Away - 04/24 Chicago

Can someone explain what the lead-up was to that goal? Univision completely missed it. Why was Meara trying to keep the ball in?
I can't make sense of it, and it doesn't help that UDN missed the build-up to replay a foul, then never showed it as far as I could tell. If a Fire player kicked it he could have let it go, and just made sure no Fire player got to it first (which could not have happened). If one of our players kicked the ball back, then Meara wasn't allowed to go after it with his hands. It seemed to have come from too far away for one of our guys to have headed it back, which would have allowed Meara to scoop it up.
 
I can't make sense of it, and it doesn't help that UDN missed the build-up to replay a foul, then never showed it as far as I could tell. If a Fire player kicked it he could have let it go, and just made sure no Fire player got to it first (which could not have happened). If one of our players kicked the ball back, then Meara wasn't allowed to go after it with his hands. It seemed to have come from too far away for one of our guys to have headed it back, which would have allowed Meara to scoop it up.

The announcer said he didn't have to grab it, which makes it sound like it came from a Chicago player, but they also think Mullins is a midfielder so I don't know how much that helps.
 
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That red was coming for Jacobson. He's been committing a lot of cheap, unnecessary fouls and getting away with it. Really no excuse for a challenge like that, let Meara take on Accam before trying a hopeless tackle.
 
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So I didnt get to watch this game. NYCFC didnt even post anything on FB. Came here to find score. Sounds like it was a shitshow.

At what point can we begin to hold Kreis responsible? Cause at this point I think a lot of blame needs to fall on him.

Would love to watch a replay of this game...god knows if Ill ever be able to find one. Havent for our previous games and MLS youtube sucks. They post match recaps when they feel like it.
 
Actually just watched the MLS recap. What the hell was that? Like what did I just watch? Did we make one shot in 90+ minutes? One SHOT!!?? Does anyone know the subs? The only thing that looked good was the uniforms.
 
At what point can we begin to hold Kreis responsible? Cause at this point I think a lot of blame needs to fall on him.

Honestly, I think Kreis might be the only reason we don't lose every game 0-4. Think about it. Centerbacks? Pretty shit. Fullbacks? Also shit. Midfielders? Nobody deserves to be on the field except Mix. Forwards? Should be checked for glaucoma, because they must not be able to see the net.

Yet with a shit, injured roster with 0.5 DPs, we have put up these scores:

1-1 (deflection goal)
2-0
0-0
0-1
1-2 (deflection goal)
1-1
0-1
0-1 (fluke goal, 10 men)

We have given up less goals than games played, and have never lost by more than one goal.

We don't have a winning roster, that's pretty clear. Kreis can't score for them. But he's been putting them in a position to stay competitive in each and every game. Honestly, I can't explain why we don't get blown out every week.

It's going to be a long season, but let's not take it out on anyone but the players.
 
Honestly, I think Kreis might be the only reason we don't lose every game 0-4. Think about it. Centerbacks? Pretty shit. Fullbacks? Also shit. Midfielders? Nobody deserves to be on the field except Mix. Forwards? Should be checked for glaucoma, because they must not be able to see the net.

Yet with a shit, injured roster with 0.5 DPs, we have put up these scores:

1-1 (deflection goal)
2-0
0-0
0-1
1-2 (deflection goal)
1-1
0-1
0-1 (fluke goal, 10 men)

We have given up less goals than games played, and have never lost by more than one goal.

We don't have a winning roster, that's pretty clear. Kreis can't score for them. But he's been putting them in a position to stay competitive in each and every game. Honestly, I can't explain why we don't get blown out every week.

It's going to be a long season, but let's not take it out on anyone but the players.

Fair ill give him more time. Still frustrating to say the least. Who were the subs? Do you know?
 
I think Kreis is doing a decent job. Tonight's performance and SKC aside, the team has been playing reasonably well for an expansion club with significant injury issues. At the same time, I think it's fair to start asking questions about some of his selections and subs. The fact Grabavoy, Jacobson, and Brovsky seem to be automatic starters is surreal, and he's too beholden to some of the ex-RSL players in general.
 
Honestly, I think Kreis might be the only reason we don't lose every game 0-4. Think about it. Centerbacks? Pretty shit. Fullbacks? Also shit. Midfielders? Nobody deserves to be on the field except Mix. Forwards? Should be checked for glaucoma, because they must not be able to see the net.

Yet with a shit, injured roster with 0.5 DPs, we have put up these scores:

1-1 (deflection goal)
2-0
0-0
0-1
1-2 (deflection goal)
1-1
0-1
0-1 (fluke goal, 10 men)

We have given up less goals than games played, and have never lost by more than one goal.

We don't have a winning roster, that's pretty clear. Kreis can't score for them. But he's been putting them in a position to stay competitive in each and every game. Honestly, I can't explain why we don't get blown out every week.

It's going to be a long season, but let's not take it out on anyone but the players.

Or maybe it's because they've been playing these teams that are just as shitty as them. They haven't played a real opponent yet. Sounded are next. I don't even want to think about it.

I'm starting to blame Kreis a little. How do you not fucking start Poku? How?
 
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The announcer said he didn't have to grab it, which makes it sound like it came from a Chicago player, but they also think Mullins is a midfielder so I don't know how much that helps.
The official MLS recap says that Meara "failed to corral a wayward backpass," but it also says that "New York City continues on the road when they visit the Seattle Sounders" and that's objectively wrong.
http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2015-04-24-chicago-fire-vs-new-york-city-fc/recap
 
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Honestly, I think Kreis might be the only reason we don't lose every game 0-4. Think about it. Centerbacks? Pretty shit. Fullbacks? Also shit. Midfielders? Nobody deserves to be on the field except Mix. Forwards? Should be checked for glaucoma, because they must not be able to see the net.

.

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
 
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I think Poku takes Jacobsons spot next game with the suspension. Lets see if he can keep it.
I was shocked that Velasquez played instead of Poku. Maybe there's a fitness issue there, but I was at training on Thursday and Poku was doing lots of things right and Velasquez was not. My only other guess is that Kreis wanted players that were more naturally wing players and that guys like Poku or McNamara gravitate to the middle.
 
I thought the team really played pretty well in the first 10-15 minutes. Nemec was hustling his ass off, won a bunch of balls defensively with his long legs, made some nice passes and almost chipped the defense to find Grabavoy (I think) in the box. With the red card, it made sense that we needed some more pace on the field. I'm not sure what to make of Mullins. He runs pretty well, he finally made a move with that flick over his defender's head, but he still doesn't come off as a striker. He still looks undecided with the ball at his feet and his head is always down on the ball, and he really needs to make more runs, but maybe that has more to do with the wide field than anything.

It seems that we need a lot of help from 35 yards out. Possession until the RC and the goal was really, really great, and you could tell they wanted to play the ball forward -- but someone HAS to be willing to try to get past a defender. Shelton takes men on, and Villa will occasionally, as well. Accam looked fantastic for Chicago. He was fearless with the ball at his feet. Where is that mentality on this team? That's the kind of play someone needs to bring to the table. It's too cut and dry. Maybe that will work on the highest levels, but the aggressive nature in the attacking third is absolutely nonexistent. Too much standing and waiting to pass and no one ready to make the first move.

Lampard and Mix will be a fine duo distributing, but until we add another player with pace, we might as well be an old man playing chess in the park. We looked like pawns and we need some rooks and bishops. I think the starting lineup was okay, it's a shame it got derailed so early on. We desperately need to catch a break, and we desperately need more athleticism.
 
We've only scored 5 goals in 8 games. That's s huge problem. Has any team scored less?
 
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™