Jersey Postmatch

[Ulrich]

HOW CAN YOU NOT? This game was tough. This game was a battle. We missed our chances so it probably should have finished 0-0. That opportunity was left on the table when Sean Johnson sends that ball out to Brillant under pressure. I fault Sean more than I fault Brillant and I can't stand Brillant. Sean HAS to know that that is not the play to make. He is guaranteed to screw that situation up every time. The keeper is responsible for organizing the back line and sending that ball was the death knell.

I completely lost my shit in the stands. Take all of your individual frustrations and add on top of that a ridiculous amount of time spent on work behind the scenes FOR FREE and all you hope for in return is a win...

That's how I'm feeling. It really sucks.

There's a whole host of problems on that goal. Brillant gave the ball away, but did the midfielders give him a real outlet by being open??? It's not just on the guy with the ball, but also the people moving off the ball. The closest positional outlets were: Lopez, Ring, Sterzter, and White: three of those guys make basement money and RB knows to tightly mark the other.

I still go back to how the hell does an unmarked TMac flub a nearly open net? He had the entire frame minus the keeper to shoot at and he skies it off the underside of the crossbar. The stop-action picture sure looked like a goal, but for fcks sake just erase all doubt and hit the back of the net. A person standing 10yrds in the ocean has more of a chance of hitting dry land when urinating than TMac had of hitting that post.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I'm not sure how one could say we were doing well in the first half. We were beaten on possession. There's no heat map to go on but the passing stats are extraordinarily bad. To my eyes it was more that Ring is a grade A stud and broke Red Bull up when they weren't breaking themselves, and Maxi was able to find occasional space when he was unmolested. But at what point did we ever have extended meaningful possession in their attacking half.

I don't think PV could've gotten the lineup significantly better but the team just didn't deliver (outside of Lord Ring and Maxi)

It was a clusterfuck in the middle, but in the times the ball was able to be worked out of the midfield, it set us up with better chances. They had no good chances in the first half that I remember. To me that's a win in that kind of battle. Honestly, I really enjoyed the first half soccer.

 

[QuigrNYCFC]

What are the chances we make CCL now? Do we have to win the shield or the league?

 

[Taurus]

What are the chances we make CCL now? Do we have to win the shield or the league?

Have to win MLS cup.

 

[sbrylski]

What are the chances we make CCL now? Do we have to win the shield or the league?

Because of the CCL format change, the only way to qualify for the Spring 2019 CCL knockout tournament is to win either the US Open Cup or the MLS Cup in either 2017 or 2018. So we've been eliminated from one potential berth. Still alive for the other three.

EDIT: For clarity, the Spring 2018 qualifiers are already determined based on the results of the 2016 season.

 

[Gotham Gator]

When the other team gets to possess the ball in your half and feed balls in for long stretches of the game, eventually they are going to get a lucky break or force a break or both, and score a goal. That's how I felt when we finally got 2 goals in on Philly last week, and that's how I felt last night.

Yes, Brillant fucked up royally, and others on that play contributed too, but if the ball never leaves your half of the field, that's the flaming torch you are carrying, and eventually, somehow, it is going to burn you.

 

[Christopher Jee]

It's good to see some people pay attention.

Hard to tell if you're being sarcastic :/

ETA - I definitely appreciate your pre-meeting analysis and realize that you had already highlighted some of these tradeoffs

 

[SoupInNYC]

I don't "blame" him. We all can see that he's awful. Sean made a poor decision playing that ball to him.

Being beat in possession I don't care about. We generally dominate possession and we've lost plenty of tough games where we won that battle 57-43 percent. Sean to Brillant is absolutely the reason we LOST the game in regular time. Everything else minus that play and we finish 0-0. .

Sean to Brillant is the reason they scored their goal. Not the reason we LOST the game in regular time.

Brillant is not awful. He's a decent reserve defender that I don't want starting unless we are forced to via injuries or suspensions. He's being paid more than he deserves IMO, but I'd rather have someone like him back there than Mena, or the other host of CBs we have seen go in/out of our roster.

I generally agree with you that possession doesn't normally tell the whole story. But that is our game:

@Orlando 68-31
v DCU 61-39
v Montreal 56-43
v SJ 63-37
@DCU 67-33
@Philly 55-45
v Orlando 62-38
@ Columbus 56-44
@Atlanta 49-51
@Dallas 60-40
@RSL 58-42
@Orlando 52-48
@Atlanta 56-44
v NER 58-42
v Philly 63-37

My point is, prior to last night, the worst we did was 49% possession, that being in a game we dominated Atlanta and conceded possession near the end. The second worst we did? 52%, then 55%. That is our game, and we were flat out outplayed in the midfield last night.

ETA: The midfield is where we lost the game last night. Yes, the goal NJ scored was on Brillant, but that isn't the reason we lost.

 

[roxfontaine]

I still go back to how the hell does an unmarked TMac flub a nearly open net? He had the entire frame minus the keeper to shoot at and he skies it off the underside of the crossbar.

It's called unlucky. Things like this make me anxious for VAR. Come on All-Star game...

Meara made a great move to close down on Mac and he put it off of his left foot well. He was unlucky. It happens.

 

[roxfontaine]

My point is, prior to last night, the worst we did was 49% possession, that being in a game we dominated Atlanta and conceded possession near the end. The second worst we did? 52%, then 55%. That is our game, and we were flat out outplayed in the midfield last night.

What are the number with and without Maxi?

 

[LeeNYCFC]

What are the number with and without Maxi?

First half was 54/46 Red Bull

 

[SoupInNYC]

What are the number with and without Maxi?

I couldn't find any split-half possession stats, so I took the 5' interval stats from MLS and averaged for each half:

1st half: 53.6 NJ - 46.4 NYC
2nd half: 61.6 NJ - 38.4 NYC

I'm not sure I follow your point though.

 

[roxfontaine]

I couldn't find any split-half possession stats, so I took the 5' interval stats from MLS and averaged for each half:

1st half: 53.6 NJ - 46.4 NYC
2nd half: 61.6 NJ - 38.4 NYC

I'm not sure I follow your point though.

No point. I just didn't remember the 1st half being poor. I was just curious what the stats read with and without Maxi.

Still, as off our game as we may have been by the possession numbers, I don't care. We were battling and tossed whatever was left of this game away with a ridiculously stupid play.

 

[JayH]

Brillant may the most awkward and confused throw-in taker in the history of the sport. Is it a thing asking the referee before each throw in multiple times where the throw should be taken from?

 

[LeeNYCFC]

No point. I just didn't remember the 1st half being poor. I was just curious what the stats read with and without Maxi.

Still, as off our game as we may have been by the possession numbers, I don't care. We were battling and tossed whatever was left of this game away with a ridiculously stupid play.

With all the appropriate caveats on how one should take stats. Here are our passing numbers, total completed, completed in the attacking half, completed in the final third. Last night was easily and dramatically our worst performance of the year by those measures

 

[Marito]

We have to assume that, for the first half, it was more a combination of unusually bad individual performances than a lineup issue. Brillant instead of Chanot is a big net loss but manageable. Sweat is horrible but he's started at LB for 8 matches. Mikey has also started most matches since early May. TMac instead of Wallace may be the biggest loss, similar to what happened against RSL. But we also have to acknowledge that Harrison had a very bad game for his standards, and Mikey went from serviceable/passably bad to atrocious. And without Maxi we are utterly lost. Pirlo is the only reasonable sub for Maxi (they are not like for like, but Pirlo at least has organizational instincts) but after Pirlo retires we will have to shop hard for a serviceable backup 10. Or train Jack for that role. But Maxi is the main cog of the team right now.

Thought exercise: rate your nightmare long-term injuries on a scale of 1 to 10. Injury to Maxi 10, to Villa 9, to SJ, Ring or Chanot, 8, to Jack or Mata 7, to Yangel or Wallace 6.5, everybody else 5.

 

[Ulrich]

We have to assume that, for the first half, it was more a combination of unusually bad individual performances than a lineup issue. Brillant instead of Chanot is a big net loss but manageable. Sweat is horrible but he's started at LB for 8 matches. Mikey has also started most matches since early May. TMac instead of Wallace may be the biggest loss, similar to what happened against RSL. But we also have to acknowledge that Harrison had a very bad game for his standards, and Mikey went from serviceable/passably bad to atrocious. And without Maxi we are utterly lost. Pirlo is the only reasonable sub for Maxi (they are not like for like, but Pirlo at least has organizational instincts) but after Pirlo retires we will have to shop hard for a serviceable backup 10. Or train Jack for that role. But Maxi is the main cog of the team right now.

Thought exercise: rate your nightmare long-term injuries on a scale of 1 to 10. Injury to Maxi 10, to Villa 9, to SJ, Ring or Chanot, 8, to Jack or Mata 7, to Yangel or Wallace 6.5, everybody else 5.

Yangel and Ring are both 10. We cannot play consistently without those two and Maxi - our 3-man MF is really lost without a true playmaker, DMid, and box-to-box. Those three are the only players of each on the team.

 

[ManhattanValley]

Have people said that here?

Yes - check the reply to my post on page one.

Really not trying to be obtuse here guys. We played a strong team, put in a half-decent performance at best, and twisted in the wind while our manager flipflopped on tactics. I don't feel that shows the team are taking this rivalry as seriously as the fans who showed up last night (and were great throughout). Perhaps other people's expectations are lower. Good for you if so.

 

[sbrylski]

With all the appropriate caveats on how one should take stats. Here are our passing numbers, total completed, completed in the attacking half, completed in the final third. Last night was easily and dramatically our worst performance of the year by those measures
View attachment 7160

 

[LeeNYCFC]

More stats to come as soon as I develop the rest of the roll of film