General MLS Discussion

I watched the end of this one - missed the launch, sadly, but caught the tying goal, the 2 Montreal goals, and then Perea's DOGSO red so that Orlando finished with 9 men.

Philly gets to play them next with no Nani and No Perea.
 
so red bulls just stomped miami. were already up 2-0 and were superior even before the 2nd yellow reducing miami down to 10 for the second half.

really didn't want them getting some confidence and momentum as they forward to the first HRD next week.
 
Coming into this game RBNJ had won I think once in 10 games, and had scored like four goals in its last four games.

on the other hand Miami had won something like four out of its last five games and hadn’t given up a goal for four games.

Peak conditions for MLS randomness - sometimes you get results that don’t make much sense. I chalk last night’s result up to that. RBNJ are still a bad team.

If NYCFC wants to be a top team, they need 9 points from the derby games. There can’t be any more mystique about playing “away” at RBA and it feels like the derby has less juice than in prior years.
 
alan kelly and crew enjoying another controversial call for philly's first goal. gotta love that type of consistency.
 
alan kelly and crew enjoying another controversial call for philly's first goal. gotta love that type of consistency.

2 things about that goal.

1. Philadelphia throws an Orlando player to the ground. The AR flags it, but the referee doesn't blow the whistle. Orlando get possession and start a counterattack and then Philadelphia get the ball back. So, that throwing down is not part of the attacking phase of play. Therefore, VAR can't overturn is for a common foul. However, it were to be deemed violent conduct and a clear and obvious error then the goal would be overturned and a red card issued.

2. Montero from Philadelphia is offside when the ball is struck. The AR doesn't raise his flag. However the Orlando player comes to the referee to signal offside and in the view of the keeper obstructing his view. Not overturned for that either.
 
my comment was sarcasm about how alan kelly & crew tend to be involved in "controversial" calls. Use of quotes because i personally didn't think it was controversial but Twellman's commentary made it seem like it was.
Got it. I only saw the clip which cut off before most of Twellman's histrionics.
 
Double ETA: I'd love to see a compilation clip of announcers saying things like that, followed by text showing the team went 4-6-4 the rest of the way. I think Soup, and I, and maybe 10 other people would watch the hell out of it, and everyone else would shrug.
Oh man, if there was a way to easily search game commentary transcriptions to find those comments, I would definitely put in the time to put that together.
 
For a while the conventional wisdom, which I shared, was that NYCFC probably would have done much better if it came into the league under the same expansion rules that applied to Atlanta and LAFC.

Watching what Claudio has managed in Austin tells me that's not all that clear. I realize there are other differences - scouting, budget, etc - but Atlanta and LAFC still look like outliers even under the new rules. Hell, Miami had all the benefits ATL and LAFC had, plus broke the rules to have 4-5 DPs, and still struggled. It's fair to say NYCFC didn't have the same opportunity those clubs had, but I'm not so sure it comes together until 2016 anyway.
 
For a while the conventional wisdom, which I shared, was that NYCFC probably would have done much better if it came into the league under the same expansion rules that applied to Atlanta and LAFC.

Watching what Claudio has managed in Austin tells me that's not all that clear. I realize there are other differences - scouting, budget, etc - but Atlanta and LAFC still look like outliers even under the new rules. Hell, Miami had all the benefits ATL and LAFC had, plus broke the rules to have 4-5 DPs, and still struggled. It's fair to say NYCFC didn't have the same opportunity those clubs had, but I'm not so sure it comes together until 2016 anyway.
Honestly I think having the constraints we did in 2015 were probably a good thing in the long run even if they were a detriment that year. It made it so Kreis and co didn’t make a huge black hole of a roster that probably would have swallowed up most of 2016 as well. I’m looking at Miami who’s finally putting together a nice run but imagine having all that big money sunk into a roster and it didn’t perform and not being able to pívot and get replacements because you are already at or close to your max spending.
 
FC Dallas fired Luchi Gonzalez. Kind of a surprise.

it seems this year teams are firing coaches in middle of season, this was rare before in MLS where normally they wait till the end of the year.. Atlanta/ FC Dallas/ Toronto/ RSL- lost theirs as be became assistant at Seattle/ Vancouver/
 

I still like the columns, but the Atlanta cheerleading in the last few weeks of the Power Rankings commentary is starting to annoy me.
I'll just drop this here:
Atlanta is on a great run. 7-1-0 in their last 8 games. But 6 of those 8 were at home, including the last 4 in a row. To be fair, it's not automatic that you buzzsaw through an easy schedule. They also don't have the toughest schedule remaining, but the Cupcake Run is over.
 

I still like the columns, but the Atlanta cheerleading in the last few weeks of the Power Rankings commentary is starting to annoy me.
I'll just drop this here:
Atlanta is on a great run. 7-1-0 in their last 8 games. But 6 of those 8 were at home, including the last 4 in a row. To be fair, it's not automatic that you buzzsaw through an easy schedule. They also don't have the toughest schedule remaining, but the Cupcake Run is over.
Fair point. Not only were nearly all the 8 at home, but all but 2 were against teams currently below the line. The 2 above the line consisted of a 3-0 smackdown of Orlando, and a 2-0 loss to Nashville - both at home.

They have 9 games left, with a more balanced 5 away and 4 home, but still only 3 of 9 above the line.
 
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