Since this team can’t seem to find it’s stride, I am not just looking to see if the Bruins get a result this weekend, but to see if any type of change in approach to their matches with the Bears and Standford occurs. The conservative philosophy and approach this year has yielded very little success thus far and IMHO is squandering the collective talents of this team. If a different mindset doesn’t present itself this weekend, I really fear for this season with little optimism for deep tournament run.

 I would really like to see the Bruins open up the game more and begin to dictate the pace or take the game to their opponent. The collective mindset of this team when on the ball appears to be really really tentative when players are looking to play negative rather than look up field to try to catch someone unmarked or initiate anything resembling a counterattack. Having Rose dictate the pace is clearly slowing the game down where the team’s play is both boring and predictable. Rarely it seems does the back line have license to play the high midfielder nor play a long ball over a compressed midfield but instead play these dinky five yard balls to A. Rose where each offensive play/sets seems to originate. Unfortunately, Rose isn’t Amobi Okugo. From a fan’s perspective, it’s like paint dry. And dangerous playing in the defensive 3rd all game long.

I am also interested to see, now that Conference play has begun, to see if the zany rotations/substitutions coming from the bench settles. It will also be interesting to see if a firm starting line-up has been named as each game seems to have a different line up. Although I am complimentary of Hoffman’s stellar year, it is imperative that this team find another couple of goal scorers. Consider that through nine games, last year’s leading scorer in Chavez doesn’t have a single goal. In fact, the goal distribution has been scary with Hoffman at 9, Rowe with 3 and Arreola and R. Lee with 1 apiece. Arreola has yet to get untracked but his inconsistent starts haven’t enabled him to find any rhythm and I suspect he may have stopped playing for JS given his body language and outward attitude. I keep waiting for Foxhoven to break thru yet that hasn’t happened yet either. Raynr is rotting on the bench and in the minutes he has played, hasn’t shown much turning over the ball and generally ignoring his defensive responsibilities. But I wonder how much of that is due to the herky jerky substitution patterns where players like Raynr find so little time on the field, or in unnatural positions that they never find their groove. Which begs the question why sub him on to begin with? I would much rather see a player play an entire half to allow that player to fully get into the flow of the match rather than sub a player on for 15 minutes and then pull him. I won’t even go into the revolving door at right back which has cost the team at least three goals and two games this year.

Our midfield play has been average at best and is best summed up via the observations of others:

Goal.com: 17. UCLA 5-3-1. The midfield play needs to be better, that is where UCLA lost the game against SMU and why the Bruins are rather limited offensively. Next up: California, Sept. 30. PR: 8

or

3FOUR3: The bigger concern is the holding mids and attacking 4 don’t do the necessary defending to protect this fragile back row. Defensively, the TEAM LACKS BALANCE! This could be costly when facing top notch competition.
The midfield starters all performed on a much higher level. My critique of Hollingshead for his dismall performance the week before could have been excessive. The guy was a force going forward (wrecklessly) on the evening. He would run at UCSB full gallop but his decision making is poor. He would take on a couple of guys then lose possession.

This writer is right on point. Last season, this team produced 9 clean sheets. Nine. To date, thru 9 games, they have but a single one. As for a few more observations on R Hollinghead. He is a clearly a heart and hustle guy but to echo the comments made by the above blogger, his ratio of turnovers to good served crosses in front of the goal mouth (which is a huge responsibility of a winger) is really poor and is making the loss of Mike Roman to Louisville looking pretty bad right now. Roman had a big engine/work rate yet rarely saw the field last season thus creating a situation this year where at least one player is way too comfortable and it appears has stopped competing for his starting role…. because he no longer has to.

K Rowe’s play has been inconsistent at best as clearly he is a marked man this season. However Monge, a non participant last season, has been inserted in the starting midfield this season and that hast been a bit of an upgrade over Andrew T (remember him?) but his offensive mindset due to being a converted Fwd has been a liability defensively as alluded to by the above blogger.

As was the case last season, set pieces have also been horrible this season with K. Rowe’s percentage of properly served corners at about 40 %. Too often the balls are driven low and near post nullifying what should be great goal scoring opportunities with the big boys in Rose, Sophia, and Matchett or Lee in the box….none of whom have scored on a set piece thus far by the way! Arreola should be taking at least 50 of the corners and I would give Wiet a shot at a few free kicks to mix things up some as I recall last season MW has a great strike.

Lastly, I would like to see a little more bite in the Bruin’s team play. Their play thus far doesn’t intimidate anyone and borders on being soft. It’s the ultimate insult but sadly, very appropriate. The slippery slope that no one is talking about yet is the Bruin’s failure to win the conference. With the Pac 12’s dismal OOC performance this year, and strong performances by the Big West, there is a chance that the Pac 12 only will have but a single representative in the tourney….the conference winner. Relying on a at large might be risky. I could be wrong about this….but to me, it seems the risk is very very real.

One last thing…I know I have been pretty negative in my comments. But that doesn’t mean the team couldn’t use some supporters in the stands to create some energy The nice crowd that turned out for the men/women’s double header vs. Seattle last weekend may have had a hand in the come from behind victory. The small crowd vs. SMU last Sunday might of helped the Bruins as they were playing a man up! Crowds in the college game across the country are up significantly this season. Unfortunately, UCLA has become the laughingstock in terms of crowd support.

Go Bruins!

Well….I didn’t mean to write as much in my comment…..kinda got on a roll.

I’ll recap the weekend on Monday and resurrect some of the above points.
I am not optimistic anything is going to change over the weekend.

UCLA 1, Oregon 0. Kylie McCarthy scored the game’s only goal in the 80th min. UCLA improves to 9-0-1 on the year.