Three things to do better after thrashing San Jose

I mean no hyperbole when I say this but that was the best we’ve looked in the post-Kreis era. As we have done since Petke took the helm we dominated every statistic we could and in a refreshing change from the norms of the Petke era we were ruthless in front of goal. Which is going to make this article really hard to do!

So, what can we do better when Colorado roll into town?

Finishing?

I mean, we scored 4 good-to-amazing goals, so I don’t see how we can get better? Luis Silva kicked down Don Garber’s office door and posted his entry for goal of the season with a special effort from him and Rusnak. For a man described as “not a natural goalscorer” by his coach, Silva could fool us right now with his goals coming thick and fast now. Then Savarino decided that anything Silva could do, he could do better and beat two players in the box to curl one into the top corner. Rusnak managed to bag a goal to match his two lovely assists and even Yura Movsisyan came off the bench to finish off his own rebound!

So that’s 9 shots on target out of 23 with 4 goals and 5 blocked shots, which means more on target than off. So that’s great

Defending?

If the number 18 shirt isn’t retired when Nick Rimando hangs up his boots then somebody in this organisation is drunk and they need to have the cheque book taken off them before we spend $14 million to bring back Freddy Adu as a young DP.

I say that because Nick Rimando managed to get his 100th MLS Regular Season shout out and his 300th RSL appearance. That’s unicorn rare at this point and despite some errors this season, Nick managed to lead the defence tonight which is a talent that’s understated. With young players all over the pitch having a veteran with a calm head on his shoulders is vital and that was Rimando tonight.

That’s not to take anything away from Glad, who has grown into the player we needed him to be, and Horst, who came in and did a great job after having very few minutes this season. Couple that in with Acosta turning into the sleeper “Young Player of the Season” for RSL and Beltran returning to his usual form and you can’t really ask more from the defence.

Passing?

88% passing accuracy and 62% possession. 529 passes were thread together in the space of 90 minutes. Now, if you take our 62% possession and work out what that is in minutes, it’s about 56 minutes on the ball. If you divide the passes we completed by the 56 minutes we had the ball, that’s a 9 passes every minute or one every 6 and a half seconds. Which is just obscene when you think about it. The amount of ball chasing San Jose were forced to do tired them out, especially when they went down a man.

Basically, Real Salt Lake knocked the ball around until San Jose couldn’t chase them anymore and then when that opening came, they stuck the knife in every time. You can’t ask for more than that.

I’m not saying that we should all turn up to Mike Petke’s house and cook him some kind of dinner, but what I am saying is we should possibly come up with some kind of rota for the next few months based on the fact that he was caught SINGING THE RSL SONG!!!

What a guy. You can’t even tell where Coach Petke ends and “Real Salt Dad” Petke begins. If he brings home the Rocky Mountain Cup on Saturday they may as well put a bronze statue of him up in the middle of Utah.