MLS - May 18 - Red Bulls (Home - CF)

Tayvon had a great cross to get Bakrar - finally - on the score sheet. However, he was dreadful with the turnovers. There were at minimum four where he passed into the middle and Jersey pounced. I am glad he is now willing to push forward to join the attack more than in the past, but that doesn't require him to be loose with the ball against a pressing team. Our section was begging for Ilenic at half.

That noted, he delivered when it counted, and NYCFC was the better team. Full stop. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be to be very, very satisying.
Agree 100%. We were fortunate not to have conceded early from one of his turnovers.

Neither RB has played well over this stretch.
 
I guess there was one thing that was not perfect. Traffic on the way in.

It took us 90 minutes to make a trip that usually takes 35-40. Luckily, we had left early with a view to having a beer and a kick around before heading in, so we didn’t miss any of the game.

Apparently, someone decided to climb up the GW bridge, so the morons closed it for a long time. The knock on effects were all over the region.
 
You ain't kidding about the traffic. It was 90 minutes for me from Southern Westchester, should be around 30 minutes. Probably a 45-minute backup on the Whitestone. What an absolute nightmare. Honestly the traffic to Citi Field is generally worse than to Yankee Stadium for me, so this stadium in Queens is going to mean some frustrating drives. But Lot E to the rescue again today -- was out of the parking lot in 5 minutes postgame. Always park in Lot E, don't ever let them direct you into Lot C.

As for the game -- that was such a good performance. What a time for Bakrar to get his first goal of the year. Hopefully this is what he needed. I thought we dominated vast stretches of the game. Their goal was an incredible strike, but totally against the run of play.

Hannes is also really coming on now too -- looks like he's feeling more comfortable here. And Santi is just having an incredible season. So nice to see things coming together like this. Three wins against Toronto, Philly, and Red Bulls is great - and we deserved them. I know Forsberg didn't start for them, but we completely shut down a good Red Bulls team.

Great, great crowd -- reminded me of the first couple years of the club. This really is a sleeping giant. We got nearly 31,000 on a cool, rainy night in May. Everyone showed up, and everyone sat in the rain. When we get our stadium in a few years, the sky is the limit. We are going to take off like a rocket ship

The way we closed out the game reminded me of the golden era 2018-21. It was clinical. This team is growing up right before our eyes, and it's really fun. Patience is paying off.

COME ON NEW YORK
 
One frustrating note on the officiating.

The yellow card against Sands was a mistake. He was cautioned for kicking the ball away after being called for a foul. But it seemed to me at the time (and I think the replays confirm this) that a Red Bull player (Duncan, I think) kicked it off Sands.

The ref was okay tonight, but that one was wrong, and now he has to sit out the next game.
 
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One frustrating note on the officiating.

The yellow card against Sands was a mistake. He was cautioned for kicking the ball away after being called for a foul. But it seemed to me at the time (and I think the replays confirm this) that a Red Bull player (Duncan, I think) kicked it off Sands.

The ref was okay tonight, but that one was wrong, and now he has to sit out the next game.
There’s a chance it will get rescinded no? Or does the team have to put in a request to get it taken off!”?
 
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One point of disappointment for me was Jovan's performance. It just didn't feel like his workrate was high enough tonight. He was basically invisible for the 60 minutes he was on the field. Need to see him play a lot harder than that if he wants to start over Bakrar and Martinez.
 
There was a point in the 2nd half, the score was still 1-1 and I was struck by the feeling of absolute confidence I had in the team. The vibe coming off the pitch was really good. Would it be going overboard to say it was an inspirational performance by our club tonight? Did anyone else feel like Kevin O’Toole was especially up for this match. Thought he was was a talisman tonight. Also props to Malachi for his spirit and a special mention to Risa for sticking up for Freese, something I found lacking from the team in general over the last week or so.
Jovan's performance
Kid seems real strong and I think I saw what
The organization may be envisioning down the road but… yeah, seems to be missing something integral at this level. Especially in this match.
 
Between 9 points in three games against rivals including a derby win and what Kreider did the other night this is the best week for me in recent memory.

I’m gonna come to Gray’s defense. Keaton and Frese both gave away howlers equal to anything Gray did, even in the aggregate. On the other hand, we played through him all game and he did a great job of advancing the ball, and working with Keaton and Wolf all night. He really stepped up tonight.

The other really heartening thing was how confident we were on the ball, especially in tight spaces. We looked like classic Maxi-Taty-Heber era NYC and it was f-ing glorious to watch.

So glad Bakrar broke through. He really deserved that goal and he was unlucky on that screamer that Coronel got a touch on.

Good, professional, comprehensive win.
 
just finished watching the replay.

no real complaints. we played well overall. looked lively, good combinations. WOLF was an animal (lol). Jones was lively and Santi was santi. Parks and Sands did well to control the midfield. Gray had a good game going forward and yeah, he had some bad turnovers, but his defensive stops 1v1 make up for it. I think Ilenic would have been beat 1v1, for example.

I was surprised to see Jovan start and was a bit disappointed he did not score and contribute more. His press effort was minimal from my point of view and he definitely was not on the same page as everyone when working the ball in tight areas with his 1-2 passes often missing the mark. He's gonna need more games to get some chemistry and get used to the quickness of a match. Maybe more time with the II squad?

So happy for bakrar. i screamed at my screen and was hoping for him to at least get a brace. that ROCKET that hit the cross bar was going in and only hit the cross bar cause of coronel's reflex save. that would have been an incredible 2nd goal. hoping this opens the flood gates!

LET"S GO. 9 points from our 3 most hated teams. can't get better than that.
 
Tayvon had a great cross to get Bakrar - finally - on the score sheet. However, he was dreadful with the turnovers. There were at minimum four where he passed into the middle and Jersey pounced. I am glad he is now willing to push forward to join the attack more than in the past, but that doesn't require him to be loose with the ball against a pressing team. Our section was begging for Ilenic at half.

That noted, he delivered when it counted, and NYCFC was the better team. Full stop. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be to be very, very satisying.
Fair, I was focusing on his contributions going forward, several great passes/crosses, the assist, almost goal etc.
 
One point of disappointment for me was Jovan's performance. It just didn't feel like his workrate was high enough tonight. He was basically invisible for the 60 minutes he was on the field. Need to see him play a lot harder than that if he wants to start over Bakrar and Martinez.

Jovan had some really nice touch passes, he found space well, and showed his strength a few times. He's clearly very talented but it does feel like another Magno situation in that Jovan can't or won't press the way our other attackers do. It's frustrating that we pay big $ for players that don't fit our style and force us to change the way we play.

The moment bakrar entered the game we went right back to our high energy press.
 
Jovan had some really nice touch passes, he found space well, and showed his strength a few times. He's clearly very talented but it does feel like another Magno situation in that Jovan can't or won't press the way our other attackers do. It's frustrating that we pay big $ for players that don't fit our style and force us to change the way we play.

The moment bakrar entered the game we went right back to our high energy press.
Agree on this. I do think NC strategically decided to accomplish two things by starting Jovan. The second was more important- having Bakrar come off the bench to change the game without the pressure of starting. The first was getting Jovan his starting 50+ as part of the striker rotation. Worked.
 
I loved how fired up Ilenic was after making that play when he came on. He was on for a minute, didn’t care, and was just pumped to contribute to the win. Great team effort.
Got someone sent off, and maybe even prompted a third yellow for dissent? Nealis got his first yellow at ‘67, then the match summary shows this:
IMG_3407.jpeg
 
Got someone sent off, and maybe even prompted a third yellow for dissent? Nealis got his first yellow at ‘67, then the match summary shows this:
View attachment 13354
I’d argue that he was the most productive player we had in a production/minute basis. He had two great runs up the side, drew the yellow, intercepted a pass.

He was excited to be there and that mirrored the rest of the team. My seats are overlooking the warming up players. You could see who was coming off the bench because they’d be pumped up and the rest of the group would be giving them words of encouragement. This group likes each other and want to contribute.
 
As someone who has been skeptical of Cushing, I need to point out a tactical move that I thought was excellent. When Perea came on for Santi, instead of having Parks move forward into an attacking midfiled position (as often has been the plan), he put Perea at the top of the press. For a minimum of 5-6 minutes - which is invaluable when trying to close out a game - Jersey was confused and barely crossed midfield, pinging the ball between goal and centerbacks, a possesion game that is not typical Jersey (from roughly the 73rd minute to the 79th minute). More work had to be done, but it essentially turned killing 20 minutes into killing 10 minutes.

Props, Nick.
 
As someone who has been skeptical of Cushing, I need to point out a tactical move that I thought was excellent. When Perea came on for Santi, instead of having Parks move forward into an attacking midfiled position (as often has been the plan), he put Perea at the top of the press. For a minimum of 5-6 minutes - which is invaluable when trying to close out a game - Jersey was confused and barely crossed midfield, pinging the ball between goal and centerbacks, a possesion game that is not typical Jersey (from roughly the 73rd minute to the 79th minute). More work had to be done, but it essentially turned killing 20 minutes into killing 10 minutes.

Props, Nick.

He's done that with Perea in the last 3 games. Instead of just adding another CM he has Perea shift to CAM, it's been working well.