DC's road woes continue

Last year I wrote a post basically questioning whether Tom Soehn was the man to lead DC United back to the promise land. They had lost four in a row to start the season and despite a talented line-up didn't seem to be gelling. Following this bad start, however, they reeled off an impressive record of 7-3-3 before the All-Star break and ended up winning the league championship, the Supporter's Shield. But they petered out in the playoffs once again and were unable to advance past even the Harrisburg City Islanders (USL.3) in the US Open Cup.

Well, it's a new season but the same slow start seems to be plaguing DC United. Again, they have a talented line-up and once again, decisions by Soehn seem to defy reason. Consider last night's 4-0 road loss to Real Salt Lake (yes, the Real Stupid Names). Here are the post-match comments made by the Washington Post's DC United blogger-extraordinaire Steve Goff:

*Why start a young, back-up goalkeeper in his first MLS match on the road on that field? Remember what happened last year with Jay Nolly? I'm not comparing Jose Carvallo to Nolly and, other than the second goal, Carvallo had no chance to stop RSL. But the situation was almost the same and the result even worse.

*While I understand the club has played a lot of matches in a short amount of time, I don't see how the 1.9 million-dollar man, Marcelo Gallardo, did not play a minute. If Jaime Moreno can endure the pounding on the turf, so can Gallardo. Very strange.

*The three-man backline works ... when Gonzalo Martinez is back there covering a lot of ground. Domenic Mediate is a nice utility player, but not in this formation. That said, Gonzalo Peralta had a howler.

*Rod Dyachenko played so poorly in a starting role on RSL's cement last year, he was pulled just before halftime. No one gets benched that early unless they are injured; he got pulled. So tonight he got another start in the rock quarry and did not show much.

With the exception of the comment about Gonzalo Peralta's poor performance, Goff's criticism seems to be directed at Soehn's coaching decisions and not the general play of United. Having watched the match myself, DC often dominated possession for long stretches but seemed unable to connect on that final touch. There was a lack of chemistry on attack and in defense that could be explained by the ever-shifting lineup, due to the team's commitment to the CCC and the glut of games they have had to play in the past couple of weeks. But to allow four goals against the perennial pushovers RSL should be a wake up call to the players, the coaching staff and the fans of United.

I was wrong about Soehn last season. He was able to right the ship and lead them to the top of the league. But he needs to find whatever magic he used last season soon or my prediction of his early exit will have been only a year too early.