Sunday, 5/28 5:00 PM ESPN Expecting rain-free conditions @ kick-off! - - - - Just 3 weeks after United's worst game of the season up in that bastion of soccer culture that is Yankee Stadium, the US tentacle of Manchester City travels down to Bobby Dodd looking to remain in contention for the Eastern Conference's top spot. David Villa and company come in at the end of a 4-game road trip, having lost at RSL but collecting 4 points from a tie at FCD and last week's impressive 3-0 win in Orlando. The in-season tweak's that former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira has made to the Etihad Army's midfield have helped spur their recent form, with Villa and Maxi Moralez looking quite sharp. David Pirlo is out for this game, for any fanboys hoping to see him in action. United will be playing a second home game in a row for the first time ever, so it will be intriguing to see if the added rest helps, though they also suffered the rain with Ma Nature scuttling some outdoor training time. Nothing new in the offering from AU's injury files as Martinez and Peterson remain on hold. Expecting Tito to start up top compared to Jones a la the visit to NYC, with likely the lineup matching what we saw last weekend. Defensively look for more man-marking on Villa (likely from Carmona) and an emphasis from AU to keep the ball out wide. I want revenge badly but the important thing is to play without fear and show that Au can play with anyone. Hopeful for a 3-1 win but suspecting a 2-2 draw is more likely.
Looking for a much better performance this time around. Be interesting to see what kind of tactical changes are made considering this is our first repeat opponent in the regular season and they spanked us in round one. Will Tata being booth bound have any impact on in-game adjustments?
I'm taking my 7 year-old daughter for the first time. I was going to wait until they open The Benz before taking either of my kids, but she really wants to go. Hopefully we'll get some cloud cover. Last time I took my kids to BD (for Ga Tech football), it was crazy hot and they both wanted to leave after the first quarter.
I can't access my ESPN account from overseas, so I'll be missing this one. Hope I wake up to a winning scoreline!
1. Clinical finishing from Almiron and Villaba. 2. Gressel gets better and better. Maybe his best game so far. 3. No more short corners. Please. 4. ATL didn't play well out of the back in the second half, because NYC pressed even higher. Will other teams make this same adjustment? 5. Where do we put Josef? 6. What was David Villa's beef with Almiron when he was subbed out? I couldn't tell but he was definitely unhappy with something.
Might have to live with that while at Bobby Dodd. Simply not enough room to really crank out an accurate long ball in those corners. But as a whole, yeah, I agree. Have already seen attempts at that. TFC, Portland and DCU (tho not as well) did this. Good news is not every other team is equipped to pursue this strategy as successfully. A good question and topic for our meal after the match yesterday. Don't be surprised if Villalba gets a match or two on the bench as they break Martinez back into the fold but keep Gressel in the lineup. Plus we have US Open Cup matches soon. At the least, it will be nice to have quality depth. If I had to guess he was offering his disagreement with some of Almiron's time wasting policies while acting "injured." Almiron likely replied with a polite observation of how NYC's tackles included a lot displays featuring those shiny new cleats, which seemed to take Miguel down once every 10 minutes. Either that or he was asking about where to get some chicken and waffles.
Solid display for about 70 minutes yesterday, which was a strong testament to how well they prepared throughout the week. Having Tito up front changed the shape of the attack compared to 3 weeks ago and that difference was huge. Better still, Villa was given such little space and he was practically invisible for the first 60 minutes. Moralez and Harrison proved able threats but that was about it, and that meant Atlanta was able to push forward with abandon. Movement of the ball was critical. Kept the NYC midfield running hard and limited their possession. Took about 10 minutes to get their groove but eventually AU righted their ship and it was game on from there. Gresselmania was a beast, and Kann did really well the few times he was called upon. Thought Garza also played an excellent game. BTW, I loved the "#FreeTata" sign!
There are always pirated streams out there. Proxy servers are also a good choice. I was looking at Almiron when the signal came from the ref to allow the sub. He knew it was going to be him, so he jogged away from the 4th official before the light-board was up. By the time the numbers were displayed, he was pretending to carry on a conversation with the nearest NYCFCEIEIO player and facing away from the 4th official. He got a couple more seconds out of it when the ref blew the whistle and motioned him off the pitch by playing the, "Oh, it's for me? Are you serious? Well, I certainly appreciate the information, Mr. Ref" game. He then slowly sauntered off the pitch, and Villa took offense. The baseball stadium inhabitants should really have had the first goal. Our defense looked atrocious for the first 10 minutes. LGP gave them an outright gift of a corner very early. Mears gave them another gift inside the penalty area shortly thereafter on the whiffed clearance. Luckily, they failed to convert. After that, things shored up considerably. Mears continued to have a rough game, and it was his giveaway that led to the goal against as I recall. LGP played a lot smarter and more efficiently for the rest of the game. I really thought Asad should have come out at some point. He was playing lazy most of the game, and he whiffed on the defensive header that allowed NY's goal. He wasn't bad when he had the ball, but he wasn't playing hard, either. Most of the things I noticed about the game have already been pointed out, but I do want to take special notice of Jones. We were having real trouble settling the ball and running out the clock, but when he was subbed in for the final minutes that all changed. He won headers, he possessed the ball against multiple defenders, he played smart up top. He turned a potential nail-biter into a cruise to victory. Well done.
From the looks of the convo, he had already asked and was very displeased with the suggestion Almiron gave him.
Tied on aggregate and away goals. We need another game with these guys but wont happen the unless its the post season. NYCFC looked as bad as we did in the Bronx. Especially Callens. He was either falling down, fouling, or getting torched. 3 goals in quick succession can really change a game and with a comfortable lead I think we saw our version of parking the bus. Especially in the 2H. At least I hope it was that as we didn't see much of the ball. Props to NY for bossing the possession. One last thought is that I was as frustrated with our time wasting as I was with DCU when they were kicking us a couple weeks back. Not sure if this was from respecting NY's potential to come back, the team being tired, or what but I'm not a fan of the flops, stalls, kicking the ball away, and Kann taking 3 minutes to take a goal kick
Unfortunately, this was my first missed home match. So, I didn't get the full experience. I'm curious about one moment of the game which, if it occurred the way that it sounded on television, will have impressed me about as much as the five sellouts have. There was one play by ATLUTD after which the team appeared to be boo'ed by the crowd. I forget when exactly it was but, we were attacking the north goal by the supporters' section. We had a corner and played it short. The player who received the corner and immediately passed the ball to the top of the 18 which is not unusual for us. Instead of having a play that resulted in an attempt on goal however, we got a secondary pass straight to an NYC player which resulting in a quick counter. Right after the NYCFC player received the pass, boos rang out. Or it seemed that way on the television. I'm curious. Did anyone else notice this? Did we, in fact, boo the wasting of a set piece? I say that it will have impressed me because it's a further bit of evidence that the support is "real" and educated in the game. It would also be further evidence that there is understanding for a still growing expansion side but little tolerance for poor play.
Yeah, that was a very poorly executed corner kick right in front of us. Miguel and Asad took the corner, as per usual, and then passed back to Mears, who could've crossed it in but immediately reacted to an approaching-but-still-distant NYC player and sent a soft pass back toward Parkhurst(?) that was easily intercepted. I think the booing was half for the casual aplomb of the United players in their execution and half for simply turning the ball over. More out of exasperation than actually chiding the team. Plus, this also came in that stage of the second half where you could feel NYC regaining some momentum. We were desperate for one more to put the game on ice, so cheap giveaways like that are killer. Most everyone hates these short corners, and no one likes to see a corner kick sent immediately back toward the middle of the field, losing all the momentum and ground gained in the first place. I get it that the narrow field makes longer kicks more difficult but it also means the defense is more likely to be right on top of you for those plays.