Montreal Postmatch

[gbservis]

As much as I love Mata, he hasn't had a great start to the season. Really misjudged the ball on Oduro's goal. Hasn't really lived up to his hype this year.

We all worried about him being sold over the summer, now I'm worried we missed our chance to sell high.

With regards to all the comments about finishing, welcome to the MLS. Every non-DP under 30 player is here because they have gaps in their game. If they didn't have a hole in their game they would be some where else. I'd say the most common gap in most offensive MLS players skill set is clinical finishing, sometimes when defending this helps us, today it hurt us.

 

[ferrarinycfc]

Now With Atlanta being another team that will threaten for the playoffs, nycfc cant afford to drop points at home.

 

[Vallos]

 

[canchon]

Well, when I saw him on the elevator on the way out I said "I hate you Jon Patricof" and just as the doors opened I knocked his hat off and ran away.

You should have ran up to him, said "excuse me are you Jon Patricof?" and then threw the book of pictures of RBA superimposed over NY and said "Build us a stadium".

You've been served.

 

[Acupofbeans]

I'm still bristling from the smash and grab.
We should've held out. Montreal will feel like it's Christmas. Their sole ambition was to play for a point. Mission accomplised, but their steal was a minimum effort heist.

Early days, but we could've really put down a marker to say: nyc are a huge force and we're flying out of the traps.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Now With Atlanta being another team that will threaten for the playoffs, nycfc cant afford to drop points at home.

Kind of. Seattle last year:

Round 1 2 3
Ground H A H
Result L L L

Based on watching us play I am confident that if we don't make the playoffs, we'll be the best MLS team in history to not qualify. That's no consolation, of course. What I really mean is that we are going to make the playoffs. I'd bet a large sum on it.

 

[Gotham Gator]

This kind of reminds me of the start last year. Everyone was on edge given how the first year went, and we weren't getting results. But you could tell that we were playing a lot better and that if we kept it up the results would come. After 3 games, we were 1-1-1, including a crap 1-0 loss to Orlando when we dominated play and a tie against a Canadian team. As you'll recall, we went 7 straight without a win before rolling through the summer with great results (34 points over 18 games).

I like this team, and I think their quality of play is above this point last year. We shouldn't have expected sharp finishing this early in the year with guys who have barely played together. If they keep up the good play, the goals and results will come.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I am amazed by the missed hand ball (1st half) in the box that Geiger didn't call. The ball was redirected downward at an angle someone's chest couldn't do.

I thought his arms were well tucked into his body, which is why there was no call. Will be interesting to see the angles Simon Borg presents to us on Tuesday.

The calls that really upset me were the physical play on Lewis that didn't get called right after he called Lewis on a foul that was a bit soft. He needed to be more balanced. Then there was the hack down of Villa next to the box in stoppage time.

 

[Sabo]

His hands were tucked in but his elbows were sticking out like chicken wings. Shot on goal was blocked by an elbow sticking out making the defender bigger. It was an appropriate hand ball call, but definitely not a clear hand ball since ref's judgment was involved.

 

[mgarbowski]

That really sucks. I always assumed that sweepstake gives you one on one time with him for the duration of the game. Apparently it just gives you two free suite tickets.

I never expected 1 on 1 for that long, but interaction was promised, and fair to expect him to be there more than 3-5 minutes. It just seems the club hasn't gotten past its occasional tendency to oversell and overpromise.

 

[Taurus]

Team played well again and is unfortunate not to get maximum points. Only gripe I have is I don't understand the substitutions.

We didn't even use 3. When we were going for it in last 10-15 minutes I would have like to see Ugo come on for Wallace rather then TMac and change the formation more centrally to compensate. Lewis was not very impactful but good to see him out there to build confidence. Would have also like to see White come off for Hererra.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Part of it is that we are easy to defend against. Clog the middle and force us out wide. That leaves us with pirlo long balls to short guys and crosses to short guys.

We need the extra midfielder to be able to play centrally, its really time for pirlo to become a sub at best.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Part of it is that we are easy to defend against. Clog the middle and force us out wide. That leaves us with pirlo long balls to short guys and crosses to short guys.

We need the extra midfielder to be able to play centrally, its really time for pirlo to become a sub at best.

 

[EganSoccerWords]

Part of it is that we are easy to defend against. Clog the middle and force us out wide. That leaves us with pirlo long balls to short guys and crosses to short guys.

We need the extra midfielder to be able to play centrally, its really time for pirlo to become a sub at best.

We created a high number of chances. Not Pirlos fault that multiple guys can't tap the ball in the net. I can understand if you want to shit on Pirlo for not playing defense that is one thing, but to blame our #6 for preventing us from playing centrally is a little ridiculous.

 

[Ulrich]

To play centrally against their big bald CB, we needed two strikers to occupy him and his partner. Yesterday was perfect for the 3-3-4 with Okoli in the middle with Villa.

 

[NickA]

Not much to over-analyze here. The team went all out in the first 45 and came up a goal short. They played attacking, possession football and it looked great. The energy level dropped in the second half, they got sloppy and that let Montreal gain some possession. Possession lead to an opportunity and Matarrita showed his deficiency again as a defender near the box. Game was reminiscent to the Orlando match. Watching the game back you could see the off-the-ball play wasn't as crisp in the second half. Montreal was jumping in the passing lanes and NYC wasn't moving into open space like they were in the 1st. Either it's early season fitness, laziness or weather fatigue.

Chanot & Callens are still looking good.

Johnson is a huge difference from Saunders.

Jack has shown a big improvement.

Wallace has been our best signing so far.

Villa looked tired in the 2nd.

Maxi goes too far back and also disappears at times.

Ring is a quality player. He does some good things well up top, but I'd still like to see what his tenacity can be like playing a strict CDM role.

Pirlo needs to stop taking free kicks & corners or at least rotate some.

Matarrita has to remember he's a LB not a LM and that edge of the box runner is his responsibility.

Ethan White has been solid enough to make me forget about RJ.

These are some negatives, but there's a lot of positives too!

We've played 4 out of 6 really good halves of soccer so far. If we played a complete game like last week, yesterday's game could have been 3 or 4 - 0. I think that as fitness and chemistry improves, we will see many more games like the D.C. game.

 

[SteveV]

I just checked the stats for the match and was surprised by the possession. I felt like Montreal was closer to matching our possession overall. Apparently I was very wrong. I guess maybe my perception was skewed by the 2nd half and the fact that I missed the last 5-10 minutes, or maybe my vision was blurred from the cold.

I also commented to Viewfrom226 at halftime that the soccer wasn't as pretty as last week. I still agree with that. Not sure what it was; just didn't look as in control to me. I guess, like many, I was frustrated by the poor finishing (Harrison, Ring, Maxi) and the fact that I couldn't stop focusing on Matarrita and how frustrated I get by him. I think he's been the worst player on the field. (The Pirlo hate has gone a little overboard in my opinion.)

Overall though, I'm still choosing to be an optimist. This team is so much better than last year. I was impressed by some good long balls by guys that aren't even named Pirlo (e.g. Chanot); by the speed on this team when we have Wallace, Villa, Maxi, and Harrison breaking down the field; by the fact that we have a real live MLS goalkeeper; by our improved defense; and by almost all of the players.

Johnson, Callens, Maxi, and Wallace are all big upgrades. And I'm ~80% of the way to finalizing my decision that my next jersey will have Ring on the back. Dude is solid! Harrison has been great. Chanot has been great. Villa has been great. Pirlo has been good. ETHAN FRIGGIN WHITE has been pretty decent (I almost prefer to see him in there now instead of RJ).

Everyone stay calm. This is a good team. They've played 2 good matches and 1 great match, but just had a couple balls not bounce their way (and even still, they're pretty close to a playoff pace as-is in this young season) . The tide will turn.

I personally don't think it's a question of if they make the playoffs this year (they will), I think it's a question of if they win the conference and contend for the Supporters' Shield.

 

[LionNYC]

44 degrees and sunny today for a 2 PM kickoff. Are there any other events at Yankee Stadium this week that they game couldn't be scheduled for Sunday?

 

[mgarbowski]

44 degrees and sunny today for a 2 PM kickoff. Are there any other events at Yankee Stadium this week that they game couldn't be scheduled for Sunday?

First, I think the option to play on Sunday is reserved for the national networks, unless there is a special situation that makes Saturday not feasible.
Second, realistically what is the point? Do you imagine that the team and league could have known 2 months ago that today would be a much better day than today? Or did you want them to change the date in the week before the game?

 

[Seth]

44 degrees and sunny today for a 2 PM kickoff. Are there any other events at Yankee Stadium this week that they game couldn't be scheduled for Sunday?

Only one MLS match scheduled for today. I'd guess it's because they're up against March Madness™ and Nascar and may have wanted to avoid both if possible.