The Knee Jerk: RSL vs Minnesota

I’m tired of ties, drained of draws, and sick of stalemates. I like this year’s RSL team, but I also want more. I really thought we’d have Minnesota’s number this year, but they pulled back a late weird goal and here we are again, lamely level.

Killer Instinct

Where is it? We had a nice first fifteen minutes or so. We had a nice final ten minutes or so. Why not have that drive throughout? We need a motivator to keep this team pushing forward. I’m wondering what the plan for RSL’s identity is going to be. What do the coaching staff have in mind regarding the team identity and mentality?

It’s important. RSL has always thrived when we have a solid identity. I like how the team plays. Mostly. I’m just wanting that push for goals to not disappear after we get one. I almost don’t want RSL to score first.

We seem to be strongest when we’re chasing, when we have to heft that chip back on the shoulder and show everyone our prowess. We seem to lose drive if we score first, and we let the other team push-push-push until they trickle something past.

Bench

If you don’t trust your bench, then what’re they for? This article here is worth checking out. We get five substitutions. We use one. There has to be some fight somewhere. Meram can’t be the only one on the bench raring to come in and impact the game.

Roles

We have two strong players coming in Wood and Menendez. What does that do to the plan? Who steps up and who falls off? Are the right pieces in the right places? Does our bench start contributing? What happened with Jeizon Ramírez? Why doesn’t Pablo Mastroeni have that sweet mustache anymore? Why doesn’t everyone on the team grow a villain stache?

Personally, I miss the days of RSL’s possession-based destruction of opponents. We don’t need to go back to that, but the coaching staff do need to figure out the distinct identity that they’re pushing for (villain staches!). If you’ve read these articles over the years (I apologize for everything you’ve been subjected to), you’ve heard me shout and rail about identity. It’s what meshes the team, the staff, the front office, and the fans. Give us an identity to get behind! Get us to all buy in.

Wins help a lot with that. I’ll now don my coaching hat: play harder and score more goals!

If only it were that simple.

Overreactions

What happened to Anderson Julio? I thought he was our Minnesota killer.

When is a point not a point? When it’s a jar. I think I messed that joke up.

I don’t want to be in the middle all year.

After last week’s The Big Lebowski, I’m really hoping for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure this week.