The one where we are stopped short at short-stop.

1: There’s a reason NYC has only lost like, half dozen games at Yankee stadium. I hate playing here. The margin for error is so thin. Set pieces are even more of a threat then they normally are. Any chances that NYC had came from our mistakes which unfortunately are always going to be magnified in this venue. 

 

2: There were some nervy moments towards the end of the first half but overall we looked pretty comfortable in the first half. I think having the past two weeks to train on a pitch that matches the smaller dimensions was a big help. I didn’t see too many over hit passes. We didn’t look like we were jamming ourselves up. Passing looked clean, crisp careful and deliberate. 

 

3: NYC came out in the first minutes with energy carried over from the end of the first  that we did not match and then they got the flukiest of fluky goals. I’ll be honest that I thought it was going well over the bar too but as a player, you can’t make that same assumption. We were caught flat footed on that goal and the second. 

 

4: We’re always going to keep Josef on because his ability to hit a wonder strike but over the last few matches he hasn’t been able to get on the ball much at all. He’s been static, most of the time waiting for the ball to land at his feet. Looking forward to seeing a fully fit King in 2022. 

 

5: In hindsight, maybe we shouldn’t have been as careful and patient as we were in the first half. We were measured and controlled but maybe we should’ve taken a few more risks and a few more chances at getting that early goal rather than bank on the match going our way the longer we kept it to 0’s. I think the future looks…..positive and a little uncertain. The ship was definitely righted in the 2nd half of the season but I fear we are in for another super silly silly season. There will be a number of moves, some of them key core members of the squad. I hope Pineda has a lot of input and we get the signings done as quickly as possible. It’s going to be a short offseason.