Fred Starts, Luci Finishes: DCU 2-0 Columbus

It does the heart good to see Emilio two goals up on Angel for the MLS Golden Boot. And I'll be honest-- to see Altidore up there, albeit at the bottom of the list, warms my heart a bit as well. Glad he didn't double up on us.

(Off topic: Ives reckons Altidore will be the MLS' first ever eight-figure transfer. I'm disagreeing with Ives on this one. I predict that come Christmastime he'll be worth more than what Adu went for, but Adu only went for 2.5 mil. Eight or nine mil for Jozy, methinks, not a stupendous eight-figure transfer fee. How much of that would Red Bull see, anyways? The bigger question is where he'll be a year from now. That's a thinker.)

I am relieved to no end that Soehn stuck Burch immediately back into his starting spot on the left. I'm not so relieved to see Vanney back on the field. He's got a trumped-up sense of how good he is with his left foot, though the bigger threat to United's defense is his trumped-up sense of how well he positions himself under pressure.

Equally worrisome is Gros' early exit from the game. Didn't look like a blowout a la McBride (Fulham will be missing him for three months after he dislocated his knee vs. Middlesborough on Saturday) but it was enough for him to beg substitution after only eight minutes. I'll be waiting for Goff to come back with good news tomorrow.

Fred is magical. I said so this past Wednesday when we lost out to Beckham's team, but today he really endowed my words with the honest truth. It wasn't just his strike, which opened the scoreboard as well as United's attack. It was Fred's urgency, which ensured positive movement up the pitch; it was his persistence, which ensured focused, dynamic attack on goal; and it was his thrilling movement on the ball, which ensured that the audience was at the edge of their seats and that the Crew were at the edge of their collective wits. Simply put, United is better as a team when Fred is on the field. I hope he realizes that his every last effort, no matter how trivial, is bringing United closer to RFK on November 18th. Keep it up, Fred.

This is a great result to have as the playoffs loom close. Thanks to this win, at least Soehn will be sleeping easier. With a real sense that his performance as head coach was under serious scrutiny, his halftime pep talk must have been the stuff of legends. It worked, anyways.

--------------------
Other notes:

- Moreno looked slow. I'm sorry that this is typical of him these days. Let's hope he breaks his record vs. Red Bulls on Wednesday so Soehn can put him on the bench more often.

- Gomez' form was good last night, another pre-playoff reassurance. We can see he's picking his head up.

- The announcers last night were Thomas Rongen and that guy who announces United's games for 1160AM radio. I wish I knew that guy's name. He was decent.

- When I say that Perkins' bravery gifted us the shutout, I literally mean that Perkins' bravery gifted us the shutout. He has the stones to get behind every ball humanly possible, impending feet and knees regardless. His insurance premiums must be phenomenal.

- Danny Szetela was particularly unremarkable. Is he really headed to AS Roma this winter?

- Alejandro Moreno is definitely an MLS-quality striker, which is to say, he might put his chances away but he won't change the momentum of the game. The Jaime of old was one such game-changer. I want that guy back.

- This question is weighing heavy on my mind these days: if not Veron, then who? It doesn't matter right this minute, but I wonder if, or even when we'll start to regret we never signed anyone this season.

Good night.

Winning Streak Fizzles: Houston 1-0 DC United

Recaps from: An American's View, Goff, PPP, DCenters, Edgell Supporters, and Fullback.

My recap is a bit more critical than DCU deserves, perhaps, but these are pertinent points so I'll make em.

In brief: United needed to create more chances in the box, find each other better on the ground, and talk to each other better on defense. These things are nothing unusual, but it's disappointing that we're still dealing with these kinds of problems well into the middle of the season.

Who had a good game? Carroll did well to slow DeRosario and showed himself to be a really intelligent defensive mid. He deserves DCU's MoM tonight, if anyone does. (BDR disagrees.)

I'm really concerned about how McTavish will fit in on the wing now that Boswell is back. McTavish is a good right back, but Boswell doesn't seem to realize that when McTavish is heading forward (like all good wing backs should) he should be pinching over for cover. Vanney does this for Gros. I'm praying that either McTavish learns the right back spot pretty well or Boswell starts showing the potential to become a great center back, because otherwise I'm inclined to put McTavish back in the middle. Yikes.

Am I the only one that thinks Gomez has lost chemistry with the rest of the offense? There are times now when he passes but no one's there to receive, or he makes a pass that kills the momentum, or chips for a run when no one's running. It makes me think that he's a bit lost. Maybe when Jaime gets back Gomez'll look like the reigning MLS MVP, but right now it looks like our young guns are going in a different direction than he is. I'm looking at Gomez' current form and the fact that we're still waiting to use our DP slot and I'm really starting to wonder where Gomez will be by the start of next season.

You know what? Let me go a little bit deeper: I really think Olsen, Gros, and Gomez are still working off the Jaime/Esky system of attack even though Fred, Emilio, and Addlery are working with a completely different dynamic. Where the hell did our chemistry go? We never built momentum and I never got the feeling that we'd capitalize if we did. We seemed almost senseless out there and we're hardly connecting up front at all, as far as I'm concerned. I guess I'll chalk it up to the heat: we had similar problems in Kansas City, but with better results.

For all our problems on offense, it seemed like Houston had the same issues. The game was won on a lucky redirection from Ching, off a shot that Carroll could have closed down or Perkins could have saved. The best they got was lucky. Gomez punished the post and Emilio should have punished the net early on rather than making Onstad look like a hero. Houston really didn't have anything we didn't have; tit for tat. Don't think our performance deserved more than a point though. None seems about right.

----------------------

Other notes:

- I wonder how much DCU will improve once Jaime gets back.

- I don't miss Erpen any more, and I wouldn't trade him back for Vanney.

- Let me give credit where credit is due: Olsen and Boswell deserve a lot of applause for joining back up with DC so soon after the Copa. First-class dedication. We really appreciate it, boys.

- A few days ago I read that Osorio (the one who just got hired for Chicago) was briefly considered for DCU's head coaching position before Soehn got the job. If this season finishes the way it started, that little tidbit is going to haunt me for a very long time.

Update: Soehn on the Vanney-Erpen Trade

Courtesy Goff:

"One of the attractive things about Greg is his experience and his ability to organize. We've lacked a little bit of that -- a veteran guy in the back that is going to make our shape better. If you look at the chances we've given away, a lot of it is our shape and I think he's going to help Bobby in a lot of respects and teach him and Bobby can emulate some of the things he does. We wanted to make sure we had a backline that was experienced, because we haven't had that in a while."

Told ya. Neener neener.

DCU to Trade Erpen for Vanney

You know, I was going to get some sleep and then Goff comes up with this gem:

DCU is going to trade young Erpen for old Vanney.

As big as Erpen's salary is, Vanney's is bigger, so trading a 24 year-old all-star for a 34 year-old has-been seems stupid.

But here's the logic I'm drawing: with Jaime and Olsen gone, Gomez is our only veteran and he's not fulfilling his role as a team leader. Furthermore, with Boswell gone we have no guidance on defense. Vanney's purpose is to give the backfield some cohesiveness so the offense can find the creative dynamic Soehn intended them to have from the season's beginning. As of right now, everyone on the pitch is defending because the defense can't, and in that sense, Vanney is the piece to our puzzle.

I've heard someone toss up the theory of Gomez for Vanney instead of Erpen, and I would tend to agree because Gomez is completely uninspired this season and I still have great hope for Erpen's potential, but seeing as Emilio is still trying to find his magic touch and Kpene & Addlery are still evolving, removing Gomez from the picture would be a setback. We would feel Gomez' loss more acutely than Erpen's, I'm thinking.

Anyways, with Erpen's international slot freed up, Soehn and the Front Office can finally secure a DP who will, in theory, lead DCU through the playoffs and beyond. It's about time.

Vanney couldn't handle the wetness of the pitch tonight so he was flopping all over the place, but with his feet under him I think he could do us some good. I'm sorry to see Erpen go, but it's the smartest move DCU feels it can make at this point, and reluctantly I agree.