It’s hard to imagine a reason for that which isn’t ridiculous. Lion’s guess is as good as any.
MLS - July 15 - Philadelphia (Away)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
Sorry, but having Gabi Pereira on the bench is not a lineup that is giving us our best chance to win.
With all due respects bro, there's nobody in the locker room to lose.
We got more than half of the xG for the game in the last 10 minutes after Pereira entered the game.
Since July 1 NYCFC played 4 games. Absent congestion they would have played 3 (7/1, 7/8. 7/15). Three games at 70 minutes each = 210 minutes. That's a normal and hardly taxing schedule for a fit first team player. Pereira played 123 minutes. Add in the June 24 game a full week earlier and Pereira played 168 minutes over 5 games in 4 weeks. That's 34 minutes a game and 42 minutes a week. He should not be tired.
Since July 1 NYCFC played 4 games. Absent congestion they would have played 3 (7/1, 7/8. 7/15). Three games at 70 minutes each = 210 minutes. That's a normal and hardly taxing schedule for a fit first team player. Pereira played 123 minutes. Add in the June 24 game a full week earlier and Pereira played 168 minutes over 5 games in 4 weeks. That's 34 minutes a game and 42 minutes a week. He should not be tired.
On the broadcast they talked about how the false 9 idea is fine but NYCFC wingers never step up to the vacated space to occupy the opposing CBs. This is an incredibly easy tactical improvement to make.
This is an example of why I think Cushing should go. You can argue all day that he hasn't had the talent to win. Fine. But he also hasn't helped his team play the actual strategy necessary for the personnel he puts on the field.
Then in the rare times he actually plays the one real 9 on the squad, the team consistently looks more threatening. But then no matter how big an impact that 9 has he goes back to the bench again the next game.
I think Cushing has been poor. And I think keeping him sets up possibly the worst case scenario. New players come in and there is some kind of push to end the season, just enough for him to keep his job. I think that would consign us to another wasted year in 2024.
Get rid of him now. Let Mehdi play interim and go find a replacement. Time is up.
This is an example of why I think Cushing should go. You can argue all day that he hasn't had the talent to win. Fine. But he also hasn't helped his team play the actual strategy necessary for the personnel he puts on the field.
Then in the rare times he actually plays the one real 9 on the squad, the team consistently looks more threatening. But then no matter how big an impact that 9 has he goes back to the bench again the next game.
I think Cushing has been poor. And I think keeping him sets up possibly the worst case scenario. New players come in and there is some kind of push to end the season, just enough for him to keep his job. I think that would consign us to another wasted year in 2024.
Get rid of him now. Let Mehdi play interim and go find a replacement. Time is up.
EXACTLY.
if rotation was the plan, Parks should have been first guy to get a break. We wouldn't like it, but we'd understand. Not playing gabby makes me think something else is going on. Pel has performed better, but he is not a difference maker like gabby.
I think the owners/FO have lost the manager, just like they did with Dome and Patrick. Cushing has been mediocre and I don’t care if he stays or goes, but it must be so frustrating playing chess with half a set. At this point he’s just flailing away with this mess of a roster. I also think the owners/FO rather than Cushing have lost the locker room. The players have known for a while that the roster has been neglected. What a mess.
I turned it off around the 60 minute mark to do something else and don’t regret the decision. Just an endlessly frustrating team/season.
Couple things.
Gray had a pretty poor match overall, but not for the reasons most people are citing. He committed a number of giveaways and was often poorly positioned. On Goal 1 he was left to cover two men, made the right decision, and just couldn’t get to a well placed ball. Ilenic failing to track back was the primary issue. That was his man. Also on the first goal, it really started with Santi trying to force a low percentage pass through the block. That directly led to the counter. The second they intercepted I was like “uh-oh.”
The second goal is 1000% on Barraza. Tayvon deferred to him, as he should have. The keeper has to command the defense. All Barraza has to do is keep his yap shut (or better, yell “away”) and every defender in creation sends that ball into the upper deck. If you as the keeper call for the ball it’s your responsibility to get it. Tayvon shielded it right up to the point that he would have had to break Barrazza’s jaw to keep doing that. If I were Gray I’d be VERY pissed off at Barraza for making me look like a clown. Maybe Gray was naive to trust him. I doubt that happens again.
With that said, Gray should have been out of the match by that point. Still scratching my head over Nick’s decisions. Gray was struggling ans Haak was doing pretty well. Why take out Haak instead of Gray for Martins?
Why do we give opposing CBs a 25-yard DMZ in front of them?
Why wait until 80’ to unleash Gaby, the best player on either team tonight?
Why doesn’t Pellgrini take every free kick inside 35 yards?
Why can’t he see that the mere presence of a warm body up top opens the field for Gaby, Santi, Talles, and even Jasson?
The frustrating thing is that we are so close to being successful, once again. It’s not like we ship three goals in the first half and we can all hit the subway. Or that we don’t show signs of next-level performance. We came VERY close to tying this match up (and I’d argue that with 10 more minutes of Gaby, we would have).
I’ve been pretty forgiving of Nick, but IMHO this match was poorly managed and it cost us.
And congrats to foul machine on opening his account. That goal was well-taken. Nice aggression and second effort.
Gray had a pretty poor match overall, but not for the reasons most people are citing. He committed a number of giveaways and was often poorly positioned. On Goal 1 he was left to cover two men, made the right decision, and just couldn’t get to a well placed ball. Ilenic failing to track back was the primary issue. That was his man. Also on the first goal, it really started with Santi trying to force a low percentage pass through the block. That directly led to the counter. The second they intercepted I was like “uh-oh.”
The second goal is 1000% on Barraza. Tayvon deferred to him, as he should have. The keeper has to command the defense. All Barraza has to do is keep his yap shut (or better, yell “away”) and every defender in creation sends that ball into the upper deck. If you as the keeper call for the ball it’s your responsibility to get it. Tayvon shielded it right up to the point that he would have had to break Barrazza’s jaw to keep doing that. If I were Gray I’d be VERY pissed off at Barraza for making me look like a clown. Maybe Gray was naive to trust him. I doubt that happens again.
With that said, Gray should have been out of the match by that point. Still scratching my head over Nick’s decisions. Gray was struggling ans Haak was doing pretty well. Why take out Haak instead of Gray for Martins?
Why do we give opposing CBs a 25-yard DMZ in front of them?
Why wait until 80’ to unleash Gaby, the best player on either team tonight?
Why doesn’t Pellgrini take every free kick inside 35 yards?
Why can’t he see that the mere presence of a warm body up top opens the field for Gaby, Santi, Talles, and even Jasson?
The frustrating thing is that we are so close to being successful, once again. It’s not like we ship three goals in the first half and we can all hit the subway. Or that we don’t show signs of next-level performance. We came VERY close to tying this match up (and I’d argue that with 10 more minutes of Gaby, we would have).
I’ve been pretty forgiving of Nick, but IMHO this match was poorly managed and it cost us.
And congrats to foul machine on opening his account. That goal was well-taken. Nice aggression and second effort.
This is the most unresponsive response ever. Probably didn't want to admit there's unrest in the locker room, which is understandable. But by being this unresponsive.. it's pretty much the only thing that comes to mind for me.
Agree with this take 100%. Only one person ran hard toward our goal on that play, and it was the goal scorer. Where was everyone in sky blue?
Pure speculation follows.
If they each left in their own cars, it is possible both missed the team bus to the game. They each drove separately from NYC to Philly. Gaby called to apologize, Talles didn’t (or was on warning for previous tardiness). Gaby removed from starting lineup as punishment, Talles out of the 18.
If Talles wasn’t going to be in the squad, why was he in Philly?
At the risk of being too outcome oriented, I don’t think that changes anything. The last 30 may have been better than the first 60, but we’ve seen them play well and lose plenty of times this year. I need to see the team find an identity.
There are holes in the roster and the team is underperforming even in light of those holes. I think the commentary last night about being to static in both offense and defense is spot on.
This is easily the worst season since 2015. And that’s in part because of how good we were from 2016-2022. But at least 2015 was fun.
That's more or less the same as
LionNYC guessed with more details, and probably the most plausible. I still think it's ridiculous because it means that 2 professional athletes [separately?] missed the team bus while in 13th place for the least league game in 4 weeks. Plus neither is new to the team or city. They know how NY traffic and transport works.
Here just to say Congrats Andres Jasson. Finally getting that monkey off the back must be a big relief
I think firing Cushing is the wrong move. He hasn't been given a roster capable of winning. Could he have done better? Sure. But firing Cushing would be really lousy. This season is on the front office for not putting a full roster on the field. If anyone should get fired for this season, it's David Lee.
I don't know how these things work, but is it not possible for this kind of home area match that players might have some kind of post-match plan where they drive themselves? Is that not a thing?
