What we have here is a failure to communicate.
That about sums up DC United’s horrible season and leads to four major areas to be worked on. They are fitness, communication, player development, and new blood needed.
The last several games have been plagued with that very miscommunication cited above as Coach Wayne Rooney has been integrating new players while starting the development of some promising youngsters.
At the press conference he stated that, “There needs to be a lot of change”. He went on to describe some areas needing attention. First is assuring that players come into pre-season physically fit. He will, “Give the lads the schedules in the off-season and if they do the work, they’ll be ready to go straight into football.”
In the locker room after this game, he said he told the players, “I hope you’re fit when you come back for pre-season.” He added to the press corps, ”We can’t afford to waste time getting them fit.” The idea is to, “spend a lot of time tactically with them both in and out of (training) session.” While physical fitness is the baseline, the vital level is game fitness which only comes with practice developing communication.
Communication during Saturday’s game failed in several instances. He referred to some Cincinnati goals as coming from, “Poor defending, poor decision making.” Some of that was attributable to placing 15-year-old Matai Akinmboni in a difficult position at this new higher level, a risk he seemed willing to take to begin the development of one of his three youngest players.
On Akinmboni’s own goal, “I got what I wanted out of my young players today – – – You’ve got to learn to deal with it.” Referring to the need to get over mistakes, he noted that Akinbonmi did well when, “There’s many of them that don’t”.
On the trio, Kristian Fletcher (who scored a fine goal in his first start in Major League Soccer), Jackson Hopkins (who has seen serious minutes already), and Akinbonmi, “They’re all going to play next season – – – It’s a process. We’re going to develop them.” On the expected errors by young players, “It’s a good learning curve for all three of them”.
Preparing for the future, he noted the need to, “Make sure we bring the right players in – – – to develop the team – – – It’s a big off season for us – – – There have to be big changes and quite few of them.” On that front, the status of Taxi Fountas remains uncertain, but the need for a companion threat to compliment Christian Benteke is clear.
The flow of play this season has shown a lack of communication (that magic word) from defense, to midfield, to attack. DC lacks a premier creative midfielder to foster that linkage, despite having decent central journeyman talent. Both Martin Rodriguez and Ravel Morrison have shown flashes of brilliance, but neither is the central driver needed.
In the defensive midfielder role, Chris Durkin has displayed solid control technique but with spotty passing and Sofiane Djeffal continues to remind me of former DC great Richie Williams (the ABMOD, ankle biting midget of death) with his aggressive play.
Djeffal was tireless in this match, reprising the fitness of Josh Gros, another former United midfielder. He attributed it to, “Running and running to keep up on every play.” He said that he lacks speed and makes up for it with work rate. His fitness is based on help from the staff to, “do extra, do more whenever we feel we need to.”
He contrasted this with his college experience, only a year ago, “It was all ball. The season was three months.” He indicated that he is, ”Really excited to work 100%, 100% to work even harder.”
That attitude seems to prevail in the DC United locker room. Rooney has a solid base of journeymen, a few creators, and a good number of youngsters who show serious promise. With a fitness base, integration of a few creators, and an effective pre-season, he may have a shot at making the MLS playoffs in 2023. Titles hopes still appear distant as complete rebuilding should take a few years.
