Preseason - February 16 - Orlando
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
I think you either start fresh in 2019 or you don't. You don't have to. I'm fine with
Ulrich approach. But I don't see the point of choosing to give a fresh start, then jumping on Dome after 3-4 games because of what happened last year.
I think you either start fresh in 2019 or you don't. You don't have to. I'm fine with
Well that's it for me -- I'm not giving him a fresh start. The reason I think fans are going to turn on him quickly with a poor start is specifically because of what happened last year. The honeymoon phase is over -- he needs to pick up points. The roster is one of the best in the league. If he can't win with this roster, we will need to cut bait. Because the problem is not with the players.
If he was winning these preseason games in typical blowout MCFC ways, then I’d have confidence he just needed an off-season to reset the team - I’d gladly eat crow. But he’s got the core guys, the ones that have had half a season to learn from him, playing matches that aren’t producing results. Sure we’re missing Villa, but so many folks have said we played better without him, so at some point we can’t use the lack of him or our Romanian as an excuse for these two losses when Mitrovic didn’t play.
Regarding the winger..... the first goal came down our right flank from their fullback, Lewis was on the left, and Dome commented after the match that the wings didn’t track back as being one problem. I take that as our right side wing didn’t track on the goal, because if the manager is calling out issues it’s usually associated with scoring plays. Hence, either ITS or Medina were are fault on the play and I’d expect them to get the same treatment Lewis got all last season.
Height isn’t just an issue on set pieces but also during the run of play. While I realize Maxi isn’t the first choice striker, I’m troubled our most creative midfielder may be slated to play there which will severely impact our middle link play, because we saw last season how horrendous we were when Maxi was nullified/invisible in the middle causing our transition to repeatedly stall. Teams that neutralized him neutered us.
Barring a total collapse, I can't imagine any way he actually gets fired during the season.
I’ve been thinking about this. If he was that important to Pep, there’s no way he allowance him to leave the staff.
I think Pep would want nothing more than for his staff members to leave and become successful as managers. I think to him that’s just another notch on his belt. That he can develop players and coaches.
I disagree. On an organizational macro level, if the teams tanks, CFG has their brand identity at stake, not just the team but also their ability to cultivate and select managerial talent. As far as anybody knows, Dome was the only candidate for the job and if he flames out it’s significant commentary not just on the CFG ranks (this was the best candidate from within the org?) but also on their decision making - who exactly decided to only search from within?
On a micro level, if the team tanks, Dome has pretty much killed his ability to be a head coach. And I think Pep will take him back mid-season if the writing on the wall is bleak, so as to save his friend from the embarrassment.
But don’t you think there’s a difference between and old guy like Dome and a new guy like Arteta?
To be fair we are the best performing CFG club aside from Man City. I don’t think us finishing mid table will bother them one bit if they make money.
Are they making money??? If they are, Their books have got to be creatively balanced because they’re renting their stadium, paying a sizable cap, have dwindling STH and attendance, run a large academy that hasn’t transferred any products and whiffed on getting a return on their jewel from Dortmund, and have had sizable capital costs with the training center.
Unless they’re making money from their Etihad sponsorship, which is just their own bank account so a bit of rigging the books, then they’re losing money each year. And we’ve already seen a drop in national TV broadcasts for 2019, so imagine 2020 if the team is coming off a mediocre or crappy season.
I watched the highlight video and if the play where Lewis falls in the box where he gets tangled with the defenders was his first yellow then I don’t agree. That was a tangle of legs and I’d be okay if they didn’t call anything there.
The second yellow at the end of the video was a yellow. I slowed down the play and Lewis actually kicks the player in the leg and falls down. You can see him point his toe down and make no attempt to continue running. It was a deliberate dive.
I’m not crucifying him for it but you got to call it like you see it. Shouldnt have been a red as the first yellow wasn’t deserved but that play certainly was and many forwards have been guilty of diving. Part of the game. Carry on.
The second yellow at the end of the video was a yellow. I slowed down the play and Lewis actually kicks the player in the leg and falls down. You can see him point his toe down and make no attempt to continue running. It was a deliberate dive.
I’m not crucifying him for it but you got to call it like you see it. Shouldnt have been a red as the first yellow wasn’t deserved but that play certainly was and many forwards have been guilty of diving. Part of the game. Carry on.
I went back and watched the highlights and agree that it looks like ITS who is caught out. I agree that we should be taking note of all of our players' defensive and positional shortcomings. I don't think ITS is somebody who has come up as being poor on defense or when it comes to possession in tight spaces. But I hope at least my admission of somebody-who-is-not-Jonathan-Lewis having a defensive lapse is some evidence that people aren't just out to get JLew. FWIW I also saw Taty playing somebody onside for Atlanta's 3rd goal in the Conference semis.
I wasn't just talking about set pieces. Here's the post, now that I've had a chance to sit down and look for it: http://nycfcforums.com/index.php?threads/nycfc-players-wanted-thread.3351/page-363#post-271045
RE: taking our most creative midfielder out of the middle - this is a legit concern. But when we have Maxi in the middle, we often have a problem getting to the ball to our striker. What I think Dome is saying with regard to Maxi is that he's such a clever player that he is one of few on our team that you can expect to find space wherever you put him. If we are having issues moving the ball through midfield then it makes sense to play him in midfield. If we are having trouble holding the ball in our forward line, maybe we play Maxi up front.
More recently, the formation I've been most excited about is the 4-2-3-1 / 4-2-4 that Dome has been rolling out, for example with Parks + Ofori as a double pivot against AIK. Whereas previously we were finding it hard to get the ball from our single-pivot through the midfield line, dropping Parks next to Ofori seemed to force the opposing midfield to unclog the center a bit in, leaving a lot of space for one of the 4 fluid forwards to drop deep and collect. In this formation, I can see Maxi and Mitri playing as two 10s.
I’m less concerned with you admitting other forwards have defensive lapses/issues and more concerned Dome either doesn’t see it, or isn’t interested in punishing certain players like he’s punished Lewis - not that I think any of them should be punished but it’s got to be one set of rules for everybody.
I went back and watched the highlights and agree that it looks like ITS who is caught out. I agree that we should be taking note of all of our players' defensive and positional shortcomings. I don't think ITS is somebody who has come up as being poor on defense or when it comes to possession in tight spaces. But I hope at least my admission of somebody-who-is-not-Jonathan-Lewis having a defensive lapse is some evidence that people aren't just out to get JLew. FWIW I also saw Taty playing somebody onside for Atlanta's 3rd goal in the Conference semis.
I wasn't just talking about set pieces. Here's the post, now that I've had a chance to sit down and look for it: http://nycfcforums.com/index.php?threads/nycfc-players-wanted-thread.3351/page-363#post-271045
RE: taking our most creative midfielder out of the middle - this is a legit concern. But when we have Maxi in the middle, we often have a problem getting to the ball to our striker. What I think Dome is saying with regard to Maxi is that he's such a clever player that he is one of few on our team that you can expect to find space wherever you put him. If we are having issues moving the ball through midfield then it makes sense to play him in midfield. If we are having trouble holding the ball in our forward line, maybe we play Maxi up front.
More recently, the formation I've been most excited about is the 4-2-3-1 / 4-2-4 that Dome has been rolling out, for example with Parks + Ofori as a double pivot against AIK. Whereas previously we were finding it hard to get the ball from our single-pivot through the midfield line, dropping Parks next to Ofori seemed to force the opposing midfield to unclog the center a bit in, leaving a lot of space for one of the 4 fluid forwards to drop deep and collect. In this formation, I can see Maxi and Mitri playing as two 10s.
