MLS - April 15 - Nashville (Home)

Couldn’t make it out tonight, had a work show at the Garden. And missing again next week — this rigid Saturday Evening schedule is killing me (and I have a theory it’s also killing overall chatter about the team/league, but that’s for another discussion).

In any case, just watched. Other than the botched coverage on the goal and the poor organization killing off the match, no complaints. Flashes of real quality from almost everyone, no persistent areas of weakness, we continue to play top sides tough, and we are pretty tight defensively. Not to mention, we could easily have had two more and that’s not really true of Nash. This team has a lot of talent and it feels like it’s progressing weekly.

And we still need a freaking striker.

Wish I coulda been there…solid match.
 
Really. He keeps this pace he’ll miss 5-6 games for yellow cards suspensions.
Ilenic is right behind him - I think he has a yellow in each of the last 4 games.

Certain players' inability to avoid yellows is going to cost this team at some point in the year.
 
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It seemed to me that we pressed a bit more than usual since Nick took over. I'm curious if others agree.
Daniel Lovitz was hilariously pissed off with the field mike.
Generally, it seemed Nashville took a very long time on throw-ins, corners and free kicks, even though they were behind, and for even more obscure reasons, the fans were booing them when they did so.
Chapman kind of let the players bounce each other around and I liked it. I'd like to know the rationale for stopping our quick free kick late, though our guys seemed not to object.
Nashville is not the team you want to face when you're hoping to bust out of an offensive slump. On the other hand, they're not likely to drop 3+ on us either.
Well I was certainly at least half right. As for the NYCFC offense, it's the second most goals scored this year, and third highest xG, which is pretty good against a team who conceded twice in 7 games previous. But it's still a struggle to generate offense.
Barraza had what looks like black tape up the right side of his neck. Anyone know what it is?
I did get a 10% discount on beer.
 
The Nashville player kicking the microphone at the late stages of the match was exceptionally funny and maddening.
 
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Barraza had what looks like black tape up the right side of his neck. Anyone know what it is?
Kinesio tape. He hurt his right arm diving left in the first half, they taped him up at the break.
 
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Anyone else feel like we're playing through the goalie more than previously? Johnson was available for passes, but it seems like going through Barraza is the plan.

Looking at the data, there may be a Cushing effect too. Sean passes a lot more in 2022 than the two previous seasons.

Barraza 2023: 33.75 passes per game (8 games)
Johnson 2022: 30.4 passes per game (34 games)
Johnson 2021: 23.5 passes per game (29 games)
Johnson 2020: 25.3 passes per game (23 games)

stats from fbref

TotalShortMediumLong
PlayerSpanNationPosSquad90sCmpAttCmp%TotDistPrgDistCmpAttCmp%CmpAttCmp%CmpAttCmp%AstxAGxAA-xAGKP1/3PPACrsPAPrgP
Luis Barraza2023us USAGKNYCFC8.027034578.3627430044444100.018218697.84411338.900.00.00.002100
Sean Johnson2022us USAGKNYCFC34.01034131278.8257651689218218399.561561899.523449946.900.00.00.008100
Sean Johnson2021us USAGKNYCFC29.068285080.2175251215313914198.635836498.418234153.410.40.0+0.626100
Sean Johnson2020us USAGKNYCFC23.058377675.1150441034810310598.132733298.515032945.600.50.1-0.516100
 
Anyone else feel like we're playing through the goalie more than previously? Johnson was available for passes, but it seems like going through Barraza is the plan.

Looking at the data, there may be a Cushing effect too. Sean passes a lot more in 2022 than the two previous seasons.

Barraza 2023: 33.75 passes per game (8 games)
Johnson 2022: 30.4 passes per game (34 games)
Johnson 2021: 23.5 passes per game (29 games)
Johnson 2020: 25.3 passes per game (23 games)

stats from fbref

PlayerSpanNationPosSquad90sCmpAttCmp%TotDistPrgDistCmpAttCmp%CmpAttCmp%CmpAttCmp%AstxAGxAA-xAGKP1/3PPACrsPAPrgP
TotalShortMediumLong
Luis Barraza2023us USAGKNYCFC8.027034578.3627430044444100.018218697.84411338.900.00.00.002100
Sean Johnson2022us USAGKNYCFC34.01034131278.8257651689218218399.561561899.523449946.900.00.00.008100
Sean Johnson2021us USAGKNYCFC29.068285080.2175251215313914198.635836498.418234153.410.40.0+0.626100
Sean Johnson2020us USAGKNYCFC23.058377675.1150441034810310598.132733298.515032945.600.50.1-0.516100
I do remember mention that Sean wasn't a great passing game and wasn't good with his feet, which is why they eased him into it? And I also remember hearing that Luis is very good with his feet - so this might be related?
 
Anyone else feel like we're playing through the goalie more than previously? Johnson was available for passes, but it seems like going through Barraza is the plan.

Looking at the data, there may be a Cushing effect too. Sean passes a lot more in 2022 than the two previous seasons.

Barraza 2023: 33.75 passes per game (8 games)
Johnson 2022: 30.4 passes per game (34 games)
Johnson 2021: 23.5 passes per game (29 games)
Johnson 2020: 25.3 passes per game (23 games)

stats from fbref

PlayerSpanNationPosSquad90sCmpAttCmp%TotDistPrgDistCmpAttCmp%CmpAttCmp%CmpAttCmp%AstxAGxAA-xAGKP1/3PPACrsPAPrgP
TotalShortMediumLong
Luis Barraza2023us USAGKNYCFC8.027034578.3627430044444100.018218697.84411338.900.00.00.002100
Sean Johnson2022us USAGKNYCFC34.01034131278.8257651689218218399.561561899.523449946.900.00.00.008100
Sean Johnson2021us USAGKNYCFC29.068285080.2175251215313914198.635836498.418234153.410.40.0+0.626100
Sean Johnson2020us USAGKNYCFC23.058377675.1150441034810310598.132733298.515032945.600.50.1-0.516100
I had not noticed that, and honestly find it surprising. But those numbers kind of pop.
 
With Segal a non factor and ledezma doing well, does Santi at the false nine make sense? Has the pressing attitude needed (which ledezma also showed well last night) and if he leads the press it could be quite effective allowing him to drive to goal and play off magno Pereira and ledezma. Would be a decent solution until a real nine is in.
 
I'll only say that Barraza allows for too many rebounds on saves and that's going to cost us at some point.

He makes the saves, but tends to put the rebounds in dangerous positions. I know he's been good, but I really am interested in seeing what Freese can bring at some point. It's been eight games, hoping there's a good spot to get Freese a game aside from USOC.

Generally speaking, Barraza has been better than I expected. Good in distribution and making all the saves. Still would like to see what Freese looks like at some point.
 
With Segal a non factor and ledezma doing well, does Santi at the false nine make sense? Has the pressing attitude needed (which ledezma also showed well last night) and if he leads the press it could be quite effective allowing him to drive to goal and play off magno Pereira and ledezma. Would be a decent solution until a real nine is in.

Kevin O’Toole, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
 
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He makes the saves, but tends to put the rebounds in dangerous positions. I know he's been good, but I really am interested in seeing what Freese can bring at some point. It's been eight games, hoping there's a good spot to get Freese a game aside from USOC.

Generally speaking, Barraza has been better than I expected. Good in distribution and making all the saves. Still would like to see what Freese looks like at some point.
But if we start Freese, Philly gets another 750k in GAM. I think Lee/Cushing are waiting until that extra GAM passes so we don't have to send Philly more GAM.
 
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But if we start Freese, Philly gets another 750k in GAM. I think Lee/Cushing are waiting until that extra GAM passes so we don't have to send Philly more GAM.

I would severely hope that is not the reason Barraza is starting. I would hope the reason is that Freese has never had to play with his feet and that he's working in practice to get more comfortable with our style.
 
He makes the saves, but tends to put the rebounds in dangerous positions. I know he's been good, but I really am interested in seeing what Freese can bring at some point. It's been eight games, hoping there's a good spot to get Freese a game aside from USOC.

Generally speaking, Barraza has been better than I expected. Good in distribution and making all the saves. Still would like to see what Freese looks like at some point.
One thing about Barraza is that he has an absolute hammer of a right foot. I remember seeing this in one of the games he started last year.

This season we saw it Sat night when he bombed a goal kick over the heads of the Nashville defenders for Perreira to run onto, and Perreira almost got to it. We tried that earlier in the season too. It’s a good play because there can’t be offsides on a goal kick.
 
Ilenic is going to be terrific. May be the fastest guy on the team. He played really well.

Ledezma played great. Please give him a run of games underneath the Striker. Created opportunities.

Talles was invisible. I’m over him. Just done with him. Gabby wasn’t good either. Segal isn’t the solution up top. We know that.

Sands was my MOTM. Not sure who got it in the stadium. But watch him play. Good job by Cushing. They saw something on video I think about Nashville counter attacking. Once we built up play, Sands would remove himself from the offensive possession and man mark Mukhtar out of the counter opportunity. He was his shadow while we had possession in the offensive third. And he did a great job at it.

Barazza has a hammer for a right leg. Love his distribution. But those commenting about his saves are correct. He’s short with short arms. Other keepers straight up smother some of those shots.