MLS Cup Playoffs - November 23 - Philadelphia (Away)

[moogoo]

Pascal wasn't brought up much (outside of this forum) in Manager of the Year discussions. He definitely would be in the discussion if it were still to be awarded.

I'm definitely not saying one game should determine an award like that, but I do think the playoff spotlight has brought attention to just how well Pascal has managed this roster.

It kind of supports my long standing idea of doing a televised awards banquet in the days leading up to MLS Cup.

they should do the awards after MLS cup once the dust settles, imo.

don't know if you were listening to the apple guys last night but higginbottom is a huge jansen fan and considers him top 3 coach in the league because of how jansen has the boys so well coached to be able to shift formation and tactics with little difficulty.

i've heard a few others give a shot to jansen as well for being one of the best coaches in MLS. but this season, it's easy to see why he wasn't considered in the running for coach of the year. the union won the shield, the whitecaps and sd were having incredible seasons. we were just the #5 seed with a so so season that picked up the 2nd half. unfortunately, there's no such thing as normalizing coaching performance based on roster quality. so, the records and overall team performances are what tell the story. for that, we were super inconsistent for much of the year.

it's a damn miracle we are where we are with the roster we have, the year we have had with a first year coach, and the injuries we've suffered.

 

[FootyLovin]

Philly - 18 fouls, 1 YC
NYCFC - 9 fouls, 4 YC

First, I totally agree that there were yellow worthy fouls / persistent fouling from Philly.

In fairness to the ref, he basically gave 3 yellow cards in a 3 minute span for fouls, 2 to us and 1 to Philly. Then he put away his cards and managed the game through verbals the whole rest of the way except for time wasting at the end, both of which were deserved.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I woke up this morning and I still can't believe we are in the conference final.

 

[GratefulDawg]

I slept like shit last night because I was so pumped.

 

[Shwafta]

I also want to say, Andre Blake's save was insane. Never seen anything like it before, and he paid the price. I hope he's okay, and if it's an injury I hope it's a minor one and he can be back in time for the intercontinental playoff in march.

 

[moogoo]

I also want to say, Andre Blake's save was insane. Never seen anything like it before, and he paid the price. I hope he's okay, and if it's an injury I hope it's a minor one and he can be back in time for the intercontinental playoff in march.

that play was insane on both sides. nico with the crazy, curling attempt from midfield and blake sprinting and diving to make the save. a lesser keeper would not have gotten there. blake had the awareness to start running and the speed to get there. it was an insane play.

 

[Gene]

My first grader woke up this morning, asked me who won, and upon hearing the good news, went upstairs and put on his hand-me-down NYCFC 2021 MLS cup champions shirt he got from his older brother. He then headed to his elementary school in...........the suburbs of Philadelphia. He has no idea how hard he's trolling right now.

LEGEND!

 

[Gene]

The goal from a different angle:
--Perfect pass from Tayvon.
--'meg.
--Nico taking a peek before dishing off to Maxi.
--The Finish.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1992987776200159715

 

[Gotham Gator]

that play was insane on both sides. nico with the crazy, curling attempt from midfield and blake sprinting and diving to make the save. a lesser keeper would not have gotten there. blake had the awareness to start running and the speed to get there. it was an insane play.

Well, he learned his lesson about backpedaling in that situation after what happened with David Villa.

 

[moogoo]

as much as maxi has been playing this year and how he's stepping up now in the playoffs, it's easy to forget he came back from an acl injury not that long ago. even more impressive at his age. hopefully the little magician and nico can carry us to a 2nd star. that. would. be. absolutely. epic.

 

[ZYanksRule]

as much as maxi has been playing this year and how he's stepping up now in the playoffs, it's easy to forget he came back from an acl injury not that long ago. even more impressive at his age. hopefully the little magician and nico can carry us to a 2nd star. that. would. be. absolutely. epic.

Maxi is my favorite player to watch in the history of NYCFC. The cerebral way he plays is such a joy to watch. I'm going to miss him so much whenever he hangs 'em up.

For him to be this good at age 38 is spectacular. Build the damn statue.

 

[SoupInNYC]

The goal from a different angle:
--Perfect pass from Tayvon.
--'meg.
--Nico taking a peek before dishing off to Maxi.
--The Finish.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1992987776200159715

And Hannes' presence on the wing froze the Philly defender (26) so that he didn't just try to run with Maxi (you can't see it on this angle)

 

[ZYanksRule]

And Hannes' presence on the wing froze the Philly defender (26) so that he didn't just try to run with Maxi (you can't see it on this angle)

Hannes was WIDE open. Two open attackers with the ball at Nico's foot is a dream scenario.

 

[Gotham Gator]

On MLS Wrap-Up, they mentioned that Maxi has started 38-straight MLS games (including playoffs), which is tied for 7th most in league history.

Not bad for someone who turned 38 one week into the season.

 

[gbservis]

as much as maxi has been playing this year and how he's stepping up now in the playoffs, it's easy to forget he came back from an acl injury not that long ago. even more impressive at his age. hopefully the little magician and nico can carry us to a 2nd star. that. would. be. absolutely. epic.

More praise for Pascal on that front, too. Around when Nico arrived, Pascal reworked the tactics to reduce Maxi's defensive responsibilities to nearly nothing to help save his legs. He floats in the middle now as opposed to tracking back.

Credit to Wolf and Nico for having the type of high work rates in tracking back on D required to pull that off. Even Alonso will often chip in and track back in the middle to cover for a bit for Maxi and save his legs. It's been really impressive to watch. Maxi's ability to cover ground understandably faded as the season went on, but he's still by far our best passer and tactician. Amazing work from the team to find a way to keep him on the pitch while protecting his legs on defense so he can still work his magic on offense.

 

[FootyLovin]

The goal from a different angle:
--Perfect pass from Tayvon.
--'meg.
--Nico taking a peek before dishing off to Maxi.
--The Finish.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1992987776200159715

Love it from any angle. And this doesn't get the very beginning. The full sequence:

KOT
Shore
Grey
Ojeda
Nico
Maxi

6 out of 11 players. 12 second from start to finish of the possession. Chef's kiss.

 

[SoupInNYC]

On MLS Wrap-Up, they mentioned that Maxi has started 38-straight MLS games (including playoffs), which is tied for 7th most in league history.

Not bad for someone who turned 38 one week into the season.

Maxi needs just 8 minutes in the Eastern Conference Final to have played the most minutes by any outfield player over the age of 37 in an MLS season (including playoffs).

Maxi had finished the season with the second most minutes (2,744) behind Carlos Valderrama's 2000 season (2,897), but Valderrama only played 180 minutes that postseason whereas Maxi is already at 326.

 

[gbservis]

they should do the awards after MLS cup once the dust settles, imo.

don't know if you were listening to the apple guys last night but higginbottom is a huge jansen fan and considers him top 3 coach in the league because of how jansen has the boys so well coached to be able to shift formation and tactics with little difficulty.

i've heard a few others give a shot to jansen as well for being one of the best coaches in MLS. but this season, it's easy to see why he wasn't considered in the running for coach of the year. the union won the shield, the whitecaps and sd were having incredible seasons. we were just the #5 seed with a so so season that picked up the 2nd half. unfortunately, there's no such thing as normalizing coaching performance based on roster quality. so, the records and overall team performances are what tell the story. for that, we were super inconsistent for much of the year.

it's a damn miracle we are where we are with the roster we have, the year we have had with a first year coach, and the injuries we've suffered.

I suspect that there is still a significant amount of anti-CFG bias in the league, to the point that even when deserving, it will be hard for an NYCFC coach to win an award based on voting. Coach of the year votes are weighted equally, with each group club technical staff, players, and media, contributing 33.3% to the final result.

 

[mgarbowski]

Well, he learned his lesson about backpedaling in that situation after what happened with David Villa.

He might have, but many keepers have an instinctual and wrong impulse to backtrack when a ball is sent over their heads. I'm pretty certain they are afraid they will lose track if they turn their back on the ball. This shot didn't have that issue at all so I couldn't say if Blake has learned not to do that. For a real test, I'd love to be able to get a compilation of US keepers on shots like that. They presumably grew up watching and maybe playing baseball and football. Catching a ball over your shoulder while running away from its source is fully natural in those sports.

 

[FootyLovin]

He might have, but many keepers have an instinctual and wrong impulse to backtrack when a ball is sent over their heads. I'm pretty certain they are afraid they will lose track if they turn their back on the ball. This shot didn't have that issue at all so I couldn't say if Blake has learned not to do that. For a real test, I'd love to be able to get a compilation of US keepers on shots like that. They presumably grew up watching and maybe playing baseball and football. Catching a ball over your shoulder while running away from its source is fully natural in those sports.

This actually gets to what I loved about Nico's attempt. There is a challenge to the technique of getting a flighted ball to keep moving at pace and not get hung up in the air. I love that he instead tried to curl it around Blake instead of going over him. Credit to Blake for cutting it off at the last, but you almost never see the player try to go around rather than over.