Though it’s way too early to start murmuring “not again,” D.C. United may need some fine tuning. After four difficult years, fans were hoping the start of the Peter Nowak era would herald a winning season, but United (1-2-1) has earned just four of a possible 12 points heading into today’s road game against the hungry San Jose Earthquakes and star Landon Donovan.
So what’s going on?
• Midfield — List all the positive adjectives you want: speedy, disciplined, organized, creative. United’s midfield lives up to them all — for about 50 minutes, that is. Opponents are discovering the holes in the midfield as the United players begin to tire. Is the problem in their heads or the conditioning?
The midfield is playing some delightful Ajax-type soccer, but sometimes it’s too disciplined, too tight and too obvious. A little wild abandon may be in order, as Nowak all but conceded this week.
“Sometimes you just need to be relaxed,” said the first-year coach, fretting over his team’s missed chances.
• Defense — Say what you want about last year’s team, but the one constant in all the chaos was the backline. This season the defense is having an easier time, according to central defender Ryan Nelsen.
“The midfielders and forwards are doing a great job pressuring, and that makes our job easier,” Nelsen said. “Last year opponents had pretty much a free run through our midfield.”
That said, if the attack doesn’t score goals, it puts more pressure on Nelsen and his defenders.
“We don’t give up much, but when we do it’s a soft goal,” Nelsen said.
Defender Brandon Prideaux started 27 games last year but has played just five minutes this season as he fights to get back into the lineup after a preseason injury. Nowak favors Brian Namoff over Prideaux for the three-man backline, but he may need to get Prideaux involved in the action as the midfield tires, moving the energetic Namoff into the middle.
• Finishing — “You can’t coach someone to finish chances,” an exasperated Ben Olsen said after last week’s 1-0 home loss to Chicago.
United squandered eight decent chances against the Fire, enough to make the team long for the days of Steve Rammel, Roy Lassiter or Abdul Thompson Conteh — all blue-collar finishers United ditched. Since Conteh left in 2001, no striker has reached double figures in goals. The team needs someone to put the ball across the line, just as Freddy Adu did against the MetroStars. Nothing smart or fancy, but a goal all the same.
• Goalkeeping — The goalie position is up for grabs under Nowak, something of which the keepers are aware. Nick Rimando seems to have claimed the starting spot after Doug Warren’s confidence suffered a setback in the 3-2 loss at the MetroStars.
• Freddy factor — Maybe it’s finally time to give him his first start. United needs to score goals, and Freddy has notched just as many — one — as the other forwards. Adu should forget the fancy stuff for now — leave the clever tricks to Ronaldinho and the stunt-men from “Shaolin Soccer” — and head directly to goal.
The 14-year-old, who already has tussled with some of the league’s senior citizens and earned his first yellow card, is certainly able to deal with the physical side of the game.
“If I’m getting hit, I’ll hit you back,” Adu said.
While Freddy prefers to play as a withdrawn forward, the club could use him as a typical finisher. That means he needs to spend more time near the 6-yard box, sniffing out those loose balls and connecting with crosses.
Note — Ryan Nelsen will miss two United games while on duty with the New Zealand national team at the Oceania Nations Cup from May 28 to June 6. Nelsen, who has played 31 times for the All-Whites, scoring six goals, will miss games at New England (May29) and Chicago (June5).
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