Revolution Postmatch
- Thread starter NYCFC_Dan
- Start date
Yeah, Pirlo has an uncanny ability to hold the ball. When he squares his hips between the ball and the defender, there's no way the ball is being taken away from him - he's like the unmovable object.
cause he doesn't dribble at you, so his ideal situation is he has the ball and you stand off him thinking you have the attack contained, but someone is off the ball making a run and he will ping it to them. Knowing this you can't give him time so you have to come to him, committing your movement towards a ball and all he has to do is a shimmy to move the ball away and now he can dribble passed you or lay it off safely.
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I remember watching him do this in the Orlando game when he first arrived last summer and it was like magic. Then I think the league temporarily caught up to him. For a while it seemed that the tactic of rushing him worked until he adjusted. Maybe it's because MLS really is faster than other leagues, or maybe it's just that in Italy other teams stopped doing that because it didn't work and he wasn't used to countering it. In any event, he has obviously adjusted. I remember thinking of him as a slow motion matador when he did those spins in that first game, and now he's just a bit quicker.
Make no mistake, he along with Harriaon and Lampard a huge reasons we are the team we are today. Pirlo has been playing his best ball with all of these guys on the field.
I dont think folks are giving lampard enough credit for his goal. His movement before the ball got to him and then for him to alter his body/legs to aim the ball towards the net was pretty impressive. He has been huge for us when healthy.
Man the hate for lampard is unreal. The guy has been huge and scored two huge goals for us back to back games was key in the first goal vs nj. Lets not let last year and early this year when he has been injured cloud just how good and valuable he is to this team.
It's obvious we like to aim at a target, as opposed to the obvious open part of the net, so our shooting tactics should evolve from aiming at the keeper (like every time) to simply aiming at Lampard - let him redirect the shot from 4yrds out.
Watch the replay, the pass was to villa, Frank got his fat leg in the way and got lucky, like he did when he handled the ball into the goal.
This is so true, and a perfect solution. It's amazing how many of our open space shots go straight at the keeper. It reminds me of what happens to some people when they start learning to drive. When they come to a stop sign, they tend to aim for it. It makes no sense. They know it's wrong; but for a while they cannot stop themselves doing it.
So now we just aim for the Lamp instead of the keeper.
Pretty funny to be honest. Doesn't matter, win lose or draw, the same people come in here and beat the same drum after every damn game. For a lot of people here, stats always trump results. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Lampard debate reminds me a lot , as a Rangers follower, of the Kris Boyd's first run with the Gers. He'd score a ton of goals. probably almost a goal a game, None of them spectacular and he didn't generally do much besides. Some people would bitch and moan and not want him on the field. IMO at it's core this game is about scoring more than your opponent. It's really the only stat that interests me. Don't care how much he runs , how many passes etc, if he's scoring on a regular basis it gives us a better chance to score more goals than our opponent and win the match. As long as the goals are coming I want him out there.
The stats say that despite our HUGE win against NE, we still have potential problems in the team that are glossed over because we have been winning. Just like when the results guys were here proclaiming Khiry Shelton and Mikey Lopez as kings of new york soccer.
Yep. This ties perfectly with his statement about the speed of this league. He now knows that people are just going to run at him full speed rather than try to play counter to his angles and lanes. It works beautifully in his favor and I hope people keep foolishly doing it.
I don't remember people hyping up Lopez and Khiry... And I'm not trying to devalue the importance of statistics, but they are not a perfect indicator of performance. There is tons of stuff happening out there that has no clerical value, but is a big indicator of success/failure.
Matarrita's positioning was so far forward last night. You'd see Mena and Brilliant passing the ball around the back and Matarrita wasn't even visible on the TV, he was so far forward he was out of the camera's shot. He's really more of a wingback.
Then again, I love the idea of bringing in Hernandez in the back to solidify a lead and pushing Matarrita up to burn down that side, especially when the team is counterattacking.
I remember some player saying about Pirlo in the player survey "who cares if you're Pirlo, I'm going to run and hit you for 90 minutes." As if the Maestro couldn't adapt to that.
I remember when that happened, and R.J. was right. He shepherded it out for gosh sakes.
