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

[Brooklyn Blue]

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.

He has been forward previously, but not point of the arrow that I recall. Perhaps I missed it, but last night when he came in it surprised me how far upfield he was, harrassing Coronel and Nealis as opposed to picking up players closer to midfield. I'll have to rewatch a bit of the Philly game.

 

[FootyLovin]

Very happy and pumped for a great win. Just pointing this out as it hasn't been mentioned - Sands was very fortunate not to draw a second yellow.

On the Wolf goal, that reminded me of some goals from our distant past with the total team build up. Here's the sequence off a Coronel heave upfield - Grey, Wolf, Keaton, Grey, Martins, Freese, Risa, OT, Santi, Malachi, Wolf. Left side of defense, back to deep in the left corner, across the back line, up the left, spring the speedster, cross, Wolf with ice in his veins in the box, and finish. On a night when everyone is talking about the Bakrar goal (with justification) this was just sublime.

Malachi not getting enough chatter here. What a great match for him. It is fantastic having a speedster on the team. Makes such a difference.

 

[ZYanksRule]

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.

Yeah, I think I made that point earlier. We looked like vintage NYCFC last night. I was optimistic that this rebuild would be successful, but you never know until you see it.

We saw it last night.

There will still be frustrating nights when this young team doesn't have it, but we've seen the potential. We know what this team is capable of. Could be a fun summer in New York.

Also -- someone else said it, but that moment when Mitja came on, immediately got chopped down by Nealis, then yelled right in his face. Glorious. Fire me all the way up, Mitja.

 

[KevinJRogers]

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.

I'm just guessing, but I think the plan is for Jovan to be our bunker buster, maybe with Talles Magno with his dribbling skills on the wing for Malachi. It's not hard to envision those two working some combination play to pick their way through traffic and get some good looks.

From what I've seen, Jovan isn't the fastest guy in a dead sprint. But he's quick, strong as an ox, has great feet and can rifle the ball. When we play a side looking to build a fortress and counter, he'll be dangerous in a crowd.

If we're in a road race, Bakrar and Jones get the call.

So, yeah, Mijatovich isn't the typical pressing striker we're used to. But he gives us two different profiles in the attack and allows us to play two very different styles, depending on the opposition we face.

 

[Davo15]

I’m one of those terrible people who can’t help but check out forums for teams I dislike when they have a bad result . Over on MF they seem to be doing two things 1- whining about the ref 2- foaming at the mouth with hatred because we’re all a bunch of euro posers who didn’t support mls from day 1.

 

[moogoo]

we're adopting the raccoon mascot hard..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1792189967579439499

 

[LionNYC]

we're adopting the raccoon mascot hard..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1792189967579439499

The social media posts have really been more meme-y of late than their usually CFG buttoned up business as usual stuff. Love it.

 

[ZYanksRule]

The social media posts have really been more meme-y of late than their usually CFG buttoned up business as usual stuff. Love it.

The "Thanks for visiting New York City" tweet last night had me laughing.

Also on the scoreboard last night, "The Empire City strikes back."

I like it -- I don't want our social media feed to be like some of the insult comics of other teams, but leaning into the fun is OK by me.

 

[gbservis]

I'm just guessing, but I think the plan is for Jovan to be our bunker buster, maybe with Talles Magno with his dribbling skills on the wing for Malachi. It's not hard to envision those two working some combination play to pick their way through traffic and get some good looks.

From what I've seen, Jovan isn't the fastest guy in a dead sprint. But he's quick, strong as an ox, has great feet and can rifle the ball. When we play a side looking to build a fortress and counter, he'll be dangerous in a crowd.

If we're in a road race, Bakrar and Jones get the call.

So, yeah, Mijatovich isn't the typical pressing striker we're used to. But he gives us two different profiles in the attack and allows us to play two very different styles, depending on the opposition we face.

Last night's game was a great matchup for Jovan as we needed to be conservative with the press since NJ only knows how to counter. Most games I think we would prefer to press if we can.

A Magno, Jovan bunker buster system sounds like a fun option to have but 1DP spot, 1U22 spot and $14M in transer fees is a heck of a lot to pay for two situational rotation guys in a salary capped league.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Last night's game was a great matchup for Jovan as we needed to be conservative with the press since NJ only knows how to counter. Most games I think we would prefer to press if we can.

A Magno, Jovan bunker buster system sounds like a fun option to have but 1DP spot, 1U22 spot and $14M in transer fees is a heck of a lot to pay for two situational rotation guys in a salary capped league.

I think Jovan will get more comfortable as he progresses. He didn't have a preseason, barely got on the field in March, then was lost for weeks due to that visa issue. He's still building up. Not going to judge his capabilities yet, other than to say I thought his workrate wasn't great last night. But even that will come the more comfortable he feels. Making his first start in the Derby is a hell of a statement of intent on what they believe he can be. Sometimes I think we forget how young Jovan is, myself included.

 

[KevinJRogers]

Last night's game was a great matchup for Jovan as we needed to be conservative with the press since NJ only knows how to counter. Most games I think we would prefer to press if we can.

A Magno, Jovan bunker buster system sounds like a fun option to have but 1DP spot, 1U22 spot and $14M in transer fees is a heck of a lot to pay for two situational rotation guys in a salary capped league.

I think Jovan will get more comfortable as he progresses. He didn't have a preseason, barely got on the field in March, then was lost for weeks due to that visa issue. He's still building up. Not going to judge his capabilities yet, other than to say I thought his workrate wasn't great last night. But even that will come the more comfortable he feels. Making his first start in the Derby is a hell of a statement of intent on what they believe he can be. Sometimes I think we forget how young Jovan is, myself included.

Right. We haven't seen enough of him to have any true idea of what he can do. I think we're about to see a lot more of him.

And I didn't mean at all to imply he and Talles Magno were simply going to be situational rotation guys. I was just guessing at a possible combination to tackle bunkered up teams -- which, by the way, we may see a lot more of once we're really flying.

It doesn't mean it's the only thing Jovan can do.

 

[Shwafta]

One of my favorite moments i didn't hear anyone mention in this thread was right at the end of the game when whoever it was took the ball to the corner, and the announcer said (paraphrasing) "NYCFC really showing how to close out a game" lol.

 

[moogoo]

One of my favorite moments i didn't hear anyone mention in this thread was right at the end of the game when whoever it was took the ball to the corner, and the announcer said (paraphrasing) "NYCFC really showing how to close out a game" lol.

About time we started doing that

 

[ZYanksRule]

One of my favorite moments i didn't hear anyone mention in this thread was right at the end of the game when whoever it was took the ball to the corner, and the announcer said (paraphrasing) "NYCFC really showing how to close out a game" lol.

It was clinical, and reminded me of the heyday from 2019-21.

 

[KevinJRogers]

Not sure if this was posted elsewhere, but here's Nick's postgame presser.

 

[Gene]

2 articles this weekend . And by a writer and not a wire service. I'm as giddy as a drunken man.

NYCFC beat Red Bulls to pull even in Eastern Conference standings

Mounsef Bakrar’s helped lift NYCFC to a 2-1 win on Saturday night and pulled them even in the Eastern Conference standings with the Red Bulls.

nypost.com

 

[canchon]

It was clinical, and reminded me of the heyday from 2019-21.

Makes up for that game at RBA when the ref put eight minutes of stoppage time and NYCFC putting a weak shot on goal at 7:30, followed by RBNJ coming down the field and getting a handball call to tie the game with a penalty in the 12th minute of stoppage time or something like that.

Well done.

 

[gbservis]

I think Jovan will get more comfortable as he progresses. He didn't have a preseason, barely got on the field in March, then was lost for weeks due to that visa issue. He's still building up. Not going to judge his capabilities yet, other than to say I thought his workrate wasn't great last night. But even that will come the more comfortable he feels. Making his first start in the Derby is a hell of a statement of intent on what they believe he can be. Sometimes I think we forget how young Jovan is, myself included.

It's hard to accept Jovan's so young and needs time when he was our biggest signing of the offseason and our second-largest transfer fee of all time. Many other teams found u22 players who have come in and contributed from day one even with short training camps. I don't hold it against Jovan, he's young and talented and will be great once he finds his footing (and then he will be immediately sold). I still think it was a terrible signing by Lee and CFG. Jones and Wolf are providing a lot of cover for Lee right now for how little his big-money signings have contributed to date. All the young guys look talented and I think they will eventually be good for us but given our recent form putting a chunk of that big $ instead towards a proven star level #9 would have us looking like title contenders right now.

 

[gbservis]

Not sure if this was posted elsewhere, but here's Nick's postgame presser.

Cushing deserves a ton of credit for his growth as a coach. To hear him say we need to attack we are a bad team when we absorb pressure. To see him go from just dumping a 3rd CDM into a flat 3 man line to this new system we run with Perea pushing upfield. He's evolved and he's been willing to adapt, not something a lot of coaches will do. You can also tell no matter how bad it got he never lost the players. Even in the worst stretches the effort was there we just lacked execution. One thing we have never had as a club is long-term stability at the head coaching spot, if things continue to go well maybe Cushing will stay for a long time and give us that stability.

 

[mgarbowski]

Malachi not getting enough chatter here. What a great match for him. It is fantastic having a speedster on the team. Makes such a difference.

I was very impressed with his assist, which entailed 2 good decisions. First, to pass. Second, to take the angle back, even though it forced Wolf to stop his run and then shake off some defenders. It’s very tempting to try to a a forward curling pass for the runner to meet going forward because it’s almost an automatic goal if it connects. But it just wasn’t there. Well seen and executed by a young player.