MLS - September 7 - Cincinnati (Home)

No way that's on SJ. He's specifically NOT supposed to be inline with the goal in that situation. He's never supposed to be there, so you're never supposed to pass it back to him there.
Wait SJ is supposed to be on the far side of the posts? New one on me. I suppose Man City can play that way but maybe not in MLS. Mostly on Martins but SJ looked way too wide from where I was watching.
 
Wait SJ is supposed to be on the far side of the posts? New one on me. I suppose Man City can play that way but maybe not in MLS. Mostly on Martins but SJ looked way too wide from where I was watching.
When the ball is that far up, he’s supposed to be somewhere that a missed back pass won’t go in the net. You will very rarely see an unpressured defender pass to a keeper between the sticks.
 
What a frustrating game. Lots of good chances, but still felt like it wasn't good enough. Obviously Martins had a howler of a game, but still feels like they're in a funk. And now severely undermanned on Saturday in Charlotte.
 
Johnson that far left was a tactical choice. All game he was shifting significantly to the left side when playing out of the back. Callens was also moving much further up the pitch than usual and almost acting as a second fullback with Amundsen. My seats were at the left corner diagonal from the supporters, and it was especially noticeable in the second half. I would need to rewatch, but it was obvious that it was something planned in conjunction with the 3 CB lineup.
I saw this too. In minute 17 after the PK call that was waved off for offside on Vasquez, we played OOTB and Johnson was way to his left. It was even weirder because Chanot shifted over to the point where he was almost in front of goal. I asked Shwafta Shwafta what the hell we were doing.
That aside, it is very common for defenders and keepers to align themselves so back passes to the keeper are not on goal in case the keeper flubs it. It does not necessarily require that the keeper stand off to the side of goal, just careful awareness of the angles as the defenders and keeper shift while playing out. We do that regularly. Yesterday was something different
 
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Did I hear Ian Joy complaining about Talles' instagram on the pregame show? Are we really at that point of a slump?
 
One of my favorite moments of the match that I doubt was caught on TV was right after Cacha’s shot from distance that the goalie parried off in the first half, he started to run back to defense and runs straight into Ted Unkel. And Cacha puts his hand up and Ted gives him a high five and a pat on the back. It was such an absurd moment that I found really humorous.
Edit: just watched the replay mark posted above. It’s in the 44th minute and Unkel was in the way of Cacha’s run up. And then you see them embrace and high five after the shot. Still funny to me
 
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One of my favorite moments of the match that I doubt was caught on TV was right after Cacha’s shot from distance that the goalie parried off in the first half, he started to run back to defense and runs straight into Ted Unkel. And Cacha puts his hand up and Ted gives him a high five and a pat on the back. It was such an absurd moment that I found really humorous.
Edit: just watched the replay mark posted above. It’s in the 44th minute and Unkel was in the way of Cacha’s run up. And then you see them embrace and high five after the shot. Still funny to me
Must have missed that! I guess I was focused on the shot that went right at the keeper lol
 
One of my favorite moments of the match that I doubt was caught on TV was right after Cacha’s shot from distance that the goalie parried off in the first half, he started to run back to defense and runs straight into Ted Unkel. And Cacha puts his hand up and Ted gives him a high five and a pat on the back. It was such an absurd moment that I found really humorous
I caught part of that and wondered, “Are they friends? Is unkel solidifying their post game dinner plans?”
thanks.
 
This game showed signs of life. We had a tremendous number of shots on target against a possible playoff team, and aside from the defensive blunder we didn't look TOO bad defensively (though Cincinnati were definitely able to get by our defensive an uncomfortable number of times...)

Home playoff game is no longer in our hands after this one, Orlando controls that.
 
I'm not sure about the cards (it's late and I'm drinking wine so I don't feel like digging into the numbers too much LOL) but we did indeed lose a lot of close ones last year. We had nine losses by one goal. (We had seven one-goal wins.)

This year, we have seven one-goal losses so far. Just four one-goal wins.

I'd agree injuries have been our bugaboo this campaign, though. And we arguably were not as able to handle them either, although I think we've figured a lot out.
Since SoupInNYC SoupInNYC turned me on to fbref this week:
Last year we had 76 yellows and 8 reds, so about 2.25 yellows/game and 0.25 reds.
This year through 29 matches we had 66 yellows and 1 red, basically exactly the same rate of yellows.
 
i screamed this at unkel too. cause to me, martins attempted to play the ball. he CAN however, issue the red AND the PK if there was no attempt to play the ball. if he played the ball, then it's PK and yellow. To me it was a very soft foul to begin with and questionable dogso from where I was sitting since johnson was coming and i think callens was right there too (i haven't seen highlights yet).

yea just watched. he bumps into him from behind trying to catch up so red card was valid, but very soft. the bump was minimal at best and guy went diving looking for the PK. i thought martins was supposed to be our speedster on defense. guess not fast enough. didn't know FCC had a speed demon in their attack.
Some FC Cincy stuff ended up in my Twitter feed last night (I think it's because I Quote Tweeted a FC Cincy tweet) and they are all super pissed that it wasn't a penalty, saying that Thiago Martins continued to hold him into the box.

I thought this in real time and it seems more obvious after the fact, but really wanted Thiago Martins to foul him immediately when the ball was played. It was clear he was going to get beat, foul him before he's past you so it's only a yellow.
 
Last night's game had some real 2019 vs Minnesota vibes.
  • Team is in a rut and the coach is coming under fire.
  • Team plays well
  • Team draws due to a terrible own goal
Hopefully they come out the other side similar to how they did after that match.
 
There is no way in hell that was 14,000 people. absolutely NO way
MLS uses tickets distributed -- including comps -- for attendance. I'll try to find the article that went into the fuzzy MLS math. No one uses turnstile numbers these days, as you know.

Both Red Bull Arena games are listed in the 8,000s. I went to both, probably 1,000 at best. So that's 7,000 no-shows between distributed comps and season ticket holders.

ETA: Here's the 2016 LA Times article:
 
I saw this too. In minute 17 after the PK call that was waved off for offside on Vasquez, we played OOTB and Johnson was way to his left. It was even weirder because Chanot shifted over to the point where he was almost in front of goal. I asked Shwafta Shwafta what the hell we were doing.
That aside, it is very common for defenders and keepers to align themselves so back passes to the keeper are not on goal in case the keeper flubs it. It does not necessarily require that the keeper stand off to the side of goal, just careful awareness of the angles as the defenders and keeper shift while playing out. We do that regularly. Yesterday was something different

Passing map from last night against Cincy (look at Callens):

1662644784332.png


Passing map from the D.C. debacle:

1662644815285.png


It is clear that a change was implemented in conjunction with the 3 CB formation that shifted Johnson left and had him play the ball almost exclusively to Chanot/Martins on the right. The backiine, at times, was virtually Johnson/Chanot/Martins.

That own goal was a mess, but I am more convinced than ever that the new tactical shift was the primary cause.

As an aside, regardless of result, it was good to see Cushing and the team try "something" to get out of the funk.
 
Passing map from last night against Cincy (look at Callens):

View attachment 12242


Passing map from the D.C. debacle:

View attachment 12243


It is clear that a change was implemented in conjunction with the 3 CB formation that shifted Johnson left and had him play the ball almost exclusively to Chanot/Martins on the right. The backiine, at times, was virtually Johnson/Chanot/Martins.

That own goal was a mess, but I am more convinced than ever that the new tactical shift was the primary cause.

As an aside, regardless of result, it was good to see Cushing and the team try "something" to get out of the funk.
The pass map for the DC match is messed up because Tayvon started at CB but then moved to RB, and the pass map doesn't account for his change, other than using average position for the whole match.

(not saying what you mentioned regarding that match is wrong or anything, just wanted to make that point)