Vancouver Postmatch

[Schwallacus]

Hoping Vieira is getting his retarded player out of position testing sprees out of the way now on these West coast trips, as evidenced by the dance we saw in defense the last 20 minutes of that game. Chanot went from CB to DMid to RB back to CB and then some form of a RB / RCB. Was Lopez supposed to come on as a RB or a DMid? All the confusion just created vast amounts of space for Vancouver to do what they wanted with the ball, and end up sending it to the three unmarked players on our right side.

1st Goal against is on Chanot. 2nd is on Vieira for the dumb and late sub (& Harrison for trying to jump where he did). 3rd also on Vieira for not having a RB (Think it may have been Chanot's man but he ended up collapsing too far on the cross due to not knowing what position to play).

How we go from dominating the first half to completely shitting the bed is all on Vieira. He's been a great coach for us, but as we all have seen, his game management is insane. Players shouldn't be moved between 5 positions in a 15-20 minute stretch.

Just, ugh. Shitty way to go into the break.

 

[Christopher Jee]

Nah


(Seriously, though. PV has to up his sub game. At this point it's Pavlovian: I see Brillant come on and I give up hope.)

I think this is less about Brillant and more about making a sub that put Chanot out of position.

 

[Keith Putnam]

Nobody bringing any heat for Chanot and his basically gifting them a goal right at the start? the shitty play from which sprouted the whole shitshow of a match.

I suppose his solid play all season has earned him a pass - not to mention his equalizer - but that one play was horrible. Both stupid and sloppy.

I think we all got distracted by Ring's huge effort to clean up the mess which was thwarted by the turf grabbing his boot and preventing the tackle. On grass I think Ring succeeds and bails Chanot out there.

Callens was also one step too late to block the shot, but given that he was transitioning into attack when that giveaway happened (right? I don't think he'd started to drop because of the backpass), it's hard to blame him.

 

[Christopher Jee]

I think we all got distracted by Ring's huge effort to clean up the mess which was thwarted by the turf grabbing his boot and preventing the tackle. On grass I think Ring succeeds and bails Chanot out there.

Callens was also one step too late to block the shot, but given that he was transitioning into attack when that giveaway happened (right? I don't think he'd started to drop because of the backpass), it's hard to blame him.

I was mostly glad that Ring wasn't badly hurt. I wonder if teams that play on synthetic grass at home tend to sustain more injuries.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I thought Pirlo was fine, and definitely the best option out of him, Lopez and Mcnamara for the CAM role. He also conceded the QB role there and played a part rather than trying to touch the ball on every play. I never watched him prior to NYCFC, has he always been such a one trick pony? Every. Single. Play. is a floated ball to the wings. I guess some of you think that s a valuable ball, but I'll take our other midfielders attempting to get it on the ground to Villa every time.

I also hate hate hate the switch to the 3 man back line, but having said that I like it a whole lot better than subbing in Lopez for Herrera. We just have no options if a midfielder goes down. Blame there goes to the coaches who traded up for Awuah and dont use him, and kept the horrible and not improving Mikey Lopez as 5th MF. I'm not worried about the team overall, but damn the drop off from starter to back up is huge.

Moving Sands into primary CDM back up, and Pirlo to primary CAM back up will be great IMO.

 

[canchon]

I wonder if this same thing happens in 2 months, James Sands comes in for Herrera.

Was it really that PV was so scared to either 1) bring in Maxi for that many minutes or 2) bring in Lopez because Lopez is well...Lopez that he'd rather bring in a CB and completely unseat his defensive shape?

At the least NYCFC should have gotten a point out of this game, especially with the 2 goals. That brings the "lost points due to PV's tinkering" to four:
1 at RSL (loss instead of tie)
2 vs NER (tie instead of win)
1 at VAN (loss instead of tie)

Smells like 3-4 seed to me.

 

[LostAnvil]

Also horrible (read this as just tonight or,
If you're of my mind, all the time):
TPFKAU
CBA (new nickname for Sweat, as in "can't be arsed" to)
Sitch
Sal
Brillant (just because his +/- is like -10 it seems)

Honorable mentions for one-off shitlist:
Harrison's shots
Villa's shots
Whomever picked our shoes
Vieira subs

who's Sitch?

 

[Midas Mulligan]

who's Sitch?

RJ "The Situation" Allen. Works on a few levels.

 

[The Toe]

Shameful way to drop points. More upset that PV broke up the Chanot-Callens partnership back there. Chemistry is a real factor in how well back lines play, and even without Herrera, I didn't see any reason we needed any changes in the back -- Mikey or Brillant. PV needs to make the Mikey sub for Herrera, even if it doesn't help the midfield, so at least we have a strong back line. Chanot was an absolute ghost once Brillant came in and made one of our best players -- and one of the best CBs in the game -- an absolute nobody.

Why do we never simply get like-for-like substitutions? It's understandable that no one can replace Herrera, but at least throw someone in his spot that attacks the ball and can disrupt a play, even if we give up a bit offensively. Maxi for Pirlo was also strange. We were better off keeping him next to Ring and having both of them "stay home", while we let Maxi play the 10 with Villa and Harrison, and even bringing in Lewis. Regardless, PV fucking with our back line is what did us in. It did us in the last two years with weird starters in weird spots, and now we're seeing it again.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I really think a lot of the issues with subs and positioning came down to who was available for this game. We're missing Wallace, Matarrita, Herrera went down early in the second half, obviously PV felt he didn't have Maxi for more than 15-20 minutes otherwise he would have been the sub for Herrera. Plus the goalie is a huge downgrade from Johnson -- not a lot of teams are going to look very good with all that talent on the bench or unavailable.

The subs were a little weird, but the bench was a little weird. There wasn't a lot there for PV to choose from, especially if he didn't want Maxi playing almost an entire half in his first game back after 3 weeks out with a muscle injury. We are shockingly thin at CB and FB right now, and there were no good options on the bench (aside from Maxi) in midfield or forward. It is what it is.

At full strength, we crush that team. We were nowhere near full strength.

 

[LostAnvil]

RJ "The Situation" Allen. Works on a few levels.

thanks! I'll add this to the Midas Lexicon

 

[LionNYC]

I know I said I would take a break but I can't. I have a problem and need help. Maybe I just won't buy another scarf in the next 12 days. That being said...

Looking back on the first goal of the game, one of the things Vieira always says to the players on the sidelines is quicker passes, quicker passes. Because Chanot took his time, didn't make a decision and Brek Shea closed down, we got screwed.

Toledo had a terrible night. I counted four major decisions in the game. Pirlo clearly fouled in the box. No PK. Waston hands to the face foul on McNamara. Questionable PK but he made contact. Clear elbow to the face of Moralez. No red card, no card at all. Pirlo is fouled in the box again. I haven't seen another good angle but it looks to be a penalty. So three critical decisions missed that screw us. Vancouver fans were complaining heavily about the penalty but we had more calls go against us the night that the referee missed. I'm going to be hollering VAR every home game.

But Vieira is a bad in game manager. We're only good if we keep our original game plan and execute on it better during the course of the 90 minutes. The Brillant substitution has unimaginable. We're winning the game, they had one shot on goal, they couldn't get through the midfield. Put on another midfielder, not a CB causing everyone to move around and change the formation and chemistry.

Okay, Johansen didn't have the best night. He needs to play more confident in his abilities as a 6'7" keeper. Come off your line. Extend to catch and punch balls. No reason he can't go off his line and jump to get any of those crosses. That's why you have a tall keeper. You don't see 5'7" Nick Rimando doing that. Get him to a sports psychologist. I don't think Johnson makes those saves but I do think that he puts himself in a better opportunity to prevent Vancouver from having a clear strike. And don't even talk about Saunders. He'd fumble around the box, make a half hearted dive and the ball would till end up in the back of the net. Lastly on that point, Vancouver had all the time in the world to make that cross. McNamara "hustled" to cover it and wasn't even in the picture frame.

It's going to be a depressing next 12 days and I'm not confident with this team and manager if we don't have our best outfield players (and yes Johnson back would be great too, I still believe in Eirik) vs Toronto.

And lastly, Pirlo played well. Maxi looks healthy. But I don't know how you play them both in a 4-3-3. Pirlo needs two midfields with legs to cover for him. So do we go for a 4-4-2 instead. Back four, Ring-Herrera-Pirlo-Maxi, Jack and Villa up top.

 

[Ulrich]

What a disaster...

My biggest beef was having RJ on the back line. I like RJ and he served up the shot that Chanot finished (although anybody could have had that role), but he's not a great man-marking defender. White has shown far more chops this year as a RB defender, and it would have helped immensely last night:

1. Two goals were scored off crosses to the Right side post. Both times not enough defenders were marking and on one Harrison was the guy tasked, which should never happen. Not sure where RJ was, but the RB should be over there when the ball is in the run of play.
2. As a RB/CB, White allows for a 3man backline without having to burn a sub. When Hererra went out, we could have stayed with four at the back and brought in a MF, or go three and push Chanot or Sweat up while still bringing in a MF. It felt like PV wanted Chanot at DMid but wasn't comfortable with the backline only being RJ/Callens/Sweat whereas White/Callens/Sweat is a true 3CB alignment. Who knows?!? But White would have likely saved the need to sub Brillant.

I'm not touching any other lineup decisions, or play on the field, but I think we have always shown our best games (save the Cup match) with White as the RB.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I know I said I would take a break but I can't. I have a problem and need help. Maybe I just won't buy another scarf in the next 12 days. That being said...

* * *

And lastly, Pirlo played well. Maxi looks healthy. But I don't know how you play them both in a 4-3-3. Pirlo needs two midfields with legs to cover for him. So do we go for a 4-4-2 instead. Back four, Ring-Herrera-Pirlo-Maxi, Jack and Villa up top.

Sometimes a break is a good thing. After we screwed the pooch against RSL last year, I took a break of almost 2 weeks.

As for how to get Pirlo and Maxi on together - I think the only way is to put Maxi at LW while Wallace is playing in the Gold Cup. Of course, Herrera might not be back, which could make the decision easier.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Because Chanot took his time, didn't make a decision and Brek Shea closed down, we got screwed.

You missed my shoutbox rant about this, huh? I was none too pleased with Chanot, but also, what the hell were the rest of the guys on the team doing? No one was making himself available as an option.

Shouldn't someone maybe let him know there's going to be a man in his face when he turns? You know, someone like RJ, who just stood watching it happen like his last name was Sweat or something.

 

[Ulrich]

You missed my shoutbox rant about this, huh? I was none too pleased with Chanot, but also, what the hell were the rest of the guys on the team doing? No one was making himself available as an option.

Shouldn't someone maybe let him know there's going to be a man in his face when he turns? You know, someone like RJ, who just stood watching it happen like his last name was Sweat or something.

That's my issue on that turnover, the CB should always have options to play to. it didn't seem like Chanot had any, because he hesitated badly and he's normally a very quick decision maker on the ball. I also think the turf hurt his ball control which added to the problem; the turf definitely kept Ring from cleaning up the situation..... and I wonder if that minor injury Ring got when his foot caught the turf impacted the rest of his match??? He was gingerly favoring it when he got up and he all but disappeared the second half, which obviously was when Hererra was out, but Ring has bossed a midfield before without Yangel and last night he was a ghost.

 

[NYCFCfan]

In case anyone is interested:

Reason for Herrera leaving early yesterday is that he felt his adductor tighten up.

Should be better with rest and good to go by our next game.

 

[Ulrich]

In case anyone is interested:

Reason for Herrera leaving early yesterday is that he felt his adductor tighten up.

Should be better with rest and good to go by our next game.

He's smart for going off. That can lead to a sports hernia if pushed through the "pain" of the moment.

 

[Seven]

In case anyone is interested:

Reason for Herrera leaving early yesterday is that he felt his adductor tighten up.

Should be better with rest and good to go by our next game.

Around here...nah


Cause I haven't been refreshing Twitter all day or anything

 

[Joseph Bianco]

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