Away - February 20 - San Carlos - CCL (Postmatch)

[The Toe]

I counted at least 3 nutmegs. Ronny has these guys playing the Vieira "express themselves" model. Thought they looked comfortable with their tactics. Very little guys yelling at eachother for missed coverage, etc. Our passing was phenomenal; very few mishit balls and great one-touch passing. We looked MLS 4.0. Although it felt a little bit like USOC first round, I'm happy with how dangerous we were; there's no reason to think we won't be able to keep that gap next week.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

I really like Scally in space. We seemed to push the ball down the left side when he came in so he didn’t have too many opportunities. When he did get on the ball I thought he showed well.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

I counted at least 3 nutmegs. Ronny has these guys playing the Vieira "express themselves" model. Thought they looked comfortable with their tactics. Very little guys yelling at eachother for missed coverage, etc. Our passing was phenomenal; very few mishit balls and great one-touch passing. We looked MLS 4.0. Although it felt a little bit like USOC first round, I'm happy with how dangerous we were; there's no reason to think we won't be able to keep that gap next week.

That Rabona from Taty

 

[ZYanksRule]

I counted at least 3 nutmegs. Ronny has these guys playing the Vieira "express themselves" model. Thought they looked comfortable with their tactics. Very little guys yelling at eachother for missed coverage, etc. Our passing was phenomenal; very few mishit balls and great one-touch passing. We looked MLS 4.0. Although it felt a little bit like USOC first round, I'm happy with how dangerous we were; there's no reason to think we won't be able to keep that gap next week.

I'd wait to get too excited -- San Carlos are not good. They are not at our level. If we're better defensively and if we don't run out of gas in the second half, it would have been even more of a blowout.

 

[moogoo]

good performance for first real game of the season. we were lucky we played san carlos and not club leon. this was definitely a good warm up game for us and we played well. having a lot of the same guys returning was definitely a huge advantage for us and it showed. heber was a beast and seemed a step ahead of everyone else with his thinking. ring was great and covered a lot of ground. medina played really well I thought, though not DP well. I have high hopes he will continue to improve and play at a DP level. His effort tonight was worlds above what he showed us last season. Mata played fairly well but definitely chose to show off more cause he was playing in front of family.

No one else really stood out in a good way. To me, Parks stood out in a bad way, mostly because his rust really showed and he missed a sitter 10 yards out.

Our passing was good. Our movement was great. both kind of deteriorated a bit in the second half as we ran out of gas, but that's to be expected. Taty was a bit disappointing cause it seemed like he was looking for a foul almost every time he got the ball, other than the nice rabona.

I worry a bit for injuries. I am sure a handful of our guys got some pretty bad knocks this game and will need to take it easy. The good news is we have a deep bench and have a pretty good cushion to let those backups start the game while some guys rest or get limited minutes before the first game in columbus.

Ronny's substitution strategy worries me a bit. all at once like that? scary. especially when we are up. Guess he was really worried about injuries.

We definitely NEED to improve our defense. It was kinda shakey at the start and just got worse as we lost the legs. I'm not too worried, but it is probably the key thing we need to work out. At least 2nd and 3rd goals, should have never happened. The first one was just a class finish.

I am looking forward to next week. I'll be there and hope to see many others too. LET'S GO!!

 

[ZYanksRule]

It felt like with his subs he thought the game was over and just wanted to get guys minutes. I kind of wonder if he expected us to dominate the game the way we did, and had a substitution plan similar to that of a preseason game. It wouldn't surprise me if his plan all along was, as long as we had a lead, to do something similar to what he did.

Obviously he underestimated the extent to which we'd tire in the final 20 minutes, those subs did not feel tactical to me.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

Anyone find a video of Taty?
I guess he’s been working on it lately.

Asistencia de rabona de Valentín Castellanos en un gol a puro toque - ESPN Video

La fantasía del jugador de New York City FC terminó en gol de Robertone en el entrenamiento de la Sub 23.

www.espn.com.ar

 

[Kjbert]

Johnson was below average tonight
Maxime was ok. Callens was ok Matarrita was stupid again. Anton was below average.
sands distributed well. Was ok defensively. But great on the ball. Ring was everywhere. Outside of Héber, my man of the match. Keaton was poor.
mitrita was good. Even out in a defensive shift. Medina was useless in possession. Sick of him.
heber was incredible. Around the goal, he’s what the Galaxy think Chicharito is.
Taty was below average. Do love him as a late game annoyer. Didn’t get much sense for Scally. Maxi looks rusty.

we play Thursday and then Sunday. I’d like to see us go with

Johnson
Ibeagha
Sands
Scally
Gudmund
Ring
Parks
Medina
Taty
GMS
Isi

 

[ZYanksRule]

Johnson was below average tonight
Maxime was ok. Callens was ok Matarrita was stupid again. Anton was below average.
sands distributed well. Was ok defensively. But great on the ball. Ring was everywhere. Outside of Héber, my man of the match. Keaton was poor.
mitrita was good. Even out in a defensive shift. Medina was useless in possession. Sick of him.
heber was incredible. Around the goal, he’s what the Galaxy think Chicharito is.
Taty was below average. Do love him as a late game annoyer. Didn’t get much sense for Scally. Maxi looks rusty.

we play Thursday and then Sunday. I’d like to see us go with

Johnson
Ibeagha
Sands
Scally
Gudmund
Ring
Parks
Medina
Taty
GMS
Isi

I think we play our top squad in the CCL and rotate for MLS games. We can chase points in May and June after the fixture congestion clears up. For now, we have a chance to make a run in this tournament, and I'm not willing to throw a weaker squad out on Wednesday because we think we have this thing won. Go out and grab 2 goals in the first half. They had no answer for Heber, he could have scored five goals tonight had he stayed in the game for the full 90. Don't let San Carlos off the hook.

 

[moogoo]

Johnson was below average tonight
Maxime was ok. Callens was ok Matarrita was stupid again. Anton was below average.
sands distributed well. Was ok defensively. But great on the ball. Ring was everywhere. Outside of Héber, my man of the match. Keaton was poor.
mitrita was good. Even out in a defensive shift. Medina was useless in possession. Sick of him.
heber was incredible. Around the goal, he’s what the Galaxy think Chicharito is.
Taty was below average. Do love him as a late game annoyer. Didn’t get much sense for Scally. Maxi looks rusty.

we play Thursday and then Sunday. I’d like to see us go with

Johnson
Ibeagha
Sands
Scally
Gudmund
Ring
Parks
Medina
Taty
GMS
Isi

we play wednesday, not thursday.

would be nice to start with a heavily backup squad and mix in some starters to get them some more minutes too. people with knocks can take the extra rest. i think maxi needs more time on the ball for sure, but who knows what his injury situation is really like.

 

[Jon]

Johnson was below average tonight
Maxime was ok. Callens was ok Matarrita was stupid again. Anton was below average.
sands distributed well. Was ok defensively. But great on the ball. Ring was everywhere. Outside of Héber, my man of the match. Keaton was poor.
mitrita was good. Even out in a defensive shift. Medina was useless in possession. Sick of him.
heber was incredible. Around the goal, he’s what the Galaxy think Chicharito is.
Taty was below average. Do love him as a late game annoyer. Didn’t get much sense for Scally. Maxi looks rusty.

we play Thursday and then Sunday. I’d like to see us go with

Johnson
Ibeagha
Sands
Scally
Gudmund
Ring
Parks
Medina
Taty
GMS
Isi

I feel like we weren't watching the same match based on your comments

 

[JayH]

I feel like we weren't watching the same match based on your comments

Missing Part B of your post.

 

[JayH]

The team generally looked in synch for a game in February with a new manager. It is a huge advantage keeping our team intact, and also having a manager who is not a mad scientist looking to reinvent the blueprint. We looked more dangerous in game 1 than game 20 under Dome. It didn't hurt that we drew a team who looked pretty lost defensively. Our passing was great, and Ronny allowed the team to play full throttle ball rather than waiting for spots. The staff must have the team in decent shape physically, combined with Ronny simply not being afraid to win 6-5 games as he suggested. Heber was exceptional. Mata was terrific going forward. Parks was meh. Treats was good and bad, and resorted to poor habits missing some opportunities to distribute. Medina was his usual mix of promise and frustrating (albeit slightly more of the former than usual). His flinch turn on the fake shot which lead to their 3rd goal looked like a kid playing rec which was awful. Ring needs to talk to Maxi about PKs - it's ridiculous that he even sniffs the spot.

Defensively, I thought that we struggled as a result of tired legs and an aggressive game plan which left a lot of space, along with some early season sloppiness and confusion. I am not so concerned with the back end overall.

I will take 5 away goals against a professional soccer team in game 1. And I was pleased that Ronny played a big game lineup and we saw a team that played this like a big game from the whistle.

 

[Jon]

Missing Part B of your post.

Clearly Heber was amazing.

I thought Mata was solid. There was no point in the match where I saw any defensive lapses, so in my book that's a good game from him. As for Maxi, he was playing basically his first match since last year. I believe he only played 5 minutes before subbing off in that first preseason match. His passing was crisp and he drew the PK which was important. I think we so agree that he should never, ever take another PK. I also thought Medina played really well on the right side and just missed out on a goal. He also looked better tracking back on defense. Mitrita also made some better choices when he got stuck in traffic. I feel like last year he'd just dribble into a cluster of defenders and lose possession. Last night he pulled back a couple times to look for someone to pass to.

I thought Callens played poorly most of the match despite the goal. Taty's yellow was stupid and will probably result in him getting suspended a match when he draws another yellow (we know he will).

Overall, for a team that hasn't played a competitive match in 4+ months, I was pleased with the overall performance.

 

[Kjbert]

Here’s my issue with Medina last night. We want to play a possession based style. Often times, we find ourselves in tight places where it is difficult to maintain possession or pass through it.
I thought he was our worst possession player last night. He’s still incredibly weak physically and he couldn’t maintain possession

 

[Shwafta]

Clearly Heber was amazing.

I thought Mata was solid. There was no point in the match where I saw any defensive lapses, so in my book that's a good game from him. As for Maxi, he was playing basically his first match since last year. I believe he only played 5 minutes before subbing off in that first preseason match. His passing was crisp and he drew the PK which was important. I think we so agree that he should never, ever take another PK. I also thought Medina played really well on the right side and just missed out on a goal. He also looked better tracking back on defense. Mitrita also made some better choices when he got stuck in traffic. I feel like last year he'd just dribble into a cluster of defenders and lose possession. Last night he pulled back a couple times to look for someone to pass to.

I thought Callens played poorly most of the match despite the goal. Taty's yellow was stupid and will probably result in him getting suspended a match when he draws another yellow (we know he will).

Overall, for a team that hasn't played a competitive match in 4+ months, I was pleased with the overall performance.

I agree with some of this, but something that stands out to me was a part where mitrita got on a deflection or a pass right in front of goal (can't remember which) and instead of trying to shoot, he dribbled it out of the face of goal and lost possession... was quite frustrating as it would have put the game to bed.

...also keaton's miss from like 5 feet out

 

[Shwafta]

No reason why the thumbnail is the wrong coach lol

 

[Schwallacus]

For our first game back, I thought we played incredibly well. A lot of tired legs and such towards the end, but I also don't want our players being 100% full fitness in February. I think that would lead to tiredness and injuries much later in the year.

I'm fine with the subs around the 60th minute, give a chance to get some minutes for Maxi, Scally, and Taty. Especially for Maxi since he missed the entire preseason with his knock, I like that Ronny gave him a lot more than 5-10 minutes. I feel it was more important to get Maxi minutes than try to hold onto a game in which we had a ton of away goals. The rust was there, but Maxi's vision is just incredible. Pinged a few beautiful balls to Taty and Medina only for them to fumble the possession.

Defense was very open, which isn't great but I think the player's were adjusting to Ronny's tactics and those spaces can be squeezed with a little more experience in the system. Offensively, it felt more direct than when we played under Dome, which I enjoyed. I think when Christopher Jee was talking to Ronny at the meet and greet he mentioned that he felt we played around with the ball too much and made too many passes in the final third. Looks like he's just telling the guys to get into the box, make some runs, and finish.

I expected a little more from Medina and Taty since they've already been playing games for a month and a half. They didn't look bad, but they didn't look good either. Medina started well but got lost in the game.

I'm not going to judge too harshly since it is the first game back. I like what I see so far, but I also won't get too excited until I've seen another 5-8 games under Ronny. Looks to be an exciting year if we end up with 8 goal games.

 

[Shwafta]

I'm not going to judge too harshly since it is the first game back. I like what I see so far, but I also won't get too excited until I've seen another 5-8 games under Ronny. Looks to be an exciting year if we end up with 8 goal games.

God I already have to deal with Dortund 4-8 goal thrillers week-in week-out, two teams doing that might be too much to handle LOL

 

[LostAnvil]

No reason why the thumbnail is the wrong coach lol

can someone make a gif of Deila stroking his ghost beard around the 1 min mark (while the question is being asked in Spanish)?