Last weekend Brian Carroll became the second D.C. United player in as many games to get pulled at halftime at Columbus after his first-half giveaway led to the only goal of United’s 1-0 loss to the Crew.
Yanking the normally consistent midfielder, who led the team in minutes played last year, was a dramatic move for head coach Tom Soehn — he did the same to Facundo Erpen against Kansas City — but with United (0-3) one loss away from matching its worst start in franchise history, anything and everything is on the table.
“Everybody needs to be held accountable,” said Soehn. “Whether that’s your highest paid guys or your lowest paid guys, you gotta come out with more passion. Right now I’m not getting it out of them so I’m going to look to the guys who are going to be able to do that. I’m not concerned who those are. Whether you’ve played little or a lot, that doesn’t matter.”
After two weeks of preparation for Columbus couldn’t prevent United from making the same mistakes that had cost them the first two games of the season, on Monday coaches let their frustrations be known. Both personnel and formation changes could be on tap as United gets set to host two games this week.
“We have the same people in the same spots that were in there last year, and we’re just not getting enough of what we need out of certain people,” said assistant coach Mark Simpson. “I won’t name names — guys know who they are, and behind closed doors, they know who they are — we just need to step up, refocus, get back to the basics, and guys need to put a little more effort into being successful in what we were doing.”
Since the exhibition game against Real Madrid last August — arguably the pinnacle of D.C.’s 2006 season — United is 2-9-4 in league games with one clean sheet.
“If you look back to the last time we had stretches of wins,” said Soehn, “You’ve got to go back pretty far, and that’s concerning to me.”
Taking ownership
D.C. United midfielder Brian Carroll owned up to the gaff that led to United’s 1-0 loss to Columbus last weekend, saying his current form has nothing to do with his failure to secure an overseas transfer during the off-season.
“I can’t explain why I’m not as sharp as I’ve been in the past,” said Carroll. “I really don’t know. I should be fine. My fitness is there, I’ve had good preseason training, and for no explanation, it’s not there right now. Whatever I need to do to get it back is what I’m going to be working on so I can help this team. I just need to do it.”
