MLS - March 9 - Portland (Home - YS)

I also don't understand why we are not finding santi more. Santi needs to come look for the ball too. He gets stranded on the wings and we end up relying on otoole to make something happen. we need santi to get involved with every attacking play.
This was a big factor. Santi got taken out of the game and we lost our offensive momentum. It wasn't the only reason, of course, but it was a big one.

All that snappy passing and front-foot play the first 35 minutes evaporated and we regressed back into being a bit of a mess. Not as big of a mess, though. We only had about 10 good minutes against St. Louis and basically none at Charlotte, so at least there's some kind of positive trajectory.
 
This was a big factor. Santi got taken out of the game and we lost our offensive momentum. It wasn't the only reason, of course, but it was a big one.

All that snappy passing and front-foot play the first 35 minutes evaporated and we regressed back into being a bit of a mess. Not as big of a mess, though. We only had about 10 good minutes against St. Louis and basically none at Charlotte, so at least there's some kind of positive trajectory.
We are bottom of the league. Played 3 games, 0 points, 1 goal scored and 5 conceded . There is no positive trajectory.
 
If you were to watch a video of Bakrar’s game but cut off the last half second of each of his possessions you would think he had a masterclass. It’s too bad his job is to capitalize on that hard work.

The first half was promising. The second half was abysmal. That’s on both the coach and the players.
 
This is bigger than Cushing at this point. It’s about the board members that decided that 2023 was acceptable and voted to have Cushing remain as the head coach. Worst start to a season in club history. Dome was on the hot seat in 2019 and he was just tying games.
 
Three facts.

1) Cushing will not change. The historical DNA of this team has been Manchester City, not Stoke City, yet his preference is to win every game 0-0. A defensive, counter-attack style can succeed, but this team is not - and has not - been built for that. From the start of the second half it was clear he directed the team to slow on pressing and defend deeper. It was also clear in the first half that NYC was a faster team than Portland. It is unclear how those two facts lead to a winning strategy. That game was closer to 2-0 than 1-1 for the balance, yet Cushing was more conservative than an 80-year-old South Carolina preacher.

2) This is the single lowest point the taam has ever reached. As an expansion team in 2015, there were limited expecations and the presence of a star. Last year, for all the struggles, there was a chance to make the playoffs on the last day. Currently, the team has 0 points, 1 goal, and millions of dollars in transfer fees sitting on the bench watching O'Toole and Jasson (who I appreciate, and have a role, but let's accept and understand ceilings).

3) I must miss the next two home games. I won't regret it. I suspect I may sell a few more tickets before the season ends as well.
 
The players are clearly not interested in playing with any bravery or invention whatsoever, rather they are scared to make a mistake or take any sort of risk. That’s GOT to be on the coaching staff. Everyone in the stadium was painfully aware that we were playing to hold on to the 1-0 win, and then the 1-1 draw. I said to my friend in the 88th minute that we were losing this game.
 
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The only other time the fanbase has been this unanimous on one thing is the need for a SSS. I'm sure Nick is a great guy and he might be able to have great success somewhere else but it's time to move on.
 
I guess I’m not sorry I was at work and missed it live . I M starting to be sorry I shelled out the 100 bucks for the full season on apple .

I just watched the recap . Does it take 24 hours or something for the full match to come up? I avoided the score and was gonna watch full match but didn’t see it on there plus it had the score on the screen tried to cover my eyes but couldn’t manage to not see it .
 
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I guess I’m not sorry I was at work and missed it live . I M starting to be sorry I shelled out the 100 bucks for the full season on apple .

I just watched the recap . Does it take 24 hours or something for the full match to come up? I avoided the score and was gonna watch full match but didn’t see it on there plus it had the score on the screen tried to cover my eyes but couldn’t manage to not see it .

It's at the bottom of the match page with no thumbnail.

You can turn off scores in your account settings though it sometimes turns itself back on for some reason.
 
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The players are clearly not interested in playing with any bravery or invention whatsoever, rather they are scared to make a mistake or take any sort of risk. That’s GOT to be on the coaching staff. Everyone in the stadium was painfully aware that we were playing to hold on to the 1-0 win, and then the 1-1 draw. I said to my friend in the 88th minute that we were losing this game.
I thought we were brave and intentional for the first third of the match, until Neville made a couple adjustments we just weren't equipped to handle yet. I don't want to spoil it for Davo15 Davo15, so I'll stop there.

Of course, there's the argument we should have been capable of handling it by now, but personally, I can't agree. Were we a few more games into the season I would feel differently. We're just not quite there yet.
 
Was a weird match. Not sure I can bring myself to watch the it now that I'm home but in the stadium a lot of the ref calls seemed rather questionable, and some of our players were getting a little huffy about it as the match wore on.