RSL vs Montreal Impact: What we learned

Marcelo Silva is an integral part of this team and his not being on the field showed in our defensive play. That tackle against Piatti—the one where he got injured—was a thing of beauty. He is already a massive part of our backline. He is a piece that we feel when he’s missing. Good acquisition, RSL.

Nacho Piatti is my favorite non-RSL player in MLS. I mentioned it at the beginning of the season and it still holds true. He is a wizard. Tonight he showed why he is one of the MLS elite. This is the only match of the year that I get disgruntled watching Piatti play.

So. Um. Finishing? Have I written about finishing at all this year? Well, it’s a thing. I joked about Eddie Johnson last week after our win in DC, but I’ll also stand behind that assessment. We make some lovely crosses through the air in the attacking third, but we just don’t have the player to bounce those crosses off of. When we attack with the ball on the ground in the final third, our attack looks sharp. It just feels like so many of the aerial crosses are wasted because finishing those is not our strength. I would like to see the ball played clinically on the ground in attack. I also think RSL could really benefit from a clinical aerial finisher. A big bruiser who can make center backs suffer or a ghost who can leave them scratching their heads—but a player who can bang those crosses into the net.

We just didn’t play well enough tonight. Too many soft turnovers. Too many little mistakes that Montreal punished us for. Poor finishing. It was an away match in a tough stadium against a team that is rounding into form with a top MLS talent roaring on all cylinders. We were outplayed. We should have put in a better showing.

Wednesday’s match is a potential make or break for our season. A win against San Jose keeps us in the running. A loss is probably the dagger in our season. A draw will just string out our season with uncertainty.

Overreactions

PRO recently brought in an expert to give an impassioned talk about simulation. That talk really pumped up Chris Penso and he is super excited to make simulation calls. His excitement will wear off in a couple of weeks.

Nacho Piatti gets promoted to archmage. He leaves the Montreal Impact to battle the demon lord Rezzvael the Masticant as it attempts to gnaw its way through all of Montreal’s poutine. After a long battle, Piatti destroys Rezzvael the Masticant by conjuring both Cheetos and chewing gum inside the demon’s mouth at the same time. The demon is so disgusted that it explodes. Piatti saves the poutine, is presented with the key to the city, and is deemed Protector of Poutine.