Boy, its so sad to see how far Gyasi's game has fallen. Maybe it's not having Bruce coach him. Maybe it's not having Keane or Landon. But whatever it is, he needs to find it or go somewhere else
Sigi was right, our team did play with effort tonight, especially at the wings. Gyasi was missing, but for more than 30 minutes. We just didn't have a player that could finish. Johnson just snuffed us out tonight. But the boys deserved something out of that game (just not the forwards). After that game I could only remember Steres doing 2 bonehead plays, and I can usually think of way more than that in a normal game. That was probably the best game Jones has ever played for us, but it is still not enough to keep him. Playoffs are pretty much a pipe dream at this point, but I want to continue to watch what Sigi does with them, especially when Lleget comes back. Just think if our STUPID FO had made the coaching change in April or May, this kind of effort would have not been as hard to take for the players or the fans. Every week now is just a chance to get closer to what our team could normally look like in the future (minus a striker). As long they FIRE Klein and Vagenes at the end of this season, we will have something to look forward too next season. Here is to HOPE and trying to ...
I still can't figure out how anyone watches this team and thinks Zardes is the problem. There is no 10, JDS has no clue what he's doing yet, Allesandrini can't complete a pass in the middle third, Jones passes to the wrong team half the time, and Joao is picking flowers at midfield the entire game. He's absolutely worthless. I don't even think Zardes should be starting when everyone is available but at least he has some ability to maintain possession, even if he swings and misses a few times a game. The only player who even looks dangerous is Boateng, and he has his own limitations. Just start playing the kids to see if any of them are worth keeping next year
In the vernacular of the thread I linked, it is a team who is not officially mathematically out of the playoffs, but still realistically has no chance to make them.
Yeah I agree it's amazing sometimes the lack of understanding for what makes him work. Sure his first touch is often bad and he has whiffed more than a few chances at goal this year. But the guy has been a standout when surrounded by better talent for both this team and the Nats. That being said, I agree with Sigi that he was non-existent in the 1st half. He allowed way to much space between himself and the defenders. He needed to pressure guys into passing the ball more. I don't know if he was trying to conserve energy or what, but it wasn't helping the team because it wasn't forcing NYFC to create bad passes. The team needs a true goal threat first option. We need more out of Gyasi in the time being as he is sadly our best goal scoring forward option when Gio is unavailable. I just hope that his drought doesn't frustrate Sigi enough to have him seriously consider moving him this offseason as I believe that would be a massive overreaction. Especially as we have not once played the best midfield option that this team can actually field.
Obviously Gyasi is only one of the problems. I think his breakout 16 goal season got us thinking he was better than he is. But with that said, he has only 1 assist on the season, and that's just not acceptable. Secondly, they actually have played all the kids from Los Dos and it looks like none of them save BJ IV are any good. I don't think any of them will ever be a starter on a MLS side. And that's just sad.
Looks like we played a 4-3-3 that was an empty bucket on defense. Any advancement into the final 3rd came from the fullbacks pushing forward. In my version of this formation, the two box-to-box mids (Pedro and Jona) are key and advance the ball through the middle. That rarely happened, so our best chances were crosses into the box, usually leading to corners (and more crosses into the box). Needless to say, this didn't set us up to succeed since we don't have a 9 that's dominant in the air and we had trouble getting enough players into the box to take some pressure off him. Re: Zardes, which chance does everyone think he absolutely should've scored from? Not excusing his play, but I don't think he had much to work with. Zardes isn't a line-leading 9, is not particularly good in the air, and he was often isolated and rarely got the ball to his feet. When he played underneath McInerney in the 2nd half, I thought he was much better. OTOH, you'd think he'd at least have a goal by pure accident at this point. Romain Alessandrini will not pass a soccer ball to Gyasi Zardes ever. EVER. I'm not sure he even wants to cross to him, but it's hard to tell because Romain's crosses are usually terrible. In fact, I think at least two of his "crosses" were really just attempts on goal instead of honest attempt to find a teammate in the box. He's a dynamo, but has to get his head up more and make smarter decisions. His go-to move is still to receive the ball and take on 3 or 4 guys and whip in a cross to whoever, when he could take a touch or two to bring his FB into the game, or allow Jona and Pedro to move into the final 3rd as attacking options. I thought Jona played as well as possible in a weird system that didn't really suit his strengths. He had to split his duties between creator and defender and that probably kept him from being super-effective as a creator. He was isolated from his forward for most of the match and very little happened through the middle. Obviously Gio not being available changed a lot, but I'd play him as the 9 with Zardes and Romain on either side. With Gio out, I'd have started McInerney there.
I said the very same thing to my husband while watching the game. What is it about the Dos Santos bros and their zealous love for overdribbling.
I understand the frustration with Gyasi for sure, but I felt like this was the game to least be mad at him. Our attack consisted of fancy moves on the sideline, And Hail Mary crosses. I don't blame Gyasi for being invisible last night. I can blame him for being consistently terrible. I can blame him for playing without confidence. But I can't blame him for not having enough last night. That's no surprise though. Are two best attackers are wingers. Our attack will come from there. I just miss the days when LD, Keane, and Becks could unlock teams down the middle. i think Sigi will have to make a decision this off season-- maybe even this season-- what type of style will we play going forward? If it's the Hail Mary cross tactic, Gyasi is useless. If we can find a 10 or if this team can play tiki taco, then maybe Gyasi can contribute as a starter or as a sub.
I think at this point with Gyasi, it's just gotten to the point where every little thing he does is adding to the frustration. It likely has to do with expectations we have of him and his continued disappointment. He may not have been the worst player on the field, or it may not have been his worst game, but it's the accumulation of things that's been magnified by a crappy season and our perception of the general abilities of the FO to get the team out of this mess. My comments were made in jest as I thought the game was rather dull, which has been far too common this season. I know some of Bruce's led teams weren't always the most exciting either, but they won, so who cared!
I think his positioning could've been better on both goals, particularly on Villa's, but I haven't really rewatched the goals.
I thought the same, and that happened last week, too. I know little about goalkeeper positioning, but if he was closer to his line, he would have had a better chance to save.
I think we need to start asking what our team will look like next year. The question then becomes is Gyasi worth $577,000 per year to this team? We have Ema for a fraction of that cost. We need a pure forward, Kei Kamara has been mentioned - the money will have to come from somewhere. I am also wondering if Klein and Vagenas have screwed us for the next 2-3 years by having 3 DP midfielders. We need a DP forward that can score. Villa needs one chance and he buries it... Jack Mac has 3 and he can't find the net.
How many times did Jona get dispossessed? Man, Sean Johnson had a game. Looked like a good crowd last night. Take charge Sigi!
Random thoughts: The first 25 min or so NY bossed us around, but after that we outplayed them. But this was a game where we were truly unlucky. Unlike most games this season we generated plenty of shots - 21 shots with 5 on goal, including two or three from point blank range. NYCFC generated half as many shots and only 3 were on goal. Unfortunately 2 of the 3 go in, including a lucky shot from a guy who has never scored in MLS before. On a normal night -even after adjusting for skill levels (they have one of the best forwards in MLS, we have two of the worst) - we win this game 2-1 or tie 1-1. But that happens. For two or three months last season we were getting lucky in our conversion rate (remember all those games where we got off 4 shots total and would win 2-1?). That couldn't last forever - eventually our luck would run out. It has and our confidence has gone with it. But Sigi is 100% correct that this team needs a real striker. That was obvious to me when the roster came out last February and I am astounded that it wasn't obvious to K & P. Zardes biggest problem now is confidence. More precisely - he has none. He is just tentative and wants to get every play over with because he already "knows" he is going to screw it up. This causes him to rush his shots, both physically and mentally. What he should be doing is increasing his work rate to try to create his own luck and get back on track. There was no excuse for his low effort the first half. I know he wasn't get the ball a lot - but he also wasn't pressuring much or calling for the ball much. In fact I think confidence has been sapped from the whole team. Even Alessandrini is forcing plays more than he did earlier in the season- trying to bull his way through and forcing a shot for himself rather than bulling his way through (he's good at that) and then finding the open pass. Speaking of loss of confidence - Rowe is more hesitant than he was last season. Steres and Jones at the top of our box is a disaster. Jones can play maybe 50-60 min and then he is exhausted and we start seeing the desperate slide tackles that whiff. Steres is, well Steres. JVD really screwed us. If he is available we get some points the last two games. JDS tried hard to put pressure on NYCFC from the start but unfortunately either Zardes or Alessandrini would leave their guy open so it was mostly for naught. I thought he played well until he started forcing some dribble penetration attempts later in the game. Both he and Alessandrini really want to win (Jonathan's spirit hasn't been broken yet) and out of desperation they both make the mistake of forcing the play. But otherwise I thought JDS was good at making the right pass, switching fields, keeping possession. Earlier in the season we played many games that felt somewhat like this one. Then JJ was hurt, the team's energy went up and we went on a winning streak. Just sayin...
I'm fully preparing for this FO to sell Boateng and use too much _AM to get a CB and not have enough to get a competent striker.
For me, our 2017 roster is square pegs and round holes. There is no question that our offseason moves have hurt us terribly. The FO is too blame and losing the team is all on Onalfo and stupid preseason concept of going young, this was bound to happen. Again this on the FO. I see JDS as a Dejong/Juni version but better. He could do alone what we have JP and JJ doing and simplify our game. That solidifies our defensive spine and will be able to maintain possession and move the ball around. That adds another attacker which we need to have a balanced attack. I like Van AnHolt, but he clearly hasn't figured out how to play with Alessandrini yet and wing play from the right has been one dimensional. For me, we have Lleget play ahead of JDS with our wingers. For depth we have Garcia and Baggio with JP backing up Lleget. Obviously we can lose JJ. We need wing depth as well. Whether we like it or not, we are stuck with GDS, so finding a number 9 to play up front is paramount. Unlike everyone here, I thought our wing play was good, but no one was in the box. Call it no confidence, poor poacher skills and lack of desire or feel around the box, Zardes is a bust for me and we need one more attacker in the box and a confident #9 to play that role. That balances our attack and allows GDS freedom to roam. We have our three DP's, so complimentary players is key for next season. I have written this season off as well as JJ, GZ, Jack Mac, Jack McBean and most of the GII graduates. JVD is gone this off season and we need an upgrade between the pipes. We played with heart last night and gave a great effort, just square pegs round holes for me.
I heavily disagree. He's 3 yards off the line when that ball is shot. That's where he's supposed to be, you're not supposed to be directly on the line right there. It was just a perfect shot. It skims off the underside of the bar for Pete's sake, it's not a trivial save at all and certainly not at all WTF worthy. Maybe Tim Howard gets there but that's just due to his superior athleticism because Timmy would have been even further off his line. I actually would argue that Rowe should have been a step to his right as he's showing too much of the near post but forward and backward is fine. By comparison, here's Tim Howard in the 2014 World Cup against Belgium: He's on top of the 6 yard box, but the ball is about 7-8 yards further out and Timmy is more athletic so he can afford to be a bit further forward. This isn't just a one time positioning thing. Timmy plays consistently at the top of the 6 when the ball is at the top of the 18. The ball doesn't get shot here for another half second or so but Timmy remains at the top of his 6.
Here's a different angle. He looks way too far out here. I'll give it to the NYCFC player. Great shot. But, I still think Rowe got caught there. Not sure if he got screened? His reaction is so slow. He barely moves. I don't think he had a good game. We've been tagged with two really nice goals the last two weeks, and not to take from them, but I think Rowe is partially to blame for them. We need an upgrade at GK.