MLS - March 29 - Atlanta (Away)

[gbservis]

We aren't gonna agree on this and that's ok. To me, freese stays on his line until martins starts waving him to come collect. At most, he offers himself as an option but he didn't come rushing out to collect until martins waved him to. Freese had zero chance of getting that ball from where he was positioned.

Anyway, we need more players. That we can definitely agree on.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/1jn1vwn/atlanta_united_4_new_york_city_fc_3_emmanuel

Watching this again after coming across it on Reddit, I’m inclined to cut both Freese and Martins a little slack and put more of the blame on the turf*. Guzan puts backspin on the ball—a crafty move—but the artificial surface changes the play dramatically. The turf slows the ball significantly on the first bounce while maintaining the backspin, causing it to die completely on the second bounce. On natural grass, the ball would travel much faster after bouncing, likely skipping straight to Freese for an easy save. While this doesn’t fully absolve them of the mistake—they knew they were playing on turf and should have accounted for it—it certainly made things far more difficult.


That said, regardless of blame, I still believe Martins’ reaction was completely unacceptable, and this wasn’t an isolated incident. He has been yelling at teammates like that for years, often after goals that were clearly the result of his own mistakes. He’s done it so many times that I was genuinely shocked when he was given the armband.

*When I say turf, I mean artificial grass in this context

 

[LionNYC]

https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/1jn1vwn/atlanta_united_4_new_york_city_fc_3_emmanuel

Watching this again after coming across it on Reddit, I’m inclined to cut both Freese and Martins a little slack and put more of the blame on the turf*. Guzan puts backspin on the ball—a crafty move—but the artificial surface changes the play dramatically. The turf slows the ball significantly on the first bounce while maintaining the backspin, causing it to die completely on the second bounce. On natural grass, the ball would travel much faster after bouncing, likely skipping straight to Freese for an easy save. While this doesn’t fully absolve them of the mistake—they knew they were playing on turf and should have accounted for it—it certainly made things far more difficult.


That said, regardless of blame, I still believe Martins’ reaction was completely unacceptable, and this wasn’t an isolated incident. He has been yelling at teammates like that for years, often after goals that were clearly the result of his own mistakes. He’s done it so many times that I was genuinely shocked when he was given the armband.

*When I say turf, I mean artificial grass in this context

Fans have known since they opened up that stadium that the turf causes stupid bounces. It's certainly worse than anything about our field situation.

 

[ZYanksRule]

That said, regardless of blame, I still believe Martins’ reaction was completely unacceptable, and this wasn’t an isolated incident. He has been yelling at teammates like that for years, often after goals that were clearly the result of his own mistakes. He’s done it so many times that I was genuinely shocked when he was given the armband.

That reaction from Martins was completely unacceptable. Teammates should never treat each other in that fashion, I don't care how bad the mistake is.

 

[moogoo]

https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/1jn1vwn/atlanta_united_4_new_york_city_fc_3_emmanuel

Watching this again after coming across it on Reddit, I’m inclined to cut both Freese and Martins a little slack and put more of the blame on the turf*. Guzan puts backspin on the ball—a crafty move—but the artificial surface changes the play dramatically. The turf slows the ball significantly on the first bounce while maintaining the backspin, causing it to die completely on the second bounce. On natural grass, the ball would travel much faster after bouncing, likely skipping straight to Freese for an easy save. While this doesn’t fully absolve them of the mistake—they knew they were playing on turf and should have accounted for it—it certainly made things far more difficult.


That said, regardless of blame, I still believe Martins’ reaction was completely unacceptable, and this wasn’t an isolated incident. He has been yelling at teammates like that for years, often after goals that were clearly the result of his own mistakes. He’s done it so many times that I was genuinely shocked when he was given the armband.

*When I say turf, I mean artificial grass in this context

fwiw, doyle asked some ex pros and below were the answers. Seems like they all think Martins should have dealt with it, which is what I think. a DP centerback should know better and do better.

 

[FootyLovin]

ATLs first goal was just great ball movement rendering our guys NPCs. Good teams do that. Sometimes we do that.

Sometimes we do that.

 

[Kenny]

fwiw, doyle asked some ex pros and below were the answers. Seems like they all think Martins should have dealt with it, which is what I think. a DP centerback should know better and do better.

View attachment 13821

It’s what I thought too at the time and still do. Whatever Freese could have or should have done, or not done, it was Martins on the ball, his decision to make, with the opponent on his ass. He’s got to take responsibility. What he did was the opposite (bungled it out of indecision and then screamed at Freese and the others). And I like Martins. But that was a bad moment for sure.