Nycfc V Montreal Motm And Post-game

[Christopher Jee]

Lots of good points here already, will just comment where I don't think anyone's raised similar points / questions:

• I keep hearing that Poku's fitness isn't up to scratch. Super confusing. He's crazy strong and really quick. Something isn't adding up for me. Anybody have any ideas? I'm starting to think it might be a smoke screen. I can see a few other reasons why Kreis might not pick him more regularly. He tries the Hollywood ball a little too often, and can't seem to play the 1-touch pass to get out of trouble, as a few others have commented. He's a bit of an enigma. Clearly has the talent but I can imagine it being hard playing with him.
• Montreal were getting in behind really often. From the telecast it seemed like Facey was making a lot of last-ditch tackles to make up for losing track of his man, but he's otherwise immaculate so I wonder if we're having trouble passing markers between full backs and center backs (would make more sense given what I've seen defensively from Allen and Wingert). Also Facey and KWS probably haven't played together all that often.
• We have a really narrow midfield and that only works when we can push our full backs up to add numbers and overload their wide areas. Looking forward to seeing how our possession game shapes up with Iraola and Angelino / Calle contributing in offense.
• Hernandez was on the injury list as having "gastro soreness". Was wondering if he took a seat because he's already switched to the #2 and having him play out in his new shirt would "ruin" the big Pirlo reveal.

Everything else was already said prior and better!

 

[Midas Mulligan]

It's not a big thing, don't worry.

Don't short yourself, Fal. It's not that small

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Lots of good points here already, will just comment where I don't think anyone's raised similar points / questions:

• I keep hearing that Poku's fitness isn't up to scratch. Super confusing. He's crazy strong and really quick. Something isn't adding up for me. Anybody have any ideas? I'm starting to think it might be a smoke screen. I can see a few other reasons why Kreis might not pick him more regularly. He tries the Hollywood ball a little too often, and can't seem to play the 1-touch pass to get out of trouble, as a few others have commented. He's a bit of an enigma. Clearly has the talent but I can imagine it being hard playing with him.
• Montreal were getting in behind really often. From the telecast it seemed like Facey was making a lot of last-ditch tackles to make up for losing track of his man, but he's otherwise immaculate so I wonder if we're having trouble passing markers between full backs and center backs (would make more sense given what I've seen defensively from Allen and Wingert). Also Facey and KWS probably haven't played together all that often.
• We have a really narrow midfield and that only works when we can push our full backs up to add numbers and overload their wide areas. Looking forward to seeing how our possession game shapes up with Iraola and Angelino / Calle contributing in offense.
• Hernandez was on the injury list as having "gastro soreness". Was wondering if he took a seat because he's already switched to the #2 and having him play out in his new shirt would "ruin" the big Pirlo reveal.

Everything else was already said prior and better!

Top notch first post. We call all of those problems "Kreistianity".

 

[Midas Mulligan]

We should be a lot more excited about this match than this!?!?!!
Where's everyone at?
Oh yeah... Hungover.

Get fired up, Dan.

I even registered at Bluemoon to defend your honor. Who cares if the reason is my wife is still drunk from our snorkel trip? We are getting ready for WWC final. Time to get the chat and sarcasm going.

I find it funny, all the time, that non-NYers confuse my wife and my accent as Australian. Today, we got Welsh. I attribute that solely to rotgut rum, as Welsh is fully indecipherable.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Observations I don't think have been covered yet:

* Our fans. On the telecast, by far the most audible chant of the night was, "Saunders! Saunders!" We're awesome. Feel the love everyone.

* Fairness. Early in the season we lamented how many times we got a raw deal with deflections and other unfair losses of points. Well last night we got back three that I think were deserved, but certainly against the run of play. What goes around comes around.

* TMac's breakaway. Many have already expressed the opinion that he should have passed to Mullins. Look again here.

Mullins has a defender within a few feet of him. Also Mullins is a righty if I'm not mistaken. So he would either have to shoot with his off foot or let the ball cross him even closer to the defender. TMac was right to shoot. Also, he's got a scorer's mentality (which I like). Take a crack. (BTW, I said the same of Ballouchy at Cosmos. When you have a shot within the 18, I will rarely complain that you took it.) What I also find noteworthy was the run and pass in behind the D. That was brilliantly done. Here's the point at which the ball is passing the back line. I believe it was Villa who made the pass or it could have been Ballouchy. Can't tell for sure.

Great run in behind.

* Villa's first goal was his best of the season. We haven't praised this shot enough. He had no angle. In my mind I once caught a 7' bass and that shot was taken from 3 feet beyond the end line. Seriously, there was no way to shoot directly on goal from where he was, going across his body, to get it on frame, far post, with enough power to beat the GK. Just amazing.

* Poku. There's a lot to say here.

* Poku vision. Once again he astounds. The long ball forward to Mullins in the MTL box was brilliant. He is the best on the team at seeing and delivering the long ball. Can't wait to see him on the pitch with Pirlo.

* Poku power. He is unfairly strong. I really think the MLS might need a rule against him. I don't know any other way he can be contained. Poku 1v1 with anyone else in the league has odds for Poku the way da Bears superfans gave odds for Ditka (or even mini-Ditka).

* Poku feet. As strong as he is, his footwork needs development time. In tight spaces he is still prone to a clumsy touch (not Nemec level by any stretch, but still a development point worth watching).

* Poku pressure. His biggest liability is when he gets pressured by more than one opposition player. 1v1, he'll trounce the other guy. All alone, he'll pick his head up and make a tremendous pass. But 1v2 or 1v3 he has too much tendency to keep the ball until he gets in too much trouble and loses it.

Lastly, 3 points against a team that gave up .5/game at home before last night. 12 points out of our last 15 for a team that had 8 out of its first possible 39. I could get used to this.

Wonderful post. Diminished by the fact that Mullins has and always will be a lefty, but otherwise, I look forward to making clairvoyant signs with you at some point.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

It's not a big thing, don't worry.

I fucking love this guy. You're a funny and smart poster.

Delightful combo.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

Get fired up, Dan.

I even registered at Bluemoon to defend your honor. Who cares if the reason is my wife is still drunk from our snorkel trip? We are getting ready for WWC final. Time to get the chat and sarcasm going.

I find it funny, all the time, that non-NYers confuse my wife and my accent as Australian. Today, we got Welsh. I attribute that solely to rotgut rum, as Welsh is fully indecipherable.

Oh someone replied?
We were getting a bunch of hits from them so I visited the inbound link and saw it was some inaccurate posting by ex members and thought I replied very respectfully.

 

[whill4]

I got too drunk for America last night and missed the game. But so happy to wake up and see a Villa brace and three points.

We've now won four out of our last five games

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Oh someone replied?
We were getting a bunch of hits from them so I visited the inbound link and saw it was some inaccurate posting by ex members and thought I replied very respectfully.

Love you man!

We bout to win a Cup!

Copa Mundial!

 

[roxfontaine]

Where is Sebastian Velasquez? Is he still part of the club or what?

Yes. I saw him last week at the Red Bulls game. He has a leg injury of some sort.

 

[danger]

Yes. I saw him last week at the Red Bulls game. He has a leg injury of some sort.

I know that teams aren't required to file injury reports with the league, but how is it that the MLS site has info on Brandt who never gets minutes but there's nothing on Velasquez? Where do they get their info? And why does the team put out incomplete info in their game day reports, e.g. for Montreal?

 

[roxfontaine]

Good question. I don't know the answer though. He is with the team in some capacity. At least for now.

 

[Kjbert]

What impresses me most about Poku isn't just his vision, it's his delivery. He hits the ball hard, but right on target. Too often, I feel like our passes are too lightly weighted to let the other team catch up on the play, but Poku does a nice job getting the ball to feet ASAP.

Kwame tried hitting a ball across the field to reverse. It skipped, rolled to a stop and was about 30 feet wide of where his intended target was. Can't overestimate how hard it is to accurately place a soccer ball from distance.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

The defense was horrible and so was the midfield Saturday night. That was not even defense it was desperate scrambling. Any ball kicked into midfield was immediately lost except for very few occasions. Our keeper is the most inaccurate kicker I think I have ever seen. I really can't wait for the overhaul.

 

[roxfontaine]

What a weekend! I absolutely LOVE Montreal.

It was nice meeting you, BxLio91 though it was very brief. I didn't know you live in Montreal.

It was a pretty ugly game but we got some lucky breaks and the rest was taken care of by Josh Saunders. Truly thrilling win that was the cherry on top of the icing on the cake of an epic weekend.

 

[BxLio91]

What a weekend! I absolutely LOVE Montreal.

It was nice meeting you, BxLio91 though it was very brief. I didn't know you live in Montreal.

It was a pretty ugly game but we got some lucky breaks and the rest was taken care of by Josh Saunders. Truly thrilling win that was the cherry on top of the icing on the cake of an epic weekend.

I live in Québec City but it's just a 3 hr trip and I couldn't miss the game for all the money in the world.

 

[roxfontaine]

I live in Québec City but it's just a 3 hr trip and I couldn't miss the game for all the money in the world.

Ohhhhh, ok. Damn. Did you take off right after the game?

 

[JayH]

Great job representing R roxfontaine and BxLio91

 

[Mack]

Lots of good points here already, will just comment where I don't think anyone's raised similar points / questions:

• I keep hearing that Poku's fitness isn't up to scratch. Super confusing. He's crazy strong and really quick. Something isn't adding up for me. Anybody have any ideas? I'm starting to think it might be a smoke screen. I can see a few other reasons why Kreis might not pick him more regularly. He tries the Hollywood ball a little too often, and can't seem to play the 1-touch pass to get out of trouble, as a few others have commented. He's a bit of an enigma. Clearly has the talent but I can imagine it being hard playing with him.
• Montreal were getting in behind really often. From the telecast it seemed like Facey was making a lot of last-ditch tackles to make up for losing track of his man, but he's otherwise immaculate so I wonder if we're having trouble passing markers between full backs and center backs (would make more sense given what I've seen defensively from Allen and Wingert). Also Facey and KWS probably haven't played together all that often.
• We have a really narrow midfield and that only works when we can push our full backs up to add numbers and overload their wide areas. Looking forward to seeing how our possession game shapes up with Iraola and Angelino / Calle contributing in offense.
• Hernandez was on the injury list as having "gastro soreness". Was wondering if he took a seat because he's already switched to the #2 and having him play out in his new shirt would "ruin" the big Pirlo reveal.

Everything else was already said prior and better!

I was at the game and I hate to admit it because I love him, but Poku's fitness was definitely a big problem in the 2nd half. Watching the game live as opposed to on TV obviously lets you see a lot more of what players do off of the ball. Poku looked a little tired right before half time but I thought he would gets his legs back under him after the break. That just didn't happen and after the 60th minute the only time he ran was when he had the ball at his feet. When we lost the ball and Montreal countered (which happened a lot) he would just jog or walk back while the rest of the team was sprinting back to get behind the ball. At one point I saw him bent over at the waist with his hands on his knees sucking wind.

Regardless, Poku is a dynamic player when he's on the ball and he may well be one of the strongest players in the league. Montreal defenders were just bouncing off of him in the first half. I hope he continues to get quality minutes every game because I think he's a game changer offensively, but he definitely needs to work on his stamina and his commitment to defending.

 

[LionNYC]

At least he knows he need some practice with goal kicks:

http://www.nycfc.com/post/2015/07/0...impact-josh-saunders-post-match?autoplay=true