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| Frankie Amaya, just a couple weeks ago... |
With the second yellow/sending off of Atlanta United FC’s Jake Mulraney, a game that started as a salvage operation for FC Cincinnati evolved into something else. And I’m not even going to attempt to describe what that is because a dog-pile of weirdness surrounds FC Cincy’s 1-0 win over Atlanta this morning. Where to begin…
If you’re a parent, especially of a very young kid, you’ve had that moment where you can’t talk your kid into something you know they’re gonna love – think, say, riding a bike. To carry the analogy one step further, think of Mulraney’s sending off as training wheels. To set the scene: there you are, your kid is propped up on a bike that’s basically arranged to not fall down. All your son or daughter needs to do is pedal.
The question that lingers about this game for me was the extent to which Cincinnati’s still-brand-new head coach, Jaap Stam, encouraged his charges to starting pushing the pedals. Prior to Mulraney’s secondyellow, Cincinnati clearly lined up and played with avoiding a loss as the highest priority…which made sense after the searing blow-out against Columbus Crew SC a few days back. It’s after the red card where the questions came in. I didn’t expect them to fly forward the second Victor Rivas (the ref) flashed the red – as made plain today, Cincinnati has only vague theories about how to get to goal at this point – but as, it grew increasingly obvious that Atlanta shares the same weakness, I expected a little more urgency out of the Orange and Blue.
The one player to consistently provide it was Joe Gyau, who figured out early, and then again later, that he could play around whoever Atlanta played at left back. In fact, the duel between Gyau and Atlanta’s Edgar Castillo (subbed on to replace the absent Mulraney) provided the only fireworks worth watching in what otherwise played out as one dull, aimless fucking game. Cincy bunkered from the start, but the whole thing devolved into wayward crosses over dueling sets of low-blocks and general flailing.
In an attempt to conjure up a frame for the game, Taylor Twellman and Jon Champion floated the question of how large/long this win will linger in Cincinnati fans’ shared history. Speaking solely for myself, I’ll strive mightily to forget it after this post goes up. I don’t intend that to take anything away from the man of the hour, Frankie Amaya, who scored an absolutely cracking first professional goal; that the team made it stay up (assist by Atlanta) will leave him with a memory he’ll carry around for life. I’m not even going to fart around with my usual theories of replicability (i.e., did Cincy find a reliable route to goal) on the grounds that, when a player hits the ball that beautifully, it is good and right to take off your hat and say, “well done, son!”
People who actually follow what I write about FC Cincinnati might recall that I’ve dismissed him on a number of occasions – as recently as July 11, in fact. Uber-fantastisch as it was, that goal doesn’t change my opinion: Amaya’s fine, especially for a young player, but I’m not seeing an ever-rising upside in his future. I don’t mind seeing him in the starting XI, though, if only because I under what he’s there to do. As for the rest of what Stam trotted out today…yeah, no.
To start with where I’m comfortable, I’d go with the defense as a whole, the ‘keeper, Gyau and Amaya (NOTE: I’d be fine seeing Stam start Cruz over Amaya, but I don’t honestly care). After that…where to begin? I was happy to see Caleb Stanko’s name on the starting sheet, but less happy seeing him running around in front of Haris Medunjanin, a place that doesn't suit Stanko specific...skill. Keep your own counsel on where Atlanta’s incompetence ended and Cincy’s improved organization began, but I expect that an Amaya/Medunjanin/Stanko midfield would get rolled by any midfield that’s caught up in trying to replace its phantom limb (aka, Josef Martinez). Worse (but was it?), the line-up cut Medunjanin out of his (projected) role in the team – e.g., connecting defense to offense and finding attacking players in good spots. On the rare occasions I saw him, Medunjanin had too much crap between him and Atlanta’s goal to do anything but play the ball backwards or slightly forward. To float a possible solution, and given his defensive liabilities, maybe Stam can push Medunjanin higher, play him as something closer to a No. 10 (which he very much is not, so call him an “advanced attacking hub” (AAH)). How do you build a midfield around that that doesn’t look like today’s? Beats the shit out of me, and I don’t envy Stam for inheriting the dilemma. Maybe Cincy’s better off pairing Medunjanin with two box-to-box midfielders, or maybe they field a “truer” 3-5-2 that holds Stanko (or ______) back as extra-cover for a back three, and with a pair of box-to-box guys (Cruz and Amaya? Sure?), plus Gyau as a winger? Maybe that’s crazy, but I’m just spit-ballin’ here, people. My greater hope is that Stam’s doing the same (given that his job depends on it, confidence is high, confidence is high).
To raise one real possibility, maybe Medunjanin becomes the odd man out when all’s said and done. That feels like a question waiting on an answer from Siem de Jong (or anyone else, really).
Moving up the field, the players that Stam trotted out for forwards – e.g., Yuya Kubo with Adrien Regattin – just sort of breezed by until, 1) it didn’t do shit out there, and 2) Brandon Vazquez came on. To start with the most visceral reaction, why the hell don’t you start Vazquez? The attack begged to the point of sobbing for a focal point throughout the game; moreover, it’s not like Stam won’t have to reimagine the midfield in much the same way when Jurgen Locadia mends. (Related: wasn’t a history with injuries a concern with him going in?) As it played out, Kubo had too much field to tread between himself and the goal just about every time the ball found him (and he wasn’t great shakes at navigating the space), while Regattin…c’mon, buddy, after I talk you up, this is how you repay my faith? Regattin did well to find Amaya for the assist on the goal (sorry, can’t help it: how many times does Amaya hit the ball that wonderfully going forward?), but he had a major whiff in the first half and his share of give-aways, one of them egregious enough that it’s a minor miracle Cincy wasn’t punished for it.
To finally turn to Atlanta, and to dump all over them, it goes without saying they were shit today. Ezequiel Barco’s contributions topped out a couple aimless dribbles that any average player could pull off, while Pity Martinez mostly delivered comedy: in MLS terms, Atlanta paid for fortune for those players (I saw $30 million) and no one at their particular price-point should need over a year to find his feet. The more I watch both players, the more they recall Lucas Melano, the Portland Timbers’ second most notorious flop. (It’s going to take something very, very special to top Brian Fernandez.) Sure, not having Josef Martinez as a focal point hurts, but I can build a list of midfielders who thrived in MLS without needing some perfect foil to make them work (e.g., Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Federico Higuain, Diego Valeri and Sebastian Blanco, and that’s just two teams). Going the other way, Atlanta started well enough (beating Cincinnati earlier this season, as it happens), so maybe the layoff fucked up whatever mojo they had.
It wasn’t all doom/nightmare for Atlanta, or even Pity Martinez, who fired a strong free-kick at Przemyslaw Tyton. They nearly had a penalty kick in the first half (I would have called it, but I generally favor attackers), and they managed a strong flurry in second half stoppage (which forced another save out of Tyton). If…oh, anything else around that rose to something like the same level, I’d be writing a very different review. Nothing did, though, so here we are.
For what it’s worth, I’d take more out of this game from Atlanta’s perspective (e.g., looking up from a mound of deep shit) than Cincinnati’s, a team that marches forward under the oft-paired banners of “Under Construction” and “Excuse Our Mess.” Still, they got the win, Gyau played a strong game and Amaya got a big dose of confidence (keep going, kid; prove me wrong), and, if they can overcome the steeper odds against the New York Red Bulls in their next game, Cincinnati could still find their way into the knockout rounds. The issue there, of course, being that the Red Bulls know what the hell they’re doing out there.
That said, you probably woke up expecting another day of doom and look what happened instead.
If you’re a parent, especially of a very young kid, you’ve had that moment where you can’t talk your kid into something you know they’re gonna love – think, say, riding a bike. To carry the analogy one step further, think of Mulraney’s sending off as training wheels. To set the scene: there you are, your kid is propped up on a bike that’s basically arranged to not fall down. All your son or daughter needs to do is pedal.
The question that lingers about this game for me was the extent to which Cincinnati’s still-brand-new head coach, Jaap Stam, encouraged his charges to starting pushing the pedals. Prior to Mulraney’s secondyellow, Cincinnati clearly lined up and played with avoiding a loss as the highest priority…which made sense after the searing blow-out against Columbus Crew SC a few days back. It’s after the red card where the questions came in. I didn’t expect them to fly forward the second Victor Rivas (the ref) flashed the red – as made plain today, Cincinnati has only vague theories about how to get to goal at this point – but as, it grew increasingly obvious that Atlanta shares the same weakness, I expected a little more urgency out of the Orange and Blue.
The one player to consistently provide it was Joe Gyau, who figured out early, and then again later, that he could play around whoever Atlanta played at left back. In fact, the duel between Gyau and Atlanta’s Edgar Castillo (subbed on to replace the absent Mulraney) provided the only fireworks worth watching in what otherwise played out as one dull, aimless fucking game. Cincy bunkered from the start, but the whole thing devolved into wayward crosses over dueling sets of low-blocks and general flailing.
In an attempt to conjure up a frame for the game, Taylor Twellman and Jon Champion floated the question of how large/long this win will linger in Cincinnati fans’ shared history. Speaking solely for myself, I’ll strive mightily to forget it after this post goes up. I don’t intend that to take anything away from the man of the hour, Frankie Amaya, who scored an absolutely cracking first professional goal; that the team made it stay up (assist by Atlanta) will leave him with a memory he’ll carry around for life. I’m not even going to fart around with my usual theories of replicability (i.e., did Cincy find a reliable route to goal) on the grounds that, when a player hits the ball that beautifully, it is good and right to take off your hat and say, “well done, son!”
People who actually follow what I write about FC Cincinnati might recall that I’ve dismissed him on a number of occasions – as recently as July 11, in fact. Uber-fantastisch as it was, that goal doesn’t change my opinion: Amaya’s fine, especially for a young player, but I’m not seeing an ever-rising upside in his future. I don’t mind seeing him in the starting XI, though, if only because I under what he’s there to do. As for the rest of what Stam trotted out today…yeah, no.
To start with where I’m comfortable, I’d go with the defense as a whole, the ‘keeper, Gyau and Amaya (NOTE: I’d be fine seeing Stam start Cruz over Amaya, but I don’t honestly care). After that…where to begin? I was happy to see Caleb Stanko’s name on the starting sheet, but less happy seeing him running around in front of Haris Medunjanin, a place that doesn't suit Stanko specific...skill. Keep your own counsel on where Atlanta’s incompetence ended and Cincy’s improved organization began, but I expect that an Amaya/Medunjanin/Stanko midfield would get rolled by any midfield that’s caught up in trying to replace its phantom limb (aka, Josef Martinez). Worse (but was it?), the line-up cut Medunjanin out of his (projected) role in the team – e.g., connecting defense to offense and finding attacking players in good spots. On the rare occasions I saw him, Medunjanin had too much crap between him and Atlanta’s goal to do anything but play the ball backwards or slightly forward. To float a possible solution, and given his defensive liabilities, maybe Stam can push Medunjanin higher, play him as something closer to a No. 10 (which he very much is not, so call him an “advanced attacking hub” (AAH)). How do you build a midfield around that that doesn’t look like today’s? Beats the shit out of me, and I don’t envy Stam for inheriting the dilemma. Maybe Cincy’s better off pairing Medunjanin with two box-to-box midfielders, or maybe they field a “truer” 3-5-2 that holds Stanko (or ______) back as extra-cover for a back three, and with a pair of box-to-box guys (Cruz and Amaya? Sure?), plus Gyau as a winger? Maybe that’s crazy, but I’m just spit-ballin’ here, people. My greater hope is that Stam’s doing the same (given that his job depends on it, confidence is high, confidence is high).
To raise one real possibility, maybe Medunjanin becomes the odd man out when all’s said and done. That feels like a question waiting on an answer from Siem de Jong (or anyone else, really).
Moving up the field, the players that Stam trotted out for forwards – e.g., Yuya Kubo with Adrien Regattin – just sort of breezed by until, 1) it didn’t do shit out there, and 2) Brandon Vazquez came on. To start with the most visceral reaction, why the hell don’t you start Vazquez? The attack begged to the point of sobbing for a focal point throughout the game; moreover, it’s not like Stam won’t have to reimagine the midfield in much the same way when Jurgen Locadia mends. (Related: wasn’t a history with injuries a concern with him going in?) As it played out, Kubo had too much field to tread between himself and the goal just about every time the ball found him (and he wasn’t great shakes at navigating the space), while Regattin…c’mon, buddy, after I talk you up, this is how you repay my faith? Regattin did well to find Amaya for the assist on the goal (sorry, can’t help it: how many times does Amaya hit the ball that wonderfully going forward?), but he had a major whiff in the first half and his share of give-aways, one of them egregious enough that it’s a minor miracle Cincy wasn’t punished for it.
To finally turn to Atlanta, and to dump all over them, it goes without saying they were shit today. Ezequiel Barco’s contributions topped out a couple aimless dribbles that any average player could pull off, while Pity Martinez mostly delivered comedy: in MLS terms, Atlanta paid for fortune for those players (I saw $30 million) and no one at their particular price-point should need over a year to find his feet. The more I watch both players, the more they recall Lucas Melano, the Portland Timbers’ second most notorious flop. (It’s going to take something very, very special to top Brian Fernandez.) Sure, not having Josef Martinez as a focal point hurts, but I can build a list of midfielders who thrived in MLS without needing some perfect foil to make them work (e.g., Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Federico Higuain, Diego Valeri and Sebastian Blanco, and that’s just two teams). Going the other way, Atlanta started well enough (beating Cincinnati earlier this season, as it happens), so maybe the layoff fucked up whatever mojo they had.
It wasn’t all doom/nightmare for Atlanta, or even Pity Martinez, who fired a strong free-kick at Przemyslaw Tyton. They nearly had a penalty kick in the first half (I would have called it, but I generally favor attackers), and they managed a strong flurry in second half stoppage (which forced another save out of Tyton). If…oh, anything else around that rose to something like the same level, I’d be writing a very different review. Nothing did, though, so here we are.
For what it’s worth, I’d take more out of this game from Atlanta’s perspective (e.g., looking up from a mound of deep shit) than Cincinnati’s, a team that marches forward under the oft-paired banners of “Under Construction” and “Excuse Our Mess.” Still, they got the win, Gyau played a strong game and Amaya got a big dose of confidence (keep going, kid; prove me wrong), and, if they can overcome the steeper odds against the New York Red Bulls in their next game, Cincinnati could still find their way into the knockout rounds. The issue there, of course, being that the Red Bulls know what the hell they’re doing out there.
That said, you probably woke up expecting another day of doom and look what happened instead.
Picking at one of your quick asides- Yeah, I guess Brian Fernandez was a bigger flop than Melano in terms of being no help to the Timbers when they needed him most. But, man, did he demonstrate a big up-side early in the 2019 season! If bigger flop is used as a synonym for keener disappointment, then yes. He gave us much greater reason to hope for more good things ahead than Melano ever did.
ReplyDeleteTo the subject of your article- good for Cincy! When setbacks are administered to Atlanta, I wear a very contented smile.