MLS - April 6 - Atlanta (Home - CF)

[ZYanksRule]

Before the game, -- and again during the game -- they had a stat on the scoreboard that NYCFC has the youngest team in MLS. I'm not sure that's the flex they think it is.

Bakrar wouldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. I know the analytics folks will tell us finishing is luck and not talent, but it seems like talent with Bakrar. And it feels like a talent he doesn't have.

This looks exactly the same as last year. And we know this roster is much better than last year. The only thing that's the same is the coach. 23 shots, 2 SOG is on the players to be sure, but at this point, I don't think this team can win with Cushing at the helm. Too many guys are regressing and not improving.

I was shocked at how good the crowd was tonight. It was really cold out there, and the stands were packed and loud. Damn impressive display from the fans to show up in weather that, while on paper wasn't that cold, was absolutely freezing in the stadium.

Does anyone know who Santi went to celebrate with after his goal? I couldn't tell who that was.

Saving grace tonight is that I was out of the parking lot two minutes after I got into my car and made it home to Westchester in under 30 minutes. Lot E for the win!

 

[Joe_Cos]

Before the game, -- and again during the game -- they had a stat on the scoreboard that NYCFC has the youngest team in MLS. I'm not sure that's the flex they think it is.

Bakrar wouldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. I know the analytics folks will tell us finishing is luck and not talent, but it seems like talent with Bakrar. And it feels like a talent he doesn't have.

This looks exactly the same as last year. And we know this roster is much better than last year. The only thing that's the same is the coach. 23 shots, 2 SOG is on the players to be sure, but at this point, I don't think this team can win with Cushing at the helm. Too many guys are regressing and not improving.

I was shocked at how good the crowd was tonight. It was really cold out there, and the stands were packed and loud. Damn impressive display from the fans to show up in weather that, while on paper wasn't that cold, was absolutely freezing in the stadium.

Does anyone know who Santi went to celebrate with after his goal? I couldn't tell who that was.

Saving grace tonight is that I was out of the parking lot two minutes after I got into my car and made it home to Westchester in under 30 minutes. Lot E for the win!

I believe Santi hug the gentleman who he is a Military Vet who helps the team as a mentally coach I believe Glenn said on the radio.

 

[canchon]

Atlanta United’s backup striker had one chance and put it in the back of the net. (And has 3 goals already.)

NYCFC’s starting striker hasn’t put one in the back of the net yet this year.

Organiational Failure.

 

[LIexpat]

What was with the water break around the 22nd min ?

 

[ZYanksRule]

Atlanta United’s backup striker had one chance and put it in the back of the net. (And has 3 goals already.)

NYCFC’s starting striker hasn’t put one in the back of the net yet this year.

Organiational Failure.

Once Jovan is available again, Bakrar can not continue to start. He was a panic signing last summer when we didn't have any strikers and we just had to bring someone -- anyone -- in. He's not it. Can't continue to do the same thing and expect different results.

 

[ZYanksRule]

What was with the water break around the 22nd min ?

I was wondering the same thing -- I just looked back at the Apple broadcast, they said it was related to Ramadan.

 

[LIexpat]

I was wondering the same thing -- I just looked back at the Apple broadcast, they said it was related to Ramadan.

Ok that makes sense now but was confused at the stadium

 

[KevinJRogers]

I was wondering the same thing -- I just looked back at the Apple broadcast, they said it was related to Ramadan.

Yes, leagues all over the world are pausing play at sundown to allow their Muslim players to break their daily fast and get some nutrition during the match. Ramadan ends on Tuesday.

Whether fasting has anything to do with Bakrar's shooting woes, I have no idea, but at the very least we know he'll be able to get fully loaded for kickoff against New England.

Anyway, I had today as a draw in my book before the news about Giakoumakis came down, so had we won today, I would have tallied it as stealing a couple points. As it is, we need two wins and a draw out of the next three.

Then comes six games in May.

 

[Revfugee]

Just finished watching.

I'm actually more concerned about our central defense than i am about Bakrar.

This should have been 1-0 and in the Chanot days it would have been. Add Martins to the Sands/Parks regression list. He and Risa have zero chemistry and he got positively roasted on that goal. That cross cannot be allowed to go through. Just poor positioning and footwork.

Could have been worse if not for Tayvon and Mitja. Case in point at 72' Tayvon has the ball and NOBODY comes to help him out, he has nowhere to go but back and concedes corner. Martins needs to support him there. O'Tool was also good on the ball tonight.

Tayvon actually had a pretty good game (except for the stupid card) Going back ot 2021 when he is confident he is good,. Tonight he was good.

Ref was kinda trash (I htink the Wolf no-call was a clear pen). but hard to get too upset about that.

No confidence that this gets solved by Cushing.

Weakness on set pieces and things like multiple cards for dissent are signs of a poorly managed team.

 

[moogoo]

It could have been worse. ATL had a number of clear chances, and we rarely put them against the ropes. For me, the Bakrar situation is more sad than infuriating, because he really works his ass off. He created several half-chances just out of sheer effort. Same for Santi. But the rest of the team doesn't have the same intensity. Most are looking just mediocre, but one that is really really bad is Risa. I think that he's going to disappoint us more than Bakrar in the long run. Both Lobjanidze and Lennon ran by him several times finding no resistance whatsoever. He's a really weak defender. Gray's crosses are an aberration.

that is simply what happens when you convert a forward to a cb just to get someone back there who can pass. risa is not a true cb. never was, and never will be. he's weak physically, slow, and not particularly strong in the air. his only positive attribute on the back line is his ability to ping balls on a dime across field or behind a backline and he hasn't shown much of that since the first few games.

 

[moogoo]

Just finished watching.

I'm actually more concerned about our central defense than i am about Bakrar.

This should have been 1-0 and in the Chanot days it would have been. Add Martins to the Sands/Parks regression list. He and Risa have zero chemistry and he got positively roasted on that goal. That cross cannot be allowed to go through. Just poor positioning and footwork.

Could have been worse if not for Tayvon and Mitja. Case in point at 72' Tayvon has the ball and NOBODY comes to help him out, he has nowhere to go but back and concedes corner. Martins needs to support him there. O'Tool was also good on the ball tonight.

Tayvon actually had a pretty good game (except for the stupid card) Going back ot 2021 when he is confident he is good,. Tonight he was good.

Ref was kinda trash (I htink the Wolf no-call was a clear pen). but hard to get too upset about that.

No confidence that this gets solved by Cushing.

Weakness on set pieces and things like multiple cards for dissent are signs of a poorly managed team.

absolutely. a good CB would have never let the cross through, but risa is not only a bad CB, he's simply a bad defender. oh, because he wasn't a defender to begin with! his positioning was abysmal and his speed to get out to pressure was even worse. Martins definitely was not expecting the cross, but not knowing that there was someone behind him is very, very poor from a DP CB.

agree gray had a pretty decent game. he had decent crosses and actually tried to go 1v1 on some players. who else do we have that actually tries to isolate and go 1v1 anymore? i don't think we have anybody who actually does it routinely. gabby used to but we know what happened there. magno does and i think when he's healthy he'd give us a good wing threat with 1v1 play.

don't agree wolf's no call was a clear pen. my gut reaction when i watched it live was defender had all ball. *shrug*

overall, i think we created some decent chances and had better ball movement and patterns of attack. we just kind of run out of ideas when we get into the final third most of the time and tend to RUSH things when we should be patient and take forever, when we need to be quick. so many times, we slow the play down and make 3 passes that could easily be 1 to switch the field of play and get into transition. a lot of poor decision making from our young players and even from the more experienced guys. we don't have a leader on the field. martins is the oldest one, but he's not leading on the field. I can't wait for maxi to be back in the 18 because his presence will bring so much. we don't have anybody like him right now and it shows. I do think Santi is stepping up his game this season and I love to see it. He's working his ass off and keeping his head cool. You can see he's giving it his all and trying to live up to his DP status. I can't hate that.

 

[DeGrozz]

I don’t think Bakrar has hit the net once in warmups. That was frightening

Prescient

 

[mgarbowski]

I guess I didn't miss anything by heading upstate for the eclipse instead of going to the game.

MLS Players with minimum 1,000 minutes combined 2023-24:
Bakrar is tied for 5th most xG per game. Tied for worst G-xG per game (with Heber!). He is working hard and getting chances, but he simply cannot put anything in the net. For a while he hit everything straight at the keeper. Lately it seems he just misses the goal altogether.
The guy scored goals in Croatia (as did Heber). He shouldn't be this bad, but he definitely has the yips or something.

Even if Bakrar scored a goal every other game we would barely have more than a goal per game. Nobody else is doing anything either, except Santi. Bakrar is rightfully getting the most attention, but there is a general lack of goal scoring and chance creation on the team.

Once again the MLS xG figures are pretty far off the ASA and Opta figures.
MLS NYC 2.9 ATL 3.5
ASA NYC 2.42. ATL 2.39
Opta NYC 2.45 ATL 1.89
Regardless of which you pick, remember that NYC's number is inflated by the PK, which has a .78 value in Opta (and likely similar in the others). MLS seems to have inflated xG figures.

Last night the announcer initially credited Parks with a goal clearance when it was actually Ilenic, who had just come in. I'm glad I'm not the only one who see the hair from afar and sometimes gets confused.

In fact, Lee is even more culpable than Cushing for this roster. The only wild card is how culpable CFG is for driving this young unproven assets only policy. It’s a horribly selfish blue print at this point.

Replacing Cushing could have a more immediate effect, but I agree David Lee is easily as much to blame as Nick is. Or, as you note, CFG. I don't think CFG mandates this approach per se, but I would guess they let Lee know that maximizing potential profits is a close second priority to winning. If you can do both, great, but it appears David cannot.

The Jovan visa debacle is kind of emblematic of the poor management the last 2-3 years.

 

[KevinJRogers]

risa is not a true cb. never was, and never will be. he's weak physically, slow, and not particularly strong in the air.

I've come to the same conclusion. He's a good player, but his out of position.

So, here's one of the crazy ideas I've had pinging around my head. And let me preface this by saying, a) I'm on some pretty powerful chemo which can make my head swim sometimes (which is why I'm not allowed to drive anymore), and b) I was absolutely crackers to begin with.

What if we paired Tanasijevic with Martins at center-back -- yes, I know he's right-footed, but I'm not sure it makes much of a difference with his game -- and tried Risa at left back? I'm not sure if it would work but were I patrolling the touchline in my football hooligan drip, I'd mess with it on the training ground for sure.

Either way, I prefer the Ninja at center-back anyway.

Here's another bonkers idea: James Sands at left back in a 4-3-3 with Hannes, Keaton and Santi in midfield. (I'm not sure, but I think the Guy from Rye played there a few times with Rangers, yes?)

 

[moogoo]

I guess I didn't miss anything by heading upstate for the eclipse instead of going to the game.

MLS Players with minimum 1,000 minutes combined 2023-24:
Bakrar is tied for 5th most xG per game. Tied for worst G-xG per game (with Heber!). He is working hard and getting chances, but he simply cannot put anything in the net. For a while he hit everything straight at the keeper. Lately it seems he just misses the goal altogether.
The guy scored goals in Croatia (as did Heber). He shouldn't be this bad, but he definitely has the yips or something.

Even if Bakrar scored a goal every other game we would barely have more than a goal per game. Nobody else is doing anything either, except Santi. Bakrar is rightfully getting the most attention, but there is a general lack of goal scoring and chance creation on the team.

Once again the MLS xG figures are pretty far off the ASA and Opta figures.
MLS NYC 2.9 ATL 3.5
ASA NYC 2.42. ATL 2.39
Opta NYC 2.45 ATL 1.89
Regardless of which you pick, remember that NYC's number is inflated by the PK, which has a .78 value in Opta (and likely similar in the others). MLS seems to have inflated xG figures.

Last night the announcer initially credited Parks with a goal clearance when it was actually Ilenic, who had just come in. I'm glad I'm not the only one who see the hair from afar and sometimes gets confused.


Replacing Cushing could have a more immediate effect, but I agree David Lee is easily as much to blame as Nick is. Or, as you note, CFG. I don't think CFG mandates this approach per se, but I would guess they let Lee know that maximizing potential profits is a close second priority to winning. If you can do both, great, but it appears David cannot.

The Jovan visa debacle is kind of emblematic of the poor management the last 2-3 years.

Parks can't put chances on frame either and he had a couple decent chances with good looks at goal. And they end up going far off target

 

[gbservis]

I've come to the same conclusion. He's a good player, but his out of position.

So, here's one of the crazy ideas I've had pinging around my head. And let me preface this by saying, a) I'm on some pretty powerful chemo which can make my head swim sometimes (which is why I'm not allowed to drive anymore), and b) I was absolutely crackers to begin with.

What if we paired Tanasijevic with Martins at center-back -- yes, I know he's right-footed, but I'm not sure it makes much of a difference with his game -- and tried Risa at left back? I'm not sure if it would work but were I patrolling the touchline in my football hooligan drip, I'd mess with it on the training ground for sure.

Either way, I prefer the Ninja at center-back anyway.

Here's another bonkers idea: James Sands at left back in a 4-3-3 with Hannes, Keaton and Santi in midfield. (I'm not sure, but I think the Guy from Rye played there a few times with Rangers, yes?)

I think Risa is still carrying an injury that's affecting him. He looked decent last year when he arrived and he's losing a lot of foot races recently that we have seen him win in the past. I don't disagree that he's been bad our last few games but it might be worth reserving judgment until he recovers from whatever lower-body injury he seems to be dealing with.

 

[KevinJRogers]

I think Risa is still carrying an injury that's affecting him. He looked decent last year when he arrived and he's losing a lot of foot races recently that we have seen him win in the past. I don't disagree that he's been bad our last few games but it might be worth reserving judgment until he recovers from whatever lower-body injury he seems to be dealing with.

Very good point. His loss of pace has been noticeable, and given his age, it profiles as an injury.

 

[KevinJRogers]

I guess I didn't miss anything by heading upstate for the eclipse instead of going to the game.

I hope you waved going by. (I'm just off Exit 9 on the Northway, so if you took a shot straight north you passed through town.)