#MLSisBack - July 14 - Orlando (Postgame)

[Marito]

It looks, to my untrained eye, like an assortment of players that was put together like a fantasy team with no thought to a system or how the players would play together. Maybe that's a function of a lame-duck Reyna half-assing it, or a Coach hired at the last minute who didn't get to shop for the groceries or maybe both of those combined with a mediocre/bad coach.

If I were lucky enough to find a Heber, I would build a team designed to get him the ball in dangerous positions. That doesn't seem to ever happen. Also, if I were lucky enough to have Maxi, I would remind myself that there is nothing worse than seeing a player go from being a step quicker than defenders to a step slower, so I would have made sure to get someone to be his understudy. That person does not seem to exist.

Just management malpractice. With all the talent out there, how the F did we get stuck with Deila. Honestly?

Not to toot my own horn, but I have been saying for 2 years that not having a Maxi replacement is our biggest weakness. No MLS team, not even TFC without Pozuelo, is as doomed as we are without Maxi. Have we ever won a match against even a mediocre opponent without him? We have lots of decent 6s and 8s but no one can fill in as a 10, and Maxi is a pretty classic one, and he has dictated the functioning and tempo of the team for his whole tenure. When people here were unsure about Maxi on his first season with us, I mentioned that his one saving grace was that since his first match he had basically asked for the car keys and said "OK guys hop in!" to everybody else, Villa included. Ring has the leadership qualities but not the ability, and unless Zelalem surprises the world nobody will be there to take on that role. Medina will not. So our style of play will mostly resemble Mata-ball: there's some talent there, but you are always wondering what his position is and what the hell is he trying to do. And of course, you know the brain fart will come. That multiplied by 11.

 

[Shwafta]

Team does well:
Forum - "X really knows how to pass the wall, brilliant to watch! Love me some scandinavian muscle"
Team does bad:
Forum - "WHO SIGNED THESE PLAYERS? I hate these scandinavian pricks they keep signing!"

Here's the way I see it:

Solskjaer did well - but then had a piss-poor section of the season. Man U stuck with him and they've righted the ship (at least temporarily?)
Dome did well - but then had a piss-poor section. We stuck with him and he caught control and took us to the top of the east.

This happens with our coaches. Whether it's bc it's the coach, or it's the players, I'm not sure. But I would like to point out we do always have that "we do badly when a new coach comes in" problem - and I think that's the players. Maybe it's the players not understanding, or not wanting to meld to the new system, but I am perfectly okay giving Deila until the end of the season to sort it out. We've seen it happen in the past where the team "clicks" and goes on hot streaks, so I don't see why this time is any different. If, by then, he doesn't have it? Well then, don't we have a replacement lined up already? Don't forget who we brought into the coaching staff in the offseason.

 

[moogoo]

Press Conference | NYCFC 1-3 Orlando City

Ronny Deila speaks in Orlando after a defeat in the Club’s second match of the MLS is Back Tournament.

www.nycfc.com

deila and his excuses

"we got overplayed in the midfield..."

then why the hell would you START GUDI there? he's new for one. second, he was signed as a left back.

 

[canchon]

The fact that Mata was still in that game as it went on shows a lack of accountability by the coach.

Orlando goal 1: Mata didn’t mark Mueller who had an easy open header.

Orlando goal 2: Mata is on no-mans land and gets beat with an overlap and gives acres of space for the cross. He also is nowhere to be seen as Dwyer’s cross comes back across.

bonus: Mata literally gave 30 YARDS of space on another overlap to let a cross be whipped in. Mueller hit the crossbar on that one or it would have been the trifecta.

He looked lost the whole night. When a player is that awful then as a coach you need to yank him.

 

[ManhattanValley]

We are on our third coach in less than two years, managing a roster assembled by suits that live and work five timezones away. I say we played exactly to expectations.

This exact same roster was pretty much one of the best teams in the league last season. The roster isn't the problem.

 

[QuigrNYCFC]

The fact that Mata was still in that game as it went on shows a lack of accountability by the coach.

Orlando goal 1: Mata didn’t mark Mueller who had an easy open header.

Orlando goal 2: Mata is on no-mans land and gets beat with an overlap and gives acres of space for the cross. He also is nowhere to be seen as Dwyer’s cross comes back across.

bonus: Mata literally gave 30 YARDS of space on another overlap to let a cross be whipped in. Mueller hit the crossbar on that one or it would have been the trifecta.

He looked lost the whole night. When a player is that awful then as a coach you need to yank him.

100 times this.

He's a liability every time.

 

[JayH]

Ronny "Res Ipsa Loquitur" Delia.

 

[Antidote P. Smiley]

This exact same roster was pretty much one of the best teams in the league last season. The roster isn't the problem.

I’m going to go further out on the “this team was deceptively one of the best teams in the league last year” limb that I’ve been on and restate my points. I know many will disagree.

1. Dome got all he could out of a team and that made a lot of people think it was better than it was and is currently.

2. I don’t think we would have won the East without getting a number of wins playing against teams a man down.

3.We do not have DP’s of a quality to keep pace with the rest of the league. The rest of the league is getting better and NYCFC is not.
The 3M’s are not reliable enough game changers like Pozuelo, Vela, Bou,Pulido,Lodeiro,Martinez, Zelarayan....
(maybe Maxi had it but he’s on the downside of his playingdays.

3. In connection to that this team does not have much pace...

4...or much ability to go one v. one

5...terrible at crossing the ball...

6...all of which makes the final third predictable

7.Castellanos is good but his flopping is a league wide joke and detracts from his effectiveness

8. Ring makes too many stupid fouls which seems to be his number one skill.

7.Team probe to BIG mistakes... Chanot, Mata, Johnson lowlight reel of 2019.

Are there good to decent players on this team?
Yes, but the makeup of the squad is not going to get us hardware.

I think reality is hitting us hard. I hope I am wrong but I’m calling it as I see it.

 

[Brooklyn Blue]

I’m going to go further out on the “this team was deceptively one of the best teams in the league last year” limb that I’ve been on and restate my points. I know many will disagree.

All points made are fair, even if one might disagree. Current public health circumstances do exacerbate the situation (and reaction).

For me, it is as simple as this - when there were DP's, the supporting squad was below average. Now that the supporting squad is above average, there are no viable (or healthy) DP's. The nature of MLS requires both to be above average to succeed.

Would really like to see a Mertens/David Silva and established young South American pair to replace Maxi & Medina when contracts allow it. Appreciate all that Maxi has done, but the end is closer than the beginning.

 

[ManhattanValley]

I’m going to go further out on the “this team was deceptively one of the best teams in the league last year” limb that I’ve been on and restate my points. I know many will disagree.

1. Dome got all he could out of a team and that made a lot of people think it was better than it was and is currently.

2. I don’t think we would have won the East without getting a number of wins playing against teams a man down.

3.We do not have DP’s of a quality to keep pace with the rest of the league. The rest of the league is getting better and NYCFC is not.
The 3M’s are not reliable enough game changers like Pozuelo, Vela, Bou,Pulido,Lodeiro,Martinez, Zelarayan....
(maybe Maxi had it but he’s on the downside of his playingdays.

3. In connection to that this team does not have much pace...

4...or much ability to go one v. one

5...terrible at crossing the ball...

6...all of which makes the final third predictable

7.Castellanos is good but his flopping is a league wide joke and detracts from his effectiveness

8. Ring makes too many stupid fouls which seems to be his number one skill.

7.Team probe to BIG mistakes... Chanot, Mata, Johnson lowlight reel of 2019.

Are there good to decent players on this team?
Yes, but the makeup of the squad is not going to get us hardware.

I think reality is hitting us hard. I hope I am wrong but I’m calling it as I see it.

We finished 2nd in the Supporters' Shield last year, six points clear of 3rd place and beaten only by the best team in MLS regular season history. That's a pretty big deception!

I'm not going to tie myself in knots convincing myself that the players I watched dominate all year in 2019 were actually bad, when there's a much simpler explanation to why they're suddenly not playing well.

 

[Shwafta]

We finished 2nd in the Supporters' Shield last year, six points clear of 3rd place and beaten only by the best team in MLS regular season history. That's a pretty big deception!

I'm not going to tie myself in knots convincing myself that the players I watched dominate all year in 2019 were actually bad, when there's a much simpler explanation to why they're suddenly not playing well.

The turnover from 2018 to 2019 wasn't HUGE but wasn't small. We had this trouble when switching to Dome. The turnover from 2019 to 2020 was small. We had trouble switching to Deila. The players we have are a group of guys that when they click, play well. When they don't, they do what we are seeing now. I think it's partly the management but also partly the players themselves.

 

[FredMertz]

The turnover from 2018 to 2019 wasn't HUGE but wasn't small. We had this trouble when switching to Dome. The turnover from 2019 to 2020 was small. We had trouble switching to Deila. The players we have are a group of guys that when they click, play well. When they don't, they do what we are seeing now. I think it's partly the management but also partly the players themselves.

Your tone in these responses is hopeful, but the actual comments your are making are very depressing.

 

[Shwafta]

Your tone in these responses is hopeful, but the actual comments your are making are very depressing.

Is the intention.
On one hand, it means I have confidence we'll get through the rut and get back to winning ways - and if we keep consistent management, I think it'll be fine.
On the other hand, we just lost 5 games in a row and it's hard to look past that, no matter what sort of coaching change happens.

 

[Antidote P. Smiley]

We finished 2nd in the Supporters' Shield last year, six points clear of 3rd place and beaten only by the best team in MLS regular season history. That's a pretty big deception!

I'm not going to tie myself in knots convincing myself that the players I watched dominate all year in 2019 were actually bad, when there's a much simpler explanation to why they're suddenly not playing well.

The perspective I think is important, which many may disagree with, is that NYCFC earned 13 points from playing against teams with 10 men. (Red cards are the 9’, 29’, 33’, 61,70’) Every game we won was by 1 goal with the exception if only earning a draw against MTL.
We also won against a Seattle B team at home and we’re given some questionable penalty kicks in the home game against Phi. That’s why I say the point total and success of last years team is deceptive and partly explains of why we are witnessing the dumpster fire that is NYCFC this season.

 

[canchon]

The perspective I think is important, which many may disagree with, is that NYCFC earned 13 points from playing against teams with 10 men. (Red cards are the 9’, 29’, 33’, 61,70’) Every game we won was by 1 goal with the exception if only earning a draw against MTL.
We also won against a Seattle B team at home and we’re given some questionable penalty kicks in the home game against Phi. That’s why I say the point total and success of last years team is deceptive and partly explains of why we are witnessing the dumpster fire that is NYCFC this season.

We’re talking about a team going from the top of the Eastern Conference to the bottom in a year. I agree that they were helped by having red cards in a number of games last year which they took full advantage of to be the top of the conference.

so if there was “regression” - maybe they have 4-5 points after four games instead of 7-9. Not zero points after four games.

 

[moogoo]

The perspective I think is important, which many may disagree with, is that NYCFC earned 13 points from playing against teams with 10 men. (Red cards are the 9’, 29’, 33’, 61,70’) Every game we won was by 1 goal with the exception if only earning a draw against MTL.
We also won against a Seattle B team at home and we’re given some questionable penalty kicks in the home game against Phi. That’s why I say the point total and success of last years team is deceptive and partly explains of why we are witnessing the dumpster fire that is NYCFC this season.

if you're going to look at the opponent's weaknesses, you also have to give us credit with OUR weaknesses as well. how many weeks did we have 3 game weeks? how many games did we play with our second string because starters were injured and on international duty? Sometimes we take advantage of other teams playing their B-squad due to fatigue or international duty, and sometimes we're on the receiving end of that. Truth is, despite fielding a lot of our bench players, we still performed better than we did last night because we were drilled and organized. Hopefully last night was a one time fluke of a mess because we were much more organized against philly.

 

[Marito]

if you're going to look at the opponent's weaknesses, you also have to give us credit with OUR weaknesses as well. how many weeks did we have 3 game weeks? how many games did we play with our second string because starters were injured and on international duty? Sometimes we take advantage of other teams playing their B-squad due to fatigue or international duty, and sometimes we're on the receiving end of that. Truth is, despite fielding a lot of our bench players, we still performed better than we did last night because we were drilled and organized. Hopefully last night was a one time fluke of a mess because we were much more organized against philly.

Also, this is MLS. I think roster-wise and play-wise LAFC was head and shoulders above the rest last year, but that's it. All other teams in MLS have obvious flaws, and they have their Matarritas, and their Rings, and their Chanots. Or worse. Our castoffs Brillant, AbdulSalaam and Sweat are starters in other MLS teams, and the three of them were pretty awful in their last matches (Brillant goal notwithstanding, he also gifted one; the other 2 gifted goals without scoring) Even playing awfully we deserved a win against Philly, and played somewhat even last night after the first 30 min. Because MLS. We could all stop watching the league (I have considered it) but otherwise we shouldn't fool ourselves thinking that we would need to play well or have a homogeneous roster of high caliber players to be competitive. That said, many of our regular subs (Ibeagha, Gudi, GMS) don't seem to bring much to the table

 

[Jon]

We are on our third coach in less than two years, managing a roster assembled by suits that live and work five timezones away. I say we played exactly to expectations.

this

 

[ZYanksRule]

We are on our third coach in less than two years, managing a roster assembled by suits that live and work five timezones away. I say we played exactly to expectations.

The team won the regular season conference title last season. Can we please be even a little bit fair to them? Bad start this year. What have you done for me lately -- I get all of it. But it's virtually the same roster as last year. This isn't on the suits.

 

[ZYanksRule]

We finished 2nd in the Supporters' Shield last year, six points clear of 3rd place and beaten only by the best team in MLS regular season history. That's a pretty big deception!

I'm not going to tie myself in knots convincing myself that the players I watched dominate all year in 2019 were actually bad, when there's a much simpler explanation to why they're suddenly not playing well.

Right. First of all, we started against a deceptively good Columbus team, then Toronto, then Philly -- 3 of the top teams in the East, two of them road games, one of those road games a red card in the opening minutes. We also played really well against Tigres -- that's a really, really hard schedule, and while we should have gotten at least a result out of those games, it didn't strike me as overly concerning to see the results being as they were -- especially remembering the way we played against Tigres and Philly.

The Orlando game is concerning because we should not be looking that inept against such a bad team. But this really is the first concerning game we've had this year. And there are so many ancillary reasons for why we looked bad, from coaching to the virus, I just can't make such sweeping generalizations over this game. I'm still in wait and see mode on all of this.