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| Just something I found googling the word "mediocre." Ties in with a line... |
I want to start this Major League Soccer Week 10 in Review
with a concept I slipped too softly into my write-up on San Jose’s sucker-punch, 3-0 win over my beloved Portland Timbers…of which, this week
wasn’t shy on sucker-punch wins, whether it’s the Philadelphia Union’s
at-long-last 3-0 win over the New York Red Bulls, or Minnesota United’s
surprising-only-because-2-goals home win over Sporting Kansas City. Why a man
in an expansive mood might even cast a curious eye over the Houston Dynamo’s
4-0 curb-stomp on Orlando City SC…because, as the man in the broadcast booth
said, but for Joe Bendik, that one would have ended 6-0 or 7-0…
…but back to the concept. The Timbers looked like headless
blind chickens out there, unable to think, never mind connect, and that got me
wondering about how much any given team actively plans its Plan B. How much
thought goes into how to play in the event that your team has to play, say,
without Carlos Rivas, as Orlando did this weekend? How much game planning does
a team plan for contingencies? How much can a team do? I don’t know the answer
to that, but I think whatever it is takes a team to either MLS Cup or the
Supporters’ Shield….speaking of the latter, anyone else getting the impression
that winning MLS Cup is a shit-poor indicator for success in the subsequent
season? All I’ll say is that I’m starting to collect data…and I’m lookin’ at
you, Seattle.
Big question, that, but it’s time to move to the long-lived
tradition of Conifers & Citrus Game of the Week (right?). This week I took
in the full 90 of New York City FC’s 3-1 win over Atlanta United FC…or tried
to. Damn wifi crapped out when the second half kicked off. So, I formed the
impressions below based on the entire first half, followed by watching the
condensed game on MLS Live. And, with confessions and caveats out of the way,
this is what I saw.
New York City FC 3-1 Atlanta United FC
Not ten seconds had passed between the moment when I thought
New York would win this one walking away and Atlanta scoring its one and only
goal. Call the set-up ugly all you like, but that finish was technically, technically perfect (no typo), and that kind of relentless forward pressure is
exactly how Atlanta wooed critics and neutrals earlier this season. That turned
out to be the highlight for Atlanta, who couldn’t fluster a steady New York
team that looks as talented and balanced as any that has played within the
fabled five boroughs (and, also, tell me I didn’t fuck up the number of
boroughs; not lookin’ it up, people!).
I know I’ve covered this (and every week), but I don’t like
Atlanta’s approach to the game – a frenetic high press that leaves them feeling
one-dimensional. That’s the thought that kept tapping my shoulder as I watched:
do the same thing over and over and the other team will figure out how to beat
it. I made a silent bet a couple weeks back that any MLS team capable of
stopping it would; I’m not saying that’s what happened here – need more data –
but I still feel like it’s going to get harder and harder for Atlanta to catch
the rest of the league with its pants off. Moreover, when I see Hector Villalba
create a yard of space with a touch, I wonder what he could do with that same
yard in a system that doesn’t always dictate never-ending/arguably empty-headed
forward movement on the ball.
On a deeper level, New York always looked like the kind of
team that could thwart Atlanta’s approach…which, whatever you call it,
basically relies on flustering the other team. And, when the team can’t be
flustered, or when a team manages to recover? Atlanta breaks. Plan B is
lacking…
Atlanta has really good parts, and all over the field. Sure,
it was crappy when Julian Gressel hacked into New York’s Maxime Chanot, but I
would have killed to see even half that commitment from Portland’s players
yesterday. Effort’s great and all, but NYCFC built a team that can play, and
one that can battle. So long as they’ve got Maxi Moralez, Yangel Herrera (?),
and Alexander Ring keeping the ball off the backline and launching the ball
forward in the blink of an eye, New York looks like a team as well-suited to
torturing a pressing team like Atlanta as any team in MLS. Add to that my
personal theory that NYCFC’s back four is better than generally credited, and
you’ve got a team that looks like a plausible contender.
If there was a telling difference in this game, though, it’s
New York’s ability to get forward just as quickly as Atlanta, and better – see their first goal (their second and third, not so much; though both raise
questions about Atlanta).
A couple quick talking before moving on…want to give The
Game of the Week its due…
New York City FC
It took seeing him play for another team, but, yes, I’m now
convinced that Rodney Wallace is a great and useful player. I have no excuse.
(Guys, this kid loves playing with David Villa - again, see first goal - and that says something.)
Atlanta United FC
As I tweeted Saturday, a press throws numbers forward, but
it leaves space open, just like any other collection of 11 players. I think the
key to beating Atlanta rests on making them chase – even if it’s just between
the back four and the goalkeeper – and having reliable outlets for the ‘keeper,
so he can pass the ball out safely.
Well, that’s it for The Game of the Week. Now, on to the
rest of MLS Week…9.75 (we’re getting closer, people). I touched on the shock
results above, and some of those matter, but narratives abound – starting with
what we learned from Houston and Columbus Crew SC...who I haven't mentioned yet, but they beat the New England Revolution 2-0. While Columbus looks the
better constructed team (again) and should have the better shot at a good
season (as in trophy-winning) year, Houston is some serious shit at home - even
if you buy that Orlando City SC sucks on the road (starting to over here). That
said, neither team strikes me as clear contenders. In fact, they’re the same as
most of MLS – e.g., the American equivalent of mid-table teams. That’s what MLS
is, when you think about: a league of mid-table teams, and that’s by design.
I just caught a headline on The Mothership’s website that
talks up “#PeakMLS,” but I think the “mid-table” concept above gives a better
frame for the wackiness of MLS’s results (that said, I like Wiebe's point on LA). To hit that from another angle, I’d
say only two results actually surprised me – Philly over New York and San Jose
beating Portland – but even the former follows the basic universal principle
that any given team will win a game at some point. And, yes, I see how many
games I called wrong going into the weekend, but that’s not relevant (and I’m
not just saying that so I won’t feel sad). The question is the extent to which
any given result is explicable. It all still comes down to the familiar balance
of Blips v. Patterns, but that still requires picking out the relevant/correct
pattern – e.g., DC has generally struggled with scoring this season, so how
surprising is it, really, that they couldn’t answer when Montreal put one past them? And, related, if I had to name a Game of the Week, at least in terms of
aesthetics (or, fun!), I’d choose DC United v. Montreal Impact. That one felt
like a hoot, but the result doesn’t feel like it means shit for the long term.
Teams are slowly starting to announce themselves, all in
all. Sure, there are blips all over – that’s what MLS does – but, as of Week
10, it feels like some patterns have established across the league – e.g., a
solid FC Dallas rolled over a mess of an RLS team; the Los Angeles needed
set-pieces to beat the Chicago Fire in LA (and Chicago should feel very, very
pissed about the let-off; still, when’s the last time Chicago picked up points
in LA?). knows what the hell it’s doing
often as not, and, again, guys, Toronto looks good this 2017.
And, to wrap things up, 20 brainfarts about MLS Week 10.
Shit. Week “10.” Or 20 Brian-Farts (because, branding):
1) I figure if I don’t talk about Goal of the Week (GOTW)
and Save of the Week (SOTW; jesus, like you don’t know). I went with the underrated Ola Kamara’s beauty finish v. New England for the GOTW, and David Ousted pawing away the ball in Colorado as SOTW.
2) And, to yank this thing away from the above (fucking edits!), Luis Robles: if he’s not the best ‘keeper in
MLS, who is?
3) Dom Dwyer had one game this past week, and one not so
good game. He’s having a good year (or he's on track for goodness), though, and that’s a big part of what
lifted SKC back to the top of the heap.
4) Going the other way, and on another team, Mikeil Williams
has been a liability for Colorado in at least two games this season. It’s not
just getting sent off twice so far this season, but his visible discomfort with
defending “on an island” as fullbacks have to do. The thing he did this past
week – where he stood at the center circle after a corner for a full five
seconds before doing anything, and then opted to drop the ball to the ‘keeper –
had Marcelo Balboa justifiably wigged out.
5) Sticking with the Rapids, can anyone else think of a player
whose value/stock has plummeted quite like Dillon Powers’? Hell, I was excited
about him a couple years back; now I wonder how Colorado can’t do better.
6) They haven’t been super consistent this 2017 – the two
losses to both New York teams feels weirdly significant – but, regardless, Columbus
is still blessed to wrestle with the happy, open-ended question of which
attacking player is their most important?
7) Also on Crew SC, they looked more precise than dominant
in their win over the New England Revolution. New England’s on a bad run, no
question – 0-2-3 in their last five, with 10 goals against and 5 for – but they
looked as good losing to Columbus as they have all season. Except when they won…
8) Toronto’s on a damned good run – best in the league, in
fact, and it’s not even close (also, four home games, but that’s after staying
afloat through a bunch of road games) – and their road win over Seattle kept that
going. Still, I can’t tell if last weekend’s game should have me more impressed
with Toronto’s depth or more worried (fuck it, giddy) about Seattle’s woes.
Toronto’s the better team right now, no question, but I expected Seattle to test
it a little more.
9) I touched on this last week, so, know I’m repeating
myself, but I want to shift the point a bit: Michael Bradley shifting to
something closer to a No. 6 probably adds a couple years to his career. Suits
the way he passes more, too.
10) Speaking of No. 6s, if there’s anyone in MLS as quietly
competent as DC’s Jared Jeffrey in that role, and one who’s more invisible, I
don’t know him. Soliciting opinions…
11) There was a time when I rated Oguchi Onyewu highly as
any USMNT-eligible defender. That makes it interesting to watch him now, even
as I know he’s age and/or injury away from his prime. What I can say is, he’s
got reasonable feet and he passes tolerably, but I feel like he’s better with
contact defending than he is keeping track of angles. Don’t think he’s the
problem…
12) I think it was Shep Messing who floated the idea that
Chris Pontius might be a spent force as an attacker. If so, that’s tragic for
him, but also a big problem for Philadelphia. They had a couple months last
year when their attack looked great. Pontius was a big part of that. He knocked a ball back to assist on one of C. J. Sapong's goals, but, overall, he’s
part of what’s holding them back.
13) I’ll start this with a below-the-belt acknowledgement: C.
J. Sapong is relevant enough to be polarizing. I’d argue he does the useful kind
of grunt shit that goes unnoticed, sort of like Marcos Urena and Kevin Doyle. He’s
been one of Philly’s brighter spots in their shitty season (7 goals, guys), so it’s awesome to
see him go supernova with his hat trick against the Red Bulls. Richly deserved.
14) I don’t think enough ink has been spilled about Houston’s
decision to build its attack around speed this season. The way their flying
Hondurans - Alberth Elis Romell Quioto and Mauro Manotas – have produced this
season should be one of the stories of 2017. It’s not just pace, though: Elis,
especially, has some real strength on top of those wings. He wrestles off
fullbacks.
15) Because I stopped reading…just about everything, I don’t
know why Carlos Rivas didn’t start against Houston; what I do know is that Cyle
Larin didn’t get a good shot till after the 70th against Houston. For all that,
nothing killed Orlando look shit-poor defensive cover when they pressed forward
for the comeback. Houston’s third goal happened when Quioto got left alone wide
and high twice within the same minute (this was the 2nd of two). I saw something about “road legs,” but
Orlando flat-out failed to adjust in-game. And that’s on Jason Kreis.
16) Wither Luis Gil? Serious question. That’s sort of a
counterpoint to the question up above about Dillon Powers.
17) To start with a postulation: Luke Mulholland is RSL’s
most consistent player, therefore he’s arguably their best. I like Mulholland
more than just about anyone outside of Utah, but what does that say about RSL’s
level, except nothing good? RSL needs bright spots as desperately as any team
outside Chester, Pennsylvania, so it was heartening to see Bofo Saucedo look
willing…to do the things Joao Plata has basically stopped doing. I mean, when’s
the last time Plata took on a player?
18) LA got their asses handed to them in the first half.
They turned the game around on a couple set-pieces, one of them even arranged
things to make it look like Giovani dos Santos made a contribution. I don’t
know what’s up with Jelle Van Damme, but Jermaine Jones will be out for a few, and that’s
another blow to the logic of LA’s (current) system.
19) To flip this to Chicago, it’s been fun watching Nemanja
Nikolic round into the player Chicago thought he’d be. When a solution pays off…because
it doesn’t always happen…
20) I have this term I love – “strictly USL” (inspired by “Positively 4th Street,” btw; and why do none of these sound right?) – and that’s my shorthand for a player who doesn’t fit in
MLS. First, I know that USL isn’t NASL, but…what’s the actual distance between?
At any rate, the flipside of that comment comes with the fact that Minnesota
owes its arrival at respectability (yes, they’re there) to the guys they
brought up from their NASL days. It shows up most in Christian Ramirez – who comes
off pleasantly as a perfectionist/taskmaster – but there’s also Miguel Ibarra
and Brent Kallman – e.g., the guy who took over for Vadim Demidov. I’d even
lump Sam Cronin and Marc Burch into that mix, the guys Minnesota picked up from
Colorado: neither guy regularly tops anything but a qualified Best XI, but they’re
guys who know how American soccer works and, as such, they’re assets.
Say what you will about MLS, it’s a league like any other in
the sense in that it doesn’t tolerate imposters for long.
All for this week. Still tightening. I got
goals, y’all!
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