Rapids Draw, Feels Like A Loss

So in last week's recap I said:

At this point we just have to accept that this Rapids team isn't going to put teams away but they have great confidence in their ability to defend a 1 goal lead late.

Yeah, that confidence was a bit misplaced against the best offense in the league.  They got to within 10 minutes of the final whistle but couldn't complete the job.  A 1-1 draw was predicted (by me!) but felt like a loss after the game we saw.

General Impressions:

• I really didn't like leaving Pappa on the bench for Hairston.  I got that half wrong.  Pappa should have played in Powers' spot alongside Hairston.
• It was cathartic after a long week to heckle Harris in the first half.  He's still a hack that shouldn't be in the league.
• So you can imagine my enjoyment when Hairston took the ball off of him for the goal. :D
• Powers is where our attack went to die Saturday night.  Far too many bad passes and dribbling into pressure.  I've been a supporter of his but over the last couple of months its clear he needs a change of scenery because there isn't a spot for him on this team.
• Doyle did a lot of work but there were many times he was pushed off the ball.  A lone striker has to be able to hold the ball up.  If that was a strategic move to get some fouls he needed to adapt to the ref who wasn't going to call it.
• I hadn't really noticed before but at least Saturday night Sjoberg was playing a lot of balls out of bounds in defense.  I don't know if that was an intentional change based on something they saw in Dallas' attack or if he's done that all along and I never realized it.
• Watts.  I'm done with Watts.  He's results are such a mixed bag even when he plays well and he can't avoid at least one obvious error a game.  In this one it was going to ground to make a tackle way outside the box and missing.  That gave Dallas the space they needed to get the ball deep on their goal.
• I'm not saying Watts is solely responsible for the goal.  When the ball took a lucky bounce to Ulloa Cronin or, less likely, Sjoberg could have closed down the space faster.  I'm not sure it would have made a difference with the bomb that was hit but it would have been good to make the attempt.  As we saw a good offense only needs one mistake.
• We were a bit unlucky not to have another goal.  Ddoyle's spin and shoot had the keeper beat but the defender was in the right position.  Hairston's 1 on 1 also had the keeper beat but the Dalals defender had an inch perfect tackle to deflect it around the post.
• Pappa should have come on earlier to kill off the game buy finding a second goal or at least forcing Dallas to stay back to prevent that.  I don't think he as going to play at all until Dallas scored.
• I hope Williams' injury isn't serious.  If it is Miller will have to take his spot which reduces our depth at CB again.
• With the draw we fail to catch Dallas in points, but we still have 3 games in hand.  LA is coming up fast though, only 3 points back on equal games.
• Our 1.9 pts/game is still best in the league though.
• Last April we tied the league record for longest winless streak.  We have now tied the 2nd longest single-season undefeated streak (and 4th overall).  Amazing what the addition of actual talent can get you.
• The good news is that next week NYCFC will have 4 players, including Villa, and their coach suspended.   

Man of the Match: Tim Howard.  a couple of big saves kept Dallas at just 1 goal and he did get a hand on that one as well.  So far he hasn't given up a "clean" goal which shows that teams are having to hit perfect shots to beat us.