 |
| You seen Godoy? |
That wasn’t the prettiest game, by any means; in fact, the
first goal, scored by the San Jose Earthquakes, set the tone nicely, in that it
came as the New York City FC’s winner would – e.g. pressure forcing an error,
thereby creating a goal. Wow, is that a mess of words and punctuation.
For all that, New York deserved its 2-1 win, and, to swing back
to a pre-game tweet, I don’t see much to fear from the specific iteration of
San Jose that played today. Their defense held up admirably under, oh, 500
pounds’ of pressure from New York, even with San Jose’s midfield too separated,
but with San Jose’s attack struggling to get going, they got overwhelmed in the
end.
Now, some specifics on both teams.
New York City FC
- It’s been said countless times, but it bears repeating:
David Villa (two assists) was one hell of a signing, both for NYCFC and MLS. He
made something out of a mushy cross to set up NYCFC’s momentum-sucking equalizer.
- I have two notes on the “middle 3” of NYCFC’s 4-3-3.
First, Alex Ring and Maxi Moralez bring enough to let the 37-year-old Andrea
Pirlo play just about the only game he can, by way of aggression/eating ground
and an ever-available passing combination outlet, respectively. Ring, in
particular, gives two-way cover for the Italian legend, but, second, you really
have to ask whether it’s worth it. Tommy McNamara scored NYCFC’s winner thanks
to a run I’m not sure Pirlo would ever make. (And, I gotta say, Villa seems to LOVE playing with Wallace...see the celebration.)
- In spite of Alexander Callens (admittedly forced) error on
San Jose’s lone goal (I'll lard up the links once I can get to them sans spoilers), between him, Maxime Chanot, and Frederic Brillant, NYCFC
looks like it has a pretty damned solid CB rotation for 2017.
- Rodney Wallace gets deserved praise for his solid two-way
play, but it’s having Roland Matarrita behind him that makes NYCFC’s left as
strong as it is. San Jose couldn’t get a damn thing going down that side…which
makes for a great segue.
San Jose Earthquakes
- The left-side pairing noted immediately above made it all
but impossible for Nick Lima and Tommy Thompson, in particular, to get forward,
but San Jose never found a reliable way of getting forward today, and that both
starved their attack and lost them the game. Shaun Francis and Simon Dawkins
found more space on San Jose’s right, but Dawkins, in particular, did jack with
it. I imagine this had, like, a lot to do with how deep Shea Salinas dropped to
find the ball after coming on as a sub.
- Pairing Fatai Alashe and Darwin Ceren in central midfield
had a lot to do with that. Or, to flip that into the question that’s really on
my mind: will Anibal Godoy mean that much to San Jose this season? They’ve
looked better in earlier weeks, and that leaves Godoy’s absence, or NYCFC’s
strengths, as reasonable theories for why San Jose sputtered so badly today.
- Dawkins, though, I don’t think that guy is the player he
was a couple years back.
- Taken together, all that begs the question of what the
plan really is for San Jose in 2017. Will Jahmir Hyka gradually gain minutes
till he’s running the show? Will Danny Hoesen, who looked at least useful
whenever the ball found him, gain a bigger role in the attack, and how to get
the most out of Marcos Urena, who apart from scoring, has been a clear bright
spot for the ‘Quakes. San Jose has good pieces, but I wonder whether they’re
using them right.
- Finally, spare a thought for Victor Bernardez, who put in
a heroic afternoon before his red card.
- I don’t know much about Bernardez’ counterpart, Florian
Jungwirth, but he looks small-ish out there. He hasn’t looked great – not much like
a TAM-level investment – but he’s one to watch, and for both reasons.
All for this one. I’ll post on Columbus Crew SC v. Orlando
later…
No comments:
Post a Comment