There’s nothing wrong with a loss once in a while. Teams lose, it happens. Some lose more than others. What matters is how you lose, and my god NYCFC were awful.

David Villa

I love the striker. He’s talented, he’s got goals in him, and he’s a legend for Spain. When I first heard he’d be coming over to the MLS I imagined he’d be wreaking havoc week in and week out.

Although he’s had a few bright spots this season, thus far I’m underwhelmed. For most games he’s had subpar service (especially compared to Atletico Madrid, Valencia, etc). Yet last night he had more than a few clear cut chances that he wasted.

On one occasion he was carrying the ball up the field, with Khiry Shelton making a diagonal run across him, trying to lure some defenders away. He ended up essentially 1v1 with a Union defender. He pushed the ball out to the right hoping to get shot off, got outmuscled, and lost the ball. That’s just poor.

For any other striker in the MLS, I’d be slightly disappointed by this performance. But this is David Villa. He’s supposed to be our X-factor. Villa is supposed to be able to pull something out of nothing. He’s supposed to get that goal when no one expects it.

Right now he’s a fine striker, but nothing else. He’s been alright, we need him to be great. Especially since the rest of this team are playing like schoolchildren.

Two Weeks

NYCFC had two weeks off. I just can’t understand what happened. After our first loss of the season, one would think that Kreis and Co. would focus on fixing some of NYC’s problems.

There’s two possibilities. 1: The coaching staff didn’t do anything for the past two weeks. 2: The coaching staff have tried to improve these problems and the players just aren’t listening.

Realistically it’s a mix of the two, but I do blame the players more. While Kreis made some suspect decisions (keeping Grabavoy on for ANOTHER 90 minutes, not starting Watson-Siriboe, putting on Watson-Siriboe for Josh Williams, which basically did nothing) it’s the players who are showing a blatant lack of determination.

After last week’s loss the players needed a reaction. This was a lethargic response. Poor passing, poor attacking, poor all over the field.

On To The Next One

The rematch against Philly could not come sooner. Of all the ridiculousness uttered by Ian Joy on YES last night, there was on thing he got right. Kreis is now under real pressure to succeed, and the team need a shake up. Maybe that means taking off the untouchable Grabavoy, or simply starting the young starlet Khiry Shelton.

NYC have been given chance after chance to beat lesser teams in the MLS and thus far have failed miserably. This Thursday in the Bronx we don’t even want a win that badly, we just want them to look like they give a shit.

….on to the next one.