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| I'll cut you. Bitch. |
For all the unorthodoxies you’ll see down below, my primary take-away from FC Cincinnati’s 2-0 road win over the New England Revolution is fairly direct: I trust the roster construction.
Related, the heresy lingers around those roots.
To start at the beginning (feels natural), the only thing that surprised me about today’s result was how early and easily Cincinnati got up in New England’s shit. I expected a little deference, even though I didn’t see it as justified, i.e., see the Revs’ performance today, that’s not a good team at the mo, and may never be a good team so long as Brad Friedel holds the reins on their collective future, but that’s another topic for another post. All the same, anyone who looked at Cincinnati’s rebuild and saw a team that would spend its inaugural Major League Season punching out of the confines of a turtle’s shell would do themselves a favor by reassessing that theory. And, as pointed out by plenty of people (or just the ones I follow) on twitter, FC Cincinnati beat New England soundly with “starters” missing (this is a case where it’s OK to say, fuck the box score, seriously, ask a New England fan how much they value the edge in shots, corners, crosses and fouls).
It’s here that I admit that, until literally just now, I didn’t actually know who FC Cincy’s designated players are – but, for the record, Fanendo Adi and Allan Cruz. Both players missed todays’ game, and that’s where the $64,000 question kicks in: did you FC Cincinnati miss either player? Did you miss them (OK, yes, Cruz a bit; still studying)? What does the designated player really mean beyond the guy who gets paid more to play on the same team? For now, I’m treating that as both an open question and a gadfly for the Orange and Blue’s two DPs – i.e., if the team can win without you, how much does that “designation” really matter? But that, and the general concept of earning one’s place on a roster, rightly belongs as something to file away.
Related, the heresy lingers around those roots.
To start at the beginning (feels natural), the only thing that surprised me about today’s result was how early and easily Cincinnati got up in New England’s shit. I expected a little deference, even though I didn’t see it as justified, i.e., see the Revs’ performance today, that’s not a good team at the mo, and may never be a good team so long as Brad Friedel holds the reins on their collective future, but that’s another topic for another post. All the same, anyone who looked at Cincinnati’s rebuild and saw a team that would spend its inaugural Major League Season punching out of the confines of a turtle’s shell would do themselves a favor by reassessing that theory. And, as pointed out by plenty of people (or just the ones I follow) on twitter, FC Cincinnati beat New England soundly with “starters” missing (this is a case where it’s OK to say, fuck the box score, seriously, ask a New England fan how much they value the edge in shots, corners, crosses and fouls).
It’s here that I admit that, until literally just now, I didn’t actually know who FC Cincy’s designated players are – but, for the record, Fanendo Adi and Allan Cruz. Both players missed todays’ game, and that’s where the $64,000 question kicks in: did you FC Cincinnati miss either player? Did you miss them (OK, yes, Cruz a bit; still studying)? What does the designated player really mean beyond the guy who gets paid more to play on the same team? For now, I’m treating that as both an open question and a gadfly for the Orange and Blue’s two DPs – i.e., if the team can win without you, how much does that “designation” really matter? But that, and the general concept of earning one’s place on a roster, rightly belongs as something to file away.
Now, for the specific heresy – honestly, I didn’t want to bury this, because controversy sellz – I’m not as geeked up on Kenny Saief as everyone else seems to be. And I’m talking about a reasonably healthy cross-section of FC Cincy fans and neutrals (e.g., MLS stringer Sam Stejskal). I’ll give him every manner of credit for his grass-cutting feed that Kekuta Manneh stabbed home for Cincinnati’s game-winning goal and, yes, he scored the insurance goal to boot…but it’s what he did between there and there that left me underwhelmed. First, Manneh owns Cincy’s first goal, and all the way down to his genuflection to (presumably) Mecca: he was the player who wrestled the ball up New England’s gut, found Saief wide open on the Revs’ right, and then continued his run under the decidedly unconcerned watch of New England’s Wilfried Zahibo (aka, proof that not all French players are either elegant or good). After that, in between a creditable right-time-right-place moment for Cincy’s second goal, I didn’t see much that set Saief apart from a clumsier version of an MLS-standard box-to-box midfielder. He under-hit obvious passes in momentum-killing ways throughout the game, lingered too long on the ball several times and, despite a period of 20-25 minutes when it appeared New England utterly failed to account for his presence on the field, he basically threw away at least two totally free runs up New England’s gut.
That’s less me cutting Saief down, than arguing I’ve seen 20+ years of hot flashes from all kinds of players in MLS and, until he transcends a fairly low bar (honestly, I found ways to praise Eric Alexander’s upside not so long ago), I’ll call him a useful box-to-box guy and nothing more. (Also, convince me kid, I’m 1,000% for sale. I’m cheaper than a Scottish used car salesman, wish I was kidding.)
For me, the real thrill about today’s win goes back to the first paragraph – i.e., that idea of trusting Alan Koch’s roster construction – and I mean that explicitly in the sense of having options. To name two favorites from FC Cincy’s 2018 season, both Emmanuel Ledesma and Forrest Lasso got the start tonight and, for me, both players performed as well (at least) than the starters they replaced – directly in one case (Lasso) and indirectly (Ledesma) in another. Outside one high-profile lowlight (e.g. getting megged by Diego Fagundez, post 80th minute), Lasso played a solid, clean, if overly simple game today (and he laid down to block a shot on goal two minutes after getting megged; recovery, people, it matters). Ledesma serves up the trickier case-study for me, personally, because I am a massive fan of how Ledesma plays. As I saw it, he filled two roles FC Cincinnati wants as a team – 1) a guy who can connect defense and offense, while 2) posing a reasonable threat on free-kicks, set-pieces and from range. While I’m willing to let Lasso ride pine until Kendall Waston falls apart (and Lasso shouldn’t hold his breath), I would really love to see what Ledesma can do in MLS – precisely because I think it'll be worth it. Again, based on the twitter feeds I follow, not very people make this case, but I stand by it.
Now, to turn to context, no, New England is not a good team right now. For one, what the hell possessed Friedel to sit the evergreen Scott Caldwell for the dodgy Zahibo? Are either of the Caicedos on that team worth one combined damn, and has New England really managed to find every terrible defender from France? They really do seem to have the same problem this year as they did last: giving up absolutely lethal, back-breaking goals over and over and over again. The defensive piece aside, the thing that really casts a pall over the Revolution is how poorly and disjointedly they attack. It’s that precise thing that led me to predict the 2-0 win for Cincinnati; even as I figured it’d come on something more like a counter, I knew that Cincinnati would score. Moreover, I knew that if FC Cincy scored first, that they’d score a second goal before too long. Till further notice, New England has a glass jaw that will payout like a fucking slot machine designed to undercut management priorities.
For me, the real thrill about today’s win goes back to the first paragraph – i.e., that idea of trusting Alan Koch’s roster construction – and I mean that explicitly in the sense of having options. To name two favorites from FC Cincy’s 2018 season, both Emmanuel Ledesma and Forrest Lasso got the start tonight and, for me, both players performed as well (at least) than the starters they replaced – directly in one case (Lasso) and indirectly (Ledesma) in another. Outside one high-profile lowlight (e.g. getting megged by Diego Fagundez, post 80th minute), Lasso played a solid, clean, if overly simple game today (and he laid down to block a shot on goal two minutes after getting megged; recovery, people, it matters). Ledesma serves up the trickier case-study for me, personally, because I am a massive fan of how Ledesma plays. As I saw it, he filled two roles FC Cincinnati wants as a team – 1) a guy who can connect defense and offense, while 2) posing a reasonable threat on free-kicks, set-pieces and from range. While I’m willing to let Lasso ride pine until Kendall Waston falls apart (and Lasso shouldn’t hold his breath), I would really love to see what Ledesma can do in MLS – precisely because I think it'll be worth it. Again, based on the twitter feeds I follow, not very people make this case, but I stand by it.
Now, to turn to context, no, New England is not a good team right now. For one, what the hell possessed Friedel to sit the evergreen Scott Caldwell for the dodgy Zahibo? Are either of the Caicedos on that team worth one combined damn, and has New England really managed to find every terrible defender from France? They really do seem to have the same problem this year as they did last: giving up absolutely lethal, back-breaking goals over and over and over again. The defensive piece aside, the thing that really casts a pall over the Revolution is how poorly and disjointedly they attack. It’s that precise thing that led me to predict the 2-0 win for Cincinnati; even as I figured it’d come on something more like a counter, I knew that Cincinnati would score. Moreover, I knew that if FC Cincy scored first, that they’d score a second goal before too long. Till further notice, New England has a glass jaw that will payout like a fucking slot machine designed to undercut management priorities.
To dig in a little deeper on New England and the dire straits they’re sailing, I want to flag two plays that capture both their potential and how far they are from living up to it. Over a five minute(-ish? –esque?) stretch, the Revs’ Carles Gil found (first) Cristian Penilla, then Brandon Bye in absolute acres of space. Penilla wasted a brilliant feed by running across the penalty area in search of a clear shot from his right foot, while Bye passed away from the runs his teammates made based on some coach-fed textbook in his head. My point is, Gil found pockets in which to operate all night, and the Revs squandered every last one of them, and stupidly more often than not. All their attacking players had moments tonight – and with Teal Bunbury leading the way – and Egdar Castillo still shows signs of potential, but…but, Gil has to be wondering what the hell possessed him to sign with this team because, holy shit, can anyone on that roster finish Gil's impressively brilliant thoughts?
That’s your grain of salt for today’s win. In closing (because it’s time), FC Cincinnati really did outplay an MLS team today – they broke New England’s spirit entirely with that rally at the end of the first half - it’s just that beating that team means…well, at the moment, not a ton. That said, I’m genuinely excited about one massive (and provisional) idea right now: Cincinnati appears to have real, MLS-relevant depth, and right now. I couldn’t give less of a shit as to whether you agree with me that the divide between Lasso and Waston is mostly based on what the latter gets paid and his international pedigree, or that I’d start Ledesma over Saief several games beyond the reasonable point for giving up on a bad argument. (Better yet, I see no reason why both those players can’t start, and where it goes from there is where it gets interesting.) My point is, different players do different things, and that’s just one thing a coach has to think about.
Bottom line, with all the season and circumstances left ahead, I wouldn’t get too hung up on any given player as a starter for FC Cincinnati. I also wouldn’t expect this, factually, awesome fucking run to carry through what Cincinnati faced, on paper, to start its season (c'mon, in non-Bizarro-world, Seattle, Atlanta then Portland all should have ended with zero points to Cincinnati). At the same time, early signs show that I under-estimated the potential for what the FC Cincinnati brain-trust has constructed. Until events prove it wrong, I’m going to operate on the theory that FC Cincy is at least competitive in the Eastern Conference.
That’s your grain of salt for today’s win. In closing (because it’s time), FC Cincinnati really did outplay an MLS team today – they broke New England’s spirit entirely with that rally at the end of the first half - it’s just that beating that team means…well, at the moment, not a ton. That said, I’m genuinely excited about one massive (and provisional) idea right now: Cincinnati appears to have real, MLS-relevant depth, and right now. I couldn’t give less of a shit as to whether you agree with me that the divide between Lasso and Waston is mostly based on what the latter gets paid and his international pedigree, or that I’d start Ledesma over Saief several games beyond the reasonable point for giving up on a bad argument. (Better yet, I see no reason why both those players can’t start, and where it goes from there is where it gets interesting.) My point is, different players do different things, and that’s just one thing a coach has to think about.
Bottom line, with all the season and circumstances left ahead, I wouldn’t get too hung up on any given player as a starter for FC Cincinnati. I also wouldn’t expect this, factually, awesome fucking run to carry through what Cincinnati faced, on paper, to start its season (c'mon, in non-Bizarro-world, Seattle, Atlanta then Portland all should have ended with zero points to Cincinnati). At the same time, early signs show that I under-estimated the potential for what the FC Cincinnati brain-trust has constructed. Until events prove it wrong, I’m going to operate on the theory that FC Cincy is at least competitive in the Eastern Conference.
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