Tag: Giovinco

The Day After (Toronto)

Holy crap. 4-4. For neutrals that game was up there for game of the season. For fans of either team that just took off 3-5 years in life expectancy.

Typical NYC

I feel stupid that after we had gone up two-nil I felt happy. Two-nil! So early on! It was great. We were going to win.

Turns out that wasn’t to be. In what was a crazy game with 4 penalties and 8 goals, what stood out was that NYC blew a perfectly good lead. We talk about passion, desire, dedication so often in the footie world. The fact is, the guys out on that pitch just haven’t achieved the mental toughness to shut games out. We should have scored those two goals, defended as a unit and won a vital three points. And yes, perhaps that would have been a lot less exciting, but Mourinho didn’t win the Premier League by giving the neutrals a nice game to watch, he won it because he knows how to win. Which is something we clearly lack.

Villa & Giovinco

Technically speaking, Villa and Giovinco are two of the best players in the league. If you look at their pedigree, their history, and for Giovinco their age, it’s clear that these players are a class above everyone else.

Yet, I still feel that Giovinco plays much better. There will be those who believe that me saying Villa has played poorly is outrageous, that’s why I don’t allow comments. Yes, he’s finally scoring goals. But look, he scored from a free kick and a penalty. And last week was another free kick. It’s great that he’s able to make something out of nothing, but why can’t he score more from open play (case in point last night’s sitter)?

And even if he is scoring, stats are over-hyped. Trust me, if stats were what they claim to be then Liverpool’s moneyball-esque era of Downing & Carroll would have ended far differently. What I’m saying is, I’m glad Villa is finally scoring goals. And he’s even hustling for the team. But he’s not even close to the $6 million we pay annually. Or even close to what he should be. He still inexplicably dribbles into defenders. He still takes way too long to shoot, and he loses the ball far too carelessly for a World Cup winner. With Lampard and Pirlo behind him I expect much greater things. Otherwise I’m gonna start sending nasty letters.

Spanish Full-Backs

Iraola was rusty last night. But to be fair the former Bilbao man has barely trained a week with the team before being thrust into the starting lineup. That’s how much NYCFC and Kreis rate the right back. It’ll take time for the 33-year-old to really settle, but despite some of his defensive shortcomings it was obvious he was already a step up from RJ Allen. Just look at his positioning. Iraola was doing something no other NYCFC player has ever done: consistently get wide into open space. It’s sort of remarkable that you’re taught to get wide and open space up by mediocre coaches by the time you’ve turned 10 and no NYCFC player has done it well. If you watch Iraola for a match, you’ll see how his hugging the right touchline creates so much space for his players, and his darting runs down the wing always look dangerous.

Plus, there’s Angelino. The blond haired 18-year-old made his debut as a half time sub for the impressively poor Kwame Watson-Siriboe. Wingert was moved to centre back (CAN WE SIGN TEFU PLEASE) so that Angelino could wreak havoc down the left flank. And wreak havoc he did.

Angelino looked dangerous every time he touched the ball. He made a duracell battery hopped up on coke look lazy. His pure skill, his absurd pace, and his abundant energy make him already one of the most dangerous left backs in the MLS, and he’s only getting started. In an interview with NYCFC afterwards he said that he felt he wasn’t at all nervous, but that he lacked match fitness and looks to be much better in the games to come.

If what we saw last night was lacking match fitness and there’s better skill to come then we’re in for quite a treat.

On To The Next One

Remember when Frank Lampard was supposed to play? Yeah, well he’s supposed to play next weekend. But maybe it’ll be a few more weeks if he decides to extend his loan with some team. BOOM, roasted.

But real talk we’re lucky to have a player of his caliber, despite his age and his ability to sit on the bench for the second half on Man City’s season. He should make his debut against New England, and we really could use him.

With all this Pirlo & Lampard fanfare, it’s hard to be patient and wait ’till they both are consistent starters. But injuries aside, that day should be coming soon. Until then, let’s get Tefu, let’s learn from Iraola, let’s learn how to hold a lead, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get somewhere this season.

On to the next one.

NYCFC vs Toronto FC: Preview

As I’m sure most of you are aware, Frank Lampard pulled his old-man-muscle and is out of contention for this Sunday’s match. Seeing as they were billing this game as his grand debut, it’s understandable that fans (myself included) were a little disappointed. But let’s change the subject, otherwise I’ll burst a blood vessel.

Good News

They have to play my boy Andoni Iraola. They said so. If they don’t I’ll sue. As a right back it makes much more sense to simply start him rather than sub him on, but who knows who really makes the decisions behind the scenes. Seeing as Ned Grabavoy continues to play my bet is a bunch of nut-less monkeys are throwing feces at a switchboard which controls our starting 11 every match. Just a thought.

AND we could see Angelino. The super talented 18-year-old Spanish wunderkid (he’s good, is what I’m alluding to) has been training this week along with Iraola and Lampard. They haven’t made any “debut” promises for him, but he might be worth bringing off the bench, especially given Kreis’ absurd propensity for making full back substitutions.

AND Khiry Shelton is back. He was on the bench for the entirety of last week’s Montreal game, and that understandable, as we fielded two strikers to begin with and wanted to hold onto our slim lead near the end. I’d love a Khiry start, but he’s actually far more effective coming off the bench. We hope to see him, it’s been too long.

AND Poku should start. While he hasn’t been in the form of his life, he’s still better than whatever else we have. With Lampard out, it would be a shame to bench Poku, as he’ll bring the creativity and skill we so often lack.

Form

Toronto are a team full of individually talented players. Giovinco is probably going to get the MVP, Bradley could find Waldo with a long ball, Cheryou is a class midfielder who used to play for Marseille, and people seem to like Jozy Altidore despite the fact that he’s kinda bad at soccer.

Yet, with all this, Toronto are as consistent as a presidential candidate’s opinions (yeah, we make political jokes too). After losing two starters in Bradley and Altidore to the Gold Cup, Toronto were mauled in LA, losing 4-0. It was not a pretty sight. Without Bradley marshaling the midfield, it seems hard to imagine Toronto playing well at all. They are dependent upon him, and this all bodes well for us.

NYCFC are alright. We lost a huge derby match at home to Red Bulls, then we proceeded to win an away match against Montreal. It’s funny to listen to interviews from everyone saying how we’ve been in great form and have won 4 of our last 5 games. They seem to forget that two of those win have come against a generally subpar Montreal team and that we got absolutely hammered by our biggest rivals in our home stadium.

But anyway, we’re doing okay. With these new reinforcements there’s certainly a buzz around the training camp and going into a match against a Bradley-less Toronto doesn’t seem like the hardest thing in the world.

Lineups

Toronto FC (4-4-2): Konopka (GK), Creavalle (RB), Zavaleta (CB), Hagglund (CB), Morrow (LB), Delgado (CM), Cheryou (CM), Warner (LM), Jackson (RM), Giovinco (ST), Moore (ST)

-Cheryou is still a doubt with a niggling injury, but should make the starting 11.

-Toronto has a decision to make whether to play Luke Moore or Robbie Findley up top partnering Giovinco.

NYCFC (4-5-1): Saunders (GK), Iraola (RB), Facey (CB), Watson-Siriboe (CB), Wingert (LB), Jacobson (CM), Poku (CM), Grabavoy (CM), McNamara (LM), Ballouchy (RM), Villa (ST)

-Jason Hernandez is fighting off an injury and could start over Siriboe.

-We’ve given Iraola the start, simply because he’s twice the man RJ Allen is. It’s very possible Iraola would come off the bench, but we’re crossing our fingers.

-Kreis may opt for 2 strikers, whether that’s Mullins again, or Nemec who came off the bench last week and scored in a friendly exhibition on Thursday. If he does so, Kreis would have to sacrifice a midfielder, most likely Ballouchy or Grabavoy. Frankly, NYCFC play far better with a five man midfield, so we’re hoping Villa is our only striker.

-As we said earlier, we’d love to see Shelton and Angelino at some point, we’re crossing our fingers. We’re crossing our fingers for a lot in this game. Most of which will probably end in disappointment. Yay!

Final Thoughts

Toronto have just been thrashed four-nil and come into this match without the heart of their team (Michael Bradley). With NYCFC in decent form and some quality reinforcements coming in, we should fair pretty well.

But for us who knows what that means.