Nycfc V Columbus - M O T M And Post-game Thread

The hosts of the Blue City Radio Podcast went through the math on the last episode. We need 7 points per month. We have 4 so far this month and we are counting on beating the black shaving creams next home game.
 
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The hosts of the Blue City Radio Podcast went through the math on the last episode. We need 7 points per month. We have 4 so far this month and we are counting on beating the black shaving creams next home game.

What were their assumptions around Montreal's and Toronto's points per match? Because they're ahead of us with games in hand.
 
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At this point, I don't know what to think anymore. No clue what is wrong with this team. They're so inconsistent.

Like others have stated, that first goal was all on Saunders. WTF was he thinking punting that shit down field when he has Angelino right there??? I almost threw my chair into my beautiful HDTV.

Good thing Serie A is starting this weekend because MLS play was starting to make me really stupid.
 
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The hosts of the Blue City Radio Podcast went through the math on the last episode. We need 7 points per month. We have 4 so far this month and we are counting on beating the black shaving creams next home game.

October has 3 games. 2 of them on the road. One of those road games is against DC, the team currently leading the East. But let's force ourselves to go 2-0-1 that month and get 7 points. You know how many times this season we won 2 of 3 consecutive games? Once. We actually won 3 straight against Philly, Montreal and Toronto. There is no other time we won 2 of 3.

September has 4 games. One is at home against San Jose who just smacked down the team with the best PPG in the league last night. It's winnable but no gimme.
Two are away against Vancouver and FC Dallas -- the third and fifth best PPG in the league.
The easiest game on paper is home against Toronto.
2-1-1 is doable but one bad break: a fluke goal, a bad PK call -- and we are sunk.

August had 6 games. and so far we got 4 of 12 points.

Why anyone would say our path to the playoffs is to win 7/18 points in August, 7/12 points in September and 7/9 points in October is a mystery.
 
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I suggest listening to the podcast. Their main assumption is 45 points should be enough, but they also acknowledged we could get 45 and still not make it depending on how those teams close the season.

There are 27 points out there rest of season. We are not getting all of them. If we take 17 and still miss the playoffs I will be happy with the effort from this expansion (if high spending) side. I still plan to double or triple my season ticket order for season 2 no matter what happens rest of way.
 
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I still don't see the Mena hate. Goal number one was ANOTHER bad turnover on Saunders. At the time he kicked it, (if I remember) Angelino, our left back, was farther right than Iraola, and both our centerbacks were up field. Meaning? Our defense was horribly out of position, and with the immediate turnover and breakaway you ended up with Hernandez, our slowest defender trying to close out Finley, who is not slow and had about 7 seconds to pick out the PERFECT centering pass to Kamara. Not on Mena, and if anything Saunders could have done better stopping the shot, which went through his hands.

Goal#2: Villa, who looked completely gassed all game, turns it over in our half, as we were getting ready to move upfield, let's call that our standard operating procedure, since we've been doing it all year. No one is in position, everyone is scrambling to get back, and Columbus makes a nice play to score. Again, not on Mena.

I can count at least three plays when Mena marked Kamara completely out of the play, the most obvious being the one he shepherded out for the goal kick. Kamara is not a small boy. Mena is big, fast and the best man marker on the team. Are people holding the RB goal against him that went through his legs? He's in the top 2 of CBs we have, remember everyone's darling Facey straight gave up a goal against RB in the first game by letting a ball skip over his foot. For me, its Mena/Facey and get rid of Saunders since he's hurting us now more than helping.
 
The second one on Mena was that he made a poor challenege attempt and the ball went right by him.
 
The second one on Mena was that he made a poor challenege attempt and the ball went right by him.
Mena had 3 tackles, 5 interceptions and a blocked shot.

Saunders, and this has been a problem all year, as I've been following whoscored.

71% passing! From the GK, who is mostly passing 10 yards forward, unpressured to an open CB.
4 for 13 (!) on long balls! Four of his long kicks got to a NYCFC player, NINE of them went directly to Columbus. Clark, the other keeper, was 10 for 16.

Saunders was necessary when Wingy and Hernandez were forcing him into circus saves every 5 minutes, but now that we have a good defense his distribution is killing us.
 
like has been mentioned.... god DAMNIT does saunders need to stop lobbing long balls. as soon as that ball whizzed past angelino into the chiquita army of col*mbus, i knew bad things were going to happen.
 
Someone said it best, that Mena is incredible 1x1 but at times looks lost against transition, leading to goals (some of this falls on others as well and some of it may be the product of our backs playing wings at times).

Regarding the 13 minute replay session, I was strongly advocating in the chat box that they go all-in and play for 3. With that said, I think they probably played it reasonably, notwithstanding the hate hereon. They kept their strongest lineup in to start, played aggressively for several minutes, had some opportunities. However, there was a clear momentum switch towards our goal the last half of the replay (which I think simply was just a natural shift for whatever reason, not strategic) and they (players and/or coach) either sensed or planned for this and protected the point in the last few minutes (and were lucky to get it with some of the chances against). I don't think they came into the replay session looking for the point at the outset, but it ended up being, at least, a reasonable strategy towards the end of it.
 
Saunders was necessary when Wingy and Hernandez were forcing him into circus saves every 5 minutes, but now that we have a good defense his distribution is killing us.

And now Saunders isn't making those 'big circus saves' anymore as well. When's the last time he came up with a big save (like either of the 2 goals yesterday?) Saves at big times matter. I get that the first few months he was coming up big, but now he's basically "replacement player" quality, if you want to use the baseball term.
 
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I also wouldn't blame Kreis for not going balls to the wall for the last 13 minutes to get the point after the restart. At that point, you need to re-establish a rhythm (and don't want to injure players after the long break). There is too much risk to play wide open and potentially turn a tie into a loss.

The points were lost when they coughed it up not less than 5 minutes after they had come back to take the lead. Awful, awful turnover and atrocious defending afterwards. And moments like that, "easy" goals against - that is why NYCFC isn't going to the playoffs. You can make a highlight reel of them over and again.
 
Saunders is really not all that good and never has been but when you watch a team like this week in and week out you're clutching at straws to find a positive. A quality keeper should be one of the top priorities in the offseason.
 
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You'd think some of you watched your first game today by your reactions. Holy hell. A draw is a fair result. We were the SLIGHTLY better team but could have easily walked away from that game with nothing at all. We got very lucky on a couple of plays.

Is it disappointing that we didn't get the win? Of course. We had another come from behind game and almost pulled it off against a good home side. The delay killed momentum. What can you do?
Couldn't agree more. The cluelessness around here is starting to become mind numbing.
 
I suggest listening to the podcast. Their main assumption is 45 points should be enough, but they also acknowledged we could get 45 and still not make it depending on how those teams close the season.

There are 27 points out there rest of season. We are not getting all of them. If we take 17 and still miss the playoffs I will be happy with the effort from this expansion (if high spending) side. I still plan to double or triple my season ticket order for season 2 no matter what happens rest of way.
I agree 45 points should do it. 46 is close to a lock, and 44, 43, and 42 are possible with ever diminishing likelihood.
Getting 17 points in our last 9 games will match our best 9-game streak to date, when we went 5-2-2 in midseason starting with a draw against Houston. Our 5 wins there came against Philly, Montreal (2), Toronto, and Orlando. So while that record is not unprecedented, we do not have 5 games like that left. OTOH, the next time we win 2 homes games in a row will be the first time we win 2 home games in a row. And back to the original dispute: last night's game was pretty much the 5th hardest on paper of what was then 10 remaining games. It was the "easiest" of the hard games. A tie means we have to win one of the even harder ones, plus 4/5 of the "easy" ones. That was the game to target for a tough, unexpected win. We didn't get it, and now have to target something harder.

Finally, I'm not sure what you increasing your ticket allotment has to do with this conversation but I hope you enjoy them. Cheers.
 
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Although the pass was bad by Villa on the Crew's second goal, I will say he at least ran back to try and win it back, something he has been criticized for not doing much of this year.
 
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