Our injury, suspension, international duty list is absurd.
Im not mad at him (Mikey)for sucking im mad at PV for starting him
I know you're being sarcastic, but I think there's a decent amount of truth here.Yeah! We would have done so much better with the human traffic cone in the middle trying to break up the counters when RB forced a turn over. But that's PVs fault too he should be warping the whole team around Pirlo so he can stand around and pull strings at the back while being completely protected on defense. Why stop with PV adapting the formation, the league needs to mandate that the high press is no longer allowed, teams must play like Serie A, back off and give Pirlo all the time he needs on ball.
Lopez is getting a lot of stick on here, but I think he did fine.
I know you're being sarcastic, but I think there's a decent amount of truth here.
a) I don't think that the problem is the press,
b) with as many injuries and suspensions as we have, it's astonishing that somebody of Pirlo's quality is riding pine.
I don't get to see how he fares in training, but it's difficult to believe that we would have had such a hard time getting the ball through midfield if he was there to break the lines in a way that frankly Maxi, Mikey and Ring just can't. Would he be much worse than Mikey in D? Probably a little worse. Where Mikey has recovery speed on his side, Pirlo reads the game so much more astutely. You might argue that the game wasn't very readable last night, but that's at least partially because of how poor we were with the ball, which may not have been an issue with Pirlo in there.
We are second in the Shield standings have played ZERO games with our Best XI. Even our vaunted midfield trio, who I think many would consider one of the best in the league, has played all of 5 games together. Not saying we are the deepest team in the league, because we are obviously not, but we do have depth. Its just currently running thin with how crazy our luck has been with suspensions and injuries.We aren't. Sounds tautological, but we're basically deep where we have depth, and not deep otherwise. Right now, I think we are okay at wing and maybe CB when everyone is healthy. Every other spot is really 1 player deep.
If you think depth means bodies to put out there such as SAL and TPFKAU, then I guess we have depth. I don't consider that depth.
Great post. I think we're seeing the situation more or less the same. I think Pirlo is fine under pressure – it's a cliché, but the best players always look like they have a ton of time on the ball. My concerns are mostly with his lack of recovery speed when we turn the ball over.I agree Pirlo reads the game as well or better than anyone on the team. In the normal run of play Pirlo's positional awareness makes him considerably better defensively, even with his limited mobility, than most are willing to give him credit for. But none of that helps when RB wins the ball with the press and starts the counter. Despite my sarcasm, stoked by the unending insistence that all the poor Pirlo performances we've seen are because PV is too stupid to know how to use him, I think Pirlo should still be seeing time for us. But I don't want to see him against the 6 man (7 if you you count BWP with how far he drops) RB press on the giant field at RB arena. The loudest Pirlo advocates are very clear on the conditions he needs to excel:
1. Time on ball to operate
2. High work rate ball winners on each of his flanks to protect him
3. Highly skilled offensive players up top that can consistently punish opponents by getting on the end of his passes into space should the defense decide to gamble and press him.
RB will never allow #1, Ring can be one of the #2 but Maxi cannot and we need more than Villa as a solution to #3 to make it work. Play him at YS against SKC on a the small pitch with a team that doesn't run the highest octane press in the league. Against RB with the options we had I'll take Mikey slowing the press over Pirlo wonder passes every time.
It's like people want to attack me for the sake of attacking me just because I'm a Pirlo fan. If you happened to read my posts in the prematch thread I didn't even mention having Pirlo in my starting 11. Get informed and stop being a dick.
So who would have you played instead of Lopez? Also what are you referencing when you complain PV won't change the formation to get our best players on the field? I admit that I assumed your multiple posts complaining about Lopez playing, PV's tactics and the ridiculous swipe at Villa for being invisible are all driven by your opinion that Pirlo should be starting, if that's not what you were suggesting I apologize for assuming.
Shelton didn't make the 18 but yeah. Okoli, and Lewis had been warming up since halftime.I'll add to derek_villa that White's injury probably screwed up the planned tactics and subs. I wouldn't have been shocked if we went with Shelton and Okoli after Lewis if we didn't burn one on RJ.
Didn't notice that, thanks.Shelton didn't make the 18 but yeah. Okoli, and Lewis had been warming up since halftime.
Has Harrison ever really been effective for us in the middle? I know we have tried it in a couple of games this season, and I thought he was invisible in those games. I know it's a position he has played in the past, just don't think he has been great there for NYC.It's not the result I'm upset with. Overall a draw wasn't a bad result. It's how we looked out there. Especially when I believe we had the tools for the capacity to achieve more.
If you think Mikey Lopez can be a hybrid player for you why not Jack Harrison who is bounds a leaps a more skilled player. All while Lewis has proven himself more than capable up top.
Has Harrison ever really been effective for us in the middle? I know we have tried it in a couple of games this season, and I thought he was invisible in those games. I know it's a position he has played in the past, just don't think he has been great there for NYC.
Also, he hasn't been great at this best position for the past few games, how good is he going to be moving into a less practiced position.
Would he have been better then Lopez? Maybe, but I think that is up for debate