MLS - February 22 - Miami (Away)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
the pulls didn't bring down martinez but the tackle did. strange not to give the pen and call it back for a pull that didn't actually stop martinez. but i think it was for the best anyway because double jeopardy would have meant he stayed on the field and i don't think we would have gotten anything had miami been full strength and had their starting cb. and we converted our set piece chance.
Martinez turned through the initial pull, didn't go down, and had a clear advantage. That's play on anywhere on the pitch. If the drag down from behind hadn't happened in the box should the ref have blown the play dead based on the initial tug and not let Martinez shoot?
This was crap. Absolute crap. This is going to be a long fucking season.
They were preparing to boat race us before the red card, and they were possibly the better team after that in any case.
We got two goals off gifts. I told the people I was watching with that all we had to do was pass to Mitja on the free kick and we had a goal. It should have been obvious to everyone, especially Miami’s hotshot new coach. Fortunately, it was obvious to Maxi.
We are a weak team, relying on multiple players who simply aren’t ready yet.
It’s going to be a long season.
They were preparing to boat race us before the red card, and they were possibly the better team after that in any case.
We got two goals off gifts. I told the people I was watching with that all we had to do was pass to Mitja on the free kick and we had a goal. It should have been obvious to everyone, especially Miami’s hotshot new coach. Fortunately, it was obvious to Maxi.
We are a weak team, relying on multiple players who simply aren’t ready yet.
It’s going to be a long season.
ZYanksRule
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I agree, but it was kind of all one moment in the game so I understand why they would call the initial moment. And I agree with others that we would have gotten killed tonight had Miami had all 11 players on the pitch. That moment gave us a point whether or not it was the right call.
I confess I forgot about him. But he's the best thing about the team.
Brooklyn Blue
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I had tickets to see Jason Isbell and missed the game after the time change. When I checked the score, I was surprised and pleased.
Maybe I'll have different thoughts after watching a replay, but anyone disappointed with this result is missing the plot:
1) Road win.
2) New coach.
3) Undermanned (for various reasons).
4) The favored sons of MLS.
5) Actual goals - if this was Nick, he would have tried to win the game 1-1.
This team is positioned to be mid-table. This is a great start to the season. Perspective, people.
Maybe I'll have different thoughts after watching a replay, but anyone disappointed with this result is missing the plot:
1) Road win.
2) New coach.
3) Undermanned (for various reasons).
4) The favored sons of MLS.
5) Actual goals - if this was Nick, he would have tried to win the game 1-1.
This team is positioned to be mid-table. This is a great start to the season. Perspective, people.
A bit removed from the emotions of the ending, I've come around to the view that a point is a better result than was expected. Lots to like about Pascal, he used subs and played young guys. You can see signs of a more interesting offensive system emerging. Many players look improved, especially Illenic and Ojeda.
Our biggest problem continues to be the front office, this roster is filled with holes. If the plan is to be a development/selling club we have to have a better hit rate on acquisitions. When you are selling guys like Sands and Santi you can't be whiffing on guys like Magno, Jovan, Bakrar, and Fernadez or there is no one ready to fill the gaps. What do we call a 3+ year "rebuild" that ended with a roster far worse than we started with, a de-build?
CFG paid big money to get Pascal here and he's a far bigger name than Cushing. Hopefully, that's enough to motivate them to fill out the gaps in the roster quickly with quality players and not give him a half-baked roster like the ones they stuck Cushing with for his entire time with the club.
Our biggest problem continues to be the front office, this roster is filled with holes. If the plan is to be a development/selling club we have to have a better hit rate on acquisitions. When you are selling guys like Sands and Santi you can't be whiffing on guys like Magno, Jovan, Bakrar, and Fernadez or there is no one ready to fill the gaps. What do we call a 3+ year "rebuild" that ended with a roster far worse than we started with, a de-build?
CFG paid big money to get Pascal here and he's a far bigger name than Cushing. Hopefully, that's enough to motivate them to fill out the gaps in the roster quickly with quality players and not give him a half-baked roster like the ones they stuck Cushing with for his entire time with the club.
RunningWise
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I’m happy with the result and agree that considering the matchup and how we played away last season this was a good game for us. Areas for improvement but a good game.
I’m more frustrated with the coverage. Sitting here right now watching SerieB (Palermo is my family’s team) and get an alert from Apple News of while a NYCFC player taunted him with a Ronaldo celebration Messi had the last laugh. Every article has been about how great Miami was to survive this matchup while I believe they should have blown us away. They went up early, a large majority of subs were seeing first MLS regular season action, we were undermanned and a new coach playing first game away. I’m finally going to say it: can’t wait for this Messi era to end.
I’m more frustrated with the coverage. Sitting here right now watching SerieB (Palermo is my family’s team) and get an alert from Apple News of while a NYCFC player taunted him with a Ronaldo celebration Messi had the last laugh. Every article has been about how great Miami was to survive this matchup while I believe they should have blown us away. They went up early, a large majority of subs were seeing first MLS regular season action, we were undermanned and a new coach playing first game away. I’m finally going to say it: can’t wait for this Messi era to end.
I was ecstatic with the result even last night despite the late concession. I was disappointed because we played poorly and did not deserve the result.
Both goal chances were a generated off embarrassing lapses by the Miami defense. Miami's set up on the free kick was laughable, and the back pass from Alba was a pure gift. I'm not taking away from Maxi, Ilenic or Martinez or what they did to capitalize, but those chances were pure donations. Apart from them, NYCFC created almost nothing. The xG without the gifts was roughly 0.5 on just 6 shots. We had at least 3 fast breaks that fizzled without a shot, maybe more. I stopped counting. We absolutely did not break Miami down in regular play. We had only 2 shots from inside the box on open play (weak efforts by Wolf and Bakar) apart from the one that Alba handed to us, despite a man advantage for 75% of the game.
On defense, we allowed 13 shots from inside the box, 9 from open play and 4 on set pieces. Eleven of the 13 came after Miami was down a man. We were thoroughly outplayed.
I don't blame our players. The Miami squad is much better. I don't blame Jansen. The Miami squad is much better.
Martinez continues to shine. I won't be shocked if by year end I rate him above Taty. He's not there yet, but he could be our most creative scoring force since Villa. He's already 8th all time for team scoring in just 1800 minutes and 20 starts. Per game, he ranks 1st in goals and 4th in xG. And while those might be inflated by a small sample, he could go scoreless for his next 1,000 minutes and still rank third in Goals per Game, behind Villa and Lampard and tied with Heber.
But after Zo, and Freese, it's spotty at best at forward and midfield, and the back line is maybe MLS midlevel.
As for the DOGSO red, I get the argument that Martinez earned it. He did. But you can make plays like that 100+ times and never force an opponent red. DOGSO reds are by their nature unusual freakish rare events and you're lucky when it happens to the other team even if your play pushed them to do it. And then we did nothing with it.
I did like our offensive set pieces. Besides the goal, Haak had a nice chance on a free header off a corner served by Maxi. I'm hoping this is how it goes the rest of the year. I'd love to find out if the Ilenic goal was the result of something we saw in film, or purely something he and Maxi noticed in the moment. Either way, it was delightful, and I'll close on that note.
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You take a point on the road, but Miami generated more chances down a man then we did. Roster desperately needs midfield reinforcements. Haak looks more like a CB who can play a spot or two at the 6 than someone who can fill Sands' shoes.
Marito
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I think Mark's take is spot on. This point is gold because, with this roster, we are going to get precious few on the road, and frankly we'll be embarrassed at home by the elite. Except for Alonso and Freese our players are all meh or below. The only other really good one is ancient. Most MLS rosters right now are substantially better IMHO. I look at the play of guys like Cristian Espinoza, who didn't cost gazillions and will be an MLS lifer when all it's said and done, and he's miles ahead of what we have. To compound my pessimism, we got Alonso at 24 from the Belgian 2nd division, which is almost like coming up from USL. Even on arrival, he didn't see the field much for months and months. Somehow this level of talent has gone under the radar? Every time I see him play like this I fear he's gonna revert to the expected arc of his career eventually. And then we'll only have Freese. I'm sorry. I know the infinite tap of talent Miami has, but 11v10 for 70 minutes against an old team that played midweek? And we are dominated and have to be gifted a goal? And have the referee be clement to Tana? I'm sorry for the Kjbert-type rant but I am really pessimistic. This roster will not smell the playoffs.
Reminds me of the economics joke: An economist says "What should you do if you see a $5 bill on the sidewalk?" His friend says, "Pick it up, I guess?" And the economist says ῾Wrong. Save your effort. If it were real, someone would have picked it up already."
The point is markets are efficient but individuals and even groups still make mistakes. But I share your concern about Martinez, even as I cautiously hope he's real..
Okay okay, I get it. But next time the game plan should be to make Miami get two red cards and then we can maybe get 3 points.
The fact that martinez had this level and Cushing didn't see it until he was desperate enough to put him into the #9 is crazy. Granted, when he made cameo appearances in certain games, he didn't show any of this level of talent but if he can continue performing like he has, it is a testament to the effort he's put in to improve. He could definitely become a taty level striker. I think his finishing is probably better and he's faster than Taty, but Taty has top level aerial ability and an aggression that Martinez lacks.
Does anyone else think the kick to Ojeda’s nuts just before the red card was not entirely unintentional?
me. he knew exactly what he was doing and i thought it deserved a yellow. even if he was attempting to play the ball, any reasonable player would realize the ball was up against ojeda and that simply kicking it would do nothing and the better thing to do would be to try to pull it away from ojeda, then play it. but he swung that leg and kicked hard. i noticed he was pretty dirty and overly aggressive in several other plays as well.
Result for Miami was deserved. I do not at all fault our team for giving up the goal. Even at 10v11 with Messi et al on the field that team can put up offense. Others have discussed our paltry xG on way too few shots up a man for 70 minutes.
What really bothers me is our failure to possess, move and retain the ball. They are old. They were on 48 hours rest. They were down a man. There is no reason we shouldn’t have been able to play keep away.
But we looked like the team down a man for just about the entire 70 minutes of 11v10.
We looked like a team with zero DPs.
What really bothers me is our failure to possess, move and retain the ball. They are old. They were on 48 hours rest. They were down a man. There is no reason we shouldn’t have been able to play keep away.
But we looked like the team down a man for just about the entire 70 minutes of 11v10.
We looked like a team with zero DPs.
