All Things MN United 2022 Season Thread

[RoseGoldy]

A lot of sh*thousery on Seattle's part but we were outcoached and outplayed tonight. It started with the head scratcher of a starting lineup then followed by poor passes/touches on offensive end. We truly have the talent and the firepower on this team. We just look so toothless on offense. Need to get our sh*t together for Austin next week. Hoping Arriaga and Franco to return next week

 

[Gophers_4life]

A lot of sh*thousery on Seattle's part but we were outcoached and outplayed tonight. It started with the head scratcher of a starting lineup then followed by poor passes/touches on offensive end. We truly have the talent and the firepower on this team. We just look so toothless on offense. Need to get our sh*t together for Austin next week. Hoping Arriaga and Franco to return next week

I like to watch when the games are on CW (I think they're normally on Bally's North). So I tuned in last night.

Don't know jack squat about the strategy or evaluating how good anyone does, but it was still fun to watch.


I mean, if we don't own goal ourselves on that Seattle breakaway early in the 2nd, it could easily have stayed 1-1.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I don't claim to be a soccer expert, but just on the eyeball test, I like the lineup a lot better when Bongi is out there. give me guys with speed. --- excuse me, guys who play with good pace.....

and Reynoso seems to be trying to be so 'cute' with the ball all the time, and he's dribbling into a crowd or losing the ball before he can make a pass.

I still miss Kevin Molino. that guy made things happen.

 

[RoseGoldy]

I don't claim to be a soccer expert, but just on the eyeball test, I like the lineup a lot better when Bongi is out there. give me guys with speed. --- excuse me, guys who play with good pace.....

and Reynoso seems to be trying to be so 'cute' with the ball all the time, and he's dribbling into a crowd or losing the ball before he can make a pass.

I still miss Kevin Molino. that guy made things happen.

Spot on. Bongi brings speed and effort. If he loses the ball, he is hustling to win it back. I’m excited about his prospects as he gets more polished. Also agree on rey, sadly he has done this in past too and also he loses his temper so easily

 

[short ornery norwegian]

So, I watched a good part of the U. S. Open Cup game Wednesday between the Loons and 'Madison Forward,' a team in the USL. (it was on ESPN+).

technically, this was the Loons' #1 team, but Heath rested some of the regulars, and let the back-ups get most of the playing time.

The game was being played in a steady rainfall - to the point where one of the cameras frequently had water on the lens, producing a 'blurry' image.

Loons won 2-0 on two 2nd-half goals - headers from Hunou and Kallman.

Loons had possession over 2/3 of the time. Madison never really threatened to score. Tyler Miller was in goal and had no official saves.

Chase Gaspar made his first appearance of the season. And promptly got a yellow card within 3 minutes. Madison got a red card in the 2nd half - iffy call, but no VAR available.

Loons' next game in the US Open Cup will be May 10th or 11th vs the Colorado Rapids.

 

[RoseGoldy]

It’s been a great past 7 days for the loons. Glad to see them bounce back from that awful Austin performance, honou is working on his craft with the twos and we keep scoring more than one goal a game. More of this please!

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Stinks to have Dotson out for the season.

we'll see how long it takes to get Gaspar back in the starting lineup. Hope Metanaire isn't out too long.

Second half Saturday was impressive. Helped to get the red card, but generally better passing and better entry passes on the set plays in the second half. Bongi and Dunladi seemed to give them a little spark when they came in.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Not pretty in Loons land. lost 0-1 to Cincy on Saturday. on Twitter, the fans are getting riled. a lot of calls for Heath to be canned.

the offense looks lost. Dayne St. Clair is standing on his head in goal, but the defense has broken down late in the match for the last two outings.

 

[RoseGoldy]

Not pretty in Loons land. lost 0-1 to Cincy on Saturday. on Twitter, the fans are getting riled. a lot of calls for Heath to be canned.

the offense looks lost. Dayne St. Clair is standing on his head in goal, but the defense has broken down late in the match for the last two outings.

All of your points are correct. I can live with the loss at LAFC but we absolutely cannot drop points like that at home. I really don’t have any suggestions on fixing the offense. Seems like we can never string together the set up pass, let alone someone put it in the net. Lod can finish but need more from our big money forwards

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Loons Win!

Loons win 2-1 over Colorado in rain-delayed U.S. Open Cup match at Allianz on Thursday.

Match was suspended due to heavy rain and lightning on Wednesday with a 1-1 tie score.
Looked dicey when Brent Kallman got his second Yellow card of the match and had to leave at the 83-minute mark, with the Loons now playing with 10.

But Reynoso comes through with a big individual effort and scores with the left foot at about the 87-minute mark, and Loons hold on for the win.

Dunladi with the other Loons goal.

 

[RoseGoldy]

looks like we will face Houston, Kansas City or Omaha next in us open cup. Omaha would be awesome!

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

Loons Win!

Loons win 2-1 over Colorado in rain-delayed U.S. Open Cup match at Allianz on Thursday.

Match was suspended due to heavy rain and lightning on Wednesday with a 1-1 tie score.
Looked dicey when Brent Kallman got his second Yellow card of the match and had to leave at the 83-minute mark, with the Loons now playing with 10.

But Reynoso comes through with a big individual effort and scores with the left foot at about the 87-minute mark, and Loons hold on for the win.

Dunladi with the other Loons goal.

What's the rule on red cards during a single leg knock-out tournament?

No suspension, or does Kullman miss the QF?

 

[RoseGoldy]

What's the rule on red cards during a single leg knock-out tournament?

No suspension, or does Kullman miss the QF?

I believe he misses next game

 

[RoseGoldy]

Omaha it is! At home. Should be able to win that as long as we field a decent lineup. Unfortunately it’s right in between two tough league games, dallas fc and nycfc

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

With the embarrassing loss to Omaha last night with 2 DPs on the field, is it time to look at canning both Lagos & Heath?

 

[Full Speed Ahead]

With the embarrassing loss to Omaha last night with 2 DPs on the field, is it time to look at canning both Lagos & Heath?

Yep, and whoever does our player evaluations for our DPs should be canned as well. I'll go for a bit of an outlier here and say I'd like to see us bring in Landon Donovan as our new coach.

 

[TruthSeeker]

The Loons have horrible DPs. Hunou is a complete bust. Amarilla is a bust for a second time. Imagine if they had quality players at DPs like Ruidiaz or Lodeiro. They'd be a top 2 team in the league with real DPs.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Didn't help that Miller was hurt and they had to throw the 3rd string goalkeeper out there.

But whoever is doing the player evaluations needs to answer some tough questions. right now, Lod is the only player up-front who seems like he actually wants to try and score a goal.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Ever since they gave Heath more GM responsibilities the player acquisitions have gone to shit. Like previously said, we have multiple DPs warming our bench. One of them plays for the 2 team. Unacceptable.

I stand by this take.
https://gopherhole.com/boards/threads/all-things-mn-united-2022-season-thread.105101/post-2402049

 

[RoseGoldy]

Yeah it's time for new management at all technical fields (coaching, scouting, management, etc). I wish we didn't have to wait but we probably finish the season with Heath and missing the playoffs will be the nail in the coffin. It just looks and feels like the desire to win is gone from this bunch. Embarrassing

 

[Dano564]

Ever since they gave Heath more GM responsibilities the player acquisitions have gone to shit. Like previously said, we have multiple DPs warming our bench. One of them plays for the 2 team. Unacceptable.

I stand by this take.
https://gopherhole.com/boards/threads/all-things-mn-united-2022-season-thread.105101/post-2402049

I would like to say I agree with you, but our talent prior to Heath taking a greater role was abysmal.
We spent the first two years fielding a team with no designated player.
Then we got one Heath didn't like (Quintero) and Gregus who was okay, but not worth his money.
Heath was part of the one that built up the contending team, but after that season we've been dreadful with talent acquisition and I find bringing back Abu Danladi as puzzling.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I would like to say I agree with you, but our talent prior to Heath taking a greater role was abysmal.
We spent the first two years fielding a team with no designated player.
Then we got one Heath didn't like (Quintero) and Gregus who was okay, but not worth his money.
Heath was part of the one that built up the contending team, but after that season we've been dreadful with talent acquisition and I find bringing back Abu Danladi as puzzling.

They gave Heath complete control of the team just before the 2020 season. Our technical director reports to Adrian. Not to Lagos.

State of Minnesota United: It’s fully Adrian Heath’s team now

The head coach now has complete control on the sporting side as the club seeks to build on its best season

theathletic.com

We had a good Covid season and the player acquisitions have been a dumpster fire ever since. This roster is on Heath and the people that trusted him enough to give him the keys to the team (Lagos, Chris Wright, and Bill McGuire)

Things were on the up and up when Heath didn’t have total control of who we signed. The trend changed once he was given that control. Again evidenced by the 2 starting GK salaries we’re paying, and the 2 DPs we are paying to warm the bench and play for our reserve team. Abu Danladi’s return? Heath’s decision. Amarilla’s return? Heath’s decision. It’s all blessed by Adrian.

BTW, Quintero was signed early in year 2 and was an all star. DP#2 arrived summer of year 2.

 

[RoseGoldy]

They gave Heath complete control of the team just before the 2020 season. Our technical director reports to Adrian. Not to Lagos.

State of Minnesota United: It’s fully Adrian Heath’s team now

The head coach now has complete control on the sporting side as the club seeks to build on its best season

theathletic.com

We had a good Covid season and the player acquisitions have been a dumpster fire ever since. This roster is on Heath and the people that trusted him enough to give him the keys to the team (Lagos, Chris Wright, and Bill McGuire)

Things were on the up and up when Heath didn’t have total control of who we signed. The trend changed once he was given that control. Again evidenced by the 2 starting GK salaries we’re paying, and the 2 DPs we are paying to warm the bench and play for our reserve team. Abu Danladi’s return? Heath’s decision. Amarilla’s return? Heath’s decision. It’s all blessed by Adrian.

BTW, Quintero was signed early in year 2 and was an all star. DP#2 arrived summer of year 2.

Ugh, letting Quintero go bites. He's still effective for Houston and he would be a massive help to our offensive woes right now. I just don't see things getting better after the break. Bill McGuire seems perfectly content with the status quo. I believe he's quite chummy with Heath. Probable would take more noise from the fanbase to force a change. Heath has his guys he likes and everyone else goes in the doghouse to rot away until they leave. So frustrating

 

[RoseGoldy]

Rey is a great player but unfortunately, the league has caught on to him and to Heath's system of having everything go through Rey (or try to at least). Teams will keep fouling him and Rey is a known hothead who starts to see red and then spends rest of game complaining to refs, flopping, etc. We need to have more options down the wings. Lod can't do everything for us offensively. Honou and Amarilla are looking like busts right now that just add to the list of failed DPs for this club. We are already outside of the playoffs and Seattle is going to pass us once they play their makeup games. We don't have any time to waste once the season restarts

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Ugh, letting Quintero go bites. He's still effective for Houston and he would be a massive help to our offensive woes right now.

Still get angry when I remember Heath benched him in a cup final.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

apparently the MNUFC2 club is doing well. saw they won 2-1 Saturday and are undefeated in 8 consecutive games. they even score goals occasionally.

 

[RoseGoldy]

apparently the MNUFC2 club is doing well. saw they won 2-1 Saturday and are undefeated in 8 consecutive games. they even score goals occasionally.

The funny thing is that they play the same system the first team is playing to allow for easier transition between the two. Clearly something is working for the two’s that is not for the first team. Players? Coach? Interesting

 

[RoseGoldy]

Went to the friendly last night against Paderborn from 2 Bundesliga. Had low expectations but turned into a 7 goal game and saw some promising performances from our youngsters. Aziel Jackson made the most of his appearance. Very excited to follow his career. Great vision on the field and was always causing issues for the opposition. Metanaire injury was the lowpoint

 

[Dano564]

Went to the friendly last night against Paderborn from 2 Bundesliga. Had low expectations but turned into a 7 goal game and saw some promising performances from our youngsters. Aziel Jackson made the most of his appearance. Very excited to follow his career. Great vision on the field and was always causing issues for the opposition. Metanaire injury was the lowpoint

Yeh, Aziel definitely stood out.

I'm surprised they got the win for how they had played up to this point.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

so, news is breaking today that MLS has signed a new exclusive TV rights deal with Apple TV, starting in 2023.

If I'm reading this correctly, it means that Loons games would no longer be available on Bally's or any free over-the-air channels, and you will have to sign up for the new streaming service or get an Apple TV subscription to watch MLS games.

it sounds like some games might still be offered on ESPN, but the articles I read were not clear about that. a lot of details have not been finalized.

anyway, enjoy the Loons on TV while you can.