I... I really don't know what it'll take for this team to win in the playoffs. The system was working, high press was working, we were on 20 game unbeaten streak, we had the golden boot winner on our side and... nothing. AGAIN. Montreal's counterattack based method of play killed us. Despite outshooting and out possessing them we couldn't capitalize on our many opportunities and they did on what few they were given. They had an iron clad defensive effort, we couldn't find an answer for it. Speaking of answers, there are no answers for how to fix this. other than shoring up the backline some more I can't think of one thing to improve the team over the offseason. We just plain needed to execute and we didn't. so we're stuck in limbo yet again despite having a pretty good overall team. The mind boggles. Oh ********ing well, lets move on to the CCL and Vancouver, we're in that tournament twice in a row so may as well take advantage.
This definitely isn't a situation where an overhaul is needed. Hell I don't think we even need to tweak the roster all that much over the offseason. I'm with you that the loss just came down to individual execution. What do you possibly do when you're two MVP candidates are missing sitters in the playoffs? Bad luck to have those two play some of their worst games at the worst time.
What probably bothers me the most is there seems to be no institutional level learning curve for the playoffs. But it does further underline the fact that the regular season means almost nothing when it comes to wining MLS Cup. The only answer in this match-up would have been better CB's. I'm not a defense first person, but it is time to look long and hard at the series of retreads employed during the past few years. The only quality young defender this team has had in the past few years bounced after about 2 seasons. Closing down the likes of Mancosu and Piati takes CB's who are rangy and tough to beat off the dribble. But you also need, desperately, to have defenders who are durable. The revolving door of injuries hurt the defense the worst. On to next season, but if they start off with the trio of Collin, Perrinelle and Zubar, I will not predict next year's team to be any more successful than this one.
Sascha and BWP came up very small in two big playoff games. Need more talent, can't only rely on these guys anymore. At least NYCFC lost 0-7 on aggregate. They love giving up 7!⚽️
Zubar's gotta go, he had a decent season but is way too expensive considering the amount of time he spends injured. I'd keep Perrinelle around assuming he's OK being 2nd string. I really hope Baah stays healthy next season, seems like he'd make a good CB partner for Collin.
Sorry guys. I was certain we'd get this one. So many missed chances. I don't put it on Marsch. The players need to convert those. Stadium was bumping. Chances were there in both games. Our guys didn't show up.
Attendance was good but not great. About 15000 by my estimation. Most I've seen for a long time. But that wasn't the issue. If Sasha converts that PK in 1T then it's an entirely different game. That plus his nose job... man he was just not his usual self last night. BWP also... what's with him in post-season?? As for the CB's I didn't think they were the problem. In fact it appeared to me that Collin had a pretty big game. No?
I do not disagree with you on Zubar being "way too expensive". However, do you realize that Collin is making $525k/yr? He has had a decent year for NYRB -- after riding the bench at OCSC, but was it a season worthy of $525k? Fortunately, we only had to pay half of his salary -- based on the trade agreement with Orlando, but we are on the hook for the entire amount next season. Hopefully this was the last year of his contract and it can be negotiated to something more reasonable. How many other teams have tied up over a million doallars in CB's? Our "Big 4" CB's are making a combined $1,263,000 (Bah $278k, Collin $525k, Perrinelle $140k and Zubar $320k), and this does not take into account Ouimette at $63k and Long at $51.5k
It's interesting to me that the steadiest defender was also the cheapest. I believe that the OC picked up part of Collin's salary or at least the Bull's were able to use some allocation funds to pay it down. In any case he's far too expensive for his value to the franchise. If you're going to pay out that kind of money, I'd rather they just pay out a million plus for a DP-level talent.
For the original NYC area team, which had a great season, playing attractive football in arguably the best stadium in MLS, challenging for the supporters shield right up until the end… I'd say not. If I was Red Bull, I'd be depressed. Shoot, I'm not them and it makes me a little depressed. Seems like the curse of Newark or something.
And the official attendance was announced as 24,000 (95% of capacity)... yeah right! Even if they had called it "total ticket sales" that would still be a suspect number. It's certainly not just RBA that does this (Arsenal are another), so it makes me wonder if we'll ever again see a day where fact rises above PR fiction.
I think we need to give credit to where it is due... Piatti is a hell of a player, one of the best midfielders in league and he has been money this whole playoffs for Montreal. Montreal did exactly what they needed to do defensively and got a bonus from a PK save.
I've been to a lot of games. Looked more like 20k once everyone was seated. Which seems about right for the big games.
Piatti did exactly what they needed him to do. He made the most out of his limited chances. Very well done. However, Montreal as a whole wasn't that great. We simply $hit the bed in the key moments of the game. Honestly, we could have easily had 3+ goals last night and even one in the away leg. The players absolutely crapped themselves. Even our best players.
It took a long time for the crowd to get in due to the extra security screening. Besides, at any given time there's probably a couple thousand people out of their seats using the johns, getting food, avoiding the kids, etc. I've been to lots of games where there was 20K + in attendance, based on the crowds in the concourse and long lines everywhere, I think the attendance figures were accurate. All the extra beer drinkers led to shortages of some brands by halftime like my preferred Brooklyn Lager.
To my eye there was absolutely no way there were 24,100 people in that stadium, which is what they said. Even 20K is a big stretch in my opinion. Somewhere 15-20K, maybe? The lower tiers were maybe 70% filled and in the upper tiers there were large swaths of empty seats, like nearly the whole top of of the away end. I've been to at least one full-up game at RBA (Arsenal) and there were virtually no spare seats that day, just like you see in many EPL matches. Yesterday was very very far from that.
Good question about Collin that nobody is really talking about, I just kinda assumed OCSC would continue to eat half of that salary. After sitting on the bench for almost 1.5 years with no teams kicking down the door for his services, I'd bet we could renegotiate him down to a more reasonable salary. But even as things are now, I'd much rather have Collin at $525k than Zubar at $320k. If a guy can't be relied on to finish more than 2-3 games in a row without going down, he's not worth much more than 5 digits to me. If Baah, who I really like as a player, still can't shake the injury bug next year then he falls in the same boat. There's a bunch of teams across the league who are approaching the million dollar CB salary mark, but at a quick glance I'm not sure any are paying $300k+ for a backup.
Yeah, I'v been a season ticket holder with NYRB for the past 8 years, going to about 15-20 games a season and I've seen crowds of all kinds at the Arena, big and small. But, let me rephrase, I'd say the attendance figures were fairly accurate. There were at least 20K in attendance. If you're saying 15-20K with the implication that it was closer to 15K. That simply was not the case. On nice summer nights with a big time opponent on the field sure, most fans will be in their seats. Last night was a little on the chilly side and there were plenty of casual fans there who weren't going to stay seated for the whole game. By about 15 mins into the game, by which time most folks had entered, bought some goodies and found their seats, the lower level and most of the middle and ends of the upper deck were full. Now folks aren't going to seated there especially when the game isn't producing the kind of excitement that keeps fans engaged. That said, the general level of attendance was in line with a playoff game that perhaps many folks assumed would be a comfortable win. I'm pretty sure you can't put this one on the club as virtually every sports franchise calculates attendance figures the same way. If people had bought tickets but didn't turn out, that's not really the fault of the Red Bulls. It was chilly, but not raining or snowing. Now if the club needs to put a better product on the field in order to get a higher percentage of people coming to games, then that is something to work on in the offseason. And frankly it is a much more interesting topic.
It was at least 20k. Shoulder to shoulder concourse traffic jam during halftime. That only happens when they eclipse 20k.