definitely.
i worry about the team chemistry though. lots of frustration being thrown around between players tonight. and it is showing in our lack of chemistry.
MLS - August 13 - Miami (Away)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
definitely.
i worry about the team chemistry though. lots of frustration being thrown around between players tonight. and it is showing in our lack of chemistry.
Interestingly Maxi came over to the visiting supporters section and was signing autographs and taking pictures with fans after the game and was the past player to leave the field. I dont think he was eager to get back into the locker room after the dustup with Santi. I am not sure what Maxi got so pissed off about. Santi was trying to dribble through the entire Miami D instead of making the smart pass, but he is a passionate young player.
Generally I thought we moved the ball side-to-side too slowly. That ball movement can and should be better. One part of the game that was odd that you probably couldnt see on tv is that we were a little reluctant to get the ball to an open Malte -- and as soon as we did he was pressed unusually aggressively. Not sure what that was about.
Remember when Heber went down and we didnt have a striker to replace him but put a 'winger' in the 9 instead. The results havent followed, but I am glad we are going with Magno/Heber. We arent going to win the Supporters Shield this year, but we can win a trophy on 9/14 and in MLS the most important thing a team can do is win its final 3-4 games (and have those wins count).
Final point, I dont know if Cushing is intentionally dialing back the press during the summer during all of these games in hot weather and then will dial the press up at the end of the season when the games matter more or whether his pressing scheme is just more positional than Ronny's (and we dont have Taty). I am ok with the former, and am definitely not sold on his pressing scheme if its the latter.
Oh, yeah. SJ is a beast.
Generally I thought we moved the ball side-to-side too slowly. That ball movement can and should be better. One part of the game that was odd that you probably couldnt see on tv is that we were a little reluctant to get the ball to an open Malte -- and as soon as we did he was pressed unusually aggressively. Not sure what that was about.
Remember when Heber went down and we didnt have a striker to replace him but put a 'winger' in the 9 instead. The results havent followed, but I am glad we are going with Magno/Heber. We arent going to win the Supporters Shield this year, but we can win a trophy on 9/14 and in MLS the most important thing a team can do is win its final 3-4 games (and have those wins count).
Final point, I dont know if Cushing is intentionally dialing back the press during the summer during all of these games in hot weather and then will dial the press up at the end of the season when the games matter more or whether his pressing scheme is just more positional than Ronny's (and we dont have Taty). I am ok with the former, and am definitely not sold on his pressing scheme if its the latter.
Oh, yeah. SJ is a beast.
I think they new malte is more of a threat and prepared for that coming in. Or were told to press our wing backs high cause we like to use them and clog up the middle otherwise.
Not hard to figure out we have been struggling against aggressive presses.
This is pure speculation, but I wonder if Santi said something to Maxi that set him off. Maybe Santi made a comment about how Maxi gave up on the play on Miami's 2nd goal when we had a guy down or something. Complete speculation, but it seems so out of character for both players.
For what it's worth, no real details from Nick on it (he just says the usual things). But you'd expect the head coach to paper it over. I'm sure we'll learn more about it this week.
i wonder what he means when he says "i asked the team to play this way" what is "this way". would be nice if he went into more detail about that... as in.. did he change things from how Ronny had the team playing.
First, your claim was he adds nothing to the team. He's our most consistently active defender. That's not remarkable in a D-Mid, but he's doing his job.
Second, I addressed his league-wide positional ranking in the next post.
Third, if you can find a TO stat we can discuss. But his pass completion rate noted above is solid. Not exceptional but solid. His successful dribble percentage has him 6th among team starters. His successful pass receiving pct is 98.2% which is 5th among field starters (SJ is 100%). He could be better. He's far from worst in turning the ball over, and he progresses the ball regularly.
Fourth, he's our starting D-Mid with the 7th most minutes (field players) played but he's just the 17th highest paid player on the team. Why do people expect anything better than the somewhat above league average we're getting from him? In a salary capped league he is an outstanding value.
Fifth, I find it inexplicable to complain about Acevedo on a night when
- Talles missed a shot from 1 yard away after he rounded the keeper, which nobody has brought up and I cannot remember a worse miss in team history. Finishing is a perennial complaint but somehow this is ignored.
- Martins was slow to close on the first goal conceded
- Maxi stopped playing on the second goal conceded,
- Morales absolutely gifted Pozuelo on the third goal, and
- Acevedo was playing out of position and had no similar howlers.
I'll look around again later for a clip of the full post-game conference. Haven't found one yet. Good question, though.
I won’t dispute statistics, and I do think Acevedo has a role with the team, but “do no harm” is less inspiring than “do something.”
The concerns with Acevedo fit into a few key categories:
1) He contributes nothing offensively. Morales is a defensive midfielder yet will push the ball forward and have the occasional header off a feee kick. Acevedo never moves forward, makes Ring look like a sharpshooter, and loves horizontal passes.
2) He is slow. Last night it was clear Miami pushed to attack on his side - and it worked. Some of that was positional, much if it was pace to exploit.
Acevedo occupies the same tier as Gray. However, at 19 and a lower salary, Gray has more leeway with fans. Acevedo appears to be at his ceiling - and with the injury to Parks, age of Maxi, and absence of Taty, that ceiling is frustrating and exacerbated.
If Acevedo were a 23 year old domestic MLS lifer, people would have fewer complaints. The lack of upside is emphasized based on NYCFC’s past success with South Americans.
I’m in agreement with Crooks. We have a tendency to drop off into a low block whenever we give the ball away or the attacking team plays out of their own half. We allowed 3 players to complete a couple passes from the half to our box with zero pressure applied and 4-5 of our players surrounding them (5-10 yards off) in each instance. The pressure finally comes and at the wrong time as it’s a CB pulling themselves out of position to apply pressure and create space for them to jog in behind for a clear shot on goal. That’s Chanot running out from his position to apply pressure while Maxi is ball watching and Morales is jogging with the play going back to the initial pass in midfield. It just stinks of a team that doesn’t want to put forth the effort necessary.
this comes down to what many have been saying since cushing took over. the team does not press like they used to with ronny. question is whether this is a summertime strategy or a change in pressing tactics. i think we're all in agreement that it is not working and not sure why cushing has not addressed it, except for the summer time strategy. though if it's coming at a cost of points... you'd think he'd drop that strategy quick.
Definitely. These are not entirely on our defense. It’s our front and midfield allowing players to just walk through them. We’re actively inviting the opposing teams into our 18.
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clearly we haven't been winning games cause there's been no clearcut, beaming smile on anyone! this team plays the best when they (at least look like) are having fun.
I've been saying it since he got hurt: We need a Designated Keaton in every pre-match pic. One guy, one big smile. It's bad karma to not have it.clearly we haven't been winning games cause there's been no clearcut, beaming smile on anyone! this team plays the best when they (at least look like) are having fun.
Watched this one on delay. Considering Callens was out and the difference was two howlers (Maxi stopping and Fredo's brain fart) I'm far less concerned with our personnel (BTW, nice breakdown on Cacha,
mgarbowski, Cacha routinely gets more abuse than he deserves) than I am about basic concentration.
We should have won this game. Our two stud young Brazilians both scored, there was a lot of quality on display from a young team. And offsetting stupidity from our vets, along with a couple of places where Malte and Martins in particular gave too much space to Higuain and either he missed or SJ SJed.
On the Santi-Maxi thing, I'm sure it will blow over and I'm firmly on Maxi's side here. One of the things I see too rarely in soccer is teammates restraining their own guys when they are putting themselves in jeopardy. Santi was clearly being a little bitch and good on Maxi for calling him out. Santi hasn't earned the right to yak back at Maxi yet in situation he himself has created. While Santi's fire is admirable, he'll be a better player if he channels that into his work on the ball. I'm optimistic. Early Taty had the same tendencies but he learned to channel them enough to excel (even if he still picked up too many cards).
I wish we had a little more cover for Keaton's absence and a little more danger right up top. But this team has the players. It just needs to get its head straight. I don't know what it is about this team and August...
mgarbowski, Cacha routinely gets more abuse than he deserves) than I am about basic concentration. We should have won this game. Our two stud young Brazilians both scored, there was a lot of quality on display from a young team. And offsetting stupidity from our vets, along with a couple of places where Malte and Martins in particular gave too much space to Higuain and either he missed or SJ SJed.
On the Santi-Maxi thing, I'm sure it will blow over and I'm firmly on Maxi's side here. One of the things I see too rarely in soccer is teammates restraining their own guys when they are putting themselves in jeopardy. Santi was clearly being a little bitch and good on Maxi for calling him out. Santi hasn't earned the right to yak back at Maxi yet in situation he himself has created. While Santi's fire is admirable, he'll be a better player if he channels that into his work on the ball. I'm optimistic. Early Taty had the same tendencies but he learned to channel them enough to excel (even if he still picked up too many cards).
I wish we had a little more cover for Keaton's absence and a little more danger right up top. But this team has the players. It just needs to get its head straight. I don't know what it is about this team and August...
So, full disclosure, I didn't watch the match as my wife planned a date night beforehand, but I'm wondering if a draw would have been more deserved result than a win.Watched this one on delay. Considering Callens was out and the difference was two howlers (Maxi stopping and Fredo's brain fart) I'm far less concerned with our personnel (BTW, nice breakdown on Cacha,
We should have won this game. Our two stud young Brazilians both scored, there was a lot of quality on display from a young team. And offsetting stupidity from our vets, along with a couple of places where Malte and Martins in particular gave too much space to Higuain and either he missed or SJ SJed.
On the Santi-Maxi thing, I'm sure it will blow over and I'm firmly on Maxi's side here. One of the things I see too rarely in soccer is teammates restraining their own guys when they are putting themselves in jeopardy. Santi was clearly being a little bitch and good on Maxi for calling him out. Santi hasn't earned the right to yak back at Maxi yet in situation he himself has created. While Santi's fire is admirable, he'll be a better player if he channels that into his work on the ball. I'm optimistic. Early Taty had the same tendencies but he learned to channel them enough to excel (even if he still picked up too many cards).
I wish we had a little more cover for Keaton's absence and a little more danger right up top. But this team has the players. It just needs to get its head straight. I don't know what it is about this team and August...
SJ had (from the highlights I saw) two fantastic saves and Higuain flubbed one real bad with his left foot in an incredibly dangerous spot. I do agree with your overall sentiment that it's not time to panic or anything, although Cushing does have some things he needs to get figured out. Just that although two of Miami's goals were complete brainfarts on NYCFC's end, they did have some other chances they weren't able to convert.
