October 10th, 2007 . 1:01 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

My, my, my music hits me so hard,
Makes me say Oh my Lord,
Thank you for blessing me,
With a mind to rhyme and two hype feet. – Stanley Kirk Burrell

I’ll be honest, I didn’t think Denilson would play again.  I asked Morrow about that and you can see what he says below.  Even after he answered I’m still a bit surprised.

Not as surprised as I was to see Ray Burse start.  Not that Ray wasn’t good, and not that he isn’t going to be great, but he’s still very inexperienced.

News Notes and Observations

- Dario Sala perhaps aggravated his knee early in training today and missed most of the session.  Morrow said he didn’t think it would be serious.

- Pablo Ricchetti is doubtful with the left groin problem.  He wasn’t able to train today.  As usual they will make the final evaluation on game day, but I’d be stunned to see him play since he can’t even train the day before.

- Clarence Goodson is also doubtful with his right hamstring problem.  See Ricchetti and game day evaluation.

- Alex Yi is out with his concussion.  General policy on a second concussion is to sit out 7 days and do some tests.  Yi also is having back spasms, which backs up my theory.  When a player has a recurrent muscle problem, like YI’s hamstring, it’s often because something structural wrong.  In his case the back spasm lead me to believe he’s likely got a problem in the hip or lower back, or perhaps the lower leg. 

- Kenny Cooper is almost always one of the last people out.  Again today he stayed out after everyone else to work some finishing on the keeper coach.

Catching up with Steve Morrow

Morrow talks, I try to be clever.

On why Burse started

“I felt that we conceded some goals recently and sometimes from my point of view as a coach, you want to shake things up a little bit. Ray had looked very, very sharp in practice and he played early on in the season and did well. So, I thought he deserved a shot at it again.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.  Know what I’m saying?

On Burse’s performance

“I thought he did very well and I thought he made some very good saves early on in the game that kept us in it when Columbus came at us hard early in the game. He made some good saves. There are one or two things that he can certainly get better at but he’s a young ‘keeper and is still learning the game. He punched a few when he maybe could have caught but I thought he looked very, very sharp all night in terms of reactions and saves. He did a good job for us. I haven’t decided on that (if he will start on Thursday.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: I’m a genius for starting Ray.

On where Kenny Cooper

“He’s made a lot of progress in the last week and we arranged a game on Monday to get him some more minutes. He played 70 minutes on Monday against out U-17 team. That was a great exercise for him. He’s looking more and more ready every day and at this moment, it’s a question of trying to get him as many minutes as we can to try and get him as close to 100% match fitness as possible going into the playoffs.”

MC Hammer’s coach speak translator: It’s Cooper time.  Break it down. [does shuffling side to side dance] Da nah nah nah. Nah nah. Nah Nah.  Cooper Time.

On how Cooper has handled the injury mentally

“I think for the most part, he’s done well. He’s a very positive person and has a strong family background as well that can help him out in that situation. I think that when guys come back from broken legs, the first few weeks of training are always a little bit tentative. I think he has certainly gone through that stage and has come out the other end now. There’s also a mental barrier that you have to overcome as well and I think he’s done that. He’s looking very good at the moment.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: The kid has grande juevos.

On a settled lineup

“I’d love to have a settled team. If everyone was fit and available, I’d love to have a settled lineup. I think it’s important that as much possible, we get a settled lineup and get everyone playing together. Unfortunately, we’re restricted by the injuries we have and the suspensions but I don’t see anybody needing a rest at this stage. We play Thursday but then have a nine-day break before we play Kansas City. It’s important that we’re concentrating on our team play and trying to get things right for the playoffs.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: Injuries suck.  So do suspensions.

On Abe Thompson

“He did a great job. I thought just over the 90 minutes, it was a great performance by Abe. We had a word at halftime about a couple of things that we could do better and the reaction was good from everybody, including Abe in the second half. His all-around game is good and I know exactly what I’m going to get from Abe in terms of his work rate. He plays honestly and holds the ball very well for us. That’s something that’s important for how we want to play is when the ball gets into the front that the front guys are going to hold it, keep possession for us and not break down. It’s an important part of our play and he does it well. He’s one of the best finishers that we have here with the club as well. He deserves to keep his place on the team.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: That’s just Abe being Abe.

On  any preference on first-round playoff opponents

“I don’t care who we get. I really don’t. I don’t mind who we get in the first round. I feel like we’re capable of beating anybody over two games. So, I really don’t care who it is.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: We want Houston.

On Denilson’s performance against Columbus

“I felt the reaction in Columbus was good. We spoke after the Open Cup final and he understood the reasons why I did it. It was designed in part to give him a little of a shakeup and I thought his reaction was good. He played better in Columbus. He worked a little bit harder defensively, kept his shape and helped the team defensively too. He also did a little bit more on the ball but he tired in the second half a little bit. From where we were before, I think it was an improvement.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: He sucked, but got better.  A bit.

Training

Short session today.  After some warm up and ropes stuff Morrow moved right into the tactical 11v11 stuff.  Afterward Morrow asked the players to do some work on their own for 15 minutes on whatever they wanted.  Team was done before noon.

Lineup Prediction

Ricchetti is out, so Serioux is likely in the midfield.  Serioux in the midfield means Pitch is one center back.  With Goodson and Yi also out, the other CB could be someone like Daniels, but more likely Drew Moor moves in the middle as he did late in the Columbus game.  So we can probably assume Bobby Rhine will return at right back. That’s the most likely scenario I think.

To be honest it won’t shock me at all to see Morrow mix the midfield up and move Serioux to CB and thus keep Moor at right back. Perhaps Dax McCarty or Anthony Wallace could play the anchor role… heck even both of them next to Toja in a 4-3-1-2 kinda thing.

After what Morrow said about Cooper I will go out on a larger limb and predict Coop will start.  After the comment about Burse/Sala I think it’s also safe to predict Burse again. Ruiz is still suspended.

Thought of the Day

Since Toja is a more free player than Serioux, and taking into considerations some comments Morrow made recently about playing with one anchor in midfield, I decided to draw the shape slightly different to reflect the freedom Toja has to move forward.  In general terms Toja and Serioux will play more side to side than the above, but it gets the point across.

Without Ricchetti I think this lineup may be the closest we have seen yet to a 4-4-2.  It’s likely the outside players will sit deeper to try and defend more as a team and not expose the back four.  I still think Alvarez and Denilson will have a great deal of freedom to move about and swap, but as a team defensive shape will  likely be more emphasized.

Categories: Practice Observations.

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