I've gone to three Storm games now, and watched a couple on TV, so I think I may be starting to get the hang of it. At least to the point where I feel like I can comment on the team's performance.
First off, the obvious. Either Monterrey is really, really good on restarts, or the Storm is really, really bad at defending restarts. If you include the shootout goal after goalie Danny Waltman handled the ball outside his box -- a sort of return favor for the Monterrey goalie doing the same about ten minutes earlier -- five out of the six Tigres goals came from dead ball situations. This is not good.
Speaking of Waltman, it's getting to where I cringe whenever he would play the ball with his feet. I wouldn't be surprised if that, coupled with the handball decision, knocks him out the starting lineup for a bit.
And speaking of getting knocked out of the lineup, I'm going to go out on a limb and say we're not going to see Tijani Agyebusi on the field much if coach Frank Klopas can help it, despite his having by far the most fun name to say out loud. Try it. Ahg-yeah-BOOOO-si!
I also have to say I feel bad for Byron Alvarez. I lost count of how many good chances he had, but just wasn unable to convert. It didn't seem to be that he was making bad decisions, as he was creating the scoring chances, he just couldn't get the ball in the net.
Attendance looked better than the previous three matches, and given that this was the first without extenuating circumstances (Fire season ending, Election Day, Thanksgiving), I think that may allay some of the fears the front office may be having with the turnouts. With the exception of the result, it was probably a step in the right direction.
I think your trash talk has slapped you in the face. It's there inaugural season, we kept saying, give them time.... we did and look at us now. Tijani Ayegbusi is a major objective to our team, and without him, lemme refrase, without any of them (with a few exceptions) We wouldn't be were we are in our first season. This team has passion and love for the game. I don't care if you lose every game, as long as you have heart and compassion for the sport, and you go out and play your 100%, to me that's all that matters. Also, let me add that Danny Waltman is one of the top 5 goaltenders of this MISL, he may look goofy but if that works for him, that's great, and so far it has proven to be satisfactory, personally i've seen Waltman play outside of the STORM, he's not bad, he could probably do just as good playing midfield, defense, or even forward, as he is in the goal, and i think that's why Frank allows him to do what he does. Trust me my sources are correct, not because i'm a girl but because who i know. Thank you for your time!
SK
Hey, I was just calling it as I saw it at the time. From what I was able to gather, Frank may have agreed with me on Ayegbusi around the time I said this, but he has most definitely improved. The defense overall has been great, particular Tijani, Gaston Pernia and Fred DeGand.
Waltman still scares me, and his top five status depends entirely on which stats you look at. Last time I looked, his GAA was pretty suspect. And he's good for at least a couple of dicey distributions every game, whether with his feet or otherwise. There's still room for improvement.
And a haircut. ;-P
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