I have finally had a chance to rewatch the match on my dvr and also review the WhoScored.com stats. The stats that stood out to me the most are:
Mix once again led both teams in touches (97) and passes (77; 88% accurate). Nguyen on the other hand only had 35 touches and 29 passes (82%). Tierney had 14!!! crosses in that match and, despite only completing 2 of them, it seemed like all 14 were dangerous. He looks like a top fullback in MLS. As well as Saunders played, and he did play quite well, Shuttleworth was the best player for NE (8.1 rating and 7 saves). Villa was of course the MOTM (8.8 rating) with 67 touches, 3 key passes, 6 shots (5 on target) and 1 goal. Villa was also caught offside 4 times, but he was playing very aggressively going forward and you have to love that. To compare, Villa had 67 touches and Nguyen, Agudelo and Davies combined for 79 touches. The possession battle was evenly split 50/50 but NYCFC had 20 shots (9 on target) to NE's 11 shots. All in all, it was a great display offensively and we should have scored more goals. Defensively, well, let's just say it was an adventure.
