I planned on writing a preview of this matchup. I watched a little of that Portland-Vancouver matchup that happened last week. Part of the reason I didn't write the preview was because of what I saw. I saw that this pathetic Portland team looked a whole lot like this Austin team. And after the game last night, and Diego's injury, I think we're just Portland.
Let's get it straight. Austin Lost to Vancouver. If it weren't for this badass, we'd have gone down 0-1. And it's isn't and hasn't ever been the issues with our back line, nor midfield. As much whining and complaining people throw out there about Ring playing CB, where our Fullbacks play, or Owen Wolff in the midfield, our problem is and will continue to be the Forwards. Like abandoned rusting oil tankers bobbing in the Persian Gulf, our forwards have not only been useless but actually destructive to our environment. Last night was infuriating, led by our MVP Driussi.
Pereira was great for us yesterday. Really. He was our best player last night, and has probably been our most consistent player outside of Gallagher. He does a great job here pressing them into a turnover which he promptly and QUICKLY turns into forward progression, right onto Driussi's foot.
Driussi then lays an egg. I don't even think he touched it. Driussi's touch was garbage last night even when he did get it. His passes were off. His vision was blind. He was bad. As bad as we've seen. Last year, this progression of play would have led to a goal. This year, it's a turnover on the first touch. It's like this every game right now, with all of the forwards, and now Driussi.
Here's another example, but in a different way. A play you can't see they missed on TV, but at the stadium, it was clear as day.
What am I seeing? Well, we're cycling the ball back, and as we do so, the ball lands on Leo's foot, and he's looking directly at the right wing. He wants to flip the field here. But he doesn't, and the pass back continues back to Stuver (Sorry for the shit editing. This team doesn't deserve good editing right now anyways).
At the Stadium, what you saw was a lackluster Rigoni not paying attention. Vancouver had pushed its back line up. Leo saw this, and wanted Rigoni to stay on side so that we could catch them out of position. But where was Rigoni? Walking back ,well offside. You can kinda see this on film, but in person, it was blatant.
There's no passion from our front line. From the beginning of the year, there hasn't been much. Tactically, last night we came out diverse and creative, and when it hit the wall and this front line flat out GAVE UP. Tactically, I think Wolff doesn't have a lot of options at this point.. If you are #WOLFFOUT, your complaint has to be with the team's motivation. And I agree with you. I'm not sure how this team got this way, but it is Wolff's job to motivate these players to give the tactics a chance for the whole game. It's his job to get these players to have pride in their game. But it's also the players job to HAVE pride in your game. You choose to play with fury.
In that Driussi video, he trots back, head down after his mistake just like Rigoni in the second video. That's not Driussi. The Driuissi i know runs back and STEALS THAT BALL BACK. That's on the players. That's on the captain. Whoever that is.