Revolution Postmatch

Everyone talks about Pirlo's free kicks, but I think his work in tight spaces is even more amazing, when he just plays rope-a-dope with a defender. "The ball's over here. Whoops, I moved it. It's over here now." Then he just pinwheels away and starts a rush. It's breathtaking. The guy does so many little things that no one else can do. Incredible.

Took the words right out of my mouth.
 
Everyone talks about Pirlo's free kicks, but I think his work in tight spaces is even more amazing, when he just plays rope-a-dope with a defender. "The ball's over here. Whoops, I moved it. It's over here now." Then he just pinwheels away and starts a rush. It's breathtaking. The guy does so many little things that no one else can do. Incredible.

Yeah, Pirlo has an uncanny ability to hold the ball. When he squares his hips between the ball and the defender, there's no way the ball is being taken away from him - he's like the unmovable object.
cause he doesn't dribble at you, so his ideal situation is he has the ball and you stand off him thinking you have the attack contained, but someone is off the ball making a run and he will ping it to them. Knowing this you can't give him time so you have to come to him, committing your movement towards a ball and all he has to do is a shimmy to move the ball away and now he can dribble passed you or lay it off safely.
 
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cause he doesn't dribble at you, so his ideal situation is he has the ball and you stand off him thinking you have the attack contained, but someone is off the ball making a run and he will ping it to them. Knowing this you can't give him time so you have to come to him, committing your movement towards a ball and all he has to do is a shimmy to move the ball away and now he can dribble passed you or lay it off safely.
I remember watching him do this in the Orlando game when he first arrived last summer and it was like magic. Then I think the league temporarily caught up to him. For a while it seemed that the tactic of rushing him worked until he adjusted. Maybe it's because MLS really is faster than other leagues, or maybe it's just that in Italy other teams stopped doing that because it didn't work and he wasn't used to countering it. In any event, he has obviously adjusted. I remember thinking of him as a slow motion matador when he did those spins in that first game, and now he's just a bit quicker.
 
Incredible how much better this team is with:

-Villa, Pirlo, Harrison and Lampard starting

- Shelton and Lopez not starting

Lampard doesn't get lucky. Lampard puts himself in the right position and good things happen for you and your team when you do that.

The end of the match was really nerve racking. I think Villa needed to put one of his opportunities into the net and it would have made for less stressful 2H for us but as I've said before, he's an incredible footballer so I can't complain too much.

Another huge 3 points! Very little breathing room for 1st place, though (Montreal has played 3 less matches than NYC and their only 6 points behind us.
I dont think folks are giving lampard enough credit for his goal. His movement before the ball got to him and then for him to alter his body/legs to aim the ball towards the net was pretty impressive. He has been huge for us when healthy.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't it being talked about in the shout box that this wasn't his best game? Obviously the goal was huge, so he gets a pass, but I don't think anyone was talking about him having a great game.

That being said, it was very clear watching the game how much smarter the midfield trio + Villa look on the ball. Just in their movement off the ball, and their one touch passing. Revs fans were even pointing out that the talent level of the Europeans was clearly evident last night
Man the hate for lampard is unreal. The guy has been huge and scored two huge goals for us back to back games was key in the first goal vs nj. Lets not let last year and early this year when he has been injured cloud just how good and valuable he is to this team.
 
I dont think folks are giving lampard enough credit for his goal. His movement before the ball got to him and then for him to alter his body/legs to aim the ball towards the net was pretty impressive. He has been huge for us when healthy.
It's obvious we like to aim at a target, as opposed to the obvious open part of the net, so our shooting tactics should evolve from aiming at the keeper (like every time) to simply aiming at Lampard - let him redirect the shot from 4yrds out.
 
Man the hate for lampard is unreal. The guy has been huge and scored two huge goals for us back to back games was key in the first goal vs nj. Lets not let last year and early this year when he has been injured cloud just how good and valuable he is to this team.
Watch the replay, the pass was to villa, Frank got his fat leg in the way and got lucky, like he did when he handled the ball into the goal.
 
It's obvious we like to aim at a target, as opposed to the obvious open part of the net, so our shooting tactics should evolve from aiming at the keeper (like every time) to simply aiming at Lampard - let him redirect the shot from 4yrds out.
This is so true, and a perfect solution. It's amazing how many of our open space shots go straight at the keeper. It reminds me of what happens to some people when they start learning to drive. When they come to a stop sign, they tend to aim for it. It makes no sense. They know it's wrong; but for a while they cannot stop themselves doing it.
So now we just aim for the Lamp instead of the keeper.
 
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I dont think folks are giving lampard enough credit for his goal. His movement before the ball got to him and then for him to alter his body/legs to aim the ball towards the net was pretty impressive. He has been huge for us when healthy.
Pretty funny to be honest. Doesn't matter, win lose or draw, the same people come in here and beat the same drum after every damn game. For a lot of people here, stats always trump results. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
The Lampard debate reminds me a lot , as a Rangers follower, of the Kris Boyd's first run with the Gers. He'd score a ton of goals. probably almost a goal a game, None of them spectacular and he didn't generally do much besides. Some people would bitch and moan and not want him on the field. IMO at it's core this game is about scoring more than your opponent. It's really the only stat that interests me. Don't care how much he runs , how many passes etc, if he's scoring on a regular basis it gives us a better chance to score more goals than our opponent and win the match. As long as the goals are coming I want him out there.
 
Pretty funny to be honest. Doesn't matter, win lose or draw, the same people come in here and beat the same drum after every damn game. For a lot of people here, stats always trump results. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The stats say that despite our HUGE win against NE, we still have potential problems in the team that are glossed over because we have been winning. Just like when the results guys were here proclaiming Khiry Shelton and Mikey Lopez as kings of new york soccer.
 
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I remember watching him do this in the Orlando game when he first arrived last summer and it was like magic. Then I think the league temporarily caught up to him. For a while it seemed that the tactic of rushing him worked until he adjusted. Maybe it's because MLS really is faster than other leagues, or maybe it's just that in Italy other teams stopped doing that because it didn't work and he wasn't used to countering it. In any event, he has obviously adjusted. I remember thinking of him as a slow motion matador when he did those spins in that first game, and now he's just a bit quicker.

Yep. This ties perfectly with his statement about the speed of this league. He now knows that people are just going to run at him full speed rather than try to play counter to his angles and lanes. It works beautifully in his favor and I hope people keep foolishly doing it.
 
The stats say that despite our HUGE win against NE, we still have potential problems in the team that are glossed over because we have been winning. Just like when the results guys were here proclaiming Khiry Shelton and Mikey Lopez as kings of new york soccer.
I don't remember people hyping up Lopez and Khiry... And I'm not trying to devalue the importance of statistics, but they are not a perfect indicator of performance. There is tons of stuff happening out there that has no clerical value, but is a big indicator of success/failure.
 
Matarrita was playing so far forward for most of the game that in many instances TMac was staying home to try to break up pressure along that flank.

Matarrita's positioning was so far forward last night. You'd see Mena and Brilliant passing the ball around the back and Matarrita wasn't even visible on the TV, he was so far forward he was out of the camera's shot. He's really more of a wingback.

Then again, I love the idea of bringing in Hernandez in the back to solidify a lead and pushing Matarrita up to burn down that side, especially when the team is counterattacking.
 
Yep. This ties perfectly with his statement about the speed of this league. He now knows that people are just going to run at him full speed rather than try to play counter to his angles and lanes. It works beautifully in his favor and I hope people keep foolishly doing it.

I remember some player saying about Pirlo in the player survey "who cares if you're Pirlo, I'm going to run and hit you for 90 minutes." As if the Maestro couldn't adapt to that.
 
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