My lord. 5-3. Another 8-goal thriller. Where to begin?

Yes Pirlo, Yes Party

Amazing.

We all knew that Pirlo was a world class footballer, but he’s also proven to be a real gentlemen when most footballers act like children. In the weeks leading up to this game, there was so much talk about him, and he was always quick to sidestep it all. He was asked about age, about heat, about travel, about physicality, and his answer was always the same: People can say what they like, you’ll see on the field. And we did.

While warming up, Pirlo was as relaxed as possible. As he was about to come on the field, he was casually stretching as if it were practice. And when he came on the field, there was no smile to the crowd, no rushed first touch or tackle, just relaxed composure. It was truly ridiculous to have watched this team play for the past season and see just how much better Pirlo really is.

Every pass looked like it had been rehearsed to perfection prior to the match. His touch was gorgeous, gently cushioning the ball into his path. And his measured passes over the top made all of our players look better. That’s really what he brought last night, he made everyone look good. Even when players weren’t in great positions, he made them get into those.

When we’re watching a match on TV or in the crowd, we have the luxury of seeing the entire field, thus we’re constantly disappointed when a player doesn’t pick the right pass. It’s kind of unfair of us, seeing as they’ve got top athletes running full-speed at them and they’ve gotta make a split second decision with a much, much worse view of the pitch, but we do it anyway. What’s truly remarkable, what’s really fucking amazing, is that Pirlo makes every pass that we can see, and even ones we can’t. Case in point was a pass to Mix last night. Mix was lost in a sea of three defenders, and there were several other options that looked better to pass to. But Pirlo saw it even though we didn’t, and he chipped a ball over the top for Diskerud, who did well to try and control and almost won a pk.  But you get the feeling that afterwards Mix was a little surprised the ball even got to him in that position.

Unlike Villa, Pirlo doesn’t have a temper and doesn’t feel the need to dribble the entire team. Unlike Lampard, he plays and hasn’t had the biggest PR shitshow since Urban Outfitters decided to be nazis/Kent state shooting advocates. Simply put, Pirlo is already the best player on our team. And probably the best passer of the ball in the MLS. Holy fuck.

Villa

For all the shit we give him, he managed two goals last night. Granted he made me scream like a wildebeest on several other occasions for just general stupidity, but he made up for it. Particularly the goal where he received a ball over the top from Angelino, took a great touch, and brilliantly smashed it into the near corner, giving no chance to the keeper.

But still, he’s not completely impressing me. How ’bout that great run by Mix where he played it to Villa in the box and he hit it over the bar? Or the countless occasions where he’d hold the ball too long for no reason? Or how he doesn’t seem to understand hold up play, and on the rare occasions when he wins a ball in the air he decides to run at the back line by himself and lose the ball rather than wait for the rest of our team to help out? Goddamit.

But that’s a whole ‘nuther problem. How the flying fuck are we still kicking the ball upfield and hoping for the best? Seriously, at this point in the season it’s painfully obvious that Villa CANNOT WIN AERIAL DUELS. Every single damn time he just fucking HOPES that the defender will make a mistake. Seriously, watch Villa every time a ball is sent to him high in the air. He just waits BEHIND the damn defender and prays to some higher power that the guy will fuck up. But it’s not even his fault. Aerial duels are not his game, they never have been. He’s just forced into this because we’ve still got fuckheads like Chris Wingert who’s dumbass American coaches told him to kick the ball as hard as he can every time he sees it. Motherfuckers.

The good news is, Pirlo is here. And he didn’t ply his trade a St. John’s. With him on in the second half, there was almost no kick & pray mentality. And that will help us more than we know.

A Team In Transition

There are so many new faces on this squad. Mena played a decent game, but will look to improve. It’s crazy, actually, our back line after the poor excuse for a footballer named Wingert came off last night had no players from our first match.

Point being, building a team takes time. And while we’re all getting our panties in a bunch for Pirlo & Co., don’t expect anything real until next year. Shit takes time and patience in a virtue. We might make a last ditch run for a playoff spot, but that depends on a lot of things. Will Kreis bench Poku for Ned “I’m so useless that soccer blogs have stopped coming up with fictional nicknames for me” Grabavoy? How will he accommodate all his new toys?  Is McNamara actually good or does he manage to keep scoring while doing little else? Will Kreis ever play Mix as a winger? So many questions, time will tell.

On To The Next One

We play Montreal at home on Saturday. We’ve already beaten them twice, and that’s without Pirlo and possibly Lampard. While they recently signed Drogba, we doubt he’ll play by Sunday. And even if he did, Montreal may have gotten a win this weekend, but they’re a really poor squad. We should be able to beat them easily.

Well, maybe not easily. It is NYCFC, after all.

On to the next one.