Montreal Postmatch

[Midas Mulligan]

- Mike Piazza was in attendance tonight. As he walked to his seats I said, "Hey Mike, wrong stadium." He smiled. Also some Jets or Knicks players too, though I don't know who they were.
- I think the hat trick saying is a curse. I told Villa today to score a hat trick, he laughed. He didn't get a single goal. Also gave Mata a high five.
- Midas Mulligan or someone from the Batter's Eye crew spotted me wearing my new Johansen jersey (#StartEirik) and screamed out "Lion, tell Patrick to take out Lopez." A non-regular in the section shouted back "I agree with you." To whoever that was, I watched the replay and Lopez looked like he deserved a red but I'm fighting to have Johansen starting. That's what I'm committing to telling Vieira every minute of every game. I can't fight multiple battles.
- RJ owned tonight. A great goal and well deserved. Good footwork throughout the match.
- The Yankee Stadium lights after the goal was amaze-balls.
- Saunders, you're a goalie. You run into that ball, punch it, save us two points and get a damn concussion. Also, Saunders, if you could get a red card that would be really helpful.
- It's hard to root for this team. It's hard coming to the stadium and being optimistic about gameday and see shit happen that gives me all the wrong feels.

- Pitchside Moment of the Game: After the Donadel challenge on RJ, the ref plays advantage for NYCFC. After the ball goes out, he comes back over to the site of the foul where RJ and Donadel are on the ground. I'm yelling, "Give him a yellow! Give him a yellow." No response. Then I get out my MetroCard and scream "Hey REF!" and hold up the MetroCard (it was actually lime green for some reason, I don't know what the MTA is doing). He sees me. I know he sees me. He takes it out of his pocket and eventually shows Donadel the card.

- NYCFCfan noted that Vieira may want to blow up the roster after the end of the season. I agree and said this last game, it's time for the nuclear option. Anyone over $100K deserves to be on the line to be cut.

Lopez is an idiot. And it was me. Apparently, you didn't hear my full frontal assault of Saunders.

Just ugh about this team. On a positive note, I haven't drank that much beer in a public place in a long time. Got out of the subway at 125th and had some damn good tacos and jalepeno margs. So it wasn't a total waste.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Re: Saunders, can you name a game this season he was better in? This is a pretty low bar we're talking about here.

Seriously, Saunders is garbage, but a lot of the criticism he gets on here seems like more of a reflex than a genuine assessment of his performance. He's the Grabavoy of the Month, it seems.

As for your other quibbles, Allen was voted MOTM so I'm not alone in that. I personally thought we looked a lot better when Shelton came off for Mendoza and I genuinely don't remember anything that Pirlo did other than a few wayward through balls and about four more fruitless corners. It's a game of opinions, and Goose Island IPA.

Lopez is the new Grabavoy, if Grabavoy scissor tackled someone every 2 minutes. What a clown. He's a danger to everyone on the field.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Mix is a smart player, has a good shot and has never been hesitant to make a quality shot in any game I've seen him play. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt that he did not have a shot at the end of that game.

 

[fanaka66]

Mix is a smart player, has a good shot and has never been hesitant to make a quality shot in any game I've seen him play. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt that he did not have a shot at the end of that game.

I know. It feels like the national team, where he slipped on a corner kick and becomes the scapegoat. (BTW, I think mix's time with the national team may be at it's end with the recent arrival of Pulisic for Dortmund)

I really think it has to be partly due to coming on so late. Not a good excuse, but why is Lopez ahead of him? Is something going on behind the scenes? Something between him and Vieira? Is he sick?

I'm starting to think that #WeAreOne hashtag refers to the number of wins we are going to get this year.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

This game was a uterus punch, but I am going to take pride in the fact that we outplayed a very good team. Stifled drogba, piatti never got the ball. Most of all, we held possession even when we were up a goal. Results not coming, but we are a good team and I am confident we will start winning when the ball starts bouncing our way.

 

[NickFromAstoria]

There was a time about 5 minutes or so in, when the play was right down in the Chicken Bucket corner...

Ugh, still not ready to talk about the game - but I heartily endorse "Chicken Bucket Corner."

 

[Midas Mulligan]

This game was a uterus punch, but I am going to take pride in the fact that we outplayed a very good team. Stifled drogba, piatti never got the ball. Most of all, we held possession even when we were up a goal. Results not coming, but we are a good team and I am confident we will start winning when the ball starts bouncing our way.

Reminds me of a song.

 

[mgarbowski]

The expression on LionNYC's face when he looked back up at the Eye to ID the screaming Midas Mulligan was pretty priceless. Then when Midas told him to tell Vieira to drop Lopez, Lion gave a perfect ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[danger]

The atmosphere was pretty dead, but I wouldn't say *more* dead than usual. I don't think we'll ever whip up a stadium-wide atmosphere with any consistency until we have our SSS.

It was more dead in the supporters section than usual. Related: the drums the templados use were in a pile at the top of the bleachers all game. Anyone one know what was up with that?

 

[LeeNYCFC]

Why is their nobody marking the near post. Last minute of the game you bring everyone back and mark the near post.

Agreed, someone on each post in that situation. It's not like we needed everyone in the scrum marking runners since we succeeded at marking exactly none of them.

 

[JayH]

I seemed to have missed what happened with Mix at the end (it's hard to see anything when you are in the fetal position crying). What happened?

 

[Keith Putnam]

Regarding Pirlo, he made quite a few lovely lofted passes, *but* basically every time he did a MTL player won the aerial battle, which wound up giving the impression that the Maestro was "doing nothing". I saw him working hard, pressing, taking advantage of his further-forward position to make space (he was further up than Villa a few times), and defending.

I feel like there's a tendency to pile on Pirlo because, yes, he hasn't been the wizard we all know he can be, he hasn't scored from a free kick yet, etc., but honestly I think he's heard some of the "Pirlo doesn't do anything" criticism, or has started to accept the realities of MLS, and has upped his workrate this season considerably.

Of course, this results in Pirlo not being able to go the full 90 anymore...

 

[JayH]

What's the deal with the tandem corner kick takers? I have seen some Euro teams do that pairing lefty and righty to throw off the defensive cover but it seems in our case it just takes away one less head, a head we certainly need given our inability to get anywhere close to an incoming kick.

 

[JayH]

For the record, I'm a fan of the goal light show. It's kind of fun.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I wish we had spent more time possessing the ball late in the game rather than taking shots. One attempt from, of all people, Mendoza stands out in my memory.

What do people think of the Matarritta foul that led to the tying free kick? It was light contact, but I think a good call since it kept the Montreal player from possessing the ball before it went out. A really dumb play by Mata in that situation.

 

[Gotham Gator]

By the way, I watched the replay on TV, and when we scored, the cameras cut to the lights, so I think it was planned.

 

[mgarbowski]

VOOPL seems to be back up and running for this game at least. Right now I'm the only vote so I have a perfect Index of 0. Feel free to go ahead and ruin that.

 

[NYCFCfan]

This team is a mess! The Jeb Bush of MLS, we were supposed to have the pedigree and money of CFG to come in and compete.

We don't know who we are as we can't get a consistent lineup, we're blowing money on people who don't play (Mena & Lampard) and we continue to get CRUSHED by our opposition.

Lampard needs to go, if Vieira has any clout he'd sit down with Lampard and tell him it's time to call it a career. Sell him to China in the summer if he doesn't want to retire. Of course Vieira is just as stubborn as Kreis in his insistence on starting Saunders so I'm not expecting anything but bullshit quotes from him at this point.

The team is treated like shit at Yankee Stadium too. The fans were cited and being pulled out for cursing in the supporters section, they didn't let them use any drums, the pitch is a mess, and of course there's no concrete news on a stadium.

CFG, show me you care. SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Bring in a big name, young DP, and show us you want to get a stadium deal done!

 

[gbservis]

Drogba is listed at 6'2". Brillant looked at least 3" shorter and he towered over Hernandez. No way Hernandez is anywhere near the 6' here's listed at. Could explain why we never get headers and have to run gimmick set pieces.

 

[Kenny]

Hey all, I'm on a road trip with wife and kids but about 40 Co workers of mine went to the game last night (club gave us discount tickets because we work for them) most of them first time at a game, many of them first time at any soccer game. Good chance to make some new fans. Haven't heard any feedback yet but how was the feel at the stadium last night? Attractive experience? (apart from the dick-punch ending that is)