I agree that we often look like a second half team, especially if we don’t get a goal in the first 10 minutes of the first half. It seems we slow down. Then after we score a goal, it seems that we try to possess and not take chances in the final third. Take the foot off the gas, so to speak.
"Now, to be fair, it took a while for that team to start executing at a high level in their second game of the year, but eventually they got comfortable and overwhelmed an increasingly exhausted New England side."
To be reductive about an otherwise great analysis, I think that line is exactly what the problem was. We're rusty (like, I imagine most teams are right now), but the tactics are working. A similar pattern bore out in the Columbus game.
I think the biggest problem we have to overcome isn't a tactical change, but getting the players ready to go from the first 45, not the second. Maybe that's a Pineda thing, maybe it's a player thing, but the results we've seen since the transfer window closed last year indicate that we have a system in place that can compete at a high level. Hopefully, we now have the players to do that.
Boom take my money.
This was a fantastic read. I learned more about soccer!!
Fireplace guys are in shambles
Great analysis.
I agree that we often look like a second half team, especially if we don’t get a goal in the first 10 minutes of the first half. It seems we slow down. Then after we score a goal, it seems that we try to possess and not take chances in the final third. Take the foot off the gas, so to speak.
I hope we can pull another big win Sunday.
Thank you! The analysis we have yearned for. No vacations for you!
This is a great format. A couple of circles or arrows on the still images might help by small soccer brain understand a little quicker.
"Now, to be fair, it took a while for that team to start executing at a high level in their second game of the year, but eventually they got comfortable and overwhelmed an increasingly exhausted New England side."
To be reductive about an otherwise great analysis, I think that line is exactly what the problem was. We're rusty (like, I imagine most teams are right now), but the tactics are working. A similar pattern bore out in the Columbus game.
I think the biggest problem we have to overcome isn't a tactical change, but getting the players ready to go from the first 45, not the second. Maybe that's a Pineda thing, maybe it's a player thing, but the results we've seen since the transfer window closed last year indicate that we have a system in place that can compete at a high level. Hopefully, we now have the players to do that.