Arsenalist

Take solace in the one point we got but know we should’ve had all three. Be happy that we now have Jeff Cunningham but know that he should’ve scored at least twice tonight to secure us the points. Chances that beg to be finished are hard to come by but when the come so many times in one game you’d think we’d be able to score more than just two. The two goals that we did score was the highest degree of difficulty and the chances we missed were easy ones. I don’t know how much Dichio knew about the first goal, it was more of a “here goes nothing” type shot than an actual attempt at goal but he’ll take it and so will I. The second goal scored by Brennan off the freekick was world class in every respect. If you score that goal in England, it’ll be in the Sky Sports top 10 goals of the year, a booming freekick which four goalies couldn’t save. Kudos to Jim Brennan.

In the first half our defense was about as loose as a Thai hooker the day the navy left town, but whatever Mo Johnston said at halftime must’ve worked because we tightened things up in the second. We actually looked forward to making a tackle instead of retreating to the safety of our zone and hoping for the offense to screw up (that never works). Blame the first goal on Marco Reda, the guy fell down, he actually fell down by just attempting to turn. It was like watching a toddler trying to take his first steps only to realize he must turn around in order to go in the opposite direction. It was pathetic to watch but what was even more pathetic was the Andy Herron celebration, put your shirt on boy, this is the MLS and you scored two minutes into the game, not in extra time in the league final. I don’t really like this guy and justice was somewhat served when he limped off injured in the first half.

Greg Sutton (who’s starting to look more and more like Bill Buchanan from 24) should’ve saved the first one, he got beat because of the velocity of the shot which wasn’t even that much. Even fellow goalie Craig Forrest let it be known that that was a save to be made by even an average goalie. The jury’s still out on Greg Sutton and the defense, another prime example was how the second goal was conceded. Ronnie O’Brien TURNED HIS BACK on the shot from inside his own area??? What the hell was that? I mean don’t they teach you that in Grade 4, you make an attempt to block the shot and not turn around like a little girl. If I ever see that again I’m writing a letter to Mo Johnston along with video footage.

Some more realizations today: Andy Welsh had an excellent game, he was breaking people down left and right, if he plays half as well as he did today we’ll be in good shape on the right side of the midfield. Danny Dichio as a “holding forward” is an excellent idea, he doesn’t have the skill to finish off plays but has the grit and physical ability to win balls in the area, I think Cunningham will finish off what Dichio started as the season goes along. As much as I liked Alecko, Cunningham’s just a better fit for this team. The defense in the second half was much better, they were aggressive, sought out tackles and didn’t allow their midfielders the space and time to pick out their forwards. I’m guessing Mo Johnston must’ve lashed out at them during halftime and even threatened to trade them if they didn’t pick it up.

Columbus Crew is stupid for actually deploying an offside trap when playing Jeff Cunningham, they should’ve been punished for it today as JC got open a number of times but couldn’t beat the goalie and when he did beat the goalie, the post was his enemy. We’ll take the point, we need it. Good luck to Alecko Eskandarian, he’s a nice enough guy. Too bad it didn’t work out. Props to the TFC fans who made the trip, they were louder than anybody else in the stadium and CBC gave them enough airtime.