Sure but if you want to play the counterfactual game, we should have easily had 3 more tap in goals as well.
Orlando - Postmatch
- Thread starter NYCFC_Dan
- Start date
I'm not convinced that Vieira knows why he plays the 3-5-2 or the 4-3-3 but I'm glad he is learning to change things up. I don't think we know how to press in the 3-5-2 yet. Orlando were finding the spare man with ease.
Playing Ring at the back when we have no soldiers in the middle doesn't make sense. Playing Tajouri-Shradi as a wingback doesn't make any sense. As soon as he picked up the ball on the right wing it was a goal. That was on a transition so it wasn't a tactical change.
I thought Tommy made some key defensive contributions tonight. I didn't see the Dynamo game so I only heard that he is pointing without moving. IMO he needed to. Ofori had very poor positional awareness for a CDM and Tommy did OK on both sides of the ball.
Lol at Villa criticism.
Berget and Medina need to sit for Shradi and Lewis. I love that the kid can come on for the first time in 1.5 years and go straight into full on showtime mode. To me, Medina is our Özil right now. Luxuriant once the game opens up, but a non-factor in a scrap.
I thought Ofori was much improved. Seems to be gaining some confidence. He has this thing where he always needs to take a half step before he makes a tackle on his left foot. It is bizarre to me that he got this far in his career with that specific of a skill deficiency, but either way he is not a defensive player.
Ironically, the 3-5-2 may be a solid move midweek and next weekend. It was effective against a 1 striker system in the Red Bulls, and both teams like to press high. I would also consider Salaam as RCB given Ibeagha's issues on the ball, if Chanot is still mysteriously out of the lineup.
Playing Ring at the back when we have no soldiers in the middle doesn't make sense. Playing Tajouri-Shradi as a wingback doesn't make any sense. As soon as he picked up the ball on the right wing it was a goal. That was on a transition so it wasn't a tactical change.
I thought Tommy made some key defensive contributions tonight. I didn't see the Dynamo game so I only heard that he is pointing without moving. IMO he needed to. Ofori had very poor positional awareness for a CDM and Tommy did OK on both sides of the ball.
Lol at Villa criticism.
Berget and Medina need to sit for Shradi and Lewis. I love that the kid can come on for the first time in 1.5 years and go straight into full on showtime mode. To me, Medina is our Özil right now. Luxuriant once the game opens up, but a non-factor in a scrap.
I thought Ofori was much improved. Seems to be gaining some confidence. He has this thing where he always needs to take a half step before he makes a tackle on his left foot. It is bizarre to me that he got this far in his career with that specific of a skill deficiency, but either way he is not a defensive player.
Ironically, the 3-5-2 may be a solid move midweek and next weekend. It was effective against a 1 striker system in the Red Bulls, and both teams like to press high. I would also consider Salaam as RCB given Ibeagha's issues on the ball, if Chanot is still mysteriously out of the lineup.
Higher than Zlatan, Giovinco, Villalba, Kei Kamara, Dwyer, and BWP. Raw passing percentage isn't a very useful stat for forwards.
Well that performance should put the debate to rest: Enough with the 3-5-2. The 4-3-3 works, and we saw that in the second half when he switched to it.
Did McNamara even get one touch in those first 45 minutes?
I'm kind of over Berget at this point. A striker with a terrible first touch, and a striker who can't find the net, isn't very useful. There are better options. I want to see Medina-Villa-Isi as the front line, and Ring needs to be in the midfield. He's just better there than he is as a CB.
Great second half performance, and the supporters were rocking the stadium tonight.
Did McNamara even get one touch in those first 45 minutes?
I'm kind of over Berget at this point. A striker with a terrible first touch, and a striker who can't find the net, isn't very useful. There are better options. I want to see Medina-Villa-Isi as the front line, and Ring needs to be in the midfield. He's just better there than he is as a CB.
Great second half performance, and the supporters were rocking the stadium tonight.
Ofori to me is so so talented but doesn't really have a position. Once he finds it I think he can be a special player.
If Berget had scored on that shot from the middle
If Berget had scored the header
If Berget had made the run when Shradi stole the ball
If Berget....
I don't know whether Lewis isn't getting minutes because PV has issues with his defense, but he needs to be in the 18 as an offensive spark. If he came on against Houston in the 60th minute I am convinced we could have gotten points. It looks like Villa loves playing with him. DV was really upset when he couldn't hit him with the return pass to put him through on goal during one of the many good sequences.
Berget is a striker in a slump and is just a slight upgrade over Shelton at this point.
Ring is absolutely one of my favorite players to watch. He plays a damn good center back but like Toronto with Bradley, we are a better team when he is in the midfield in front of the backs. I like the Ring as CB when there is a team like Houston or Colorado when the other team's number one weapon is a ball over the top to a striker with pace but otherwise he should be playing more of a 6/8 depending on circumstances. The comparison got me thinking I would definitely take Ring over Bradley if I had the choice between the two right now.
ISI is leading the league in goals/90 min. He needs to be on the field.
Isi Villa and Maxi combined have scored as many or more goals than 14 of the 23 MLS teams this season.
Berget is a striker in a slump and is just a slight upgrade over Shelton at this point.
Ring is absolutely one of my favorite players to watch. He plays a damn good center back but like Toronto with Bradley, we are a better team when he is in the midfield in front of the backs. I like the Ring as CB when there is a team like Houston or Colorado when the other team's number one weapon is a ball over the top to a striker with pace but otherwise he should be playing more of a 6/8 depending on circumstances. The comparison got me thinking I would definitely take Ring over Bradley if I had the choice between the two right now.
ISI is leading the league in goals/90 min. He needs to be on the field.
Isi Villa and Maxi combined have scored as many or more goals than 14 of the 23 MLS teams this season.
Can somebody confirm whether Maxi was pushed in the back before he made contact with Sweat’s absolutely perfect cross???? It sure looked from Section 228 like Maxi was elevated for the header and at the last second he “tumbled” and flubbed the contact while ending up on the ground.
I was 4th row behind the goal and it DEFINITELY looked like a push in the back foul keeping Maxi from making contact in a prime spot to score
I thought that it was a close call but I lean towards the no call. The Meram elbow to Tinny was a clear red in my mind if review was functional.
Totally agree. Medina has a high ceiling but unfortunately his floor fluctuates between low and average. He’s at his best when there are other players (Villa, Isi, Maxi, & now Lewis) on the field for the Defense to focus on and he doesn’t have to carry the load - for me, that’s not a DP type player. Granted, he has movements of brilliance like when he spun the defenders at the edge of the box and was free to dribble in the box, but he also missed a sitter-header last night and in a past match (was it RB?) he missed another sitter; if that was Berget, he’d be roasted.
I’m fine with making Medina a bench option to bring in as either an extra midfielder or forward depending on the match flow, but I’m not sure he’s earned the right to stay on the field as a starter.
I didn’t see the specific elbow but it was obvious Tinny was being abused all match WWF style.
Loved seeing what Lewis brought to the table, and what's funny is that it's everything he did last year when he helped us through one of our most important and exciting stretch of the season. I hope we see him on Wednesday, I think he's a shoo-in starter in the USOC. But everyone's right, we need an Isi-Villa-Medina lineup for the rest of the season if we can. Swapping Isi and Jesus gives us great flexibility; it felt like OCSC was really trying to pin Isi to the left and the swap opened both of them up.
I just can't believe that PV is playing TMac in these positions that go completely against his skillset. He was a ghost again.
I just can't believe that PV is playing TMac in these positions that go completely against his skillset. He was a ghost again.
I’m glad that PV experiments with lineups and formations, especially at home against teams as weak and depleted as Orlando.
I was also happy with his subs last night. The sub at halftime was unusual for Vieira, and indicated he realized that the formation experiment, and playing TMac, wasn’t working. I’m sure there were plenty of eye rolls at Sweat, but he played well and the sub let us play a shape that worked. The Villa sub was probably planned before the game, but as others have noted the team looked even better after he came in. You can say he should have come in sooner but the whole point was to limit his minutes. PV rolled the dice and got through 64 minutes with a lead. Seeing Lewis was great. I would question why ITS came out, but I guess he had his 2 goals and maybe PV wanted to see how Lewis linked up with other players more than with Shradi.
My tentative hope about Lewis is this. PV has seen how young players get burnt out. Everybody knows Harrison was not his usual self after about 20 games last year. This year, NYCFC started 5-0-2 without playing Lewis. That gives a coach a lot of slack to play with. Even with the stumbles since then, the team is 2 points out of first overall with the hardest part of the schedule behind them. Sure, Lewis probably could have gotten some looks without wearing him out at all. It is odd that this was his absolute first time on the field. But if we can now start building him up and have him at full strength in October and afterwards I’m more than happy to have gone without him to date.
The stadium looked full. The supporters sounded great. It ended up being a beautiful night to sit outside and watch some soccer.
I was also happy with his subs last night. The sub at halftime was unusual for Vieira, and indicated he realized that the formation experiment, and playing TMac, wasn’t working. I’m sure there were plenty of eye rolls at Sweat, but he played well and the sub let us play a shape that worked. The Villa sub was probably planned before the game, but as others have noted the team looked even better after he came in. You can say he should have come in sooner but the whole point was to limit his minutes. PV rolled the dice and got through 64 minutes with a lead. Seeing Lewis was great. I would question why ITS came out, but I guess he had his 2 goals and maybe PV wanted to see how Lewis linked up with other players more than with Shradi.
My tentative hope about Lewis is this. PV has seen how young players get burnt out. Everybody knows Harrison was not his usual self after about 20 games last year. This year, NYCFC started 5-0-2 without playing Lewis. That gives a coach a lot of slack to play with. Even with the stumbles since then, the team is 2 points out of first overall with the hardest part of the schedule behind them. Sure, Lewis probably could have gotten some looks without wearing him out at all. It is odd that this was his absolute first time on the field. But if we can now start building him up and have him at full strength in October and afterwards I’m more than happy to have gone without him to date.
The stadium looked full. The supporters sounded great. It ended up being a beautiful night to sit outside and watch some soccer.
Also, the fans have to figure out the Shradi goal announcement. We sound like crap.
Sweat was decent on offense and poor on defense as usual. He left Callens out to dry leading to the PK. Sweat is what he is at this point, the success or failure of subbing him on will always depend on how much defense you need from him. The game was wide open and we possessed a ton of the ball in the second half so last night it worked out. Someone also needs to tell him he's not Lewis and he's not nearly good enough to try to dribble through 3 guys. As usual he continued to try it and lost the ball 2-3 times last night.
I'd bet they are still being careful with ITS because of the hamstring injury. He hasn't been back from that long as this point. Since he's the only person outside of Villa on the roster that can score with any level on consistency hopefully they continue to manage his min to keep him as healthy as possible.
