on the road in one season. Relax Mr. Martinez. Backe is doing a great job.

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:14:03 +0000

It is Stammler. Is there reason you keep writing Strammer that I am missing LOL? Not all the posts, especially mine have positives about Stammler. He has a world class shot from distance, but he doesn’t go forward often and his movement off the ball into space forward is lacking.

By: karlomabo

karlomabo — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:33:42 +0000

You guys must really love Strammer…. He is terrible.. the worst passing the ball and if you watch the game is the one that start pretty much all the attacking plays, thats is why we suck!! People talk about Miller, Linpere etc etc.. but nobody see that strammer has to get out of the first line up I’ve been reading a lot about RB latelly and nobody says anything about the bad performance of Strammer.. ok he scored two goals but still he has to go, And look like Backe wants him in the team no matter what. Moving him around the MF to find him a place…. Miller is a good left back.. not a MF..
Also Ubi can not play under pressure, he was good at the Open cup because he got space and he knew that games werent that “serious” … but at the league game he is Average to be generous with him.. I hope Backe give more chances to Tchani, Garcia and Da Luz they are the future… Robinson and Nilsen are good player and I know that they can make a difference if they are in the team but so far they have been injured 90 % of the time… that’s insane.