Columbus Crew vs. New York City FC
Saturday, August 31, 7:30 PM ET
Lower.com Field
Apple TV (MLS Season Pass)
Saturday, August 31, 7:30 PM ET
Lower.com Field
Apple TV (MLS Season Pass)
MLS - August 31 - Columbus (Away)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
sigh.
i feel so unenthusiastic about the team right now. almost feels like it's the off season cause there's just so little excitement/buzz.
This should be a big away game coming up. A rematch. Payback for knocking us out. We should be excited. I feel like the club should be hyping up the rematch showdown to get fans excited. Sure, it's only Tuesday but I just feel so blah. The club touts getting more and more season ticket members than ever. Attendance numbers have been going back up. WHERE IS THE HYPE!?
Anyway - I hope we show up to columbus and put on a solid performance. I don't want to be humiliated. I'd be happy with a road point, but 3 points would be amazing. Sad part is, even if Nancy decides to rest players after a long leagues cup run, I'm not sure we could dominate the crew's 2nd string...
i feel so unenthusiastic about the team right now. almost feels like it's the off season cause there's just so little excitement/buzz.
This should be a big away game coming up. A rematch. Payback for knocking us out. We should be excited. I feel like the club should be hyping up the rematch showdown to get fans excited. Sure, it's only Tuesday but I just feel so blah. The club touts getting more and more season ticket members than ever. Attendance numbers have been going back up. WHERE IS THE HYPE!?
Anyway - I hope we show up to columbus and put on a solid performance. I don't want to be humiliated. I'd be happy with a road point, but 3 points would be amazing. Sad part is, even if Nancy decides to rest players after a long leagues cup run, I'm not sure we could dominate the crew's 2nd string...
I'm still recovering from the collapse (yes, that's what I'm calling it, that's what it felt like) Saturday night. Went from kicking off a deep playoff run with momentum from a pretty deep Leagues Cup run to... meh. If we could get 3 points that would be brilliant (rotated Columbus side or not) and would go a long way toward recapturing some excitement, at least for me, but I'm not expecting it.
Yeah, if we can't close out Chicago at home with a two goal lead with 20 minutes left in the game, what are we realistically going the rest of the season? Push it to 3 games in Round One (A, H, A) then exit. This team isn't exciting enough, not enough depth, players are tired. Whatever it is (Cushing), it's just been a malaise since the start of 2023. Sure, we won 5 in a row including three on the road (Toronto, Philadelphia, New England; not great teams this year) in May. Then lost 3. Then won 2. Then lost to Austin. And now drawn 4 in a row. We're not a high caliber team.
Leagues Cup + European leagues + football + collapse and losing lead = lack of enthusiasm.
There are valid reasons for a summer schedule, but MLS consistently misfires in attempts to keep momentum.
final 20-30 mins collapse seems to be this team's MO lately and I think that has to do with mentality. And mentality is something the coach needs to drive into the players. He needs to set the standards and he needs to inspire the players to meet them every game. Our lack of depth in nearly every position except wingers doesn't help and fatigue seems to be more and more of a factor with each game as a result.
I'm not sure what will fix this team to regain the ruthlessness it had when taty & co were still around. Hopefully cushing has an idea.
I've been thinking about this a lot myself. My read is, he went super defensive late in games because we didn't really have the talent and cohesion to compete for a full 90 and he was trying to grab points when he could. Now, he's being more aggressive late and letting us fight, with mixed results. I suspect it's just a function of where we are in squad development.
It's probably just another one of the crappy things we have to go through (I know something about going through crappy things which come in stages, believe me LOL). The squad won't get better if he coddles them too much. There's more suffering to experience before we truly get truly good.
Let's hope getting in a brawl with the Crew will be another positive step.
"Personnel is policy."
Last year the roster was thinner than cheap copy paper. But we had a good defense, and averaged barely more than one goal per game, which usually was scored by the starters because the bench did not exist. So we built, and then blew, a lot of 1-goal leads when other teams brought on fresh legs and we had no counter move. No amount of killer instinct or ruthlessness can fix 35 goals in 34 games.
This year we had a streak during which we won 8 out of 9 games.
We scored after 90' in 4 of the wins.
We scored after 60' in 7 of the wins.
We went from a tie to a lead after 60' in 4 games.
it's the same locker room and the same coach. But,
In 4 of the wins Jones and Martinez came on as subs. We can't do that now.
In another 2 wins both Jones and Bakrar came on as subs. We can only do half of that now, and Bakrar seems to be in the Talles doghouse (more on that later).
In the remaining 2 wins we prevailed with late goals from Perea (currently unavailable) and Fernandez (inconsistent).
Another difference, during the 8/9 streak Freese gave up 0.42 fewer goals per game than xG faced. During the current 5 game winless streak, just 0.16 better than opposing xG. It's not that he's bad, he's just did not sustain an amazing run that almost certainly had to end.
I always look for substantive reasons for good or bad play before ethereal attitude stuff which can never be proven nor disproved. Talent, work rate and ability drive almost every game result, with the rest being because of arbitrary PKs, great goalkeeping, freaky shot deflections, and average players converting bangers at randomly opportune times. Cushing is the same coach now as he was during the 8/9 run, and when the team sucked hard last year. The team needs a better bench, and mostly Bakrar, Fernandez, Ojeda and Mijatovic need to give Cushing reason to believe they can come on late and contribute at a decent level.
Right now the team has one player (Martinez) with 900 minutes and a G/90 above 0.4. Cincinnati has 2, Columbus 3, LAFC 2, LAG 4, Miami 3, RB 3, RSL 3. It's not a mindset. We rank 16th in goals, and sit 10th in the Shield standings. We're overperforming our production.
Maybe a new coach can develop the kids better. Maybe he can even fix Bakrar. No coach is getting consistently better results until then.
Finally, back to Bakrar: I noticed a coincidence about his minutes and those of Talles, combining 2023 and 2024:
Talles 1,975
Bakrar 1,945
Both players hit the wall of Cushing's patience at the same point. I don't think Nick has an actual conscious minute count after which he decides that he is done with you and you stop playing, but I do think people have patterns. I also would guess that Bakrar is not as deep in purgatory as Talles was. He'll get minutes as a sub, and maybe even another start, but I would not be surprised if Nick has largely given up on him.
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depth and quality in that depth is definitely a big factor. but i stand by my assertion that mentality plays a big part in a team being able to close out a game, especially at home. it's about focus and discipline. without that, doesn't matter how good your roster is. but with strong focus and discipline, even average players can organize a defense and make it difficult for the other team.
I think we're a good team this season. Not a great team, just a good team. Hoping to advance out of the first round is probably the ceiling.
I don’t think it is an organizing defense mentality that is missing. I think it is a lack of going on offense mentality that put us in trouble late in game. And then we are into semantics. Is that mentality or strategy?
Bakrar has consistently created a lot more chances and been a lot more active defensively than Magno ever was during his time at striker.
if we aren't attacking and cushing isn't on the sidelines screaming, GO GO GO GO, then i'd assume the tactic/strategy is to be conservative and protect the lead.
if i were cushing and saw our guys doing what i told them not to do, i'd be screaming and waving my hands. maybe he doesn't get heard. maybe that's not his style. but he should as hell needs to be ripping into them after the game then so it doesn't happen again. yet it continues to happen. so i have to conclude it's a coaching decision to make the subs and play a certain way.
and you would think that "certain way" is something they have worked on in training. failure to execute is where the lack of focus and discipline comes in.
but yes, i totally agree the lack of ruthless attacking mentality is something we have trouble with too. we take our foot off the gas way too soon and think we can cruise. bury teams 6-0. then you can cruise.
Agreed, and that's why I think he won't be buried as deep as Talles was this year. But if he doesn't also score multiple times in the minutes he gets, I think he's lost the coach's confidence for any major role going forward. I think we'll have to move him in the winter. You can't even wait and see how he shows in camp and friendlies because he did reasonably well in those settings this year so what can he prove by doing it again?
REF: Ted Unkel
AR1: Kyle Atkins
AR2: Ryan Graves
4TH: Calin Radosav
The most interesting thing is that PRO is not listing the VAR and AVAR early. There have been changes on the day of the match, so that's likely the reason. They'll announce it on the match day.
AR1: Kyle Atkins
AR2: Ryan Graves
4TH: Calin Radosav
The most interesting thing is that PRO is not listing the VAR and AVAR early. There have been changes on the day of the match, so that's likely the reason. They'll announce it on the match day.
One follow up to my point about players with 900 minutes and 0.4 G/90. I only added the minute minimum to depress the numbers on other teams. With Talles (1 G in 68 minutes) loaned out, NYCFC currently has 0 players with any minutes and at least 0.4 G/90 besides Martinez. Most of the other teams mentioned would have more. NYC has only 2 other players above 0.3 G/90 in Ojeda and Rodriguez. Bakrar, Jones, Wolf, and Fernandez are all below 0.3. Mijatovic is at 0.0 G/90 in league play.
Wolf and Bakrar have more than 3,100 minutes combined and 8 goals, not even quite 1 goal every 4 games. They both work hard and Bakrar shoots at the same pace as Martinez . Attacking mentality? Martinez scores and nobody else does. They all have the same coach. I have to Occam's razor this.
That said, I think it is fair if you say you'd like the club to be more aggressive, especially late in games, despite the talent drop after Martinez. But we don't have the talent, not now. Nobody else produces. The 9 game stretch proves Nick will let them run late when he has confidence in the bench. But after moving Martinez to starter, losing Jones and his energy, and seeing nobody else show consistency as a late sub (or at all), here we are.
I don't know if Nick would be a good coach with a broadly talented offense, because we haven't seen that in 2 years. We have an offensive squad that's a mile wide and 1" deep. I still won't mind if we swap Nick out for someone new. But the 1.5 PPG starts with Lee and the roster.
Wolf and Bakrar have more than 3,100 minutes combined and 8 goals, not even quite 1 goal every 4 games. They both work hard and Bakrar shoots at the same pace as Martinez . Attacking mentality? Martinez scores and nobody else does. They all have the same coach. I have to Occam's razor this.
That said, I think it is fair if you say you'd like the club to be more aggressive, especially late in games, despite the talent drop after Martinez. But we don't have the talent, not now. Nobody else produces. The 9 game stretch proves Nick will let them run late when he has confidence in the bench. But after moving Martinez to starter, losing Jones and his energy, and seeing nobody else show consistency as a late sub (or at all), here we are.
I don't know if Nick would be a good coach with a broadly talented offense, because we haven't seen that in 2 years. We have an offensive squad that's a mile wide and 1" deep. I still won't mind if we swap Nick out for someone new. But the 1.5 PPG starts with Lee and the roster.
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Starting lineup and subs for Crew last night vs. Philly. Heavily rotated.
All the subs but one came on late for about 20 minutes.
All the subs but one came on late for about 20 minutes.
clearly they're afraid of us and nancy knew he had to save his starters for the BIG game on the weekend instead of playing them against the hypothetical champions.
Cross-posting for awareness. There is a planned moment of silence at the 13' to honor Johnny Gaudreau, a star player on the Columbus hockey team who was killed along with his brother by a drunk driver last night.
Good morning.
It is game day.
Bitches.
It is game day.
Bitches.
