All due respect to Gunner Jacket's consistent posting of the Matchday thread, but it's a Sunday game and I've got church before the game. Thank God it's on WatchESPN. New York Red Bulls v. Atlanta United Red Bull Arena - not in New York September 30 - 1 P.M. Eastern ESPN the Uno, WatchESPN.com My thoughts on the pregame: we need to win this one. If we do, the home game against New England clinches the Supporter's Shield. New York has clinched a playoff spot, and has all but secured a high seed. Any chance they rest the starters? At any rate, we won't have to face BWP. Win this game on the road against the #2 team in the league. A trophy is at stake here.
I don't think its a must win; if we tie then we still have a 4 pt lead for the supporters shield and a nine point lead for the Concacaf Champions league with three games remaining. But a win would almost clinch it for us. By the way, NYFC has really hit a rough stretch: One win, five losses, and four ties in their last eight.
I don't mind, but now the burden of the win or loss is all on you! MLSsoccer.com preview here. AJC.com 4 Questions here. Salzburg has allowed the fewest goals this season thanks in parge part to their style of press and an attack capable of holding the ball and forcing their opponents into constant retreat. How solid is their side? Logistically still capable themselves of setting the new MLS season points total. You could say that in terms of regular season performances Atlanta may literally have to beat the 2nd best MLS team ever in order to become the best MLS team ever. Fate has smiled on Atlanta with the BWP card (cue conspiracy theories) but Leipzig has plenty of weapons and play very well as a tight, cohesive unit, evidenced by their 3-1 win in Atlanta earlier this year. Defensively Robles and their back four are about as good a unit you could hope for on an MLS budget. For my money Kamar Lawrence is pretty underrated and they do an excellent job supporting the high press such that turnovers quickly turn into attacks and opposing teams rarely have the chance to truly set up. The twist today will be seeing how they lineup without BWP. They have quality options off the bench but no one that's a comparable point man, so the midfield of Kaku, Royer and Muyl will have to adjust their games to compensate. (Which they're fully capable of doing.) This will likely lead to fewer high crosses and more diagonal runs, probably off the left side in hopes of wearing down Parkhurst and forcing Atlanta to keep 4 at the back. For Atlanta the question is how much do they want to press? Stick to their normal form and they risk playing into NY's hands, especially if the shots aren't falling. Play almost exclusively for the counter and they risk losing defensive solidity because that's not their best style. The early read for me will be seeing how well Remedi and/or Nagbe is managing the center of the pitch. If that person is tied up with defensive duties and struggling to maintain possession it could be a long afternoon for the Stripes. Not sure if Bello gets the call again given the opponent and setting, but I won't panic (yet!) if he does. I also hope the rumor mills concerning Tata's future haven't affected the Atlanta players. All the articles suggest everyone is pumped for the occasion, and I'm sad the Atlanta audience will be split by the Falcons broadcast cause it would be great if the whole city could enjoy this spotlight. Provided, of course, the lads put on a good show. It's gonna be a cagey affair and I expect New Jersey to make it a physical affair. 1-1, with no one immediately leaving happy but later in the week we all appreciate keeping the gap intact.
Lucky it’s not 11-0 right now. God awful first half from Atlanta United. I swear we are the most amazing, most awful team in the league.
Almiron, Nagbe, and Martinez should be fined for that shit they put out today. Bottom feeder USL league two level performance from the whole team. Zero effort from a lifeless team.
Worse than the performance against D.C. Credit to Caffeine/Taurine FC, they came to play. We did not. Shame. Even a hard fought draw would've ended their shield chances, IMO, and sent a statement.
Seriously. We just didn’t show up at all. It was not even an entertaining hard fought loss. It was a straight embarrassment of disorganization and complacency mixed with no heart and a bunch of overpaid crybabies that got totally outclassed off the field by a team we needed to put out of the race who were missing their two best players. What’s worse... NYRB did this exact same shit against us last game. How the hell can Tata not shift fire and adjust accordingly? Next to the Trinidad game; I haven’t been this pissed off from a loss in a long time. It’d be a whole lot different if it was a hard fought loss, but it wasn’t. We were clearly played off the field. Damn, it’s one thing to lose a hard fought match or have an off night here or there in a long season, but to not even pretend to show up for the biggest game of the season? No excuse. This was an absolute shame of a performance. Disgusted.
Well, that sucked. I can handle losing, but not looking so unprepared and devoid of answers. Team Energy Drink (New Jersey edition) is undoubtedly a great team and thoroughly earned their win and their record to date, but Atlanta is supposed to be a great side, too. Alas, yesterday the Stripes looked outclassed. Atlanta still can't handle the high press, which is concerning as you look toward the playoffs. What's more they have games like this where they appear to barely be trying. If they want the Cup this must be remedied. After the early bad signs I said in the PBP thread Atlanta needed to drop to a back 4 and essentially bring Miggy and Nagbe deeper to support the transition game. They did this to start the second half and things looked brighter, but the Stripes really don't like being hurried on the ball in their own half. Pirez and Parky become shells of themselves when trapped in a pinball machine, so if the transition game isn't yielding enough control and moving the ball down field then Atlanta's Plan A doesn't work. So I'm not sure if it's a matter of personnel or shape but next time they need to select a squad that can properly build from the back in the face of pressure. Maybe even try a 4-4-2 and focus on counter attacking play. Also, they have GOT to learn to release the ball more quickly in games like these. Way too many turnovers forced not by NY but by Atlanta players making bad decisions. I've always felt the best way to beat an aggressive team like NY is to minimize your own mistakes and make them work even harder. Atlanta didn't do that yesterday, now they have about a month to figure it out or this season won't have a happy ending.