MLS Cup Playoffs - October 30 - Philadelphia (Away)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
I hope we re-sign all three of them, but it wouldn't surprise me if at least one is gone.
I imagine it’s been said already but that was a howler of a substitution by Cushing. Should have let that free kick happen before bringing on Parks.
I'd actually be okay with that, too. I just don't like LAFC very much, either. I had a few pretty snippy interactions with their fans when they signed Chiellini and Bale. (I think they just didn't like me because I'm a Zlatan guy. LOL)
By the way, I don't really like the Galaxy any more than anyone else. I just like Zlatan. LOL
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I'd have to go back and watch the game and see when parks steps up to the fourth official but sometimes the substitution is lined up and then doesn't happen until the ref decides it should happen... I'm wondering if that happened here? If that's the case then you can't blame cushing since he would have no say in when the sub happens specifically. I'd have to check though
I think he was ready to come in a minute before, but the ref held him up. Then sent him on when play stopped for the free kick. And then they took it quick while we were flat-footed.
That's not an excuse, at all. You have to be ready for anything, especially in a high-intensity battle like that. But in all fairness to Cushing, it wasn't all on him. (Whether he should have made that particular sub at all is another matter.)
Oh for sure. I mean Callens got beat on that first ball, but man…we were in a great position to see this game out and after that goal the momentum against us was just too much. Can’t help but think it was ill advised to make that sub at that point in the game.
I mean sure but it’s on the coach to know when and how his players are entering the game.
even if the ref decides he CAN make the sub, cushing has every right to say "we will wait for the next stoppage".
but yea, we fell asleep. callens fell asleep. he's been so good for the last few seasons, i guess it was just time for a slip up. didn't expect 2 in a row though, though the 2nd one i can SORTA forgive more.. but still think he should have tracked gazdag. oh well. still love the guy and hope he resigns with us for sure.
hate losing but happy with the season. hate that philly are such sore winners and sore losers..
hoping for an actual stadium announcement sometime in the next 2 months.
since cushing is a company man, as long as he doesn't turn to complete ass, i would suspect he'll stay with us for at least 2-3 years ? if he up and leaves mid-season, we are just cursed with coaches.
That's the other side of the coin. Maybe fatigue was an issue. Personally, I thought things were going well enough to wait until the 75' mark, but what the hell do I know. Nick forgets more soccer before he finishes his breakfast beer than I'll probably ever understand.
You need a little luck to win a championship. If Blake doesn’t stop that header from Callens 5mins or so beforehand then it’s game over.
Definitely a very different game, at least. But we would have had them chasing hard at that point. That's a great position to be in, especially in an elimination game. Pull up the drawbridge. LOL
I think the hard truth is that when the chips were down, our weaknesses got the best of us. And honestly we could have seen it out to the final. But for me it’s lack of depth in defense, lack of scoring threat, and an inexperienced coach. That’s what did us today unfortunately. And a franchise that had it out for us.
I do think in the next few years we’ll be an even better team. City football group doesn’t like losing.
I do think in the next few years we’ll be an even better team. City football group doesn’t like losing.
The sub wasn't great -- but it's the save by Blake that was the turning point. If that goes in, it's game over. Instead they get momentum.
The timing of the sub wasn't great, and I also didn't like taking Gabi off. I'd have taken Haak off and shifted into a 4-2-3-1. Still, the sub isn't why we lost. Blake's incredible save is when the tide turned.
Agree with this. Sometimes losing can be the best thing for a team because it lights a fire. There is a certain complacency that can come from winning, and it'll be good to be a little angry next year.
I'll pass on the knock on Nick -- he's only 37, but he already had a WSL Cup, FA Women's Cup and WSL Coach of the Year plaque on his mantle before he joined us. He has chops. And in terms of depth Chanot was out entirely and Gray was hurt. You can only carry so many center backs.
But anyone in their right mind would agree this would have been a different contest with Taty at striker. He would have added a dimension which would have drastically altered Philadelphia's approach, maybe even their shape. The two great flaws in Héber's game (excessive back passing and an inability to body up and muscle a shot) were very much not a problem with Valentin Castellanos.
You have to work with what you have, though. We should have had just enough on attack, if barely. We just slipped up and let it get away from us.
That’s fair. 10 minutes does not a season make. Cushing got us this far. I’m curious whether he’ll be back. (I’m sure there’s another thread discussing this at the moment) There will probably be an overhaul. Don’t see Maxi staying, among other players at the end of contracts.
We were just looking at it on the Hudson River Blue site. There are definitely going to be some changes. Maxi may indeed be one of them; he's at the end of the line and there has been more than a little talk of him wanting to finish up in Argentina.
The three big questions are Boom, Sean John and Callens. We can realistically only keep two of them if we're going to get the striker we need. There have been some rumors linking Tinnerholm to a move back to Sweden, which would mean going to a European club of course. So, he may be the guy without a chair when the music stops. But a lot may depend on what he himself wants to do.
Just got finished watching on delay.
1) As goes Callens so goes this team. Blake saves him and then he falls asleep on goal 1/coulda done better on 2.
2) We are just not as good a team with Haak starting whether at CB or DMF. He’s still tentative and you can tell it affects the entire defense. Chanot allows the team to play with more swag. To be fair, Haak was asked to be the last man at the back today and stepped up pretty well for 45+mins. Nick put more responsibility on him today than Sands ever faced alone. And paid as Burke schooled him. We needed more depth at CB in February and we never really got it.
3) the sub was a shitshow and WAS the actual turning point. Hang it on Cushing, hang it on Chapman, hang it on Callens. Doesn’t matter. It was cringe. My HS coach would have benched the CB responsible for a mental breakdown like that for at least a match. 40 years ago.
4) Overall I agree that this was a pretty good season overall and anyone bitching too hard should be careful what they wish for. We play attractive football, seem to have a decent conveyor belt of talent, and we still didn’t have our best 11 out there. And if you told me in March that Kevin O’Toole would go 90 in our last match of the season I would have assumed that we’d have missed the playoffs.
5) Nick In. He has earned it.
6) Incidentally, Cacha, Tinner, Maxi, Kevin and Thiago M had very solid matches. Cacha has really stepped up lately.
7) My home Authentic crooked star top is now 4-0-1 in all competitions. Still undefeated when I watch live. Which means no more watching on delay no matter the occasion.
8) I used to tolerate the Union. But all that whining asterisk-y shit from their fans and their Stadium taunting (I’m sure White Plains or Yonkers would gladly serve itself up as a home for us) has put me off them. I want LAFC to smoke them, not least because LAFC plays positive football, but also because they put in the hard work to play in the actual city and, y’know, didn’t settle for a lame suburban compromise.
Gonna seem like a long offseason after that lightning round this past year, but Hopefully Rayo Vallecano and Leeds can keep up the fight for me until March. I have no such hope for the USMNT.
1) As goes Callens so goes this team. Blake saves him and then he falls asleep on goal 1/coulda done better on 2.
2) We are just not as good a team with Haak starting whether at CB or DMF. He’s still tentative and you can tell it affects the entire defense. Chanot allows the team to play with more swag. To be fair, Haak was asked to be the last man at the back today and stepped up pretty well for 45+mins. Nick put more responsibility on him today than Sands ever faced alone. And paid as Burke schooled him. We needed more depth at CB in February and we never really got it.
3) the sub was a shitshow and WAS the actual turning point. Hang it on Cushing, hang it on Chapman, hang it on Callens. Doesn’t matter. It was cringe. My HS coach would have benched the CB responsible for a mental breakdown like that for at least a match. 40 years ago.
4) Overall I agree that this was a pretty good season overall and anyone bitching too hard should be careful what they wish for. We play attractive football, seem to have a decent conveyor belt of talent, and we still didn’t have our best 11 out there. And if you told me in March that Kevin O’Toole would go 90 in our last match of the season I would have assumed that we’d have missed the playoffs.
5) Nick In. He has earned it.
6) Incidentally, Cacha, Tinner, Maxi, Kevin and Thiago M had very solid matches. Cacha has really stepped up lately.
7) My home Authentic crooked star top is now 4-0-1 in all competitions. Still undefeated when I watch live. Which means no more watching on delay no matter the occasion.
8) I used to tolerate the Union. But all that whining asterisk-y shit from their fans and their Stadium taunting (I’m sure White Plains or Yonkers would gladly serve itself up as a home for us) has put me off them. I want LAFC to smoke them, not least because LAFC plays positive football, but also because they put in the hard work to play in the actual city and, y’know, didn’t settle for a lame suburban compromise.
Gonna seem like a long offseason after that lightning round this past year, but Hopefully Rayo Vallecano and Leeds can keep up the fight for me until March. I have no such hope for the USMNT.
This may be the most important takeaway of all. I love the identity we established coming down the stretch. And that's all Nick Cushing.
