Keaton looked very good this preseason. Feels like we need to spend money on a 6 next to him tho
To me this circles back to pressing. Nick threw defenders forward so you risk the other team breaking behind our lines. Might as well have the upward playing players contribute on both sides. His way just kind of took them out of the defense altogether too much. And as you note it led to more and better chances allowed without the upside.
He drove me crazy last year at times with how languid he played, but I agree he's looked much more on the ball and front-footed in preseason so here's hoping Jansen is able to unlock that side of him consistently.
I'm not a tactics expert but I watched Cushing coach for 3 years and I can't tell you what we were trying to do on offense. The players often looked justifiably frustrated. Jansens system in theory seems to give players more creative freedom and it sounds more exciting as the team will be playing on the front foot. As a player id imagine its a lot more fun to play Pascal ball than Cushing ball so hopefully that brings the best out of guys like Keaton.
I've often wondered if Nick's constant emphasis on position did Keaton -- and everyone else, for that matter -- a disfavor. We often played like everyone was thinking about where they were supposed to be instead of doing what they were supposed to be doing.
If there's one thing I want to see more than anything else as this campaign gets underway, it's our guys just being ballers out there.
[Full disclosure: I like Nick, and I thought he was going to be our Jim Curtin and stay as gaffer at least through 2027, and maybe beyond. And it's possible he would have taken the shackles off himself this season. But alas, we'll never know ... ]
I liked Cushing too, but no matter what he claimed, he was fundamentally a conservative defensive coach. Sure, last year he set us up with a more attacking approach, but whenever a substitution presented a choice between staying on the front foot or tightening up defensively, he almost always opted for the latter. Even in his most attack-minded moments, Cushing’s approach was still cautious—raising the attacking line slightly but never granting true positional freedom in pursuit of offense at the expense of defensive structure.
Given how risk-averse he was in his decision-making, I imagine he emphasized to the players that staying disciplined and avoiding defensive lapses was a top priority. This was a stark contrast to the Vieira era, where the mentality was, "We’re going to play our way, and that comes with risks—sometimes we’ll concede, and that’s okay." With Cushing, that level of boldness simply wasn’t part of the philosophy. Hopefully, Pascal's more dynamic approach energizes some of the more creative players like Keaton.
All true. And it's more than a little ironic, we ended up conceding so many late, damaging goals last season anyway.
Fortune favors the bold, I guess.
I wonder about our conditioning, too. There have been more than a few comments about how intense Pascal's training is compared to what the squad had grown used to. We may have faded late in matches simply because we hadn't trained hard enough.
New from Rory: Match 1 at Miami: "Stop Messi, No Pressure"
These are honestly the best thing about following NYCFC in the last two years....
(and NYCFC Survivor, of course)
A haters look at NYCFC fanatics merch:
Outstanding post and absolutely spot on. I love my classic hat, but other than that, most of the stuff is just ... bad. And I can't believe they couldn't get the new crest on the merch in time for the next season.
Cynically thinking, they could have easily gotten merch and the kits with the new crest. But it would have cost someone extra due to product thats already been made that they can’t sell. Therefore they “couldn’t get it out in time.”
i did like the onlyny stuff and though it was a little pricey i felt designs were good enough. Ironically i still have bought non nycfc stuff from ONLYNY even after collab was done.
i wonder if there is a limit on how much a team can actually collab since im sure fanatics has some sort of semi exclusive contract with the league which is probably why we get bland generic stuff.
similar to the kit designs every where, cookie cutter adidas stuff. because league wants contracts for whole league rather than letting each team decide who they want.
I think you're right. They're stuck with dead inventory.
I got a good deal on my hat. I think I paid something like $25 or so for it on sale (I forget exactly, somewhere around there). Good quality, so I'm happy with it.I just replied to this over at r/NYCFC. To repeat, I haven't bought anything in years because simply put, anything from Fanatics is overpriced shit.
The End.
But yeah, most of the stuff is just ... bad.
The End.
only thing i've ever gotten are jerseys during the end of season sale or a classic hat with the monogram. i'm hoping for a new monogram hat but i'm not paying $40 for a hat.
Never got any other merch unless it was on super clearance at the team store, which happened once that i can remember. agree that in general fanatics stuff is overpriced junk.
Oh yeah, I have a couple of hats myself that I'm happy with. The other stuff is ........woof.
Here's my favorite story. Early in 2015 they were selling a navy blue, zippered hoodie with New York City FC in orange across the front with a logo patch on the left sleeve. I loved it, but TBH I was too cheap to spend the $75 they were asking.
Fast forward to the Holiday Season they put it on sale for like $55, but I was still to cheap to shell out for it. The day after Christmas it went on sale for $27, so I jumped right on it.
When I opened the box I couldn't believe it. It was nothing more than a t-shirt with a hood. I know in the description it specifically mentioned it was for moderate temps, but I'm telling you I can wear this thing on the 4th of July and be comfortable. It really wasn't a big deal, because I paid so little for it, but the top of my head would have exploded if I paid the $75 they were asking.
Oh yeah, I have a couple of hats myself that I'm happy with. The other stuff is ........woof.
Here's my favorite story. Early in 2015 they were selling a navy blue, zippered hoodie with New York City FC in orange across the front with a logo patch on the left sleeve. I loved it, but TBH I was too cheap to spend the $75 they were asking.
Fast forward to the Holiday Season they put it on sale for like $55, but I was still to cheap to shell out for it. The day after Christmas it went on sale for $27, so I jumped right on it.
When I opened the box I couldn't believe it. It was nothing more than a t-shirt with a hood. I know in the description it specifically mentioned it was for moderate temps, but I'm telling you I can wear this thing on the 4th of July and be comfortable. It really wasn't a big deal, because I paid so little for it, but the top of my head would have exploded if I paid the $75 they were asking.
i'll do you one better. I got one of the adidas rain jackets with the badge on the left chest. wore it out on a rainy day (not heavy rain) once thinking i'd be good to go.
the jacket was soaked through in about 5 minutes of walking. I couldn't be more annoyed.
WINNAH!
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