Five Takes On The Five Stripes

The one we are at the end of our wits with Alex Chilowicz

1: That was a handball. The game changed from there. 

 

2: I’m honestly surprised Philly didn’t score on us earlier in the first half via taking advantage of us not being switched on. We looked reactive to everything. The very definition of not being switched on. Philly figured us out. Play quick against the slower team. 

 

3: We transitioned into our old form of having no transition, either direction. The 2nd goal is shambolic and inexcusable. I don’t think Chilowicz called the players over for a discussion. If that was the case then he should absolutely stop the play and call for the ball to come back. It looked like our guys simply chirping and if that’s the case, I’m so tired of it and we do it too much.  If you’re gonna do that, someone better be standing in front of the ball preventing the kick. It’s embarrassing and unprofessional to give up a goal in that manner.

 

4: Credit to the boys for having a proper go of it in the 2nd half. Edwin showed up big again from the bench. I stand by last episode’s take on him. It’s a shame the same team didn’t play in the first half but is nice to know we have game changers on the bench. 

 

5: We’re at our best when we keep the ball on the carpet and move it quickly. The 2nd half showed the fans that and it should show the players that. We have go to remember that, especially when things aren’t going our way via giving up a soft or flukey goal or a call not going our way. We aren’t going to get back into the match by getting away from who we are and what we do. 

 

The one where we stand on guard for three

1: Those whipped in balls from Saba are really difficult to bring under control but if you can do it, you’re probably going to score. 

 

2: Didn’t much care for the manner in which we conceded but I did like our response. The goal looked like we were looking for a call from the ref. Hamdi just had so much time and space, I’ve got no other explanation. But we went right back to work. Couldn’t find an immediate goal but we didn’t hang our heads. 

 

3: Left, right and center. We utilized the entirety of the pitch, which is something we did not do in DC. The right was still preferred but we did a good job of keeping Montreal guessing which lead to them being disorganized often. 

 

4: Pretty good introduction for Jamal getting a player sent off 😆. Every new player is contributing in seriously meaningful ways and every old player has raised their level to match. The FO has hit an Acuña level home run with this window. 

 

5: Edwin Mosquera has faced serious adversity. He barely saw the pitch last season in a difficult moment, gets loaned out to a team that doesn’t want him and comes back in yet another difficult moment. He deserves all the credit for putting the word, blocking out the noise proving all the doubters, myself included, wrong. 

The one where it’s tough to stay afloat if you don’t have a goat

1: A really poor start to the first half. Pepto Bismol FC came out hot and were relentless with their pressure and physicality. Credit to them, it worked. They did exactly what I think WE wanted to do. They played on the front foot and counter pressured their way to success. We got rocked. 

 

2: There’s flipping a switch and then there’s ripping the switch off the damn wall. I don’t believe we’ve ever scored 3 goals in the span of 9 minutes. It turns out that good things happen when you put the ball in the box and or get direct. I really don’t think it’s any more complicated than that. We just played with more aggression (that almost spilt over) started executing our game, particularly in the area of counter pressures and the 5 second rule. 

 

3: Saba is a total game changer. Grant it we had already managed to flip the script by the time he came on but he brings a style and an an energy that teams don’t seem to have an answer for. I know he’s meant to start but he might be the most effective super sub we’ve ever had. With Mosquera having been much improved I think it’s a legit option to roll on as is. 

 

4: The goals we scored all felt different in terms of their build up and finishes To be able to hit teams in so many different ways is reminiscent of 2017-2019. 

 

5: That was a statement. That was historic. Whatever happens with Miami going forward, however much more success they or don’t have in the Messi and friends era, Atlanta will always be the team that dealt them their first L. Might even have the added bonus of being the team that keeps them below the line depending on how the remaining games for them go.

The one where we lost hold but did not fold

1: I cannot believe Miles got beat like that. Seeing the ball out is the right decision And yes we see that called a foul at times but for me, it wasn’t.  I can’t be mad at the decision to try and see the ball out. It’s the right one for me. He just got beat. It did look like maybe the ball was out of play, but there was probably a small piece of it that was still on the line.

 

2: We had a decent initial response to the goal, but then the same thing happened that always happens when we give up the first goal. We get rattled and unraveled. However, surprisingly enough, we managed to do something we just haven’t done much of at all the past three years and that’s dig out a response when things are clearly not working for us at any level. That’s pretty huge in my book. Happy for Air Georgios but boy was he lucky not he sent off in for a second yellow for that elbow. 

 

3:Sosa looked liked a kid at a new school trying to play it cool but is in actuality totally lost. I don’t think he had a single meaningful touch, of the positive variety anyhow. The midfield was such a massive drop off until Tristan and Silva came on. I would have liked to have seen him subbed off much earlier. 

 

4: It’s amazing what players like Thiago can do. It’s even more incredible when they have the right pieces around them. Tonight’s two halves showed that very cealrly. Yeah he was still able to serve up a great hall to GG for the dunk, but Thiago was exponentially more impactful in the 2nd half and that’s not down to him working harder. 

 

5: OK we’re OK. Match kind of played out the way we thought it would with the given personnel on the pitch at different times. Clearly the window has been positive. We have identified needs and got the right pieces in. We have a clearly defined starting 11 and clearly defined depth pieces. When is the last time we’ve been able to say that? I feel really good about where the team is right now, we just need to stay healthy. Having Ozzie back will be helpful and who knows if this final player is going to come from Senegal or not but as it stands right now, things are pretty good.

The one where we don’t like Lucho mucho

1: Forget dripping in finesse Silva is drenched in it. Yeah he gets a little fortunate with the deflection on the pass to Mosquera but that controlled touch to set up the chance? The boy has real technically ability. If I have any criticism of him it’s that the boy wants to play with ball all the time and sometimes, you just need to boot it long or clear your lines rather than constantly trying to start an attacking sequence. 

 

2: So you’re telling there’s a chance but you’re also telling me that chance will be dealt with defensively? I can live with that. In the first half we did an excellent job of controlling the tempo and taking care of the ball. It’s why Cincy just didn’t have much. Hard to have much when you don’t have the ball. 

 

3: I’m really happy Mosquera scored but that does not take away the fact that he is not at the level needed. I’m sorry but when nobody is within 10 yards of you any direction, you gotta be able to take a ball down out of the sky. He scored a goal with an XG of 💯, and he scoffed 3-4 really good opportunities that I feel like Saba would’ve done more with. Unfortunately Saba never really got the opportunities that Mosquera did but i imagine we will in the future simply by starting over Edwin. 

 

4: The officiating was poor. But that’s not why we lost. We lost because we lost control of the ball from about min 60 onward. Cincy took advantage of that and just hit us with counter after counter until we conceded on a Goalazo +1. The goals didn’t feel like the soft goals we’ve seen so often, they came because we just stopped taking care of the ball. 

 

5: And because we lost control and didn’t take care of the ball, the attacking opportunities, via really good midfield combination play didn’t come and Saba never really got a chance to do much. It’s like we just sort of stopped doing what we had been doing so well. A couple of good subs from Cincy and maybe some tired legs from us and we just couldn’t handle it. We’re definitely playing better but we missed out on an opportunity to really make a statement tonight. But, Cincy is the best team in the league for a reason. 

The one where we score 4 in 404

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1: Do we have a midfield? I think we have a midfield. Amazing what 1-2 players can do for a team. Miami is probably the case study for this but still, we look all the way different. I said last week that I felt that maybe it was more Seattle being poor than it was us being good. This game helped to push back against that feeling, greatly. 

 

2: We’re seeing the game quicker. We’re combining really well in the attacking half with tight triangles, quick one-two passing, and an emphasis on quickly progressing the ball towards goal. It was really refreshing to see us be incredibly direct both with our attacking build up play and our counter attack opportunities. 

 

3: We overwhelmed Nashville with all of our new attacking options and the chances we created. After the first goal and especially after the 2nd we just never game them much time to catch their breath. It was just wave after wave of attack and counter attack. It was ruthless, it was relentless and it was something we have not seen in a long time. 

 

4: We have a Silva Surfer. Him & Muyumba just seem to glide up and down the pitch with and without the ball. It’s pretty amazing how much better everyone else looks when we have players truly suited for their positions that aren’t having to essentially pull double duty in terms of responsibility in key areas of the game. They’re force multipliers. 

 

5: I try to be at least a little critical in the takes. Even with our good performances, I try to find some things to be critical of. Lord help me I’m struggling on this one. Yes there were a few individuals mistakes, but they were covered. Perhaps we can still be even more clinical with our chances but my goodness, when’s the last time we bagged multi goal wins, against quality opposition, home and away AND kept clean sheets, back to back. If we can roll on to 3 or even 4….we might really have something going here. 

The one where Seattle looked rattled

1: Getting 3 points on any occasion is always a good thing. Even more so on the road against quality opposition. That being said, I think we were a little fortunate in how poor and how unlucky Seattle was. If we are going to make a run in these last games of the season, we have got to be more clinical in the final third. This game could have and should have been put away much sooner. Home or away, we need to be more ruthless. 

 

2: Mosquera is an unrefined speed monster. You can see the energy and ability he has, but often times he’s a little too anxious in his actions. He’s an interesting player. Right now he has the ability to be impactful but I think there’s more there than just being a little dangerous. If he stays with the club, he’d be one to watch next season in terms of his development. 

 

3: Muyumba was vey good. Notably he won 7/10 of his duels. I think once he develops more chemistry with the team we will see more attacking sequences and outright chances come off off those duels won. It really is a sneaky important stat. 

 

4: Georgios was a monster tonight. His head is gonna need an ice bath. Both goals came off from very strong headers, he won the ball via 4 tackles and I lost count of the number of big defensive headers he had. I think it’s fair to say that we’ve never had a #9 like him. That’s no disrespect to Josef who will always be a king and a legend here. But Georgios puts in more on both sides of the ball. I love it but I also find myself always waiting for the next injury to come for him. He works himself into the ground and has payed the price for it in his brief time here. It’s why a quality backup 9 years I’ll continue to be an important role for this club. 

 

5: If we can follow this performance up with a strong win against Nashville at home where we dominate the game and take our chances better and earlier, than I think I’ll be able to look back on tonight as a measured, controlled and maybe a little pragmatic performance. But if we don’t, I am gonna feel that a poor Seattle performance and some good fortune played a bigger role in the win tonight. 

The one where we have an untidy discussion

An hour discussion on Messi and his impact on the league, for better, for worse or for nothing. 

The one where we have broken records instead of records broken

1: 3 in the back hasn’t quite worked. 4 in the back hasn’t quite worked. Have we thought combining and going with 7? Ronald struggled in the first 45. Azul overloaded him and he was often caught in a tough spot having to almost mark two at once. I’d like to see us be able to adjust go to 4 in the back on the fly if need be before a half time talk but we also don’t quite have the personnel with the quality or versatility to do that. 

 

2: We showed more energy and than we did against Miami. Great? The chances and the chances at having chances were there and we just couldn’t pull the trigger. Too often we are not applying continued pressure. We’ll create a half decent opportunity, lose the ball, do a half decent job of winning it back, and then instead of going again, we slow it up and or go backwards. You don’t knock a prize fighter down by giving them a chance to breathe. 

 

3: Muyumba seems have to some quality. He passed at 92% with 45 touches in the and 5 duels won in the first half alone. For a bigger guy, he’s got speed and he’s pretty neat tidy on the ball and we played through him quite a bit. He’s got creativity and to his credit, he tried to create. Dude even hit a high pressure PK. Mosquera was equally impactful given the minutes he had and not just because of the assist. Maybe he’ll be able to continue to contribute from the bench after all. 

 

4: I hate it when a Ref has to be a take, but when they’re this bad 🤷‍♂️ He inserted himself when he didn’t need to. He missed calls that had a direct impact on the outcome of the match. He seemed to be completely uninterested in VAR. 

 

5: I have no idea how this result and being knocked out will affect Pineda and Boca’s futures but we are trending down and have now been knocked out of two tournaments. Garth was very clear with us at the start of the season. Time was going to be needed, but I suspect that even he is not content with how it’s gone and how it’s going. A change wouldn’t surprise me. Having Berry take a PK is probably a fireable offense alone, tho TBF, I was going with Puratta as one of the first 5 and he missed his too. 

The one where we can’t stay stable in the table

1: Heavy legs sums up this game. The contrast in energy was pretty stark and that was the quietest I’ve ever heard the Benz. Orlando definitely looked like the team with a full week between matches. We just weren’t making enough runs in behind or closing down space in our own third quickly enough. Very static all around. 

 

2: Losing Chol so early really f’d things up. He looked really good until he went down. Considering he’s really a depth player as is, we don’t have more/better depth to replace him. Etienne remains not it, and Mosquera doesn’t appear to provide much outside of pace and a couple quick turns on the ball. 

 

3: When Orlando was pushing early and really pressing us in our own third the outlet ball wasn’t on to relieve any pressure. Best we could do was just boot it away and give possession straight right back. Then once they got their winning goal, they sat deep, stay organized and were impossible for us to break down. 

 

4: Almada was really the only one really trying to provide anything. Even up until the very last minute, winning a foul and putting an absolute rocket on goal. It was a calculated if not also desperate move from Thiago to launch a one man rescue mission, but he couldn’t quite pull it off. 

 

5: We lack quality depth and the FO has to nail this window for us to be really contending after leagues cup. MLS is wild, in the span of ten days you can go from chasing down 2nd in the table to 7th.