The Price is Wrong $%*&#!, Dynamo Thump Sounders 3-1

Happy to see Moffat getting some recognition. After a poor showing against Chivas USA, where he continuously lagged behind the run of play, I scrutinized every aspect of his game. However, Moffat pulled off what we have been missing this entire season with Palmer. Moffat has the ability to should down an attack and distribute to the players to make things happen. His shot from distance is outstanding. Maybe the problem hasn’t been with Cameron all along. Maybe Cameron recognized the need for extra help defensively due to Palmer’s poor play. Regardless, Cameron, for once, looked comfortable in attacking midfield. It was almost as if he was freed up to do whatever he wanted.

Another player that performed well, and flew under the radar a bit, was Freeman. Hunter Freeman, even though criticized by many showed why Kinnear was signed him. He eliminated the mistakes he was making, and did a great job getting up that right flank. Watching him overlap an inward cutting Clark all night was great. Finally, his crossing was a step up from Sarkodie. My overall thoughts at RB after tonight are that Freeman should start, but Kinnear shouldn’t be afraid to rest him in favor of giving a very promising Sarkodie at Right Back.

Now Brian Ching. Brian stepped up and took an actual leadership role. Not only did he talk big, from the thursday night player meeting, but he also lead by example. Ching left it all on the field. Enough said.

I also want to point out that, while I shouldn’t have to say that Clark had a great game, I loved the way he threw a pesky Fernandez to the ground and walked away. I want a player like that on my team. Maybe it’s not the most level headed thing to do, but after months, sorry a year and a half, of no pride for the shirt, no determination, no will to fight for this team, that was a breath of fresh air.

To sum up my thoughts of the game. The movement off the ball was 100% better than last week, and having someone as an outlet to the defense (Moffat) who can then pick his head up an distribute to a difference making attacking player (Moffat), is what separated us from a team like Seattle. Take out Alonso and put in Palmer the Seattle lineup suddenly can’t transition into the attack. I will issue a warning though, as hypocritical as this is, we shouldn’t look too much into this one game. We shoul stop for a second and remember that we played a Seattle team whose last two games were a 7-0 loss, in Seattle, to Manchester United, and a loss in the Champions League, in Central America.

Last little thought, Ching’s first goal… we haven’t seen a goal of that quality in a while.

Good game all around, though there were so real scares on our backline (as well as a friendly goal post)- the scoreline could have easily been different.

Moffat played well within his abilities, clearly instructed to keep it simple and play very conservative. Sound advice for someone who has played very little the last few years. Much to the frustration of the crowd and Ching, Adam even held up the ball on a counter breakaway 2 on 2 where the defenders were out of position, seeing how far up the field he was. This was clearly in violation of Kinnear’s orders, so he held up and waited for support. The crowd moaned and you could sense the frustration from Ching, but hey, an order is an order.

If anything sold Dom on Moffat, this did.

The goals seemed to come from flank play. Cameron played like a man possessed, almost hyperventilating on throw ins. He dared opponents, teammates, and especially referees to thwart him. I didn’t see him as anything above average in attacking mid, though his defense, determination, and hustle were Herculean.

The second half saw him withdraw into more of a holding mid role, and I thought we pretty much lost the diamond shape, settling into either a flatter 4-4-2, or simply playing with two DM’s with both holding deep and distributing to the wings.

I thought Clark played well and could have had a brace, Ching could have added another goal as well. The Flying Hawaiian’s total game brought back passionate memories of yore when you double or triple teamed him or paid a hefty price.

Boz distributed the ball crisply after yonks on the bench, and Freeman had the best game in memory, defending admirably with dangerous overlaps and good crosses, I was especially impressed with the latter as that was new to me. Ashe was a dribbling maestro, spark plugging attacks with surprising central runs and as one of the two safety men when we had set plays, making crucial interventions when Seattle countered. From the opposite side of the field, the penalty looked like Ashe fouling after being fouled first. Haven’t seen the video clip…

Hainault shut down opposition BUT both he and Boz seemed to be recent grads of the Taylor school of backpassing. Terrifying stuff we were fortunate to survive. Hall made some nice saves and settled his backline down after the terrors of the opening minutes where we looked like the USMNT.

Cool that we got blisters Sanchez on loan, Bruin didn’t have a good touch before being clipped and Weaver didn’t impress though playing with two holding target forwards isn’t exactly dressing for success. A little nonGarey speed would help. I keep thinking of Claude Rains in the invisible man when thinking about Garey- you can’t see him, but he’s there!

Nice to see us not have to rely so heavily on Davis who had an above average though not noteworthy game.

Kudos to the team for stepping up. Now to stay on our bipolar meds to avoid that depressing crash after mania.

From the other side of the field, I got this one completely wrong. From what I read, this was the first time this ref ever called a penalty, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt… Especially as most of the game I was preoccupied with my bored out of their minds 6 and 8 yr olds.

Looking for fouls? It was if the State police had set up a roadblock and were firing and waving their guns in the air. Talk about attention getting- Fernandez’s milking it should have gotten carded early in the game.