Montreal Postmatch

[sbrylski]

Seems like no one is putting too much slack sauce on Harrison. Has he improved? Slightly, in that he doesn't make the same run over and over, he does have more than one move. But holy shit balls, he has missed two glorious opportunities to score, and just entirely missed. When you're at the top of the six yard box, and shoot it yards over the crossbar, that's atrocious. His other chance was in Orlando, with the goalmouth gaping, and he decides to give the Orlando defenders time to leap across and block his shot. I'm not going to say he's horrible, but damn man, give my freezing ass something to cheer for. A quick goal 5 minutes in would've opened up Montreal and given our front 5 some more confidence.
Maxi should've taken his chance, but he joins Ring, Villa, and Harrison in that group. Love his creator abilities, and hope to see even more creativity once he settles in fully.
I love the tenacity Ring brings to midfield, hope he can find his finishing boots, or at least get his chances on net. Maybe Vieira should do a shooting drill with him and Harrison and just tell them to aim for the bottom corners of the net, to keep their shots low.
Wallace has been our MVP the first three games. Love the chaos he brings on the wing, being pacy and strong, something an outside back probably hates.

Overall, our team has a lot of promise, so I'm not freaking out just yet. Once the players fully settle in I think we will have one of the stronger teams in the League, but we also need to finish our chances. Doesn't matter if we create 50 chances and have 300% possession, if only one goes in.

Shanks happen. We are dealing with a small sample. If he gets the shank-virus for a few months, by all means, pile on.

An open shot is a very high leverage moment in a game, but a shank happens in just a moment of a 90 minute game. The other 89 minutes and 55 seconds, Harrison was awesome.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

Just noticed I didn't even include villa in the MOTM voting and no one pointed it out...
Guess Wallace stole the show after all.

 

[roxfontaine]

One other thing I forgot to mention: The stadium wasn't as empty as the seats suggest. A lot of people were on the concourse or in suites to escape the cold.

 

[Annagram]

I love the tenacity Ring brings to midfield, hope he can find his finishing boots, or at least get his chances on net. Maybe Vieira should do a shooting drill with him and Harrison and just tell them to aim for the bottom corners of the net, to keep their shots low.

As I wrote some time ago, don't be surprised to witness Ring getting into scoring positions and missing a few sitters. But once he hits the target, he's bound to score in several matches in a row. What comes to scoring, he's very much hanging on his confidence.

 

[Rimil]

The rep who emailed me to tell me I won and worked all the arrangements even asked me to write a short email about why I became a city member and my favorite team moments etc because supposedly he likes to prep for these chats, and I did, and there was just no follow through.

fuck me, they gave you a homework assignment and still blew you off.

I'll tell you what I would write if i won: I became a city member because I like soccer, and I wanted to support a soccer team in NYC proper. That's all. I don't buy into all the other crap you try to feed me about community cause you don't really give a shit about us and you feed off that desire to make a community to sell more tickets. You dick around with shit DPs (ex. villa) to sell tickets and you run these little events all for you bottom line. My favorite moment was when Lampard's contract ended.

And then when he would be a no show I'd not know if it was cause of my caustic email or because he was truly a dick atop a dick organization. Thankfully you probably wrote something thoughtful so we can be sure it was the later.

 

[JayH]

Shanks happen.

Even in big games between big teams in England.

 

[gbservis]

Even in big games between big teams in England.

Aguero has shanked as many as Jack over the last 2 games and few around here that wear those baby blue colored glasses called him the best striker in the world a couple of months ago.

 

[LionNYC]

Aguero has shanked as many as Jack over the last 2 games and few around here that wear those baby blue colored glasses called him the best striker in the world a couple of months ago.

Yeah, he botched that volley in the last minutes vs. Liverpool

 

[Gotham Gator]

I'll relay the message.

By the way, is our stadium announcer the same guy who does Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open? Sounds very much the same.

 

[roxfontaine]

By the way, is our stadium announcer the same guy who does Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open? Sounds very much the same.

Possible, but I don't think so. He does NY Giants, Brooklyn Cyclones, Sky Blue FC, Westchester Knicks, NYCFC, NCAA Basketball and a LOT of boxing among other things.

Edit: Sometimes TR watch parties too. ;-)

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Possible, but I don't think so. He does NY Giants, Brooklyn Cyclones, Sky Blue FC, Westchester Knicks, NYCFC, NCAA Basketball and a LOT of boxing among other things.

Edit: Sometimes TR watch parties too. ;-)

He doesn't seem like he understands footy too well.

He tries to make every announcement about him and his vocal talent. The excitement is there. He just need to say his piece and let the crowd bring it. We don't need him doing a Harry Caray for every free kick.

 

[snugglefarts]

It's still so weird to me that Ethan White is now a starting player for us and we like him. I literally can't believe it. He's been so garbage every time we saw him before this season. I mean really one of the worst people I've ever seen playing top flight soccer. And now suddenly he's not that bad. It's crazy. What a turn around.

 

[LionNYC]

It's still so weird to me that Ethan White is now a starting player for us and we like him.

You're using the words "we" and "like" very loosely.

 

[BxLio91]

I have a bad feeling you're all going to turn on him real soon.

 

[Seth]

It's still so weird to me that Ethan White is now a starting player for us and we like him. I literally can't believe it. He's been so garbage every time we saw him before this season. I mean really one of the worst people I've ever seen playing top flight soccer. And now suddenly he's not that bad. It's crazy. What a turn around.

It's the same thing with McNamara. Suddenly we don't like him for some reason.

 

[Ulrich]

It's the same thing with McNamara. Suddenly we don't like him for some reason.

The reasons are known and have been pointed out: lack of speed, lack of defending, disappears for long stretches. In a vacuum where he's granted carte blanche with no defensive responsibilities, fine, but the team has drastically been reshaped based on speed and team defense. There's no place on the squad for both Pirlo & a person of TMac's skill set. Considering the team defense approach, there really shouldn't be a place for either, but a DP has a winning hand with most decisions.

 

[ZYanksRule]

It's the same thing with McNamara. Suddenly we don't like him for some reason.

I'll just speak for myself.

It's not that I don't like him, it's that we now have better options. He's a good player and a perfect kind of guy you want for depth. But as this team grows into an MLS Cup contender, we have better starting options now.

 

[SoupInNYC]

I'll just speak for myself.

It's not that I don't like him, it's that we now have better options. He's a good player and a perfect kind of guy you want for depth. But as this team grows into an MLS Cup contender, we have better starting options now.

This is exactly it. Great dude, does have some useful skills, but we have other options now that better fit what we are trying to accomplish.

 

[Kjbert]

Guys. Harrison is NOT the issue. He's a much better player than he was at this time last year.

We've improved in a lot of places. We're dominating games with possession. We've gotten scored on twice. Once was a positional mistake by Matarrita. He hasn't improved there.

Two things I will look for moving forward - can Matarrita play LB or no? I'm leaning towards no. Sell him. Secondly, can we finish in the box. Right now, that's questionable. We almost need to walk the ball in at this point.

 

[LionNYC]

Guys. Harrison is NOT the issue. He's a much better player than he was at this time last year.

We've improved in a lot of places. We're dominating games with possession. We've gotten scored on twice. Once was a positional mistake by Matarrita. He hasn't improved there.

Two things I will look for moving forward - can Matarrita play LB or no? I'm leaning towards no. Sell him. Secondly, can we finish in the box. Right now, that's questionable. We almost need to walk the ball in at this point.

Matarrita can certainly play. Jumping to that conclusion is ridiculous. Maybe try switching Wallace to LB and Matarrita to LW.