MLS - August 28 - New England (Home)

[Shwafta]

The math for catching New England is near impossible, unless they slump in a really exceptional way. Revs can go just 4-4-3 and still have 64 points, which is probably our reasonable best hope, absent a ridiculous hot streak.

Nashville has only 4 home games left (8 Away) and I doubt they can keep pace with us.
Orlando has Away games at ATL, NER, NAS, PHI, CLB, and MTL (plus CIN).
Our Away is similarly ATL, NER, NAS, (and CIN), and also RBx2, CHI and MIA. Much easier.

So for me the bottom line is - though not getting 3-4 points in the next 2 would disappoint - I don't think they matter in terms of finishing #2 in the East. Seattle and SKC are reasonable stretch goals. There, if we get 16 of 18 points at home, and 14 of 24 Away (say 4-2-2), that's 30 more and 64 total points, and probably (IMO) better than SEA and SKC. This does not require beating Nashville or the Revs. Win 4 of ATL, RB, RB, CIN, CHI and MIA plus 2 ties combined against the other 2 or from NAS and NER. That's doable. It means becoming a very good road team again, but we don't have to start in our next 2 toughest remaining games.

ETA: Get 4 or somehow 6 from the next 2 and you can start to dream, but even then catching the Revs is tough.

If we win both of those we're only 6 behind NE. Catching 6 points is pretty difficult, but not impossible. And we just killed a Revs 19 game unbeaten run, you never know what happens to a team when an unbeaten run like that is broken. (i.e. columbus) - if they hit a bad streak of 3-4 games, we could see a nice opportunity to catch up. Sure, it's HIGHLY unlikely... but it's not impossible.

And I agree with lion about the away form, but I think with the right hot streak and timing we can end that bad away streak. The boys can get it done, I have faith.

 

[moogoo]

 

[Kjbert]

Just wanted to chime in and eat some crow on Taty. If he plays like that every game, we have to be the favorite in the East.

I had my son with me on Saturday night. He had two games earlier in the day and the coach had them focus on things like reversing the field of play and making runs when your teammates are in the box. So I told him to watch Taty all night. I of course did as well. He was an absolute terror on Saturday night. All of the little things he does we already know. But this was the first time I really just focused in on him for 75 minutes. Watch him time his runs. Watch him communicate. He’s a really intelligent player.

Let’s hope his finishing is consistent now. If it is, we should come out of the East.

 

[Kjbert]

Has anyone mentioned the air raid siren we played before the match and the lights going off?

As an Everton fan, I’m a sucker for the air raid siren. Doesn’t work in a 3/4 empty stadium but I hope they keep it for the long haul.

 

[Revfugee]

they signed bou and gil. i'd say that's pretty good. but yea... much longer without a stadium. they have no grounds to bitch.

Bou and Gil are basically the only two successful X-North American, let alone DP, signings in a 25 year history.
After grinding their fan base down for years, they brought in competent management only when backed against a wall of total irrelevance. Arena is a great MLS manager but also the only option they were able to recognize. I’ll wager that when he decides to quit they will be in the dumper for another 10-15 years. They did have some success under Steve Nicol but he succeeded with little financial support. The backbone of those teams were all cheap, relatively obscure signings (Joseph, Dempsey, Parkhurst) who massively overachieved. They never signed that extra star to put them over the top and they consequently never won any MLS hardware (still haven’t). And their history of bungling talent relations (e.g. Parkhurst, Nguyen) is unmatched in MLS. We have watched more high quality attractive football at NYCFC just this season than Revs fans got to see for stretches that lasted 8-10 years at a time.
Bou and Gil don’t come close to offsetting that.

 

[canchon]

The goal should be to finish #2 in the East and second overall in MLS in points.

This sets them up with home field throughout the playoffs if the Revs lose in the playoffs AND doesn’t leave them with the #1 bye (which can disrupt the rhythm of the team).

That is the path to MLS Cup. The Yankees are long gone by then and all games would be in Yankee Stadium. Bring it.

 

[LionNYC]

The goal should be to finish #2 in the East and second overall in MLS in points.

This sets them up with home field throughout the playoffs if the Revs lose in the playoffs AND doesn’t leave them with the #1 bye (which can disrupt the rhythm of the team).

That is the path to MLS Cup. The Yankees are long gone by then and all games would be in Yankee Stadium. Bring it.

This is kind of what happened in 2019. LAFC won the Supporters' Shield, we won the East (2nd overall). Seattle beat LAFC in the Western Conference finals so we would have hosted MLS Cup should we have won out (but we lost to...well, you already know how that went down...).

 

[canchon]

This is kind of what happened in 2019. LAFC won the Supporters' Shield, we won the East (2nd overall). Seattle beat LAFC in the Western Conference finals so we would have hosted MLS Cup should we have won out (but we lost to...well, you already know how that went down...).

 

[Antidote P. Smiley]

Scored a banger for Cincy recently though…
Knew he had it in him.
Also, almost had that Citi field memory filed down to mere shavings until now…

 

[Kjbert]

He’s still the best LB we’ve ever had

 

[Aleeksa]

Welp! Back to therapy I go...

 

[mgarbowski]

MLS Podcast I never heard of spending 33 minutes on why NYCFC is "filthy good," focused on the New England game.

https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/TAMC1168649921?selected=TAMC8166396789

 

[Brooklyn Blue]

MLS Podcast I never heard of spending 33 minutes on why NYCFC is "filthy good," focused on the New England game.

https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/TAMC1168649921?selected=TAMC8166396789

MLS Assist is an offshoot of the Total Soccer Show. It is decent - but I’d recommend TSS first as a good general soccer podcast.

 

[Revfugee]

He’s still the best LB we’ve ever had

Certainly the most attractive. But also the most error prone. The former does not offset the latter. We did well to sell him. And BTW after that recent banger the team collapsed and lost. Which seems to follow some guys around.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Certainly the most attractive. But also the most error prone. The former does not offset the latter. We did well to sell him. And BTW after that recent banger the team collapsed and lost. Which seems to follow some guys around.

We were never winning anything with him on the roster. Great player, but his propensity to just lose his mind in playoffs and big moments like derbies was too much. We did well to move on from him.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Certainly the most attractive. But also the most error prone. The former does not offset the latter. We did well to sell him. And BTW after that recent banger the team collapsed and lost. Which seems to follow some guys around.

Definitely error prone, but I'd argue Ben Sweat takes the cake for our most error prone LB.

 

[Revfugee]

When I say "error prone" I'm talking about the mental side, specifically costing us goals. Ben Sweat had a lot of limitations and was far less talented physically than Mata, but he was no worse (and IMHO better) than Mata on marking; he was more likely to get beaten on purely physical terms, though. There was a reason that PV played Sweat over a healthy Mata so often. I was always harder on Mata than Sweat because Mata had a higher ceiling and should have had a higher floor but often didn't show that.

 

[Kjbert]

We were never winning anything with him on the roster. Great player, but his propensity to just lose his mind in playoffs and big moments like derbies was too much. We did well to move on from him.

He wasn’t the guy holding us back

 

[Revfugee]

He wasn’t the guy holding us back

That’s a funny thing to say, given that (trigger warning!) he was directly and indisputably responsible for our premature playoff exit in 2019. Hard to draw a more direct line to “holding us back” than that.

 

[moogoo]

That’s a funny thing to say, given that (trigger warning!) he was directly and indisputably responsible for our premature playoff exit in 2019. Hard to draw a more direct line to “holding us back” than that.

arguably.. you could lay that blame on chanot's blind header back pass, which was readily punished by pozuelo.