Away - 04/24 Chicago

[Nicholas Constantino]

Try not to laugh too hard but I thought that under the circumstances that was a pretty good game. With 11 on the field we dominated possession while on the road. And in fact we've had a lot of possession in almost all our matches. Also, consider that with 10 players we still held them to one fluke goal. And yes, that was horrible, mind you, but without that we maybe would have come away with a point.

But let's put that aside. With 10 on the field the possession was almost even. We could have won that game almost as easily as we lost it, and that's pretty much true of all our matches so far. Do we need to improve? Absolutely. Could we use better players? Of course, but then one could argue that we're doing OK with who we have considering we've only played a handful of matches and have had a lot of injuries.

I've got no problem with people criticizing the team but this is just a big pile-on. Did anyone honestly expect us to win the league this year? Yes, we can play better, but every game has at least been competitive. And vastly entertaining I might add.

And along with many others I was really pissed off about the whole Lampard thing. But you know what? When he gets here we'll be a much better team. And yes, he's not 24, but even if we only have him for half a season and then next year we'll be hugely better when he gets here. I'm looking forward to the summer. If Villa gets healthy and Lampard can deliver we can perhaps make a great showing in the league in our first year.

So yeah, I'm going to go to the stadium another dozen or so times, going to immensely enjoy all those cheesesteaks, and I'm going to chant all day in 237. Have we won? Not much. But we've also not lost any matches 6-1 either. And with one more great shot per game we'd be near the top of the table. I can't see how we could ask for much more than that in our first season.

So sure, yell all you want. But I'm going to support the team win or lose. When I got my tickets I thought, "hey, it'll be fun to go see some soccer." But somehow I ended up fiercely loving the team and I never expected that. Yes, we've scored almost no goals so far but that'll come with time as will the wins. But hey, win or lose I'll be there.

Seth


Cheesesteaks: New York City Football Club's Official Matchday Food™

I don't think anybody expected us to win the league. But I think people expected something more than one win in our first 8 games and something more than being practically the worst team in the league.

 

[jerzy]

I don't think anybody expected us to win the league. But I think people expected something more than one win in our first 8 games and something more than being practically the worst team in the league.

I thought we could win it...

 

[TommyM]

Mix was awful last night and has done nothing but score that goal on opening day. Storms around field like a headless chicken. He has no game intelligence what so ever. He continually gives away cheap possession trying fancy passes. Ive seen nothing from him yet to say he is anywhere near good enough.
Actually you could say that about most of the team. Ive seen pub teams pass the ball around more efficiently

I agree with the criticism of Mix: awful and getting worse. But to be fair, he's tasked with both bailing out the center of the defense (who are clueless) and transitioning into attack. So he is running around trying to stop gaps and them get the ball past the midway line almost single handedly. And the opposition know this, and target him.

That said, watching him last night, he passed to the wrong team five times in a row in the late second half, effectively ending any buildup from the very start, and gifting possession well towards our goal. And he took a series of speculative shots that were useless for anything but testing the keeper or timewasting.

Calle looked just as poor until three matches ago, when he was moved back into his natural left back/wing back position. Then he became one of the best players on the pitch. That convinced me this is largely Kreis' doing. You build a team around four poor SaltLake players, none of whom shine or lead or even impress in their position or seem to even communicate with their old teammates. Then you take the few actually talented players and stick them wherever to fill the gaps. All the while demanding players commit to a holding, short passing game cause you think Villa is going to make us into Barcelona magically.

Really people: we have systemic problems, and a boss who seems unwilling to fix it.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

I agree with the criticism of Mix: awful and getting worse. But to be fair, he's tasked with both bailing out the center of the defense (who are clueless) and transitioning into attack. So he is running around trying to stop gaps and them get the ball past the midway line almost single handedly. And the opposition know this, and target him.

That said, watching him last night, he passed to the wrong team five times in a row in the late second half, effectively ending any buildup from the very start, and gifting possession well towards our goal. And he took a series of speculative shots that were useless for anything but testing the keeper or timewasting.

Calle looked just as poor until three matches ago, when he was moved back into his natural left back/wing back position. Then he became one of the best players on the pitch. That convinced me this is largely Kreis' doing. You build a team around four poor SaltLake players, none of whom shine or lead or even impress in their position or seem to even communicate with their old teammates. Then you take the few actually talented players and stick them wherever to fill the gaps. All the while demanding players commit to a holding, short passing game cause you think Villa is going to make us into Barcelona magically.

Really people: we have systemic problems, and a boss who seems unwilling to fix it.

You're not wrong. We absolutely have systemic problems.

I love Mix, but he hasn't been great for us. I think most of us understand that he isn't the real problem, and that's why people aren't as tough on him.

We desperately need a team leader. And a lineup shift. And 8-10 more DPs. Players like Mix and Villa, and maybe Frank, can't thrive when the drop-off is so very vast between them and the rest. Our quality at a couple of slots is far better than the norm. But, as I've said over and over, everywhere else it is not really MLS starter caliber.

We look like relegation fodder to me. A team that can't hold out late, "unlucky" goals and can't score, with a couple of players who might catch on with a new club when the team goes back down to its level. Lucky for us, we get to keep on playing first division football with a second division roster. Yep. We're lucky. Just a joy to watch.

 

[D_RoyJenkins]

I think people are overreacting a bit. Can't take too much out of this game because of Meara's gaffe and the early red card. Overall we're playing better than our recent form.

 

[Golazo]

I think blame needs to go more on the coaching. Everyone is getting injured. Calle was injured two games ago, played a full game (that I thought he would sit out) and then ended up going off yesterday. I'm not going into all the other injuries but something is not right. Watching on TV, I actually saw how bad the team was. Almost every pass was horrible. Players also making just horrible decisions. Shooting, passing, defensive, offensive, goalkeeping. It was all a disaster. Just have Villa coach the team at this point.

 

[Golazo]

I think people are overreacting a bit. Can't take too much out of this game because of Meara's gaffe and the early red card. Overall we're playing better than our recent form.

Last 3 games was overall better, yes. Last nights game was a complete disaster is every aspect of the game

 

[Gene]

I think people are overreacting a bit. Can't take too much out of this game because of Meara's gaffe and the early red card. Overall we're playing better than our recent form.

I agree.

As a guy who likes to look at the glass as half full, I think it's a pretty good sign this team hasn't been blown out of any match despite not having put a full squad on the field in weeks. As I mentioned in an earlier post, you are what your record says you are, but get our 1st team back on the field and get some of those unlucky bounces going our way, and I believe this team can make the playoffs.

 

[D_RoyJenkins]

Last 3 games was overall better, yes. Last nights game was a complete disaster is every aspect of the game

Everything that happened before Meara's mistake was not a disaster. We were playing very well before the goal.

 

[Albany_NYCFC]

I agree.

As a guy who likes to look at the glass as half full, I think it's a pretty good sign this team hasn't been blown out of any match despite not having put a full squad on the field in weeks. As I mentioned in an earlier post, you are what your record says you are, but get our 1st team back on the field and get some of those unlucky bounces going our way, and I believe this team can make the playoffs.

Yup.. Think about it.... How often have we fielded the same 11? I realize Kreiss has to try guys, but when you figure in international duties, injuries, etc we have had no semblance of a regular squad. They need time together to gel. It will only get better. The way I look at it as long as we progress this year in order to be STRONG next year it has been a successful season.....

 

[Drainyoo]

I think people are overreacting a bit. Can't take too much out of this game because of Meara's gaffe and the early red card. Overall we're playing better than our recent form.

Dude come on. You can't honestly believe this if you're watching this team. You just can't. They haven't been playing better. It's just getting worse. Even if Meara doesn't make that mistake, it would still have been an awful performance.

 

[Golazo]

Everything that happened before Meara's mistake was not a disaster. We were playing very well before the goal.

Meara made just that a mistake. Our possession was ok in the first. I saw some horrible passes throughout the game. I seriously think this was our worst looking game for us. I know we won't always be this bad but I also won't sugar coat how bad of a game we played. I think the players know it also. We'll get better, like I said. I'm putting less blame on players and more on coaching and training after seeing where we are at this point.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Pilots and goalkeepers are rightly judged harshly for one mistake

 

[LostAnvil]

Pilots and goalkeepers are rightly judged harshly for one mistake

the severity of the results are slightly different, though

 

[sbrylski]

We are a below average team that was playing with 10 men. Of course we were going to look like utter shit.

Just gotta let things play out.

 

[D_RoyJenkins]

Dude come on. You can't honestly believe this if you're watching this team. You just can't. They haven't been playing better. It's just getting worse. Even if Meara doesn't make that mistake, it would still have been an awful performance.

You aren't paying enough attention if you can't see the improvements they're making.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

I actually am pretty discouraged because it doesn't look like it's a solvable problem. I just posted this in the Seattle thread, but I see our problems stemming from a lack of quality in individual slots all over the pitch.

We have a lot of guys who suck. That's not going to change overnight.

 

[Alfred]

Just forced myself to watch the 1st 20 minutes again. Chicago had 6 or 7 chances before the goal. Several were quality ones. A couple of crosses made it all the way through the box, they ran right by Calle, Shipp was in alone on goal, and Accam danced around half our team and knocked it off the post. The first 15 minutes were not as bad as the last 75, but they were nothing to write home about.

And Meara picked himself up and made some great saves. I'll forgive him if he doesn't do it again and plays like he did the rest of the game.

 

[Davo15]

Very tough IMO to judge a match where the keeper made a massive cock up, a man was sent off forcing a extender period of 10 on 11 and two subs were forced though first half injuries. I'm actually still shocked it was only 1-0.

 

[BlueCityRadio]

The league has not had much time to see David Accam. He was hurt a little in preseason and I think missed the first two games.

The Meara gaffe, is exactly that, a gaffe. Kreis even said it in the post game, Ryan let the emotion of his first MLS start in three years get to him and he made a bad mistake.

But even being a man down for almost 75% of the game we still held a dangerous offense to zero goals after that.

I cannot argue with the criticism on the lack of chances. I still think we could do better with some of the basic fundamentals. It boggles my mind that we can't get the ball wide and loft a dangerous cross in the air. Between Nemec, Shelton and even Mullins, we can win some aerial battles in the box, but we are inept at getting those chances created. That allows defenses to play us narrow and clog the center of field.