That’s what I think. Telling everyone to keep talking it don’t matter or ‘it’s all just talk’
MLS - May 1 - Philadelphia (Away)
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
Love this... over my head, but absolutely love this post.
It was awfully quiet here this weekend, considering that NYCFC:
I kid about 538 but this is unprecedented. Even when NYCFC started 2018 with a 5-0-1 record, they were never listed higher than second and had a listed percentage chance of winning MLS cup better than a tie for second. The 2019 team that finished with 64 points also was never listed higher than second.
- is tied for third in the Supporters Shield standings
- is on top of the all-important 538 MLS ratings with a 20% chance of winning SS and 16% of winning MLS Cup
- is tied for most goals scored
- is second in goal differential
- has the second best 3-game start in team history
- has not conceded a goal for more than 225 minutes
- has the best ASA xGoal DIfferential
- has the best ASA Goals Added Differential
- qualified for the phantom US Open Cup
I kid about 538 but this is unprecedented. Even when NYCFC started 2018 with a 5-0-1 record, they were never listed higher than second and had a listed percentage chance of winning MLS cup better than a tie for second. The 2019 team that finished with 64 points also was never listed higher than second.
I also am very bullish about this season! The problem is that less people are posting here and even when they are, it's generally pretty negative. Negativity breeds negativity, and negativity alienates people so I could imagine that's part of it.
I don't see us finishing 1st, though. We'll have to see how we play against Orlando on sunday as I think that might be a pivotal match in the season. Win/tie and we are probably looking good for the season. Lose and it might signify a mid table trend. (Orlando is predicted to be a playoff team. We beat philly with 10 men and looked good, so that's why I think our performance against Orlando will be important - consistency.)
It's true we've been somewhat lucky in our opponents. And Orlando is looking like a solid team. I really just want to get to mid-July with a respectable record and then hopefully pick up another attacking piece or four. Until then, we've got a midfield and defense that should at least give us a shot in every game.
Vuk looked decent in the time he was on, so I'm hoping to see more of him/gray coming on as subs. Especially in a back 3 formation, we will see a lot more of them with Chanot out
I know what the next club email will consist of!
I agree we looked good with 3ATB for the first 15 minutes or so. Nice to see that, especially with Sands- looked much more comfortable at CB. My only complaint is why we kept 3ATB for the remaining 75 minutes? No need for an excessive amount of CBs when up a man, I would've liked to see ITS or Jasson on at the half to add to the attack (ITS came on 66th min for Morales, Jasson for Medina 89th).
Morales looked really good to me with distribution and winning the ball back, allowed Sands to push upfield more (which I think Parks prefers). Loved at one point when he turned over the ball and immediately won it back and played it forward. His distribution was a big difference/improvement when compared to Sands in the same role.
Amundsen looked good in his 15-20 minutes for Thor, getting up the pitch and aiding the attack. Would like to see him get some more time and chances to get crosses into fresh legged Taty and Medina. I have a feeling due to Thor's wonderstrike that he unfortunately gets a few more games before Amundsen takes over.
Good showing from the boys, looked good tactically and able to create a bunch of chances. Only letdown being the lack of chances finished while up a man, but it is only the 3rd game of the season. I'll give them a couple more games to get fully locked in before critiquing too harshly on their finishing.
Morales looked really good to me with distribution and winning the ball back, allowed Sands to push upfield more (which I think Parks prefers). Loved at one point when he turned over the ball and immediately won it back and played it forward. His distribution was a big difference/improvement when compared to Sands in the same role.
Amundsen looked good in his 15-20 minutes for Thor, getting up the pitch and aiding the attack. Would like to see him get some more time and chances to get crosses into fresh legged Taty and Medina. I have a feeling due to Thor's wonderstrike that he unfortunately gets a few more games before Amundsen takes over.
Good showing from the boys, looked good tactically and able to create a bunch of chances. Only letdown being the lack of chances finished while up a man, but it is only the 3rd game of the season. I'll give them a couple more games to get fully locked in before critiquing too harshly on their finishing.
Tactical considerations aside, 3 at the back is the optimal way to get our Best XI on the field at the moment. If Sands plays CB, that opens up a spot in midfield to play both Morales and Parks. In exchange, you take someone off the front line, where we are a little thin right now anyway.
If Sands plays in the midfield, then you either need to go with 5 midfielders, which means two of the center mids play wide, or you take either Morales or Parks out of the starting lineup.
If Sands plays in the midfield, then you either need to go with 5 midfielders, which means two of the center mids play wide, or you take either Morales or Parks out of the starting lineup.
#DeilaOut to #DeilaLove?
I believe that's a product of MLS moving from a teams based idea of selling the league to a star players idea of selling the league (which the NBA is currently doing). We don't have a star/highlight player. Cade Cowell gets more attention than James Sands because scoring sells compared to defense. Maybe it's because we poured it on a feckless Cincinnati team and a 10-man Philadelphia team which is why Taty and Medina don't get covered like Ruidiaz or Chicharito. We may have one of the better teams in the league, but I still want to see us tested against a full strength Philadelphia and New England team.
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Although we had all the advantages (a tired Philly team that found itself pretty quickly 10v11) I think it was pretty encouraging that SJ had very little to do. I guess Alfredo Morales had a lot to do with that, considering that Gudi was losing every 1v1 against Philly's right back. Parks was much better than lately, and Sands was impeccable. Tinny good as always. Medina seems to be finally putting it together to be a net positive, in that his virtues (creative, good for tiki-taka and excellent crashing the box) outweigh his negatives (easily bodied off the ball). Isi was my biggest disappointment in that he looked really passive, so I would be glad to have Jasson take over as offensive sub and see what happens. At least he always seems to chase the game and come in really eager to have an impact. As to the rest, I am afraid Maxi is clearly fading off. He's no longer the energizer bunny he used to be until 2 years ago. Let's hope he stays injury-free and that we can manage him to get the best of his qualities for the remainder of his contract, but we need his understudy NOW.
Haven't had a chance to watch the second half yet (had a call for work right when the second half started and was busy all day yesterday with it).
But some quick thoughts on the first half:
But some quick thoughts on the first half:
- As many pointed out, Medina is really coming into form. His goal was nice, but two things I loved most about it were:
- When he receives just out of the box, he waits for the overlapping run from Tinnerholm that he knows is coming
- His movement after passing the ball to Tinnerholm, wonderful
- Very nice, intricate passing sequences. Can't wait to cut some of those up.
- Missed the red card infraction live (as I think many did) and saw Taty rolling around on the ground. Thought he was just up to his usual shtick but holy hell he took quite a blow. I was very surprised to see that his rolling on the ground was actually deserving.
- Also, the goal was very nice, and also did fall into his lap, but he kind of anticipated it, very nice from him.
- And he's really developing a lot of great skills and becoming well rounded. Would be interesting to see if Heber returns fully healthy (doubtful at least at the start) and Taty is still here, what we do up top.
- Gudi still seems slow on the wing. Looks like this resulted in Keaton getting out wide on the left since with the 3-4-2-1 there is nobody else to provide width out there. It wasn't terrible, just something interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing how things developed in the second half.
- James Sands was really pinging the ball out to start attacking sequences and it was wonderful to watch. This was probably aided the most by the red card, but I loved seeing him take advantage of it.
don't worry. when ruan toasts him on the wing every other play this weekend, amundsen will get the call sooner rather than later.
The forum is sadly quiet and I miss the Dome days...
I wonder about the “negativity” being much of an issue cause if media/talk radio tells us anything it’s that ranting and complaining about stuff is a sure fire way to keep people interested.
I’m probably one of the biggest pessimists on the forum so maybe I’m sensitive to the “negativity” analysis. Hopefully I’m more in the category of constructive criticism and rationality. Which leads me to...
I’m not ready to anoint Delia the next Soccer Mastermind and the team a contender. Happy we took care of business at home and poured in 5 against Cincy. Also thrilled to get the W in Philly but aside from the first twenty minutes in Chester I can’t say we “looked good against a 10 man Philly squad that was; resting players, had played 3 games in 8 days(?) and looked able to steal a point until we got a second goal on a gift. This fan finds it worrisome that NYCFC had so much trouble finding a way to get quality shots off against 10 for 70 plus minutes?
I think this Orlando match will reveal a great deal about what we can expect of this team.
Yes, we could sign a “finisher” later in the year, maybe Heber comes back and is the Heber we first came to love but the way the attack seems to get stale and clunky in the final third needs to change.
Orlando plays us tough and they are looking pretty good this year. Looking forward to this game and Delia’s crew showing me they got it under control, that I know practically nothing about soccer and to just relax and walk on the sunny side of the NYCFC street.
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You just explained why the team gets limited content on the MLS site (another factor is they fired ~>half of their writers last year so there's less content to go around). I was addressing this forum and more specifically the last weekend. Even with the general down trend on activity here I expected something of a Saturday night win bump on Sunday and it was really dead.
Maybe it was mostly an issue of it being Spring, things opening up post-vax and nobody wanted to spend time writing NYCFC posts.
I think thosands of NYCFC fans had the same thought process but you're the first one I've seen say or write it out loud.
No major signings to excite the fanbase, only 9 home games at Yankee Stadium in 2021, continued lack of public stadium progress, overshadowed early playoff exit from 2020...Even though we're getting out of COVID and returning to normal, things don't seem better for NYCFC and maybe even worse on paper.
