Toronto PostMatch Discussion

[Midas Mulligan]

I found the supporters were really loud in the early going. So much so that I was wondering if was due to my new seat location, even though I think I'm roughly the same distance away but on the other side. But it subsided after the first few minutes. Not that they were weak after that but I do think they gave it extra throat in the first 10 minutes or so.

I thought the supporters were pretty good. I can't compare to last year, as I sat directly opposite of them, and no sound ever made it over there, especially early in the season with the swirling wind.

I am going to have a tough time adjusting to the more sedate environs of The Eye. I also don't particularly care for the hyper-aggressive card checking.

 

[mgarbowski]

I thought the supporters were pretty good. I can't compare to last year, as I sat directly opposite of them, and no sound ever made it over there, especially early in the season with the swirling wind.

I am going to have a tough time adjusting to the more sedate environs of The Eye. I also don't particularly care for the hyper-aggressive card checking.

I think size of the Eye will limit buzz regardless of who sits there. It also seemed that a fair number of people were not STHs. I don't know why I think I know that but it seemed to be the case.

 

[ktdNYCFC]

Seeing a lot of Brillant hate, more on FB than here. Is that for the goal? He was a yard away from the guy completely covered, and the best player in the league put it between his legs. If you think that play makes someone a bad defender, watch TO all year and you will see a lot of bad defenders in this league. As Vieira said, sometimes you just respect the talent. I cannot stress enough his value just from the way he plays the ball at his feet. Add in he almost connected on two corner kicks, he's great in the air defensively, and has great positioning.

The fact that we held Gio to one goal alone is an improvement. Add that to the fact that we did it with 3 defenders and it's even more impressive. I think Mata was even better on D as well. He really shut Endoh down for much of the game. We did give away a lot of free kicks, but outside the box. We were lucky only one went in.

 

[roxfontaine]

We started so hot. Finished so not.

Overall, I'll take the point. This new philosophy and style of play is truly entertaining. I just have to remember to not set my expectations too high as there is still a lot of room for this team to grow. PV has done such a fantastic job of guiding these men that I feel like they not only can beat anyone but that they should beat everyone!

Matarrita looks like the best pickup of the offseason. Those super clean pokes were stunning to watch. The guy is a cobra.

How fired up was Villa? He's in his bag early and he's going to tear this league up this season!

I wish Ethan White had started. Brillant is not completely understanding something and it's costing us big time.

I'm exhausted and really going to be dragging ass at work today but I can't wait to do it all over again on Friday.

 

[RockShrimp]

The "globe" is the unisphere.

Yeah, I got a lousy half-picture of it on my phone, so I won't bother uploading it, but the left piece had a globe and the words: "WHOSE WORLD IS THIS?" The right side had a player (Villa?) and the words "THE WORLD IS OURS." A play on Nas's "The World Is Yours." It was a good looking design, a clever use of a NYC hip hop legend's work and an ambitious statement about the club's future.

Really well done, IMO.

 

[jerseyhotspur]

i know it's just 2 games . . . but i'm just glad we're scoring on a consistent basis.

win, lose or draw, if you're putting up 2-3 goals a game. it gives us something to watch.

defense on another hand, that's a different story.

 

[ktdNYCFC]

Mix's header game is fantastic right now. He needs to get with Lopez and teach him a thing or two - he was sooooo close to scoring that!

 

[mgarbowski]

https://twitter.com/x/status/709310763266015233

 

[horseytweets]

Lol who heard the chicken bucket chant near 205/206? That shit was hilarious.

Chicken Bucket is the official chant of Sec 206.

 

[Jock]

Late to the game, but I thought las night was decent. Not a whole lot of flair or dig (except Pirlo's tackling) but a definite improvement from last season. Khiry needs to stop falling over and in general everyone needs to have more of an understanding of what to do to build up to a goal. By which I mean, I saw too many instances of possible forward momentum turned in to tippy-tappy midfield play and even ending up back with the keeper!

Also, from where we are, you can see why the play gets turned over in the midfield so often. At times there were three guys in a line up each touchline, which leads to just 4 players covering the rest of the park.

I also heard the Poku chant (sounded like the area in the corner.... maybe 208/209 kind of area(?) had a good atmosphere and some good chanting coming from there) and put it down to people just not knowing he wasn't in the team. From where I was it sounded like a couple of dozen people chanted for a ew seconds then stopped.

Good times again and roll on Friday!

 

[Seth]

Did anyone catch the TIFO?

 

[LostAnvil]

Mix is quite entertaining to watch

 

[Sabo]

https://twitter.com/x/status/709310763266015233

I have gotten in the habit of yelling "Bonus" whenever Pirlo makes a successful tackle. Did it a lot yesterday.

 

[S1ARK5]

Ok after having a day to digest the game and to rewatch most of it here are my thoughts.

Overall this was a disappointing draw. I tried to spin it in my mind in a positive way but overall, if you are up 2-0 at any point in the game, you should win it. If you don't, you failed as team. End of story. Now did we see some positives? Yes. Are we improving? Yes. Should we have gotten 3 points yesterday after being up 2-0? You betcha!!!!

Considering Toronto did absolutely NOTHING except for the FK goal before the half and then letting Giovinco have too much space in front of the box, more on this below, Toronto did absolutely nothing. This is two weeks in a row Toronto got outplayed and they come away with points on the road. Not sure if that is a great look for them but you take the points anyway you can.

Anyway, here are my biggest fails from the game yesterday.

Josh Saunders - FAIL!!!! The awful positioning and the late reflexes on the Giovinco goal, not with standing. He just didn't look comfortable at all yesterday. His leg is awful, his distribution is awful. His positioning is bad. I am really not sure why keeps starting. He is great teammate, and the people like him a lot but I believe Lurch gives us a better option in the net and I would start him over Saunders vs Orl. The positioning on that Giovinco goal is inexcusable. Gio is going to his left and you as a GK can't continue to stride to your right and give him the whole left side. Saunders also has the worst diving capabilities. He just lunges his himself without much push and it not only looks awful but is very ineffective.

Khyri Shelton - Boy o Boy what an awful game from him. Besides the awful touches, the missed opportunity to score either himself or to pass it to Villa in the first half. He just seems like he has no clue what to do with the ball when he is going up the flanks. Last week he was good. This week he was awful. Considering we have Steven Mendoza now, I don't think he can afford many more outings like this. I am not advocating replacing him in the starting lineup just yet. He is still very young and he can improve but he needs to do better then yesterday.

Hernandez: I don't know, I thought he was OK yesterday. Not sure why all of you are pounding on him. He didn't do anything major that would cause you to complain much or praise him much. He is who he is. He is a serviceable MLS CB at this point. Can we do better? Sure, but he is OK for the time being. I suspect when Iraola comes back, we may see a line of Iraola - Brillant - Mata if PV sticks with the 3 in the back.

The next biggest FAIL, behind Saunders, has to be Mikey Lopez for that AWFUL miss form the Villa cross. I don't want to hear that he is young etc etc. Dude you play soccer non stop all day every day, this is your profession. You train every day, you need to put that ball in the net from that distance, no one close to you, the GK not attacking you. MAJOR FAIL and it costs us points.

Other then that, I thought most of the team showed well especially:

Mataritta - Easily the best game of his NYCFC career. He was all over the place in a good way. Breaking up plays on his side, making great reads, making great outlet passes. He is quicker then I thought he was originally which is good. He looks to really be a good young player. I feel very comfortable with him as one of our backline defenders.

Pirlo - The best game of his NYCFC career. Nothing more to say.

Mix - Very good as usual. The kid just has some great soccer instincts man. He may not show up in the box score but he has been playing great so far this year and he did very well last year considering the position he was put in. I love Mix. I think he is a very good player and an important part of our team. As important as any other to be honest.

Bravo - WOW! Talk about someone not taking shit from anyone. I LOVE HIS ATTITUDE. I LOVE HIS STYLE of wrecking people. I love that he is freeing up Pirlo. I love his defensive presence in front of the backline. Simply put I love what I saw form him yesterday. Any coincidence that Pirlo had his best game with Bravo at his side? I don't think so. He is a real presence in that middle.

Tommy Mac - A very solid outing by this kid again. He keeps impressing more and more, and this after I wasn't a fan of his last year. He has improved tremendously. He made a number of very smart passes out of pressure yesterday which impressed me. Overall very solid.

Brillant - Overall pretty good game form Brillant, with the exception of giving Giovinco that much space in front of the box. I would think you have to slide or try to get that ball from him before he reaches the box. If you foul him fine, it is a FK outside of the box, but you have to disrupt that moment he had going forward.

Overall I thought the backline played very well. The midfield played great. We are improving and we need to get 3 points vs Orlando.

 

[BxLio91]

The little digs at last year by Mix are always appreciated.

 

[NYCFutbol1]

Pirlo, Villa, Matarrita and Fans: Excellent

Mendoza, Bravo, Mix: Promising

Saunders, Hernandez and Yankee stadium management (handling of fans): Garbage

Cant wait for friday!!!

 

[Gotham Gator]

A few observations this morning - some of it just reiterating what others have said.

• It was fun to watch Mix yesterday. Great workrate. Great defense and passing. Mostly, it was great entertainment watching he and Bradley go after each other for 90 minutes - and I think our guy had slightly the better game. I think Bradley is probably the best American going right now, so that's a great effort from Mix. He had the pass that sprung McNamara for the foul too.
• Matarrita had an awesome game. Almost man of the match. His defense was terrific, and he is always a danger bringing the ball forward. A terrific pickup for us. I can't wait until we have Mena, Iraola and Allen back, so that we can play a formation that fully utilizes Matarrita's talents.
• Pirlo - what effort on defense this game. PV must have gotten in his ear about that, because he was a different man on Sunday. The effort was great - both in running to provide cover and in physicality once he got there. Terrific game from him.
• Brillant was much better this game and gives me a lot of hope - and that's despite being involved in both goals. On the second goal, I would like to have seen him be more physical when Gio was receiving the ball, but so much of that goal was just Gio's ridiculous talent. He's almost good for a free goal a game for them.
• Not sure what happened on the first goal - the free kick where Toronto scored (I was standing in an endless line for food - see below). On the replays you have to think there was a miscommunication on what to play. Also, even if you are playing the offside trap, the players on the ball side still need to run up and try to clear, and they didn't. Someone might have been held, but nobody tried to run from an onside position once the ball was played.
• Not sure why there is all the hate for Saunders after this one. I thought his distribution was much better this time. He did have one bad turnover, but it was handled. Otherwise, he distributed well out of the back when he could and otherwise punted rather than force something. Also, I can't really blame him for the Gio goal. He guarded near post and forced Gio to make the difficult angle, which he did.
• When you think about it, Villa tried a goal in the first half from a similar angle at the same end and just missed. Gio hit that angle in the second half. One of the little differences between 1 point and 3.
• Big time fail for Yankee Stadium - second home opener in a row. The lines to get in are simply unacceptable - as is the lack of communication. Incompetence and understaffing in concessions - the same. There was only one person manning the beer table by my section, rather than the usual two, and long lines resulted. For food, I and the two kids with me left our seats in the 39th minute and lined up in the 43rd, about 6-8 people back. We stood in line for 25 minutes before being served. We sat back down in about the 53rd/54th minute. The person running the line was clearly new and had zero idea what she was doing and got no support. It was taking 3-5 minutes to serve each person. Then, halfway through, they shut the register down for 5 minutes to change out the money. Why you do that during the halftime rush, I have no idea. When we get our own stadium, I hope CFG tells the Yankees to take Legends Hospitality and shove it up their Pinstriped Fucking Asses.

 

[hatt91]

I think we need to give Johansson a shot in goal. Saunders was really uninspiring yesterday.

One of the things about Mattarita that I like is that he is so disciplined. In Chicago he was an attacking threat, but yesterday he was asked to be much more of a defender and he stayed home.

The defense was much improved from Chicago. Holding Giovinco in check for most of the game, either by denying him the ball or forcing him offsides.

Bravo was good, but his aggressive fouling led to the yellow card. The foul for which she was carded wasn't really over-the-top, but you could see the ref pointing to three or four places on the pitch which essentially told Bravo to 'knock it off'. I hope he finds a balance.

I think when Vieira started making the subs, it was very clear what his intention was. Last year Kreis was making subs at random apparently, with no particular rhyme or reason.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Love Mix taking shots at being played out of position last year. He had another fantastic game last night.

I will continue to yell "Second Breakfast!" every time he touches the ball.

 

[Classicist]

Chicken Bucket is the official chant of Sec 206.

Last year they would chant it once in the latter parts of the second half. Last night there were at least three "Chicken Bucket" chants. Kind of funny to do it once a game, loses a bit of the humor when they do it all night.