Nycfc Fan Pod Film Breakdown: The Inefficiencies Of Our Back Four

[Andres Emilio Soto]

It's become the norm on these breakdowns that I criticize how poorly our team has played but the records speaks for itself. NYCFC has one win to show for and a big contributing factor has been the poor defensive play from our back four. Yes injuries and red cards have played it's toll but I'm pretty sure every team in the MLS has to deal with injuries and red cards. Last week, I broke down a positive offensive play (rare I know) that NYCFC created off a set piece during their home match against the Chicago Fire. This week I really tried to not break down one of the two goals we let it and there wasn't much activity offensively show by NYCFC for me to show case a play. I really tried to not be negative during the breakdown this week. I really did. Here's me trying to be positive during two awful defensive plays...enjoy!

PS: There are two film breakdowns. To respect the terms and conditions on these great forums you can see the second breakdown by visiting the original post at NYCFCPodcast.com

Well we start off in the 1st half with the ball slightly beyond the half line mark. Real Salt Lake defender, Tony Beltran moves the ball forward with a Khiry Shelton (19) closing in on him. Nothing out of the ordinary here really. Both Mix Diskerud (10) and Andrew Jacobson (4) are properly moving to the left side of the field but still a few paces off the men they have to cover.

As Khiry closing in on Beltran the rest of our team start to close in on their marks. Even Mehdi Ballouchy (20) who is no where near the ball but still appears to be jogging towards John Stertzer (27). David Villa (7) and Patrick Mullins are pretty much out of this play since it's not an offensive possession but queue Chris Wingert (17) who has to watch the ball and his closest target Álvaro Saborio (15).

Khiry closes in and Beltran passes the ball up front. Still solid marking as Chris does have help from Jason Hernandez (not shown yet) and from Shay Facey (also not show yet).

The pass from Beltran closes in towards the center of the field and now both Jason Hernandez and Chris Wingert need to react appropriately.

The ball is passed very well to Saborio and for some odd reason the only man on our back four not wanting to play some defense is Shay Facey (24) who at the moment is in a horrible position to make a play if the ball was being passed to Devon Sandoval (49).

Luckily the ball is not targeted to Devon Sandoval so Shay lucks out but it finds the feet of Saborio who...

Tries to handle the pass but does not do so well. Instead the ball bounces hard off the ground and actually over Wingert. This is the genius of Saborio. He knows that Chris Wingert is going to close in on him very quickly so he does what any experienced attacker will do...

Saborio recoups the ball but instead knows that Jeb Brovsky ( top most defender) who has his body towards goal has a much better opportunity in completing a pass to Sandoval. Saborio passes the ball to Jeb.

Jeb, ecstatic for this opportunity, puts a head on the ball...

Villa points

Which is beautifully passed through Wingert and Hernandez.
Note: Facey still has not caught up to Sandoval.

Both Josh Saunders and Sandoval race for the ball.

Josh starts to commit to tackling Sandoval and...

Does a great job preventing both Sandoval from scoring and from Brovsky earning an assist.

Okay, all jokes aside, I know Brovsky was not trying to make a pass to Sandoval, but what was he thinking? Why would you ever make a low head pass towards the center of the goal. Also more importantly why wasn't Facey able to catch up to Sandoval during this entire play. If you are the back four, you all have to be there on defense.

Scenario B: Let's say the ball was instead originally passed to Sandoval who Hernandez had given his back to. (See slide 5) Shay would have to be the man to mark Sandoval and stop any scoring attempt.

Luckily scenario B didn't happen and Saunders had the right anticipation and was able to get off his line quickly enough to block the shot from Sandoval. But these are the simple mistakes our defense continue to make and honestly, seeing this play over and over again, I just can't make it up!

GIF

To view the second breakdown please visit the original post found at NYCFCPodcast.com

I would love some feedback and if you enjoyed this breakdown you may enjoy the NYCFC Fan Podcast which you can subscribe to on iTunes or Stitcher (see links in signature). Also if you want to take this discussion into Twitter you can follow me @TheAndresSoto (link in signature). Thanks

 

[mgarbowski]

Villa points

You're the man. I haven't even had time to read the whole post yet but thanks for this; it made me smile.

 

[mgarbowski]

Now I've read the whole thing plus part two on your site. They sure do give you material to work with, between Brovsky's header here and Facey's indifference in Part 2. Not to mention Facey's indifference here. Astonishing for a young player who needs to prove himself.
Well done - amusing and informative as always.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

It's become the norm on these breakdowns that I criticize how poorly our team has played but the records speaks for itself. NYCFC has one win to show for and a big contributing factor has been the poor defensive play from our back four. Yes injuries and red cards have played it's toll but I'm pretty sure every team in the MLS has to deal with injuries and red cards. Last week, I broke down a positive offensive play (rare I know) that NYCFC created off a set piece during their home match against the Chicago Fire. This week I really tried to not break down one of the two goals we let it and there wasn't much activity offensively show by NYCFC for me to show case a play. I really tried to not be negative during the breakdown this week. I really did. Here's me trying to be positive during two awful defensive plays...enjoy!

PS: There are two film breakdowns. To respect the terms and conditions on these great forums you can see the second breakdown by visiting the original post at NYCFCPodcast.com

Well we start off in the 1st half with the ball slightly beyond the half line mark. Real Salt Lake defender, Tony Beltran moves the ball forward with a Khiry Shelton (19) closing in on him. Nothing out of the ordinary here really. Both Mix Diskerud (10) and Andrew Jacobson (4) are properly moving to the left side of the field but still a few paces off the men they have to cover.

As Khiry closing in on Beltran the rest of our team start to close in on their marks. Even Mehdi Ballouchy (20) who is no where near the ball but still appears to be jogging towards John Stertzer (27). David Villa (7) and Patrick Mullins are pretty much out of this play since it's not an offensive possession but queue Chris Wingert (17) who has to watch the ball and his closest target Álvaro Saborio (15).

Khiry closes in and Beltran passes the ball up front. Still solid marking as Chris does have help from Jason Hernandez (not shown yet) and from Shay Facey (also not show yet).

The pass from Beltran closes in towards the center of the field and now both Jason Hernandez and Chris Wingert need to react appropriately.

The ball is passed very well to Saborio and for some odd reason the only man on our back four not wanting to play some defense is Shay Facey (24) who at the moment is in a horrible position to make a play if the ball was being passed to Devon Sandoval (49).

Luckily the ball is not targeted to Devon Sandoval so Shay lucks out but it finds the feet of Saborio who...

Tries to handle the pass but does not do so well. Instead the ball bounces hard off the ground and actually over Wingert. This is the genius of Saborio. He knows that Chris Wingert is going to close in on him very quickly so he does what any experienced attacker will do...

Saborio recoups the ball but instead knows that Jeb Brovsky ( top most defender) who has his body towards goal has a much better opportunity in completing a pass to Sandoval. Saborio passes the ball to Jeb.

Jeb, ecstatic for this opportunity, puts a head on the ball...

Villa points

Which is beautifully passed through Wingert and Hernandez.
Note: Facey still has not caught up to Sandoval.

Both Josh Saunders and Sandoval race for the ball.

Josh starts to commit to tackling Sandoval and...

Does a great job preventing both Sandoval from scoring and from Brovsky earning an assist.

Okay, all jokes aside, I know Brovsky was not trying to make a pass to Sandoval, but what was he thinking? Why would you ever make a low head pass towards the center of the goal. Also more importantly why wasn't Facey able to catch up to Sandoval during this entire play. If you are the back four, you all have to be there on defense.

Scenario B: Let's say the ball was instead originally passed to Sandoval who Hernandez had given his back to. (See slide 5) Shay would have to be the man to mark Sandoval and stop any scoring attempt.

Luckily scenario B didn't happen and Saunders had the right anticipation and was able to get off his line quickly enough to block the shot from Sandoval. But these are the simple mistakes our defense continue to make and honestly, seeing this play over and over again, I just can't make it up!

GIF

To view the second breakdown please visit the original post found at NYCFCPodcast.com

I would love some feedback and if you enjoyed this breakdown you may enjoy the NYCFC Fan Podcast which you can subscribe to on iTunes or Stitcher (see links in signature). Also if you want to take this discussion into Twitter you can follow me @TheAndresSoto (link in signature). Thanks

I love this. It's like there is nothing much to analyze beyond Brovsky's through ball. It pops to him and he has plenty of time to boot it out of bounds if he wants, or gasp control it and start an attack. Our defense is so bad in every facet

 

[Drainyoo]

Okay, all jokes aside, I know Brovsky was not trying to make a pass to Sandoval, but what was he thinking? Why would you ever make a low head pass towards the center of the goal. Also more importantly why wasn't Facey able to catch up to Sandoval during this entire play. If you are the back four, you all have to be there on defense.

Simple. Because they both fucking suck.

Thanks for this. Very entertaining.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Now I've read the whole thing plus part two on your site. They sure do give you material to work with, between Brovsky's header here and Facey's indifference in Part 2. Not to mention Facey's indifference here. Astonishing for a young player who needs to prove himself.
Well done - amusing and informative as always.

Thanks mgarbowski appreciate the feedback. Yea, I mean here's a guy (Facey) whose loan is expiring. Is he playing poorly because he wants to go back to Man City? Pure speculation here on my end.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

I love this. It's like there is nothing much to analyze beyond Brovsky's through ball. It pops to him and he has plenty of time to boot it out of bounds if he wants, or gasp control it and start an attack. Our defense is so bad in every facet

Hi T Tom in Fairfield CT I'm glad you are liking it. I love creating it! As mgarbowski said, there's unlimited material with this team. I agree, our defense is so bad on many fronts...but... go NYCFC!!!!

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Simple. Because they both fucking suck.

Thanks for this. Very entertaining.

LOL I love your straight talk Drainyoo Do you think NYCFC has this type of film breakdown for the players to learn from?

 

[Drainyoo]

LOL I love your straight talk Drainyoo Do you think NYCFC has this type of film breakdown for the players to learn from?

I sure as hell would hope so. At the very least, I hope they're looking at video to see where they screwed up, and how they can improve.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

I sure as hell would hope so. At the very least, I hope they're looking at video to see where they screwed up, and how they can improve.

I would love to be a fly on the wall during the video replays.

 

[gbservis]

I would love to be a fly on the wall during the video replays.

Thanks for posting. On top on all the reasons listed above the other astounding part regarding Facey's poor positioning is the fact that he gives interviews saying his natural preferred position is CB. That being the case I would expect situations where we observe him not getting forward properly on offense or having a hard time tracking players out wide. If you consider yourself a CB one of your primary skills should be holding the back line with your fellow CBs, not tracking back poorly like some out of position midfielder.

 

[S1ARK5]

It's become the norm on these breakdowns that I criticize how poorly our team has played but the records speaks for itself. NYCFC has one win to show for and a big contributing factor has been the poor defensive play from our back four. Yes injuries and red cards have played it's toll but I'm pretty sure every team in the MLS has to deal with injuries and red cards. Last week, I broke down a positive offensive play (rare I know) that NYCFC created off a set piece during their home match against the Chicago Fire. This week I really tried to not break down one of the two goals we let it and there wasn't much activity offensively show by NYCFC for me to show case a play. I really tried to not be negative during the breakdown this week. I really did. Here's me trying to be positive during two awful defensive plays...enjoy!

PS: There are two film breakdowns. To respect the terms and conditions on these great forums you can see the second breakdown by visiting the original post at NYCFCPodcast.com

Well we start off in the 1st half with the ball slightly beyond the half line mark. Real Salt Lake defender, Tony Beltran moves the ball forward with a Khiry Shelton (19) closing in on him. Nothing out of the ordinary here really. Both Mix Diskerud (10) and Andrew Jacobson (4) are properly moving to the left side of the field but still a few paces off the men they have to cover.

As Khiry closing in on Beltran the rest of our team start to close in on their marks. Even Mehdi Ballouchy (20) who is no where near the ball but still appears to be jogging towards John Stertzer (27). David Villa (7) and Patrick Mullins are pretty much out of this play since it's not an offensive possession but queue Chris Wingert (17) who has to watch the ball and his closest target Álvaro Saborio (15).

Khiry closes in and Beltran passes the ball up front. Still solid marking as Chris does have help from Jason Hernandez (not shown yet) and from Shay Facey (also not show yet).

The pass from Beltran closes in towards the center of the field and now both Jason Hernandez and Chris Wingert need to react appropriately.

The ball is passed very well to Saborio and for some odd reason the only man on our back four not wanting to play some defense is Shay Facey (24) who at the moment is in a horrible position to make a play if the ball was being passed to Devon Sandoval (49).

Luckily the ball is not targeted to Devon Sandoval so Shay lucks out but it finds the feet of Saborio who...

Tries to handle the pass but does not do so well. Instead the ball bounces hard off the ground and actually over Wingert. This is the genius of Saborio. He knows that Chris Wingert is going to close in on him very quickly so he does what any experienced attacker will do...

Saborio recoups the ball but instead knows that Jeb Brovsky ( top most defender) who has his body towards goal has a much better opportunity in completing a pass to Sandoval. Saborio passes the ball to Jeb.

Jeb, ecstatic for this opportunity, puts a head on the ball...

Villa points

Which is beautifully passed through Wingert and Hernandez.
Note: Facey still has not caught up to Sandoval.

Both Josh Saunders and Sandoval race for the ball.

Josh starts to commit to tackling Sandoval and...

Does a great job preventing both Sandoval from scoring and from Brovsky earning an assist.

Okay, all jokes aside, I know Brovsky was not trying to make a pass to Sandoval, but what was he thinking? Why would you ever make a low head pass towards the center of the goal. Also more importantly why wasn't Facey able to catch up to Sandoval during this entire play. If you are the back four, you all have to be there on defense.

Scenario B: Let's say the ball was instead originally passed to Sandoval who Hernandez had given his back to. (See slide 5) Shay would have to be the man to mark Sandoval and stop any scoring attempt.

Luckily scenario B didn't happen and Saunders had the right anticipation and was able to get off his line quickly enough to block the shot from Sandoval. But these are the simple mistakes our defense continue to make and honestly, seeing this play over and over again, I just can't make it up!

GIF

To view the second breakdown please visit the original post found at NYCFCPodcast.com

I would love some feedback and if you enjoyed this breakdown you may enjoy the NYCFC Fan Podcast which you can subscribe to on iTunes or Stitcher (see links in signature). Also if you want to take this discussion into Twitter you can follow me @TheAndresSoto (link in signature). Thanks

Bravo, great work!

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Thanks for posting. On top on all the reasons listed above the other astounding part regarding Facey's poor positioning is the fact that he gives interviews saying his natural preferred position is CB. That being the case I would expect situations where we observe him not getting forward properly on offense or having a hard time tracking players out wide. If you consider yourself a CB one of your primary skills should be holding the back line with your fellow CBs, not tracking back poorly like some out of position midfielder.

I agree with you gbservis I can't imagine seeing Facey as a CB with his recent form. #realitycheck

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Bravo, great work!

Thank you S1ARK5 !

 

[roxfontaine]

These are awesome. Heartbreaking too, but awesome.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

These are awesome. Heartbreaking too, but awesome.

Thanks R roxfontaine It's fun making them but it hurts when I have to be so critical showcasing our awful defense. I throw in some humor to soften the blow...

 

[Seth]

These are awesome. Heartbreaking too, but awesome.

True, but think how good you'll feel when perhaps in a few months we can see some *highlight* ones instead of these more painful ones.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

True, but think how good you'll feel when perhaps in a few months we can see some *highlight* ones instead of these more painful ones.

Oh I can't wait for those occasions Seth

 

[NYCFC914]

Great piece !