Had no idea they updated these stats so regularly, very cool. Sacha is still sitting at #1 in key passes, #3 in expected assists, yet there's still this strong perception that his play has dropped off a cliff this year. He may not be at the same pace as his career best last year, and there are certainly games like this Philly one where he was visibly below par, but overall is he really our problem in attack? I've got 4-5 other guys on my list before I'm ready to talk to about Kljestan's contributions.
After watching this game again (on tv this time), can we stop blaming formations and Veron. Any problems we had in the playoffs and to start this season are because of Sacha's step backward and our wing play, from an offensive standpoint, sucks. Not saying Sacha's garbage, just that this team relied so heavily on him playing at an MVP level, that any drop in form is going to have a huge negative impact on our success. And I know Muyl has two goals, but he's been invisible in these last two away games. Royer... again, not bad, just not enough offensively from him.
I love BWP and I do think he's underrated by MLS fans outside of Metro supporters. He's not a creator though. He'll get to spots where he can be dangerous, but without service he's not going to do much.
Hopefully we'll move Veron on soon and sign a DP-level winger. We don't need a forward. BWP is going to play 99% of the time, we need to get him offensive help from someone that will be on the pitch at the same time as him.
Until he's gone, can we see Veron on the wing with Sacha and BWP also on the pitch? Even just for a half? It's actually a look we haven't seen that much of. I thought we looked our best against Montreal when those three were together.
I think Sacha has found himself in a lot of good spots at times, but the final ball has not been there. Additionally, if you watch the games and his movement, he's much less dynamic than he was last year in the half-spaces, which often resulted in mis-matches (this is my favorite part of his game because he's so intelligent). Like McSoccer noted, the focus on lineups and Veron has taken away pressure from Sacha, who needs to gain some of that dynamism back. This team is as only as good as he Sacha is, and if he is even a little bit off, the team suffers as a result.
We saw that in the playoffs, where our best offensive player was actually Veron (despite the absurd vitriol against Veron amongst the fanbase), while Sacha was completely neutralized. Part of that is that because Sacha isn't the most athletic player, so a well organized team sitting deep that isolates him and BWP absolutely crushes the 4-2-3-1, whereas because Veron has some speed and can play 1v1, he can actually create in those scenarios.