Away - Timbers 05/15
- Thread starter NYCFC_Dan
- Start date
- Status
When you judge the relative importance of games, this one against Portland is the least important because it is against a Western Conference team. That said, resting people on Sunday gets you less than resting them on Wednesday. I wouldn't be surprised to see a player or two rested for each.
It's worth noting that during our last mid-week run, we sat Pirlo for the first game and Brillant for the second, but otherwise played like usual, and it is not even clear that those guys were missing to get rest.
It's worth noting that during our last mid-week run, we sat Pirlo for the first game and Brillant for the second, but otherwise played like usual, and it is not even clear that those guys were missing to get rest.
You're saying Kreis didn't take them seriously? oh right, that's a rhetorical question
It sickened me last year how our club's "professional" approach of not commenting on the game sure translated to a lack of fire and grit on the field. Make bold statements and trash talk so "you" have to back it up with the play and results. Make Dax public enemy #1 in the locker room and say so.
Pirlo will be fine. A Wednesday-Sunday is easily doable for a guy like him. I don't think players will rest too much, though I think giving RJ this week and next to heal for NJ will be beneficial. I could see Andoni fill in there, and if you need to rest a CB, we've got Ethan White who has spent some time there, at least. Thankfully, you can give a guy like Lopez a rest and plug Mix in next to Pirlo, Taylor for Shelton, Mullins for Villa (though, I think Villa will start and play every game). Mendoza's been coming off the bench, we can keep the same 18 and sub on some NJ starters late if need be.
Point is, the core that Vieira has been stressing have all gotten a bunch of playing time with eachother and shouldn't really matter at this point. Villa is still the lynchpin, but aside from him, I think there's quality no matter which guys that we've seen this year are playing. I like the idea of rest, but I think you can play on Wednesday and be fine for Sunday -- it's this Sunday into Wednesday I'd be more worried about.
Point is, the core that Vieira has been stressing have all gotten a bunch of playing time with eachother and shouldn't really matter at this point. Villa is still the lynchpin, but aside from him, I think there's quality no matter which guys that we've seen this year are playing. I like the idea of rest, but I think you can play on Wednesday and be fine for Sunday -- it's this Sunday into Wednesday I'd be more worried about.
I'm of the opinion that you try to win your next game and worry about the next one when it comes.
Portland is struggling a bit. They're better at home but coming off a tough, humid night and a 3.5 hour flight home. I wish our game was Saturday to give them even less rest (plus more for us before Toronto). It's still a short week and we have to go for a result.
The Toronto game comes only with 2 days rest. That's short. If PV needs to rest people because they haven't recovered from Sunday, fine. But don't hold them out because the next game is against RB. This early in the season we can't know whether it will be more important to take points from Toronto than it is against RB.
Portland is struggling a bit. They're better at home but coming off a tough, humid night and a 3.5 hour flight home. I wish our game was Saturday to give them even less rest (plus more for us before Toronto). It's still a short week and we have to go for a result.
The Toronto game comes only with 2 days rest. That's short. If PV needs to rest people because they haven't recovered from Sunday, fine. But don't hold them out because the next game is against RB. This early in the season we can't know whether it will be more important to take points from Toronto than it is against RB.
Updated some stats...
Here's how NYCFC ranks in each category (per game statistics). Actually really good! (Except for saves, where we rank 19th in the league in saves per game.)
OFFENSIVE RANK:
DEFENSIVE RANK:
And here's how both NYCFC and Portland compare vs. the AVERAGE team in the league (per game statistics). We should crush these guys!
Here's how NYCFC ranks in each category (per game statistics). Actually really good! (Except for saves, where we rank 19th in the league in saves per game.)
OFFENSIVE RANK:
DEFENSIVE RANK:
And here's how both NYCFC and Portland compare vs. the AVERAGE team in the league (per game statistics). We should crush these guys!
I agree, 5 points from this road trip would be great, if we can catch a tired portland team, we go for the win and see how everyone feels for TO. RB is only important inasmuch as it is a conference game at home
On a tangentially related note, watch Keane & Vieira: Best of Enemies
Here's my preview of this week's match. While this was recorded before last night's match against FCD, I didn't see much last night that would change my opinion of them. They played their first team other than Borchers. Good players and they were great in the back-end of last year, but the team isn't playing terribly well right now and looked particularly lethargic as the match wore on. Adi was a non-entity even though Hedges was out for FCD.
My hope is that we do something like we did last year at TFC where we just loaded up the midfield to try and hold off Giovinco and snag a lucky goal, but I don't think Viera will switch too much of his plan. But I fully expect Mehdi, Poku, Mullins, TT, and White to all play in that game
so i got a welcome email from a timbers rep with details about local bars and policies entering the stadium. HOWEVER she calls us "red bull fans"
I actually emailed them back, got this response:so i got a welcome email from a timbers rep with details about local bars and policies entering the stadium. HOWEVER she calls us "red bull fans"
Can't ask for better than that when someone makes a mistake.
I said we'll accept apologies in the form of Voodoo donuts. (What else does Portland have to offer?)
hmmmm someone else i know got the exact same thing....maybe a template email was set up right after it was sent realizing the error.
Mix Diskerud listening to Michael Bublé's All I Want for Christmas is You in his snapchat feed. He's definitely starting on Sunday.
- Status
Similar threads
