Well said.
Like I wrote in a post this week, no one is more upset about the goals Chad missed than Chad himself.
Keep your heads up Fire Fans.

"(if someone could wipe the second half of the Chivas USA game from my memory banks with any kind of drug, please let me know)."

dibs..... I got that Mawi

well said Tom, I agree that Chad has been play much better this year than last. It has been said that when a player misses and easy chance that it can really hurt the confidence of the team, but Chad's five goals has done a lot to help the team as well. we have 19 points and he owns 6 of them on gwg's. thats all you can ask out of a striker, when the rest of your team cant find the net, you can be there more often than not.

watching Chad miss complete sitters will be the most frustrating thing sense Ben Burton's sex life, but he is by far proven to be our best option.... but if BMcB wants to show Chad how it is done I will let him

I personally have never been on the Barrett bandwagon - I hope the guy succeeds, don't get me wrong, but his finishing is not the problem. In fact - you highlighted it in this piece: the guy is fragile mentally and the only person who can solve that problem is Chad Barrett.

As a striker myself, I know first hand that you've got to forget the bad shots and focus on your next opportunity, be strong, and finish the next one. Heck, I've missed a few four foot sitters myself that had open nets - I know what that feels like. But Chad, it seems, loads up all the bad shots and lets them get in his way. His stats show better results this year yes, but I personally don't see an improvement in play - in fact, it seems to be downgrading. His work ethic is better & longer thanks to the Gatorade Institute, but now when he gets frustrated he gets tunnel vision & tries to do everything himself - like he's trying to hard to make up for his errors. I think the 2nd half of the Chivas game proves that.

So to answer your question about the lineup changes [now that I've gotten that out of the way], I'd personally put Frankowski up top with Barrett. Let Barrett do the work and let Franko put in the garbage. Blanco as the CAM, Rolfe & Mapp as the wingers, Diego/Marmol as the CDM, and the back line with Brown, Soumare, Sega, & Conde. Anyway, that's my two cents all.

"Let Barrett do the work and let Franko put in the garbage." I'd have to say I disagree with that completely. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm sick of the Fire signing aging, physically fragile strikers, paying them a ton of money, and acting like they are doing us a favor. This isn't a slap against Franko. For me, he's a committed, quality guy. Tom and Irish Steve witnessed him giving Conde a bit of a nonverbal rollicking after a Reserves' match recently. Well done, good to hear. I think he's far superior to Wanchope, but I also hope he can shake the injury bug and punch in as many as he possibly can. We simply can't afford to pay any players good money to play but a handful of matches a season. Steve and I recently rewatched the England v Poland match from 2005. Franko was bright, lively, and a constant menace in the box. Let's all hope he can regain that form for us. I'm sure he's desperate to get in there and bang them in. Let's really get behind him, if he gets on tomorrow.

This mentioned, Chad does the work of a lone target man without the frame/height of a traditional target man. Playing up front on your own is the most thankless, difficult task in football (beside goalkeeping). Look at Luca Toni in the Euros. A lone striker suffers at the heads and feet of his midfield's inability to keep possession. If we want Chad to score more goals, our midfield must cherish the ball more, Blanco's contributions must be elevated, and our backline needs to do a better job of playing balls up to foot (not aimless missiles volleyed down the channels). Maybe Chad gets so frustrated, because he's only really getting 2-3 solid chances a match. Also, since when is giving a complete heartfelt fuck about your team a bad thing?

Let's further compare him to Donovan, Cooper, Emilio, Angel, and Twellman (arguably the best strikers in MLS). They all play with foils perfectly suited to their game: Buddle, Oduro, Moreno/Gallardo, Altidore (now gone obviously), and Cristman. Due to our recent inability to play through midfield, Chad has been trying to chase down long balls and bring Blanco into the match.

So, why is everyone slagging Chad? My biggest complaint concerning our recent loses would be our defensive shape. The two DC goals and Cooper's goal were down poor defensive organization. Much of this can be chalked up to a lack of backline continuity forced by injuries, Qualifiers, etc. However, these guys must get minutes on the field, and we've rightly stuggled while players either with less overall experience and/or struggling for fitness have tried to bed themselves into our flow of play. A squad wins trophies, not one striker. I'm glad to see the likes of Washington, Plotkin, Nyarko, CJ and others gettings some real worthwhile minutes. We don't want anyone making their first appeance as sub in the conference finals.

We sing "two Wayne Rooneys," which is funny, because Rooney is notorious for his long goal droughts. The English media as a whole and a tiny, lame section of Man United supporters continually rail him during these stretches. But yet, Man United only lost one match in which he started in this season (@ Chelsea, and he scored a goal). Chad hasn't had the advantages of coming through Everton and England's youth set-ups, or training with the Man United squad and coaching staff 5-days-a-week. So, why do we expect him to produce such performances? More importantly, Chad is growing and improving with and in a young league, club, and soccer playing and appreciating country.

(Continued from above)

This mentioned, I will whole heartedly maintain that his first-touch and ability to sheild the ball, and his link-up play and overall decision making when passing the ball are 100% better than at the beginning of last season. Not bad for a young player trying to hone his skills under his third manager in less than a season-and-a-half. Obviously, Bob Bradley has recognized his improvment too, but hey, Bob Bradley is a terrible, short-sighted manager, right?

Anyway, as per my comments on deepening the squad's experience. We're playing the worst team in the league. I say start CJ with Baky, Conde holding midfiled in front of them. Thorrington out on the right, and push Rolfe up with Chad. Let's what those two can do together. I think great things. Then, when we have the lead with about 25 minutes to go (and we will), sub Chad, drop Thorrington alongside Conde, and bring Nyarko in on the right. I think he's got a bright future: good feet and tons of pace. Herron looks like he's finally dropped his excess weight. Thought his runs were great in Dallas, and he looked committed as hell down in Peoria. Maybe even Rolfe on the right and Andy up top with Chad. Haven't heard the final word on Franko's fitness, but hopefully he can soon start playing more of role. Regardless, we have to get CJ some minutes. We're going to need him as the season wears on. Can't wait to see Marmol soon too. Rumor is he's a fucking beast.

20s at Noon and PDLs at 2:30. Hope to see some folks there.

Cheers, everybody. Backdraft should be our first stop for Fire news and views. Let's Stand and Deliver tomorrow night!! Got a big halftime memorial to observe as well. RIP Brandon and Dan!!!

I would just like to reiterate the absurdity of the CJ criticism after he has seen such little first team action since his return. Last season he had arugably one of the best years of his career. To call for the end of this Fire Original as he is making his way back from a long injury induced absence is simply shortsighted witch hunting.

If he gets a number of matches under his belt and still doesn't look up to the task, then we can more appropriately dicuss his future with our squad.

I tend to blame the coach before the players, unless a player is simply awful. The coach needs to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the players he has on the squad and he needs to cater the team to what he has to work with. It's a bit like a chess match, after you've already lost some pieces. You can only rely on the pieces you have.

Chad looks great when he's paired up with another striker. Chad looks great when our midfield retains possession and moves the ball on the ground. I don't think Chad is our biggest problem by a long shot.