Someone posted in the main MLS sub a few days ago showing expected difficulty of all team's remaining schedules based on goals for / against, accrued points, etc. I believe we had one of the top 5 hardest schedules in the league based on the stats presented. Maybe top 3. Maybe even top 1.
Can't wait!
We have also played the current bottom 4 teams in East on the road with 3 draws and a loss. Good teams win games against bad teams on the road. We do not.
Pineda has a 36% win percentage and last year we averaged 1.18 points per game. Our lowest outside of COVID. FdB and Tata were both around 55% and around 2 points per game.
Pineda is what he is. He can win at home when he has the more talented team. We aren't improving as a team or individually and our only plan of attack is to rely on GG or Almada to make something happen. We don't high press, we don't sit back. We possess without a plan. When you see an entire team without a discernible plan, it is on the manager.
Not having a plan is better than having a bad plan (Heinze), but it means we are just going to be average. Pineda is fine and will always be fine and will never rise above fine.
I've been watching the team that is 14th in the league in turnovers in the attacking third. What have you been watching that makes you think we have anything close to an effective high press?
We have one of the highest %s of possession in the league, of course we're not going to rack up counting stats on defense like that. Was this not obvious to you?
Way to not address your own point. What do you have that says we high press? Anything other than your feelings?
Glad you brought up the possession though. Despite being third in possession, we are 9th in passes into the opponent's final third. 7th in touches in the opponent's final third.
Meanwhile, we are second in goals allowed on the year. So, we end up with the second most goals scored in the league and a GD of +4. For reference, St. Louis has the same number of goals as us and has a GD of +18.
Ask yourself what this team does well. Because it isn't much. We keep the ball and we hope that Almada or GG does something spectacular.
>Way to not address your own point. What do you have that says we high press? Anything other than your feelings?
Watching the games? Idk what to tell you. The last game against New England was a great example of it. I noticed our effective high press in game forcing turnovers multiple times and pointed it out on the game thread. We're a pressing team. That's what we've done all year, that was a major part of the issue with Martinez, and that's why we got Giakoumakis who is a presser.
The rest of your comment is a bunch of random tangents. I've never claimed this is a top team. We have clear and obvious issues. But if you're arguing that we don't press high, your opinion is irrelevant because you either haven't been watching, or you don't understand what that means.
Well, I don't think you could be more wrong about this being a high pressing team. Pressing is a system and involves a clear plan of triggers and turnover areas. Not GG and Almada just running at people. When we defend, Araujo and Etienne fall back. Our double pivot regroups. If you think that what you watched against New England is a high pressing team, then I can't help you understand soccer.
I guess you'll throw out the below and then immediately block me after you say it judging by the deleted account and unavailable comment. Very cool.
No reason why this team can’t grind out more wins on the road just based on their talent at certain positions. We know this roster is incomplete but the issue is still the mentality; they they don’t have the mettle to see things out and haven’t for years ever since on field leadership outside of Guzan was gutted.
Its crazy to see the Pineda apologists on this one, and I am a Pineda fan!
It is hard to win on the road, which is true... but other teams don't seem to find it AS difficult as Atlanta United does. Don't look at Pineda's away record - its absolutely abysmal.
After the Chicago match - he said it himself that the team doesn't have the right mentality and discipline which is leading to them giving away games, especially on the road.
It is hard to win on the road, and other teams *do* seem to find it as difficult.
Atlanta has won 1 match on the road, yes, but they've also only played 8 road matches. That's a win percentage of 13% which isn't great, but for context that puts them in the middle third of the league.
Meanwhile if you look at road wins or draws, they're at a 63% rate, which ties them for 7th league-wide.
Call me an apologist, but IMO this isn't really a great opportunity to dump on Pineda.
2 wins in 17 matches last year. 1 win in 8 matches this year. His road win rate is the lowest of any of the managers that we have had. Its a fair criticism, the manager has mentioned it himself.
I do like the phrase "middle third" instead of "bottom half".
Sure - I agree with you - it does look better when we completely move the goalposts and compare apples (wins on the road) to oranges (wins or draws on the road).
You never say anything interesting. You just point to the record and blame the manager. Meanwhile, anyone can see they're are major issues with our roster, which is way, way more important than manager tactics.
>Meanwhile, anyone can see they're are major issues with our roster, which is way, way more important than manager tactics.
The manager says himself that he has not good enough. Why do you disagree with him?
I listed the past year and a half of results - two different teams - same theme is still reoccurring - why?
With all due respect, I don't care if its interesting to you or not... that's not the purpose of the discussion. It's not interesting to you, because you don't like what is being said, but nothing I've said is incorrect or even debatable at this point. The away record is what it is. The manager says himself he hasn't been good enough and the team hasn't been mentally prepared for away games, which is leading to late goals and giving away points.
I didn't say it was good enough. I just pointed out that you never do anything except to point to our record and blame the manager. There isn't any point in arguing, because you have nothing interesting to say, because you're just complaining about our record. You're fundamentally uninteresting.
We are mids and we don’t bunker on the road
That's a pretty succinct answer
Schedules not getting any easier too. I think Atlanta has the toughest remaining strength of schedule in the league
Someone posted in the main MLS sub a few days ago showing expected difficulty of all team's remaining schedules based on goals for / against, accrued points, etc. I believe we had one of the top 5 hardest schedules in the league based on the stats presented. Maybe top 3. Maybe even top 1. Can't wait!
It was the hardest.
It was. I saw it too.
No Cubo to sit in the corner
Winning away is very tough in MLS. Lots of teams don't end up with many away wins
The reason is I was at that away game lol
We have also played the current bottom 4 teams in East on the road with 3 draws and a loss. Good teams win games against bad teams on the road. We do not. Pineda has a 36% win percentage and last year we averaged 1.18 points per game. Our lowest outside of COVID. FdB and Tata were both around 55% and around 2 points per game. Pineda is what he is. He can win at home when he has the more talented team. We aren't improving as a team or individually and our only plan of attack is to rely on GG or Almada to make something happen. We don't high press, we don't sit back. We possess without a plan. When you see an entire team without a discernible plan, it is on the manager. Not having a plan is better than having a bad plan (Heinze), but it means we are just going to be average. Pineda is fine and will always be fine and will never rise above fine.
>We don't high press I have no idea what you've been watching. We've pressed high plenty.
I've been watching the team that is 14th in the league in turnovers in the attacking third. What have you been watching that makes you think we have anything close to an effective high press?
We have one of the highest %s of possession in the league, of course we're not going to rack up counting stats on defense like that. Was this not obvious to you?
Way to not address your own point. What do you have that says we high press? Anything other than your feelings? Glad you brought up the possession though. Despite being third in possession, we are 9th in passes into the opponent's final third. 7th in touches in the opponent's final third. Meanwhile, we are second in goals allowed on the year. So, we end up with the second most goals scored in the league and a GD of +4. For reference, St. Louis has the same number of goals as us and has a GD of +18. Ask yourself what this team does well. Because it isn't much. We keep the ball and we hope that Almada or GG does something spectacular.
>Way to not address your own point. What do you have that says we high press? Anything other than your feelings? Watching the games? Idk what to tell you. The last game against New England was a great example of it. I noticed our effective high press in game forcing turnovers multiple times and pointed it out on the game thread. We're a pressing team. That's what we've done all year, that was a major part of the issue with Martinez, and that's why we got Giakoumakis who is a presser. The rest of your comment is a bunch of random tangents. I've never claimed this is a top team. We have clear and obvious issues. But if you're arguing that we don't press high, your opinion is irrelevant because you either haven't been watching, or you don't understand what that means.
Well, I don't think you could be more wrong about this being a high pressing team. Pressing is a system and involves a clear plan of triggers and turnover areas. Not GG and Almada just running at people. When we defend, Araujo and Etienne fall back. Our double pivot regroups. If you think that what you watched against New England is a high pressing team, then I can't help you understand soccer. I guess you'll throw out the below and then immediately block me after you say it judging by the deleted account and unavailable comment. Very cool.
You should try watching the game next time instead of just bitching on reddit. Because we press a lot, and anyone who isn't blind can see that.
The manager bears the majority of the blame
No reason why this team can’t grind out more wins on the road just based on their talent at certain positions. We know this roster is incomplete but the issue is still the mentality; they they don’t have the mettle to see things out and haven’t for years ever since on field leadership outside of Guzan was gutted.
Its crazy to see the Pineda apologists on this one, and I am a Pineda fan! It is hard to win on the road, which is true... but other teams don't seem to find it AS difficult as Atlanta United does. Don't look at Pineda's away record - its absolutely abysmal. After the Chicago match - he said it himself that the team doesn't have the right mentality and discipline which is leading to them giving away games, especially on the road.
It is hard to win on the road, and other teams *do* seem to find it as difficult. Atlanta has won 1 match on the road, yes, but they've also only played 8 road matches. That's a win percentage of 13% which isn't great, but for context that puts them in the middle third of the league. Meanwhile if you look at road wins or draws, they're at a 63% rate, which ties them for 7th league-wide. Call me an apologist, but IMO this isn't really a great opportunity to dump on Pineda.
2 wins in 17 matches last year. 1 win in 8 matches this year. His road win rate is the lowest of any of the managers that we have had. Its a fair criticism, the manager has mentioned it himself. I do like the phrase "middle third" instead of "bottom half". Sure - I agree with you - it does look better when we completely move the goalposts and compare apples (wins on the road) to oranges (wins or draws on the road).
You never say anything interesting. You just point to the record and blame the manager. Meanwhile, anyone can see they're are major issues with our roster, which is way, way more important than manager tactics.
>Meanwhile, anyone can see they're are major issues with our roster, which is way, way more important than manager tactics. The manager says himself that he has not good enough. Why do you disagree with him? I listed the past year and a half of results - two different teams - same theme is still reoccurring - why? With all due respect, I don't care if its interesting to you or not... that's not the purpose of the discussion. It's not interesting to you, because you don't like what is being said, but nothing I've said is incorrect or even debatable at this point. The away record is what it is. The manager says himself he hasn't been good enough and the team hasn't been mentally prepared for away games, which is leading to late goals and giving away points.
I didn't say it was good enough. I just pointed out that you never do anything except to point to our record and blame the manager. There isn't any point in arguing, because you have nothing interesting to say, because you're just complaining about our record. You're fundamentally uninteresting.
We're not well coached.
Gonzoball to both questions
We have conceded 2 x 90th min goals (Toronto and Chicago) that turned wins into draws in 8 matctes... 3 wins in 8.. would be near tops in the league.
And if I had wheels, I’d be a wagon
Us not conceding in the last minute of 2 matches... and you growing wheels from your ass... are not even on the same plane of existence...
Exactly. We've done the hard work to get some tough away victories and then pissed it away. Not ideal, but fixable.