I agree Mendoza was considerably better than last week and Shelton had some good moments, both were small bright spots for me. I thought Brovo played well, lots of key interceptions and he seemed more in control than he has in the past. It didn't feel like a red card was coming at all times. Lopez should never see the feild, he plays like he has no brain. Horrible positioning, takes 10 seconds every time to figure out what to do with the ball, didn't adapt to having a yellow and almost got a second a few times. Poku didn't add the offensive spark were needed and was his typical lazy jog casually 5 yards behind the play on defense self. Poku was also gased at the 60 min mark so fitness is clearly an issue. It cost us because it should have been Lopez coming off at that point based on the card and his horrible play. Instead we had to waste a sub on a 24 year old professional soccer player who only exerts effort on offense and still can't go more than 65 min a game. I'm a Mix defender but I wasn't impressed with his effort level as a sub today. He came in and acted like he could care less. No comment on Saunders I'm in full agreement with all that has been said.
NYCFC v Philly Postmatch
- Thread starter NYCFC_Dan
- Start date
I agree Mendoza was considerably better than last week and Shelton had some good moments, both were small bright spots for me. I thought Brovo played well, lots of key interceptions and he seemed more in control than he has in the past. It didn't feel like a red card was coming at all times. Lopez should never see the feild, he plays like he has no brain. Horrible positioning, takes 10 seconds every time to figure out what to do with the ball, didn't adapt to having a yellow and almost got a second a few times. Poku didn't add the offensive spark were needed and was his typical lazy jog casually 5 yards behind the play on defense self. Poku was also gased at the 60 min mark so fitness is clearly an issue. It cost us because it should have been Lopez coming off at that point based on the card and his horrible play. Instead we had to waste a sub on a 24 year old professional soccer player who only exerts effort on offense and still can't go more than 65 min a game. I'm a Mix defender but I wasn't impressed with his effort level as a sub today. He came in and acted like he could care less. No comment on Saunders I'm in full agreement with all that has been said.
We're the suckers. It's so much fun to cheer for a team in MLS that gets us through the oppressive, demoralizing and embarrassing summer that is NYC. We stink. No way around it. I want this team to play a goal or two down every time we go out there. It is so evident that we're not motivated coming out of the gates. How many goals do we have to give up in the first 30 minutes to get the team to come out with any sort of fire?
At least Vieira is open to sitting Pirlo and Mix when we've got two more games at home in the next 7 days. It's just hard to watch. Everyone needs to step up, and that's on Vieira. You don't go from a team that was holding its own last year to a squad that can barely get out of its way. I hope PV runs this team ragged this week. Go oldschool. You don't want to lose? Here's some motivation. 100yd sprints. Sucks, doesn't it? It seems so simple. We're not far away from being good, but the things that hurt us make us look so terrible.
I'm not sure Saunders is the problem. There, I said it. The Sapong touch was world-class. 1 or 2 keepers in the world save that. The first goal, Iraola let his man get in front of him on an easy tap-in. Other than that, I thought Saunders was par for the course. A keeper's worth is based on the saves he makes when he really has no right to make them. I thought Josh had at least one of those today.
Also, I think that playing out of the back isn't perfect for this league. Ok, I get it. Other teams do it, but it seems to be one of the more unconventional ways to move the ball around, and yeah, possession isn't one of those things that's sexy, but %s say it's a good indicator of goals. That's just not working. I'm tempted to just let the midfield push and push and push, take on defenders, leave three men back at all times, and then just go straight at goal. Treat possession like a counter every time. Why not.
At least Vieira is open to sitting Pirlo and Mix when we've got two more games at home in the next 7 days. It's just hard to watch. Everyone needs to step up, and that's on Vieira. You don't go from a team that was holding its own last year to a squad that can barely get out of its way. I hope PV runs this team ragged this week. Go oldschool. You don't want to lose? Here's some motivation. 100yd sprints. Sucks, doesn't it? It seems so simple. We're not far away from being good, but the things that hurt us make us look so terrible.
I'm not sure Saunders is the problem. There, I said it. The Sapong touch was world-class. 1 or 2 keepers in the world save that. The first goal, Iraola let his man get in front of him on an easy tap-in. Other than that, I thought Saunders was par for the course. A keeper's worth is based on the saves he makes when he really has no right to make them. I thought Josh had at least one of those today.
Also, I think that playing out of the back isn't perfect for this league. Ok, I get it. Other teams do it, but it seems to be one of the more unconventional ways to move the ball around, and yeah, possession isn't one of those things that's sexy, but %s say it's a good indicator of goals. That's just not working. I'm tempted to just let the midfield push and push and push, take on defenders, leave three men back at all times, and then just go straight at goal. Treat possession like a counter every time. Why not.
I feel like I might be insane, but I totally agree with Vieira.
We weren't perfect by any means, but we had far better chances and Philly's goals came completely against the run of play. Villa should have had 3 goals today. Hernandez made a couple of poor consecutive plays for the first goal and got manhandled and then lost Sapong completely for the second. Inexplicably simple errors in crucial situations cost us 5 goals net this game.
On the plus side, Shelton and Mendoza looked sharp and caused a lot of problems. At times, I would go so far as to say that our wing play was "a joy to watch", which is ironic because in the long run of games in the home stand I thought our wingers were the missing piece. This game, conversely, our midfield was really nervous and misplayed a lot of passes, which resulted in some persistent fouling. I also wonder to what extent we played down the wings more effectively because of the lack of central presence.
Montreal is gonna be tough, but if we can get the whole team firing at once I think we can go on a run and score a lot of goals.
We weren't perfect by any means, but we had far better chances and Philly's goals came completely against the run of play. Villa should have had 3 goals today. Hernandez made a couple of poor consecutive plays for the first goal and got manhandled and then lost Sapong completely for the second. Inexplicably simple errors in crucial situations cost us 5 goals net this game.
On the plus side, Shelton and Mendoza looked sharp and caused a lot of problems. At times, I would go so far as to say that our wing play was "a joy to watch", which is ironic because in the long run of games in the home stand I thought our wingers were the missing piece. This game, conversely, our midfield was really nervous and misplayed a lot of passes, which resulted in some persistent fouling. I also wonder to what extent we played down the wings more effectively because of the lack of central presence.
Montreal is gonna be tough, but if we can get the whole team firing at once I think we can go on a run and score a lot of goals.
I understand PV trying out different line ups, but have we played the same line up two games in a row yet? There's no consistency. On the plus side I thought Mendoza and Shelton played better. On the minus...everyone else was average or below. It would be nice to blame 1 or 2 players for our shortcomings...but it's not Pirlo, Villa, Mix, Poku, Saunders, etc. It's the team. They collectively suck. No way to sugarcoat it. Hopefully with more time together they'll get better, but that's about it. I'm ok with losing when playing a good game, but we don't.
We are the poster boys for the negative MLS narratives. We are why outsiders say this league is subpar.
We are the poster boys for the negative MLS narratives. We are why outsiders say this league is subpar.
I agree, Saunders this season sucks. I feel the team needs to get a new fitness coach urgently with a different philosophy on body fitness. My observation is that all the players look heavy and slow in today's game and previous games. This may be a simplistic argument and observation and many of you will poopoo it and possibly ridicule it. But from my female viewpoint I have to say it. Muscle mass make a person heavier.
The players are bulking up with muscle mass. Starting with my Capitan Villa. He is s still great talented striker but he has slowed down a little bit. He still looks trim and fit but he has built muscle mass, which has slowed a bit his reflexes, agility and flexibility. Go and compare pictures before to last year and when he was in La Liga to the present.
The bulking up of muscle body mass is very obvious with Saunders look at pictures of him from last season. He is wider horizontally, more muscular this season and he moves like a big lumbering bear. (Sorry Saunders I am your fan but you are letting ALL those goals in and Johnhasen must be given chance)
Next is Poku. I was shocked to see him today. I did not recognize him. He has gotten bigger in width that the jersey was a bit snug on the chest. Last year I met him at a meet and greet, he was slim as a model. Why he is not scoring this season?
The same goes for Mullins and TMac, Those jerseys are tight on the back of the shoulders and their necks are thickening. Too much work out and possibly ingesting too much nutritional supplements. Last year they had baby faces, and now they are beginning to look like younger versions of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Couple of thoughts:
- I thought the first half was actually pretty good overall. Dominated possession, got some good chances. Just gave up two stupid goals. I don't understand people saying the team was absolute shit.
- Why is Mikey Lopez on the team? After ~15 minutes I was yelling at the TV for Mix to come in for him. Not sure why we waited 75 minutes to get him out of there. I hope he never plays again.
- I haven't been a Shelton fan, but he was pretty good on the ball. Looked better to me than he'd been so far. Still doesn't know what the hell to do with it when he gets anywhere near the goal.
- Nobody ever shoots. It's frustrating. I kind of understand why Villa gets annoyed and starts to force things.
- Felt like Iraola being out of position cost us one stupid goal, and Saunders being in the wrong spot cost us the other.
- Can everyone finally shut up about Poku needing to start now?
- I thought the first half was actually pretty good overall. Dominated possession, got some good chances. Just gave up two stupid goals. I don't understand people saying the team was absolute shit.
- Why is Mikey Lopez on the team? After ~15 minutes I was yelling at the TV for Mix to come in for him. Not sure why we waited 75 minutes to get him out of there. I hope he never plays again.
- I haven't been a Shelton fan, but he was pretty good on the ball. Looked better to me than he'd been so far. Still doesn't know what the hell to do with it when he gets anywhere near the goal.
- Nobody ever shoots. It's frustrating. I kind of understand why Villa gets annoyed and starts to force things.
- Felt like Iraola being out of position cost us one stupid goal, and Saunders being in the wrong spot cost us the other.
- Can everyone finally shut up about Poku needing to start now?
The scouting report on how to beat us is out and pv needs to find away to adjust. Every team lets us have possession all game knowing we struggle to finish and then they score on the counter. Yesterday was proof of it as even philly a team that prefers possession based on past games just gave it to us and then countered.
Why do so many people keep saying this when we lead the league in shots per game?
I started tracking this last year, but the odd thing is that then the complaints were that the black jersey was cursed and we should just play in the blue as much as possible.
Last year we played 10 games in the secondary kit, with a 3-6-1 record and a 1.0 PPG average.
The primary kit was 7-11-6 for a 1.125 average. That's not a big advantage considering the H/A difference, but then again we were not that great at home.
But the reason some people were down on the black kit is that we only won 1 of the first 8 games. The team won the last 2 times it played in it, including the home #BlackOut night promotion against San Jose on Sept 19. Until then the team had 4 points in 8 games wearing black.
This year the HypnoKit is 1-0-0 and the Baby Blues are 0-fer-everything: 3 points, all from ties, in 6 games.
CUME Primary Kit: 7-14-9, 30 points in 30 games for a 1.0 PPG.
CUME Secondary Kits: 4-6-1, 13 points in 11 games for a 1.182 average.
The bottom line is the team sucks no matter what it wears.
PS: For the record, I don't think our kits have anything to do with our results.
I think this is one of two critically important points.
- Point 1: We shoot a lot. Plenty of bad shots. But plenty of good too. Go back and rewatch our games to this point. If we had been getting more "lucky" bounces, we would probably have 1-2 more goals per game.
- Point 2: We give a lot. Go back and rewatch our games to this point. If the other teams had been slightly more clinical we could easily be giving up 1-2 more goals per game.
I also think our offense was improved. Wingers looked better. Villa's misses were as clear opportunities as any he has had this year. I'm eager to see this frontline again.
Midfield? Who the fuck knows?
We do shoot a lot and many are bad. Some miss by yards; others count as on-target but slowly glide along the grass for a gentle, loving pickup by the opposing keeper. And at home we take even more shots that don't even get counted as shots because they do not make it through the thicket of opposing players sitting in our box.
As for luck, I believe it can be a factor. Well, I actually believe that in a random distribution of results you will find clusters of similar events that seem to have meaning but don't. Luck is just easier to say.
But, we're 41 games into this project and I'm tired of reading about bad luck. I think the team just lacks finishers.
Things I Saw In Philly Chester
- Our supporters were definitely hoisting a drum during the incident at the end of the game. I remember looking over and thinking I was surprised we were allowed to bring our own drums. And I suppose now I was right and idiots just seized it from the Philly supporters.
- I also was surprised during the shenanigans that security was so passive as assorted objects were thrown.
- The Union supporters, mostly Sons of Ben I presume did a good job with chants, energy etc during the game.
- There were many more t-shirts, caps and jerseys for overseas teams than you see at Yankee Stadium. Mostly Royal Madrid, but also Juventus (often with Pirlo on the back), Arsenal, and some Chelsea. To the extent the Juventus shirts were in honor of Pirlo I suppose that doesn't count as much.
- A lot of the Union fan gear has light blue as a prominent color. Their light blue is different from ours, but it's a color that is much less prominent on their actual uniforms. As a result, I often looked at someone, and initially thought they were NYCFC fans until I got a better/closer look.
- Three different people, only one of whom was an employee, thanked me for coming down from NYC.
Glad someone else saw the drum I was starting to think I was crazy since no one else has been mentioning it. It was a big base drum with a symbol on top and what looked to me like the philly logo on it. Our supporters had it at the edge of our section tuanting their section with it and that's when shit started flying back and forth. For all the tough talk about self policing this seemed like an easy opportunity missed. The moment someone showed up with that thing people in the TR should have stepped in and forced them to return it.
Edit: I was wrong it was one of our drums.
Last edited:
I think one of the things with Shelton is that Lopez was really bad at distributing on ball on his side. Shelton and Mix work alot better together.
N
NYC24
Guest
It was a lovely day in Chester, PA. Nice little stadium and friendly Union fans. Since I went to college in a village next to Chester, I was able to show my son where his parents met, which he enjoyed.
Like PV, I thought he won the first half. When Philly scored their first stupid goal and the fans started their whole chanting and clapping thing, I thought we had them right where we wanted them. After the second stupid goal, we were done.
I actually miss Jason Kreis now, because I miss the 4-5-1. We have talent suited to 4-5-1. PV is going to keep trying to shoehorn us into 4-3-3 or 3-4-3, and I don't like it. I also don't like the decision to play and then stick with Mikey Lopez far too long. And how does subbing RJ Allen for Mata two goals down help?
-- Mikey Lopez's first touch is always 6 feet from his body and usually headed backwards. Would have liked to see Mix from the start
-- Mendoza was improved this game
-- Villa is unlucky to not score, but he could also do a little more to make his luck a little better
-- Poku is a bit lazy/behind the play at times
-- Saunders needs to retire asap
Like PV, I thought he won the first half. When Philly scored their first stupid goal and the fans started their whole chanting and clapping thing, I thought we had them right where we wanted them. After the second stupid goal, we were done.
I actually miss Jason Kreis now, because I miss the 4-5-1. We have talent suited to 4-5-1. PV is going to keep trying to shoehorn us into 4-3-3 or 3-4-3, and I don't like it. I also don't like the decision to play and then stick with Mikey Lopez far too long. And how does subbing RJ Allen for Mata two goals down help?
-- Mikey Lopez's first touch is always 6 feet from his body and usually headed backwards. Would have liked to see Mix from the start
-- Mendoza was improved this game
-- Villa is unlucky to not score, but he could also do a little more to make his luck a little better
-- Poku is a bit lazy/behind the play at times
-- Saunders needs to retire asap
Jason Kreis>Vieira so far
I didn't think it could happen but we managed to find a way to play even worse than last season. The issues of last season is looking less and less the fault of the coach.
If we don't make the playoffs Vieira should be fired too. That is the standard this club has set.
I didn't think it could happen but we managed to find a way to play even worse than last season. The issues of last season is looking less and less the fault of the coach.
If we don't make the playoffs Vieira should be fired too. That is the standard this club has set.
Last edited:
Similar threads
