MLS Cup Playoffs - November 29 - Miami (Away)

[Gotham Gator]

Did anyone else think Grey looked like he was playing at well less than 100%? He looked to me a lot slower and more tentative than usual. He seemed to have a knock that was really holding him back.

Both me & Gotham, Jr. noticed it and felt he was not good enough to stay on the pitch.

 

[gbservis]

Did anyone else think Grey looked like he was playing at well less than 100%? He looked to me a lot slower and more tentative than usual. He seemed to have a knock that was really holding him back.

Both me & Gotham, Jr. noticed it and felt he was not good enough to stay on the pitch.

I saw it too, I think Pascal even adjusted the tactics to try to hide it. Gray tucked in on defense more than usual last night with Ojeda dropping deeper and tracking more of the outside runs.

Ojeda ran like a madman last night. I don't think it was a coincidence that we opened up right after Ojeda went off. Julian doesn't have the defensive work rate or awareness to fill that role, so it forced Gray and our CMs to cover more of the sideline Ojeda has been on all night, opening the middle just enough to allow Miami to blow things open.

 

[moogoo]

Did anyone else think Grey looked like he was playing at well less than 100%? He looked to me a lot slower and more tentative than usual. He seemed to have a knock that was really holding him back.

Both me & Gotham, Jr. noticed it and felt he was not good enough to stay on the pitch.

Yea he was not up to speed and gave up on plays he normally would not.

 

[ZYanksRule]

We should never be a club that has to overachieve because we have a flawed roster.

I agree with you, but also this team is nowhere near as profitable as it could be due to the stadium situation.

Starting in 2027 I fully agree with you and I think you'll see our recruitment portfolio change. But on some level the team needs to be profitable and you can understand why our recruitment has been underwhelming while we continue to be in this position. I still think they maybe loosen things up next season to prepare for 2027 because we will want to go into that first season in the new stadium as a top team.

 

[Shwafta]

I agree with you, but also this team is nowhere near as profitable as it could be due to the stadium situation.

Starting in 2027 I fully agree with you and I think you'll see our recruitment portfolio change. But on some level the team needs to be profitable and you can understand why our recruitment has been underwhelming while we continue to be in this position. I still think they maybe loosen things up next season to prepare for 2027 because we will want to go into that first season in the new stadium as a top team.

At the same time, if we sign a huge star name and Yankee stadium would sell 30k+ each match, surely the profits would be close to net 0?

 

[ZYanksRule]

At the same time, if we sign a huge star name and Yankee stadium would sell 30k+ each match, surely the profits would be close to net 0?

It's possible, but Messi vs Muller notwithstanding, most years those huge stars don't end up winning games. Lots of other teams (Benteke, Shaqiri, etc) don't even make the playoffs with those players.

 

[Shwafta]

It's possible, but Messi vs Muller notwithstanding, most years those huge stars don't end up winning games. Lots of other teams (Benteke, Shaqiri, etc) don't even make the playoffs with those players.

I'm looking more in terms of profit margins, wouldn't selling an extra 15k per game be pretty good? I guess vs wage maybe not though...

 

[ZYanksRule]

I'm looking more in terms of profit margins, wouldn't selling an extra 15k per game be pretty good? I guess vs wage maybe not though...

It is not clear that a big global superstar will boost attendance by 10-15,000.

Our first two seasons we averaged 29,000 and 27,000. But 2017, when we still had Villa and Pirlo our attendance sagged to 22,000.

We actually averaged 21,971 this season in MLS regular season, which is our highest since 2018 and 12th highest in MLS.

I just do not think there is evidence a global superstar will increase our attendance by 10-15,000 week-over-week.

This is from last year documenting our attendance all-time. The pandemic crushed this organization and they've been slowly building back ever since.

New York City FC attendance returns to pre-pandemic levels

The season average of 21,764 per game is up 9.7% over last year — and the highest since 2018.

www.hudsonriverblue.com

One more note on this: Inter Miami's stadium holds 21,500. This season they averaged 20,410. They didn't even sell out their stadium with Messi, Suarez, Alba and whiny friends.

 

[KevinJRogers]

I agree with you, but also this team is nowhere near as profitable as it could be due to the stadium situation.

Starting in 2027 I fully agree with you and I think you'll see our recruitment portfolio change. But on some level the team needs to be profitable and you can understand why our recruitment has been underwhelming while we continue to be in this position. I still think they maybe loosen things up next season to prepare for 2027 because we will want to go into that first season in the new stadium as a top team.

This, all day. We should see an expanded Salary Budget and maybe some looser roster rules from 2027 on, too. There's no sense in aligning with the global calendar if we're not going to take advantage of it.

 

[Gene]

We should never be a club that has to overachieve because we have a flawed roster.

This. Cannot. Be. Said. Enough!

 

[KevinJRogers]

Pretty amazing to think we could have been level at 2-2 at 60' had Maxi reacted just a moment sooner to find Hannes, or Julian put his laces through his opportunity instead of kicking the ground first. Maybe a different game then.

But we did go toe-to-toe with them for the first two-thirds of the match despite being short two key starters — three if you count Keaton — and maybe a little banged up too (a few people have mentioned Tayvon's struggles with dead sprints). I'm proud of our guys.

And I was surprised by Miami. I definitely underestimated how much more vertical they are with Allende and Silvetti. We weren't going to run them off the pitch the way I assumed.

So, hats off to Pascal for getting the tactics right and trying to shorten the match. We almost ambushed them when Hannes came on for Jonny.

Now to reload for our last season and a half as vagabonds.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Pretty amazing to think we could have been level at 2-2 at 60' had Maxi reacted just a moment sooner to find Hannes, or Julian put his laces through his opportunity instead of kicking the ground first. Maybe a different game then.

But we did go toe-to-toe with them for the first two-thirds of the match despite being short two key starters — three if you count Keaton — and maybe a little banged up too (a few people have mentioned Tayvon's struggles with dead sprints). I'm proud of our guys.

And I was surprised by Miami. I definitely underestimated how much more vertical they are with Allende and Silvetti. We weren't going to run them off the pitch the way I assumed.

So, hats off to Pascal for getting the tactics right and trying to shorten the match. We almost ambushed them when Hannes came on for Jonny.

Now to reload for our last season and a half as vagabonds.

We were right there. We were a bad bounce away from tying that game. That final scoreline is extremely flattering to Miami, who were good but we had them nervous for a few minutes there.

I was also impressed by Miami. They were a lot better -- especially defensively -- than they've been in the past. They are clear favorites to beat Vancouver.