Futbol Fanatik

My thoughts and observations:

• Jesse Marsh has finally seen the light. After spending most of the season, playing a 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1 hybrid, he finally made the switch to 4-2-3-1, putting Warner, Bernier, and Felipe on the field all at the same time. The Impact played much better with this formation and I hope he sticks with it despite the loss.

• I was surprised to see Andrew Wenger get the nod over Corradi but the boy’s got skills. He scored his second of the season and almost got another one but his shot hit the bar as he was ruled offside.

• Brovsky is better on the left than on the right. 

• Camara’s brain fart which led to Colorado’s penalty was the only mistake in an otherwise solid performance. That penalty changed the momentum though. Colorado looked much stronger after that.

• Bernier had a Man-of-the-Match performance with one sweet goal and assist. If Marsch wants this team’s silky smooth passing to stick, he has to keep this formation with Bernier in it.

• Nyassi - so much speed and skill, so little end product.

• Arnaud was invisible. 

• The next time the opposing team is issued a red card, the Impact should politely decline it or get a red card of their own because they can’t play with the man advantage.

• The Rapids’ winning goal was wrong on so many levels. The ref whistled. He WHISTLED and POINTED to the corner flag and then changed his mind. Just like that. As if we’re watching Little League soccer. MLS needs to straighten this shit out.

My Ratings:

GK - Donovan Ricketts: 6

LB - Jeb Brovsky: 6

CB - Nelson Rivas: 6

CB - Matteo Ferrari: 5.5

RB - Hassoun Camara: 5.5

LM - Davy Arnaud: 5

CM - Collen Warner: 6

CM - Patrice Bernier: 8.5

RM - Sanna Nyassi: 6.5

CAM - Felipe: 7.5

CF - Andrew Wenger: 7

Sub - Greg Sutton: 5

Sub - Miguel Montaño: 5

Sub - Siniša Ubiparipović: 6

*Club logos are property of Major League Soccer

We kept our winning streak going in the first half the month with wins over West Ham, FC Twente, and Chelsea. As is now tradition, we left the country for the Club World Cup and came back deserved champions with a new record of 13 goals scored in two games. Marc Cruz and Javier Silva were instrumental in our conquest as they were respectively named Top Scorer and Best Player.

Shortly after the competition, Cruz came out and asked for a raise. Although I usually ignore these requests unless they come from key players (e.g. Fábio and Rafael), it was much deserved in Cruz’s case. After his 4-goal tally in the Club World Cup, he became the club’s top scorer with 17 goals scored in all competitions, yet he had the same salary as our third-choice right-back Ángel García Martínez.

After some tough talks with his aggressive agent, he received a considerable raise and I was also fairly generous in bonuses, all of which bumped him to Key Player status in our wage structure.

With the winter transfer window fast approaching, I decided to renew the contracts of other players. Fábio, Sánchez, Griezmann, and Rakitić all received a raise with their contract extension. The club’s loyal servant Darren Fletcher accepted to take a pay cut while I offered both Nani and Javier Hernández to other clubs since they were having trouble getting into the first-team and I am paying them way too much to be bench-warmers.

Throughout all these talks, there were still games to play, and we were handed our first loss of the season by Tottenham who momentarily jumped ahead of us in the standings. I was furious with the result. Not only because we were lazy and lacked conviction, but also because we were wrongly disallowed a goal which would have kept our undefeated streak going. A clean header from Buyo in the 33^rd minute was unjustly called off for a foul. I let my outrage known in the post-match press conference and the FA’s silence over my criticism only confirmed my suspicions. All of our hard work ruined by an incompetent ref.

Thankfully the team responded brightly with two more wins at the end of the month to put us back in first place.

In other news, as if my bragging wasn’t enough to convince you of my team’s awesomeness the various awards of the year were handed out and my players were in the top three for all awards, not including those they won outright. All in all, eight of my players were included in the World Team of the Year, two of them as substitutes. This is effectively the best squad on the planet.

My thoughts and observations:

• You cannot imagine my disappointment when the starting eleven came out and both Brovsky and Wahl were on the team sheet despite Camara’s superb performance at right-back against the Galaxy. Needless to say, I didn’t expect much from these two. I mean Dane Richards against Tyson Wahl, who do you think will come out on top? 

• Ferrari had an excellent game sticking to Kenny Cooper like glue. Too bad the rest of the team weren’t as good on their defensive assignments.

• Nelson Rivas is amazing.

• Warner might not have Bernier’s vision but he cleans up well after Brovsky. Twice, he came to the fullback’s rescue when Ferrari was occupied. New York’s second goal came at a rare time when he wasn’t there. Let’s not even mention Davy Arnaud coming back late on that play as well.

• Miguel Montaño is a clumsy player but at least he has some sort of positional sense which is more than I can say for Braun and “Road Runner” Nyassi.

• It is becoming quite clear that Montreal cannot score once Corradi leaves the pitch. Justin Braun is not the answer. Andrew Wenger is not ready. Crossing my fingers that Di Vaio is indeed coming over.

• I’m glad that is was the last game at the Olympic Stadium. I can’t wait for the team to play at Stade Saputo. Better atmosphere and fresh air is a welcomed change from that bowl of concrete. It’s too bad the Impact couldn’t keep their undefeated home record on the last game there.

My ratings:

GK - Donovan Ricketts: 6.5

LB - Tyson Wahl: 4.5

CB - Matteo Ferrari: 8

CB - Nelson Rivas: 7.5

RB - Jeb Brovsky: 4.5

LM - Davy Arnaud: 5

CM - Felipe: 7

CM - Collen Warner: 6

RM - Sanna Nyassi: 5

FW - Bernardo Corradi: 6.5

FW - Miguel Montaño: 5.5

Sub - Andrew Wenger: 5

Sub - Lamar Neagle: 5

Sub - Justin Braun: 4

*Image property of Major League Soccer