The Morning After: Rowdies vs. Montreal

Posted Jun 13, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Jun 13, 2010 at 10:25 AM

Some thoughts on the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-1 defeat to the Montreal Impact on Saturday night.

1. INTENSITY ISSUES: The Rowdies started the game off strongly, as they have most of the season, but it really felt as though after that initial surge it took Montreal scoring for them to get their game back into a high gear.

“It shouldn’t take conceding a goal to find that extra gear,” Rowdies captain Julian Valentin said. “I think sometimes when teams come here they try to lull the game to sleep a little bit, and we were guilty of that and again it shouldn’t take conceding to really get going, but I guess that’s what happened.”

To give Montreal credit it did pass the ball well in midfield and take some of the sting out of the game after the initial 10 minutes, but the Rowdies have to figure out a way to wrest control of the game back, especially at home, and dictate the flow of the game more consistently. Playing from behind is no recipe for success against most of the teams in this league.

2. TOP TRUMPS: Part of the second-half surge by the Rowdies was the introduction of Aaron King, who almost scored with his first touch of the match and ended up getting the Rowdies’ goal in the 70th minute.

King’s movement set up his goal and he was consistently getting into good areas, losing his defender and setting up passing lanes in which he could be found. That’s something the forward has worked on in training.

“As a striker you’ve got to try and get into the space,” King said. “Try to stay dangerous. I was up for it and was just trying to be available for my teammates.”

As valuable as King has been providing a boost of energy off the bench, it might be time to see how he and Aaron Wheeler could combine for a full 90 minutes. After Saturday’s game Rowdies coach Paul Dalglish said the concept had been thought about, but with the way the side had been playing he didn’t see a need to change it. The final 25 minutes of against Montreal, and the other instances where King and Wheeler have combined well together, will likely bring the thought back to the forefront again.

3. QUICK RETURN: The good news for the Rowdies is they only have two days off before their next contest against Legends F.C. in the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday night. While it’s likely we’ll see a much different starting line-up starting the game than the one that played on Saturday, getting out again and getting a positive result is just what this side needs to get the taste of this loss out of its mouth.

“My philosophy is you try to get these out of your system as soon as possible,” Valentin said. “I think we have a good opportunity Tuesday to get back at it, we’ll recover quickly tonight and tomorrow and we’ll be ready for Tuesday.”