Gray rarely went more than 2/3 up the pitch. He was an almost 3rd CB. That's a defensive set. That's why Gray started over Ilenic. AHABS zero goals makes it look like that was a bad game plan. But 2.5+ xG suggests otherwise.
MLS - August 20 - Minnesota (Home)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
At least Maxi gets some fresh air and exercise in his retirement league.
Nice to see Julian trying things, which we've sorely missed this year. He and Bakrar on the field together should be fun.
Nice to see Julian trying things, which we've sorely missed this year. He and Bakrar on the field together should be fun.
I always appreciate your measured takes as a balance to any of my subjective instincts, but I have to disagree with this portion of your response. I don't believe Sands had a good game - and he has been average at best recently - but on the Gregus goal he was left out to dry by Pellegrini. Watching the full play, it is Pellegrini's poor touch that give the ball to Gregus. Then, immediately prior to the goal, Pellegrini makes a move towards Gregus which causes Sands to settle in a central position under the assumption that Pellegrini will challenge the ball. However, Pellegrini only lunges, stopping his move towards Gregus abruptly and leaving him with free space in front of the penalty area. Sands is surprised by this and has to scramble forward. He does somehow get his foot on the shot, but that leads to the fluky deflection that has the ball in the top corner of the net.
The goal is the result of a deflection, and I am not sure one can blame Sands for making a recovery move after Pellegrini left him hanging. Pellegrini started that run of play with a bad pass and exacerbated it with his aborted lurch. Whatever percentage of blame one might assign, the significant majority goes to Pellegrini.
I fully agree. He is a top level assistant. His defensive mindset leads to his lineup and substitution patterns, both of which are opposite of what this team currently needs. If they lose, so be it, but they need to lose 3-2 and not 1-0 to try and find a spark.
Blocking out the rest of the season, this simply looked like a game we mostly dominated, played mostly succinctly, and our striker missed two or three opportunities that he should have finished. But for the rest of the season, this would have felt like one of those games when that happens. But unfortunately that doesn’t work this season for the reasons we have discussed.
Cushing clearly was hung out to dry this season so he doesn’t deserve as much blame as he has gotten. But everyone deserves some of it including him. (Bringing in Talles up top to chase a goal was baffling, yet both an indictment on NC for actually doing it and club for providing one f’ng 9 option). And there is so much frustration and bad feeling, it’s time to move on from him and focus on building chemistry and tactics for a more promising next season.
I look forward to watching the rest of the season as if it’s preseason, watch some kids and new players, not worry about the results, and enjoy a few beers.
Cushing clearly was hung out to dry this season so he doesn’t deserve as much blame as he has gotten. But everyone deserves some of it including him. (Bringing in Talles up top to chase a goal was baffling, yet both an indictment on NC for actually doing it and club for providing one f’ng 9 option). And there is so much frustration and bad feeling, it’s time to move on from him and focus on building chemistry and tactics for a more promising next season.
I look forward to watching the rest of the season as if it’s preseason, watch some kids and new players, not worry about the results, and enjoy a few beers.
I got a kick out of gazing down on
LionNYC and watching him greet the bench players as they came by with a handshake or fist bump - until Talles Magno. No handshake given or received.
LionNYC and watching him greet the bench players as they came by with a handshake or fist bump - until Talles Magno. No handshake given or received.
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On a completely other note, I really liked the NYC Parks jersey. The light blue piping which I was skeptical about at first was super striking when I saw the players on the field. I enjoyed the Cream lettering too. It looked very classy even if it did remind me of watching Portland.
Both of my summer teams that I support have the same issue. A bad roster construction that hamstrung the manager. In both cases, the general manager/sporting director is the one who should take the fall, but it's almost certainly going to be the manager who gets the blame and gets the axe. Nick could have done better this year, but he was forced to coach with 3 limbs tied behind his back.
I firmly believe the front office determined these signings were for 2024 and that whatever happened in 2023 was gravy. I kind of feel the same way about the rest of this season as you do. If we get in the playoffs, great. If we don't, it's not the end of the world. Every team in this league misses the playoffs from time to time, maybe this is our time.
NYCFC has made 7 straight postseason appearances -- tied for the 8th longest streak in league history. The biggest teams in MLS miss the playoffs and have bad seasons, we are not immune from that. Atlanta has missed the playoffs, we all know how crappy LA Galaxy have been. D.C. United has been atrocious for years, as has Chicago. Portland and Seattle have both been shaky recently. Sporting KC has been trash. These are all big teams in this league. It happens, and there's very little way to avoid it with the salary cap.
I was greeting the new guys mostly...I got a kick out of gazing down on
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If Nick subs Talles for Bakrar again, I'm going to say something loudly to him. Talles is a left winger and left winger only. The only sub on this team for Bakrar should be Gabe Segal.
This is going to be an unpopular comment, but now that we finally have quality players around the striker, especially a real No. 10, I want to see if that helps Talles. It probably won't because he was lost last year after Taty left, but I want to see what having Maxi around does for his production. Talles scored 10 goals and 10 assists last year. He didn't forget how to play soccer over the last 12 months. Taty wouldn't have been Taty without the pieces around him he could play off. I want to see what happens when Talles is finally getting service. Obviously he's still the backup, but it really isn't so crazy to put him in at the No. 9 in a backup capacity.
Well I was definitely wrong on not thinking he could start or go as long as he did. He looked like he's been playing the whole season.
On a positive note, I do appreciate that Citi is taking the handling of unruly fans to a new level and threatening immediate extinction.
What did Talles do wrong yesterday?
When he entered, he was lively and direct. Had a shot with one of first touches, and he created chances.
He should have started at wing, but when he entered as a substitute yesterday, he was a positive.
He didn’t do anything wrong. He just shouldn’t be playing up top. His shot is weak and he always looks confused there.
Fair enough. I was just having fun. I had spotted you shaking hands with the first group that went by and then grabbed my phone to watch you do it with the rest, so I was surprised with Talles. The next and final group entered a different way.
The ref stopped the game for a moment because someone threw something on the pitch. The announcer misspoke (maybe?) and said that doing things like that could lead to your “immediate extinction” from the stadium.
