MLS - May 7 - Kansas City (Home)

[LionNYC]

Gray and Gloster each had crosses early in the second half that were “you’re a top flight professional?” moments.

xG of 0.94 to 0.35. Both rounded down. Disappointing offensive effort against a poor SKC team.

And during the introduction, the team was facing opposite the camera standing with their backs to the flags. What happened?

 

[Revfugee]

Score another two for Citi Field. Dropped my wallet (probably while jumping to my feet to protest that no-call) and it got to Lost and found about the same time I did. The staff was genuinely friendly/concerned/communicative. I can’t imagine what that experience woulda been like at YS. And the Pastrami Sandwich is actually pretty good. And I’m a pastrami stickler.

Frustrating match but not particularly worried. I want to see more of GP, though.

 

[Brooklyn Blue]

That weather made the game hard to gauge. However, the biggest issue seemed to be the fullbacks. Against a team looking for 0-0, crosses needed to be an option - and to be polite, they were not.

 

[moogoo]

heber didn't offer much but can't blame him since he hasn't played much. it takes time to get that sharpness/fitness back. he wasn't a liability at least.

kc were organized on defense and played us physical. ref called every light foul and let go obvious ones (on GP for example), while forgetting that advantage is a thing at crucial moments.

i don' tthink we played terribly. I think it just shows the other end of our struggles as a team. we are not great against a very aggressive high pressing team and we are not great against an organized team in a low block. solutions to both are playing faster but the personnel weren't on the field tonight to make that happen. our attack was fairly fluid in the first half of the first half but it tailed off. even maxi and gp coming on didn't really heat things up cause KC were playing for a draw.

acevedo, gray, gloster - just not quick enough with decisions. our front guys didn't have their shooting boots on. santi, love him, but needs to stop with stupid fouls. we need to be smarter against teams like this.

johnson had himself a game and saved us from dropping even more points.

onto the next!

 

[Joe_Cos]

I had a feeling it was going to be a long night when Sean Johnson went to the wrong goal at the beginning of the match. He went to the left field goal and then had to jog to the other goal.

 

[Shwafta]

Sooo... at what point do we give up on Heber? I'm all for giving people time, but...

 

[LionNYC]

I had a feeling it was going to be a long night when Sean Johnson went to the wrong goal at the beginning of the match. He went to the left field goal and then had to jog to the other goal.

Alex Callens forgot about the prematch photo and had to jog from his position to the team.

 

[Revfugee]

Gray and Gloster each had crosses early in the second half that were “you’re a top flight professional?” moments.

xG of 0.94 to 0.35. Both rounded down. Disappointing offensive effort against a poor SKC team.

And during the introduction, the team was facing opposite the camera standing with their backs to the flags. What happened?

To be fair to Gray and Gloster, in the first half, they each swung a bunch of good crosses in and nobody could capitalize. At one point Gray swing three really good ones in quick succession.
In the second half they each had a howler apiece. But KC—give them credit—adjusted their play to deal with our wide attacks, which had been pretty effective in the first 45. The biggest issue for us In The second half was that we weren’t creating enough space off of Maxi on the left of center and we didn’t push down the right through GP nearly enough once he came on.
Also, it doesn’t seem that Maxi and Santi have quite figured each other out. Seems like we are better with one or the other but they don’t really have the rapport.

 

[canchon]

The weather for this game was brutal, just brutal. I felt colder at this game than at MLS Cup last year - at one point I could see my breath. It’s freaking May!! Subdued crowd and the weather - for lack of a better phrase - killed all the vibes. The NY craft beer vendor by 132 also wasn’t open, grrr.

To take a page from Greggggg’s lexicon, not enough verticality tonight. SKC showed up to destroy and then play direct - how many of Melia’s goal kicks were just booted straight up the entire field.

 

[moogoo]

Sooo... at what point do we give up on Heber? I'm all for giving people time, but...

he's had decent minutes in what... 2-3 games in the last year? two times (including tonight) because taty was unavailable. Any player coming off a major injury will need time to get fit and sharp. Training isn't enough. He needs minutes. It's a shame they don't send him to the II squad. I think it would help him with fitness and confidence putting the ball in the net.

Also, to be fair, heber didn't make a huge impact tonight, but he also wasn't a liability. you have to give KC credit in their defense. they did not give us any space in the middle of the field and played a low, compact block. No one really had a spectacular game tonight.

 

[DeGrozz]

I am happy to root for a team that doesn't play like SKC.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I am happy to root for a team that doesn't play like SKC.

I was saying that to someone after the game -- it's one thing to be successful, and SKC is undoubtedly a successful team that wins in this league. But at least we do it with flair. At least we are an entertaining team to watch. Playing for a 0-0 game is a brutal way to play. I'm really happy we play an entertaining brand of soccer, because if I had to watch that SKC team 34 times a year I don't htink I'd be nearly as into this league as I am.

Brutal day, brutal weather, brutal game. Onwards. Finish the homestand with a win on Saturday against a CLB team that will surely play a more open brand of soccer.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Heber just doesn’t create and find space the same way Taty does during the buildup. I think he’s reliant much more on effective fullback play down the wings to open things up for him whereas Taty presses spaces in and behind the back line that results in through ball opportunities and creating space for the wingers to exploit.

With perhaps only one day of practice with Heber at the 9, not all that surprising that the team struggled to figure out how to make the attack work, especially on a really shitty weather day.

I don’t mean this point to really complain about the ref, but why did he feel it necessary to blow the whistle 5-6 times every time? I’ve never heard a ref blow the whistle so many times (and not talking about fouls, stoppages, etc but moreso the number of times he blows it each stoppage). The no foul call on Pereira was terrible, but it was outside the box, so no VAR.

 

[SoupInNYC]

I’ll also add, a very poor game from Gloster. Thought he was way too timid in the way he attacked spaces.

He often wasn’t arriving into space he should be exploiting a full second after he really should, and not sure if it’s just his running style/form, but it appears that he’s often not sprinting fully.

Thought he had another chance at the end line to maybe send in a low hard cross across the face of goal but was too timid and allowed the defender to beat him to the ball and play it out for a corner (which isn’t terrible, but a corner would’ve been the worst case had he attempted the cross and it was blocked)

 

[mgarbowski]

I'm not sure VR would have overturned the Pereira takedown had it been in the box and subject to review, because it the play was plausibly (though IMO wrongly) shoulder to shoulder. S-to-S should be limited to 2 players running together with or to the ball and the defender muscles the offensive player without using his arms. This was a defender away from the ball running at a player with it, and making no attempt to win the ball except by a full body check. But he didn't push with his arms so it was called "shoulder to shoulder." At least that's what I presume as there's no other explanation I can conceive of.
Also I think if it happened 5 yards further out it gets called. Ref didn't want to call the foul and then risk that a VAR check could have determined it was in the box which would have made it a penalty and the game is decided late on a close call pen. Except of course those happen all the time.
The problem with VAR is that the game is filled with malleable rules like shoulder to shoulder and everyone pretends that "clear and obvious" is an actual thing that has or can ever be applied consistently.

 

[mgarbowski]

I'm amazed Khiry Shelton is still a player in this league. He's a forward with a MLS career G+A/90 of 0.33 over more than 8,200 minutes over parts of 7 MLS seasons. For comparison, Jesus Medina contributed 0.44 G+A/90 in 4 seasons and not quite 6,500 minutes. I get that there's a DP/salary differential, but at some point not contributing is not contributing.

 

[SoupInNYC]

I'm not sure VR would have overturned the Pereira takedown had it been in the box and subject to review, because it the play was plausibly (though IMO wrongly) shoulder to shoulder. S-to-S should be limited to 2 players running together with or to the ball and the defender muscles the offensive player without using his arms. This was a defender away from the ball running at a player with it, and making no attempt to win the ball except by a full body check. But he didn't push with his arms so it was called "shoulder to shoulder." At least that's what I presume as there's no other explanation I can conceive of.
Also I think if it happened 5 yards further out it gets called. Ref didn't want to call the foul and then risk that a VAR check could have determined it was in the box which would have made it a penalty and the game is decided late on a close call pen. Except of course those happen all the time.
The problem with VAR is that the game is filled with malleable rules like shoulder to shoulder and everyone pretends that "clear and obvious" is an actual thing that has or can ever be applied consistently.

It didn’t seem shoulder to shoulder to me as it looked like it was more hip to hip. I haven’t seen the replay in a while, so could be misremembering, but that’s what I think I remember happening.

I think the fact that the ref paused play for a little bit may have alluded to they thought it was a foul, but then determined it was outside the box so it was a moot point

 

[mgarbowski]

It didn’t seem shoulder to shoulder to me as it looked like it was more hip to hip. I haven’t seen the replay in a while, so could be misremembering, but that’s what I think I remember happening.

I think the fact that the ref paused play for a little bit may have alluded to they thought it was a foul, but then determined it was outside the box so it was a moot point

It was a little of everything. IMO Walter led high, at shoulder level, with his arm extended, but not firm so it arguably wasn't a push, elbow or stiff arm, then made full contact from shoulder to hip. But you could call it a push, or an elbow, or hip, or nothing.

Honestly if you let 100 refs watch the video I think you would be unlikely to get an overwhelming clear consensus.

 

[canchon]

Not getting the Pereira call or an overturn by VAR made me think, when is the last time NYCFC got a game changing call like that in the final few minutes of the game?

 

[LionNYC]

Not getting the Pereira call or an overturn by VAR made me think, when is the last time NYCFC got a game changing call like that in the final few minutes of the game?

For us? I don’t know. Against us, a lot.