Puerto Rico V Nycfc - Post-match

I managed to find these on the NYCFC reddit (I feel ever so slightly dirty):

http://gfycat.com/LegitimateFineKob
http://gfycat.com/InstructiveInbornBeetle
http://gfycat.com/ThoseLikableGelada

Also, this is from twitter:

CV_hJvBW4AAcxss.jpg:large
Look at Villa manspreading. This is why he is a true New Yorker.
 
4-3-1-2 with Villa and Shelton up top. Poku supporting them and linking to our big 3 of Frank, Pirlo and Mix.
It seems to me that Shelton and Mullins will be fighting for the same minutes. Here's how I break that down.

Shelton - Speed.
Mullins - Nose for goal. Bad-assery. He gets mean with other teams in imho the right ways.

For my money this contest currently goes to Mullins. I'm not against giving Shelton opportunities to prove himself. But right now it goes to Patrick until Khiry can prove he has some killer instinct in him.
 
I am a little concerned if we are having Frank going box to box. I think he could do a good job but I don't think he can go more than a half. Maybe it makes more sense for him to switch with Poku in that formation.

Maybe he is only a 60-70 minute player. He's going to be a 60-70 minute player wherever he plays. That's why you still have Mix and McNamara and Jacobson on this team. PV apparently believes he can play box to box based off of Friday's line-up. Let's actually find out if he can do that. Kreis didn't give him the chance.
 
After re-watching the match I came up with our best starting XI currently imo. Thoughts?
View attachment 3687
Left side of D will get torched. I think you need Pirlo in the middle with someone on either side to cover for him. Swap Pirlo/Poku.

And I'm still in the develop youth camp. Ballouchy is great for depth and can give you some quality minutes. But starting him is conceding your future. Khiry and Mullins will only get better if you put them on the field.
 
Left side of D will get torched. I think you need Pirlo in the middle with someone on either side to cover for him. Swap Pirlo/Poku.

And I'm still in the develop youth camp. Ballouchy is great for depth and can give you some quality minutes. But starting him is conceding your future. Khiry and Mullins will only get better if you put them on the field.
I'd actually love for Poku to play deeper but I don't think he reads the game well enough for it. Maybe Vieira can change that.
 
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I'd actually love for Poku to play deeper but I don't think he reads the game well enough for it. Maybe Vieira can change that.

He would also need to significantly increase his effort on defense. Hopefully Vieria can bring out the best in him, he has the physical ability to be a destroyer in the midfield if he puts his mind to it.
 
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To me, his skill set best fits a withdrawn striker/CAM. He can dribble and tear apart a defense, he can score, and he is smart enough to see passes in a congested box.

if it were me i would try a midfield of

-----poku---------
----lampard------
--Mix----Pirlo----

that becomes this when we build out of the back through pirlo
------poku------
--mix----lampard--
----pirlo-----------
 
I can only see how quickly the right side of your defense will get destroyed. I don't know who we need to add to fix it but we need a better CB than Hernandez. I think he did an alright job last year, But if you have Iraola running up the side like he did against PR, Hernandez would get all out killed on the fast break.