I liked our ball movement. And is it ever great to have Keaton in the middle of the park again.
We really need that striker, though.
We really need that striker, though.
Preseason - All Matches
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
NICO! Dassa my boi ...
That's the way, Agu: pull the trigger.
I was just thinking the same thing. That would be a good question for Pascal.
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I hope he didn't get hurt ... Considering most of the other starters all played, might be an issue there.
I think pascal just wanted to get different people minutes. We didn't see oneil either did we? I had the sound turned off and wasn't paying full attention
The commentary on Oneil was strange, Glen said he is available but wasn't on the roster today. Was happy to see Reid get a good chunk of time.
O'Neill was there and so was Trewin, they just weren't suited up. More a fatigue thing than anything, especially for Kai (according to Glenn Crooks, Aiden said Trewin was "knackered"). O'Neill himself played something like 20 months of soccer nonstop.
Glenn said he thought they'd both dress for the second game at Coachella.
I thought even Glenn was in preseason form today. We made a bunch of changes and he spent 5 min rambling about Son joining LAFC before he got around to telling us who was on the field.
And even then he missed a couple. But good on him for being out there in that beautiful desert warmth and sun instead of freezing his tucus off back here with the rest of us.
A few observations from yesterday’s game with the usual giant preseason grain of salt:
Overall, I would’ve liked to see more goals considering it was mostly our starters against LAFC’s B team, but the team looked solid and it was a good showing.
- Pascal could be heard regularly on the broadcast shouting “go, go, go,” clearly pushing the team to attack quickly. Are we going to play faster this year? Ojeda and Wolf looked especially dangerous surging forward aggressively. In contrast, Maxi looked slow and a bit out of place, playing his usual slow-it-down Maxi ball.
- Nico scored a solo hero goal, but overall his false 9 role felt awkward. There were long stretches where both Maxi and Nico were behind the play, leaving no one occupying the middle to lead the attack. We really need a striker.
- Great to see Keaton back. He’s clearly still working his way into full form, but there were definite glimpses of the Keaton that's the engine that drives everything.
- Martins didn’t go forward on corner kicks and instead stayed back as the last man, typically a fullback role. Raul was the primary target on all corners. Is this just being cautious with Martins, or is this the new setup?
- The work rate from Ojeda and Wolf was incredible, sprinting both ways all game. If that’s the system, we may need more winger depth, because that level of effort doesn’t seem sustainable for a full 90 every match.
- Nico briefly played CM when Keaton went out, and he looked totally comfortable defensively. His versatility really impressive.
- Raul hit some interesting long balls but also turned the ball over quite a bit. Glenn even noted a moment where Pascal looked frustrated with him and was giving him an earful during a break. I think we’re really going to miss Haak’s passing precision.
- Reid looked dangerous, and the attacking patterns changed immediately once we had a true #9 on the field. Hopefully he continues to get minutes.
- No Magno, and I don’t even recall Glenn mentioning him much. Was this just a rest day like O’Neill and others got, or is Pascal already moving on? Watching Wolf and Ojeda relentlessly run the end lines, it’s hard to imagine Magno consistently fitting that profile.
Overall, I would’ve liked to see more goals considering it was mostly our starters against LAFC’s B team, but the team looked solid and it was a good showing.
Martins's all time stats shows him only scoring a header twice. He's not particularly dangerous in the box so maybe Jansen decided he's better off as a safety net while letting the wingbacks push up.
nico as a false 9 can work for us as it did last year but it's not our best formation by far. having a true #9 and a mobile #10 is definitely when we play our best.
I enjoyed seeing reid up top and really do hope he gets more minutes in the regular season. carizzo too. btw WHERE IS SHORE?
Yeah, Shore was another notable missing player, hopefully its just rotation. Glenn did mention how closely they track certain fitness metrics with those tracking devices the players wear, maybe Shore was just due for some rest. I will say Flax looked a bit like Shore when he came on, to the point that I thought it might be Shore while I waited for Glenn to finish his version of Son works so hard and is the best teammate ever monologue that every announcer seems contractually required to do for any game Son is ever remotely involved in, so he could tell us who had subbed on.
I also just saw this, which perfectly sums up the false 9 situation:
Edit: HRB article says Shore has a minor injury
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exactly. that's why we need a true #9. Reid would have been in the middle waiting to attack a cross. i don't want to dwell on sylla. it didn't pan out for one reason or another, i'm over it. give Reid the chance to shine before we fall back on false 9 or magno at 9.
I'm hoping Kai Trewin picks us up here. I liked his highlights, with the usual caveats about YouTube reels. But he really does seem to be in the same mold.
Totally agree. Nico playing the False 9 is workable, but really not where we want to be. We need a striker. If it turns out Seymour can handle it until Alonso gets back, fantastic. But it's tough to count on that happening with someone so young and green.
Maybe we see Magno at LW once Trewin can line up at CB and Raul can play LB, reducing the need for as much defensive responsibility from the LW position.
I could see that, although I think Pascal would prefer Raul and Martins to be paired most of the time with Trewin patrolling in front of them, in that James Sands role. But we'll see. We have plenty of flexibility in the roster now. Jansen will be able to draw it up in any number of ways.
I'm sure it will vary from game to game but as far as establishing himself as one of our best XI starters I think Trewin has a better chance of displacing Raul or Kevin (in the case of Raul sliding to LB) than he does taking a starting spot from Parks or O'Neil.
