RSL Postmatch

[SoupInNYC]

Wanted to add to the positive things being said about BAJ here.

We knew he had a lot of skill, but he impressed me much, much more last night.

1) His confidence. He's only 19 years old, and is playing alongside the likes of David Villa and Andrea Pirlo, and has the confidence to drag all the way across the box with the ball, take on defenders and rip a shot. I would expect a lot of players his age on this team would be very timid and may just look to pass.
2) His skill. We all saw it, his ability to take on defenders 1v1 or even sometimes 1v3. He can dribble in a phone booth and make things happen.
3) He's creative. He had a lot of great, great passes last night to find people in space.
4) He makes smart runs and Pirlo/Villa are looking for him. We have world class talent on this team that can place the ball anywhere on the field, but we need guys to make runs. BAJ is making them.
5) He still has a lot of room to improve. There were several times where I think he tried to do just a bit too much himself and had an option to pass elsewhere. PV will walk him through the film and he can clean that up a bit, the future is bright.

Agree with earlier posts that him being subbed out was due to him coming off an injury/fitness concerns. However, barring injury, there is no way he shouldn't start every match the rest of the season.

Side note, after he scored, there was a group in 237 that was chanting "Super, Super Jack. Super, Super Jack. Super, Super Jack. Super Jack Harrison." Now I don't really hope that nickname catches on for him at all, but it was a really good dig at Frank.

We need to get some good chants for BAJ going.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

That was a highly entertaining match and if that is an example of how we will play against a very good western conference team , we are going to have no problem making the playoffs. I'll take that over Orlando any day. Orlando was a shitty lapse in concentration at the end of a match akin to USA v portugal. Last night was total midfield domination, with a bad luck loss. Happens all the time in soccer, better team doesn't always win. They couldn't move the ball through our midfield at all. We created more than we conceded.

Still can't stand Saunders, even though I don't blame him for any of those goals. We are so much better building from the back and he absolutely kills that. Half way through the game we started playing boot ball again, and I think that contributed to breaking our rhythm.

 

[canchon]

To borrow a "special" phrase this team is a specialist in failure. I'm trying to remain positive but seriously it's hard when it doesn't matter who they start, someone will stink up the joint.

Let's see what else could be on the menu:
-own goal
-red card/PK special to lose a lead and go down to 10
-encroachment to nullify a penalty, which Villa then misses the retake
-Saunders somehow misses a GK which hits a defender and goes into his own net

The team is more comedy than anything else right now.

I posted that in the pre-match thread. Yup, the team is a specialist in finding new ways to lose. When RSL got the set piece, I called it before it even went in. It was the first good set piece RSL had all game, so OF COURSE it's going in.

This is what makes my blood boil...it's as if certain players decide "you know, I'm going to play a few minutes like I have no soccer brain". No other team consistently has this many brain farts every game and drops points like this. None. And if PV says "well, these are individual mistakes that can be fixed" - well then FIX THEM. Or get players who can concentrate for 90 minutes.

Tonight's goals against were despicable. You can maybe excuse the second (but then again, learn how to defend damn set pieces), but the first where Hernandez got thrown like a wet rag and the own goal were out of pure comedy school. Yura is a good forward, but he is not freaking Drogba. Hernandez's positioning was cover your eyes worthy. There is a reason he was in the expansion draft. Yeah, he made some nice emergency blocks for a few games, but he is not an MLS level defender. And Brilliant has had his share of brain farts as well.

Where were the RSL brain farts, hmmm? Their starting CBs are guys from their academy I think, or guys picked up out of college. And on and on with other teams. Sell Mullins, Poku (unless you are going to play him), trade Saunders for a bag of balls, and get two big guys to convince Frank to "retire" and pick up some competent CBs and perhaps a GK in the window. Saunders is worse than replacement level MLS talent at this point. At least find some people who can stop making crucial, point-dropping mistakes. Enough. Unless drastic changes are made, they will miss the playoffs. It's pretty much done already.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

Don't want to go through 8 pages but why BAJ and what does it mean

 

[SoupInNYC]

Don't want to go through 8 pages but why BAJ and what does it mean

Big Apple Jack

 

[Rimil]

The field is in piss-poor shape. The grounds crew was out at halftime working feverishly to pound divots back in and spread seeds. I've never noticed it before - usually they water the field.

SPREADING SEED! fire those guys, they clearly don't know how grass works.

 

[danger]

Maybe they were spreading cha cha cha chia seed

 

[NickA]

Also for PV's system to work, you need good wingers...we finally have a legit one in Harrison and we can see how it can be successful. Unfortunately when Shelton came in, it turned into the same old unsuccessful crap. Look at how many balls that came his way and he didn't know what to do with them. It's all in the wingers. We have 1, now need another. He doesn't know whether to develop Mendoza or Shelton yet. I'd be interested in seeing T-Mac, Villa & Jack up top. Especially with out new workable midfield. Throw Mat/RJ in the back...I'm optimistic.

 

[doctorhoosier]

I agree with you but last year our possession was square and back until someone hit a long ball to Villa to go 1 v 3. This year the way we keep the ball and attack is more positive and effective.

even if we have the same lousy record as last year I would rather watch NYCFC 2016 than NYCFC 2015. They play better soccer now

That is unbelievably simplistic and also not accurate.

According to Whoscored, we actually pass the ball directly more often this year than we did last year. We make 70 passes a game this year quantified as long balls, and Pirlo's average of long balls per game is actually up ~3.5 passes per game this year.

Our Centerbacks this year are also significantly more direct than they were under Kreis -- our starting center backs are averaging 3 more direct passes a game this year than they were last.

Our keepers are less direct, for sure, and Vieira's system isn't direct in the least. But as a team, arguing that we were a direct team last year is just not the case.

 

[SoupInNYC]

That is unbelievably simplistic and also not accurate.

According to Whoscored, we actually pass the ball directly more often this year than we did last year. We make 70 passes a game this year quantified as long balls, and Pirlo's average of long balls per game is actually up ~3.5 passes per game this year.

Our Centerbacks this year are also significantly more direct than they were under Kreis -- our starting center backs are averaging 3 more direct passes a game this year than they were last.

Our keepers are less direct, for sure, and Vieira's system isn't direct in the least. But as a team, arguing that we were a direct team last year is just not the case.

Apologize for my ignorance, but what does "direct passes" exactly mean? Like opposed to what other types of passes?

 

[dark knight]

- Mix busts his ass. Almost had two headers too.

That's definitely a glass half full perspective. He should have done better on those headers and his decision making and overall impact on the games is just not good enough, IMO. I'm a Mix fan and have his name on my jersey, but Poku comes on and wins a penalty and has a great through pass in a short amount of work. We need difference makers, not guys to run hard and impact the game very little.

 

[dark knight]

Your and idiot.

I don't see what is idiotic about that post personally. MLS and sports in general is all about coaching continuity. Kreis had his own issues but I don't see how trading one coach for another did much of anything for us. Kreis has a proven track record in MLS and I personally think he was equipped to figure it out. Are they going to stick with PV once we miss the playoffs again? Coaching carousels is a recipe for mediocrity.

 

[ZYanksRule]

That's definitely a glass half full perspective. He should have done better on those headers and his decision making and overall impact on the games is just not good enough, IMO. I'm a Mix fan and have his name on my jersey, but Poku comes on and wins a penalty and has a great through pass in a short amount of work. We need difference makers, not guys to run hard and impact the game very little.

Mix was all over the place last night, and perhaps those headers were unlucky, but it just seemed like he was phenomenal going from box-to-box, then was a non-factor once the ball got near the box. I don't know what that means or why that was the case, but he's definitely one of the most disappointing players on the team, especially considering his salary. Much more is expected of him than what he's giving.

I saw a tweet last night that he's playing himself out of the league, and I tend to agree. Such a shame because at 25 years old he has a ton of potential, but we've yet to see that potential on the field. Only in fits and starts.

 

[The Toe]

Postgame at The Dugout was interesting at least. This guy kept throwing his girlfriend in the air and then accidentally thew her into the girl I was with. That's about it for highlights.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Midfielders get the ball to the forwards in the right places. If you think we had a ton of chances last night, and RSL barely sniffed our side of the field, that was because of the midfield. Its no surprise that since Mix and Iraola has been playing that Pirlo has looked better, and that we've been dominating games. Mix isn't an MLS midfielder, who runs around like a crazy person, scissor tackling everyone. He plays the ball to the forwards, makes late runs to the box, and gets the ball back in the midfield. Not sure what you expect a midfielder to do, but 19 shots on goal come from a good midfield.

 

[Narrowback gal]

Last year our possession was sideways and backwards. This year possession is much more positive and attacking. That is why we lead the league in shots.

Of course we need to translate those shots into more goals and more points in the standings, but the thread was about whether we are a better team than last year. We definitely are.

Oh, ok. So you think we're a better team that still can't win, and loses to our bitterest rival 7-0.

Gotcha.

 

[sbrylski]

I'm all for a Bravo:Brillant pairing in the back. Hernandez had a mini-Renaissance of about 3-4 games and he's now plummeted back to normalcy. That's just not going to cut it if we want a defense that isn't a sieve.

I'm not sure I agree that Hernandez played a bad game, but that may be because I rate Movsisyan. Give Movsisyan a couple chances like that and he can bury at least one against any defender in the league.

Brillant's own goal is a classic. They just kind of happen once in a while when the defender is stretching toward his own end line. He *has* to try and get a foot on it, because if he pulls back and the player behind him scores, that's his fault too. I'm not sure how this issue is solved - better positioning? Saunders yelling for ball? Not letting the cross in to begin with?

On the set piece, Mix left his mark to crash where the ball was heading. Watch: http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/ma...city-fc-vs-real-salt-lake/details/video/67403

You can see Mix mirroring #7, then as soon as the ball is kicked he just drifts and ball watches. That one is on Mix.

 

[sbrylski]

Half way through the game we started playing boot ball again, and I think that contributed to breaking our rhythm.

The turning point was our goal, but it turned in the wrong direction. It felt like RSL was playing for a draw, as they packed the box all first half and we dominated possession. Once we finally broke thru, RSL had nothing to lose and went on their front foot and bad things happened. They were pressing higher and therefore we had to turn to more boot ball. I thought the Poku sub was perfect for that, to give us a target, but he should have been swapped with Villa to get him in the middle and Villa on the outside.

 

[Narrowback gal]

Possession only matters if you score, frankly. Ask Atletico Madrid -- they don't give a shit for possession, and were a penalty away from winning the UCL.

Edit: Oh, and some shitty club called Leicester.

Exactly. You can have 90% possession, but if your opponent scores on you during his 10%- nobody cares. You still lose. The laser focus on possession is an outgrowth of the stats obsession in so much of today's sports.

 

[Rimil]

They named RJ Allen MOTM in the Stadium, which was a complete joke -- Harrison, and it's not even close. He's the biggest bright spot around this team right now. Kid's going to be good.

reddit agrees with you, oddly enough reddit also considers chicken bucket to be on the roster