I keep seeing Santi at the 9, did everyone forget how horrible that went in the games we did that last season? Santi just played his best game of the season and possibly one of his best NYCFC games ever. I'd rather we stick with what's working and play someone else at the 9, Ojeda, Jones, Fernandez, whomever, let Santi stay where it's been working and keep trying to build off last game.
MLS - March 23 - Cincinnati (Away)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
I keep seeing Santi at the 9, did everyone forget how horrible that went in the games we did that last season? Santi just played his best game of the season and possibly one of his best NYCFC games ever. I'd rather we stick with what's working and play someone else at the 9, Ojeda, Jones, Fernandez, whomever, let Santi stay where it's been working and keep trying to build off last game.
He's also scored 2 of 3 goals and has looked confident. I agree that it didn't work, but he's been a lot better this season and maybe it's worth a shot. We do not have any great options there, it would appear.
I don't think Hannes Wolf has experience at the 9, but maybe we put him there and play Santi as the 10.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm encouraged by that performance. Cincinnati is a much better team than we are right now -- especially with all our absences. I was expecting to get sandblasted tonight, but we hung in there and even carried play for large stretches.
At the very least, the players are still very much playing for Nick. We have had a brutal - BRUTAL -- schedule to start the year. At Charlotte on Opening Day against 70,000, STL was great last year, then this game -- those are three very difficult road games. The Portland loss is what makes this start look awful.
With no Messi, I want a result next week, then we get a 5-game homestand to hopefully turn our season around.
At the very least, the players are still very much playing for Nick. We have had a brutal - BRUTAL -- schedule to start the year. At Charlotte on Opening Day against 70,000, STL was great last year, then this game -- those are three very difficult road games. The Portland loss is what makes this start look awful.
With no Messi, I want a result next week, then we get a 5-game homestand to hopefully turn our season around.
Wasn't a bad performance overall, but we have no attacking edge. Perhaps that is being without a striker tonight, but I'm saddened by the fact that I don't even feel sadness by our loss because I've become accustomed to Cushing ball.
What is the fvcking point of a roster filled with guys good enough to go away in international breaks but unable to score or even get minutes in MLS?
Me, too. We got beat on the road 1-0 by the reigning MVP on the Supporters' Shield pitch. And we went toe-to-toe with them. At this point in the project, I'll take it.
It's going to be a challenge to make the 12-points threshold after 10 games, but challenges are what we live for. Just because it's hard doesn't mean it can't be done. Let's GO.
We got Wolf and the honor of blowing all our Taty money on two 18-year-old CFG prospect investments who are not ready and have had zero impact through 5 games. How many more games of zero contributions from Jovan and Ojeda before we can start admitting that they were picked for CFG not because they are the players that will help us win? Anyone acting 100% in the best interest of NYCFC spends at least one of those slots on a more experienced ready-to-play player.
All those BS emails and Q&As from Lee saying we know we need to do better and our top priority will be to bring in offensive help in the offseason. 94% of the transfer money spent in the offseason was spent on Ojeda and Jovin, neither one has done a single thing to help the offense.
2015 NYCFC won 15 Away points in 17 games. 2023-24 NYCFC have only 11 Away points in 20 games. We suck on the road with no qualifiers. The MLS home advantage is not so bad that you should be utterly useless Away.
Oh we played hard, we were missing key players, and Cincinnati is really good. OK. Might be relevant if you ignore the last 13 months. NYCFC has won 11 times against 18 losses in 43 games all competitions. Also, fewer shots, fewer xG, fewer corners. Where exactly did the team excel tonight?
ETA: Besides goalkeeping?
Oh we played hard, we were missing key players, and Cincinnati is really good. OK. Might be relevant if you ignore the last 13 months. NYCFC has won 11 times against 18 losses in 43 games all competitions. Also, fewer shots, fewer xG, fewer corners. Where exactly did the team excel tonight?
ETA: Besides goalkeeping?
Last edited:
The effort was nice and there were no brain farts or embarrassing moments, but we didn't hang in there unless we were hanging for a 0-0. Cincy carried the initiative and had all the clear chances. I see their reported Gx as 1.2 and it seems low, I guess because the offside goal doesn't count as a chance. Orellanos toyed with Jasson. They also had 2 one-on-ones with Freese. Yes, this was almost our B squad, especially at the end, and we didn't get embarrassed. I don't know if it's enough for a glass half full.
NYCFC have scored 43 goals in 43 games in 2023-2024, and ten of those are against Toronto.
This is the point. There were some nice moments tonight-- some nice progressive interplay among Julian, Wolf, Santi; top tier goalkeeping; etc.. But you can say that about any MLS team, nice moments. The point is, the larger context. It's nice to be building something, to have the youngest team in MLS, but at some point results matter. I guarantee you the players feel it worse than us. Morale WILL deteriorate. The 0-1s and 1-1s pile up to the point where it's no fun anymore.
I picked going to the Met Opera instead of watching this match. Tickets were bought a few months ago. Why? Because I know Cushing & Co. aren’t entertaining enough.
And my bet on us losing and being held scoreless also paid for my drinks. I hate being right.
And my bet on us losing and being held scoreless also paid for my drinks. I hate being right.
Really hard to be upset with this result. Cincy is a top league team missing only one key player and we played them pretty tight. Could have easily stolen a late equalizer. Shit luck with Risa and O’Toole. KOT is gonna have one hell of a shiner. We got looks at Jones Ojeda and Martinez who all showed some quality and workrate. Haak actually had a good game.
Really the difference between this and stealing a 0-0 point(which as I said pre-match would have been respectable) was Martins falling asleep on Cucho and letting him receive the ball. Cucho donned the Messi cloak of invisibility and you can’t let that happen, though most teams do.
We still need a better set of striker options and we are still thin in central defense, but so many teams in this league would have folded at about 75’ under these conditions. I haven’t felt this positive about a loss in a very long time
Really the difference between this and stealing a 0-0 point(which as I said pre-match would have been respectable) was Martins falling asleep on Cucho and letting him receive the ball. Cucho donned the Messi cloak of invisibility and you can’t let that happen, though most teams do.
We still need a better set of striker options and we are still thin in central defense, but so many teams in this league would have folded at about 75’ under these conditions. I haven’t felt this positive about a loss in a very long time
Just watched the game on replay, and say what you will about being held scoreless, we looked quite good until risa and otoole came out and the whole flow of the game was lost with cincy up a goal. But if this is the direction we are heading plus having our best players back is encouraging
Right on. I hate to lose more than anyone -- if I didn't, I'd be dead right now
-- so I get all the frustration, I really do. But this is one of those losses which felt like a win. We gave one hell of an account of ourselves. Teams on the verge of rolling over don't play like this. We just have to keep pushing, keep progressing. We'll get there.
Of course, I'm an Arsenal supporter in the Prem and VfB Stuttgart is my primary European side, so that's easy for me to say. This isn't the first time I've been through this shit. LOL
just finished watching the replay.
i thought we looked fairly good, but lost it in the final 3rd for a couple reasons.
1) we don't attack as a team, meaning, we simply don't send enough players forward when we are on the attack. it's only ever 3 guys in the attack and only 2 of them are ever in the box vs a FFC defense who got back behind the ball quickly.
2) we just didn't have enough attack minded players on the field. I thought nick set us up to defend. This was his opportunity to get more attackers on the field and he decided to play a double 6 with 3ATB. with the tanisevic being basically useless on either side of the ball.
when the attacking subs came on, there was a lot more movement up front. martinez was lively and made me really wonder wtf he doesn't get more minutes? jones too, was lively, and had great movement to create space. ojeda seemed half asleep but not enough time to really judge. wtf aren't these guys getting minutes? If we are gonna play a double 6 and lock down the midfield, then play a traditional 4 back system and get an extra attacker in the mix. We would have definitely been more dangerous had there been another creative attacker from the start.
overall - there was some progress in how we played. FCC were the better team but they didn't completely dominate us by any means. They scored but we didn't give up. I was encouraged by some obvious patterns to get out of the press, but maybe they were a little too obvious. especially with tanisevic who was not very good with the ball at his feet at all. Definitely not our worst game - but we are still far from our potential.
more injuries suck. Hopefully Risa and Otoole are ok and will return next game.
MOTM for me are both freese and santi. freese was a beast and santi was literally all over the field trying to make something happen.
EDIT: Oh and the ref was absolutely atrocious tonight. nitpicking every free kick and throw placement and inconsistent calls. calling an offsides that didn't matter because we had recovered the ball and were transitioning to attack. but no, he calls the offsides so he could bring on a sub? WTF?
out of all the replacement refs, this was the first one that felt like he was a true scrub ref to me.
i thought we looked fairly good, but lost it in the final 3rd for a couple reasons.
1) we don't attack as a team, meaning, we simply don't send enough players forward when we are on the attack. it's only ever 3 guys in the attack and only 2 of them are ever in the box vs a FFC defense who got back behind the ball quickly.
2) we just didn't have enough attack minded players on the field. I thought nick set us up to defend. This was his opportunity to get more attackers on the field and he decided to play a double 6 with 3ATB. with the tanisevic being basically useless on either side of the ball.
when the attacking subs came on, there was a lot more movement up front. martinez was lively and made me really wonder wtf he doesn't get more minutes? jones too, was lively, and had great movement to create space. ojeda seemed half asleep but not enough time to really judge. wtf aren't these guys getting minutes? If we are gonna play a double 6 and lock down the midfield, then play a traditional 4 back system and get an extra attacker in the mix. We would have definitely been more dangerous had there been another creative attacker from the start.
overall - there was some progress in how we played. FCC were the better team but they didn't completely dominate us by any means. They scored but we didn't give up. I was encouraged by some obvious patterns to get out of the press, but maybe they were a little too obvious. especially with tanisevic who was not very good with the ball at his feet at all. Definitely not our worst game - but we are still far from our potential.
more injuries suck. Hopefully Risa and Otoole are ok and will return next game.
MOTM for me are both freese and santi. freese was a beast and santi was literally all over the field trying to make something happen.
EDIT: Oh and the ref was absolutely atrocious tonight. nitpicking every free kick and throw placement and inconsistent calls. calling an offsides that didn't matter because we had recovered the ball and were transitioning to attack. but no, he calls the offsides so he could bring on a sub? WTF?
out of all the replacement refs, this was the first one that felt like he was a true scrub ref to me.
Last edited:
