Match Reaction: STLSC 1 - Real Salt Lake 1

 As a buddy of mine would say, of all the games of soccer ever played, that was one of them.

There's definitely some takeaways you can draw from this game, but it wasn't particularly well played by either side. I think the only person on the field who had fun was the ref. But here we are and a match reaction you shall have.

The positives we can take away is our defense. We've solidified our back line for the most part, and if that holds true it'll shore up a real weak spot for us moving forward. Markanich I though played especially well, and Totland continues to show why we bought him aside from one minor (major) mistake.

Our offense, however, might be an issue. Pressing football to force transition goals is all well and good, but once you win the ball you sorta need to, y'know... get into transition. We had so many times where we won the ball exactly how we wanted and immediately passed it back to the opposing team. We're not a team that needs a ton of pass accuracy, but we need enough to actually get down the field and score. We can not continue to be that bad stringing more than three passes together, or this seasons is gonna get real rough real quick.

Starters

Burki - He did the job you could expect him to do. He didn't have much of a chance on the one goal they got, and his on the ball work was fine. He wasn't called on the exceptional in any way and more or less did what you expect Burki to do. Nothing really to say here.

Parker - Ah crap. Get well soon. As of time of writing Carnell said Parker coming out was largely precautionary, and goodness I hope that's true because he was our best defender on the pitch until he had to come off. He had Chicho in his back pocket the entire first third of the match.

Nilsson - Played really well honestly, and once we got to a back three you could see a little more of his skill with the ball than he typically gets to show. Really hope he keeps settling in.

Totland - I swear this dude will hit a trivela goal sooner rather than later. Had one mistake that I'm honestly not certain what to blame on, he either slipped or missplayed, but either way he almost caused a 3 on Burki rush, but he hustled back and showed more of the skill I'm hoping we can expect with him

Markanich - Honestly really impressed me this match. The aforementioned odd man rush I thought was largely saved by his hustle back. I still don't think defense is his strong suit at the wing back position, but if he keeps improving even more than this I like his development.

Lowen - I didn't really notice a whole lot of Lowen in this game aside from the assist to Adeniran. And that's a problem. This dude kinda needs to be the best dude on the field for us, we just don't have another passer with his vision. I feel like he just needs a really solid game to remember how much better he is than other MLS dudes and goodness I hope it happens soon.

Blom - This was a rare game where we didn't get Blom's ceiling or his floor and he was just pretty good. Nothing incredible, some decent passing and defensive play, and honestly I'll take it for now, if he can raise his floor even if we don't get the Blomstopper we at least don't have to worry about the defensive midfield role.

Thorrison - Thor made a case for himself here, and while none of the offensive work he did ended in a goal it's clear that putting him in isolation against most fullbacks in the league will lead to good things. If he can be an impact player for us offensively a lot of things will open up very quickly.

Jackson - He did his job, just nothing happened. Without being upset at his performance, I still kinda wanted a little more pizzaz.

Pompeu - I don't think Pompeu made as much of a case for himself to start as Thor did, but he did ok. He seems a step behind on when we initiate our press, and that's a trifle concerning long term, but I feel like Carnell can sort that out.

Klauss - Listen, I love Klauss, but it's pretty easy to tell when he's frustrated and in his own head. And once that happens, he starts dropping further back to be able to be creative on the ball, and then he ends up not impacting as a target 9 at all. As with Lowen, get him on the scoresheet and this all gets fixed but again it kinda needs to happen soon.

Subs

Yaro - Dude's a trooper, and absolutely redeemed his Tuesday showing. Saved a number of dangerous chances and it was his takeaway that sets up our goal. Sincerely hope he just got knocked around and it's nothing serious because he was also gripping his leg at times and the last thing we need is another center back injury.

Nerwinski - He worked really hard. He ran a lot and saved a shot that while I'm not sure it was going in anyways, you have to admire the effort. He did not do all that great on the back 3. And that should not detract from him being a great human being but it's always a little nerve wracking with him on the pitch.

Vassilev - Man this dude wanted to make something happen so badly. He was everywhere when he was on the field. Didn't manage to really do anything, but having his personality on the field helped the team I'm convinced.

Durkin - All we really need is for Durkin to get in a fight and it's confirmed that we have strictly more skilled Stroud 2.0. If the number 8 shirt for SC becomes known for the dude most likely to knife you I'm ok with that.

Adeniran - Guys, I think he figured out that he's just faster than everyone else. I still think Klauss is a better overall player, but having this dude off the bench is going to be WILD. When Lowen lofted that pass and Adeniran got the barest of heads to it, just enough to allow him to stretch his legs, the ball was in. Especially since he was surrounded by like 4 dudes, that situation has Adeniran goal written all over it.

Line-up Prediction for Real Salt Lake 2/24/24

Finally, the start of the MLS regular season. I was absolutely excited about CONCACAF don't get me wrong, but true regular season opening day just hits different.

Before we get to deep into my prediction for this next game, I would like it known and appreciated that I was almost dead on with my line up prediction for the Houston game. I got the formation right, I got 10 out of the 11 players right, and the only reason I didn't get a perfect score was Lowen got delayed getting back to pre-season and they didn't want him to a full half. WHICH, it must be noted, I discussed in my Ostrak blog post as a possibility, so I'm taking that as a spirit win so perfect score baby!

I am enormously less confident that I'll get this one right. I have a very inexpert view of match fitness and what constitutes full rest between games, so some calls I make may be wrong just because I don't really know when players need rest. I may get better at that, I may not but HEY, gotta try at least right? So let's get into it.

Let's start with the easy stuff

Still Slam Dunk Starters, because I'm pretty sure the front office wants a win to start the season

Klauss, Lowen, Parker, Burki

I don't believe I need to justify this anymore than I did last week. I know load management will have to take place at some point during the season, but I think winning the first regular season game at home is important enough to the team/Carnell/ownership that they'll run these guys out again.

Will Carnell play two strikers or one

Adeniran, Thorisson, Pompeu

If Carnell rolls with two strikers again like last Tuesday he'll either just run Adeniran back out there, or have Thorisson as a second striker which is where they were using him in preseason. If he runs with one, Adeniran probably sits and is a sub for Klauss and he puts Thorisson or Pompeu on the left wing and puts Aziel under center as the 10.

Which CB do you trust more

Yaro, Nilsson

Yaro didn't play all that great on Tuesday, although he did have good moments, but it's a question of is Nilsson's fitness good enough to start him. If it is, you do, simple as that. Otherwise you really have no other option with the knock Hiebert picked up in practice than to put Yaro back and use Nilsson Tuesday or the Saturday after

Fullbacks and Fitness

Markanich, Dyhr, Totland, Nerwinski

Dyhr I'm relatively sure didn't start on Tuesday because he wasn't up to speed yet. Markanich didn't play bad by any means, but if Dyhr is ready I expect him to get the start. Totland absolutely showed why he should be our first choice right back, and I expect him to start again and Nerwinski to go on Tuesday.

Who partners with Lowen

Blom, Durkin, Ostrak

I put Ostrak here because they've been using him as an 8, even though he's naturally a 10 or a winger. They might even use him as a winger too if Carnell goes one striker up top, not sure. I think it's more likely they go with either Blom or Durkin to start, and it's just a case of load management between the two and how you weight time and skillsets during the match for when they switch out.

ACTION JACKSON

Jackson gets his own category because he doesn't fit in any of the others but you have to play him. We don't have another player that can create something out of nothing like he can unless Ostrak becomes the dude we expected him to be overnight.

Maybe injured, probably should be injured, and Double injured

Hiebert, Vassilev, Alm

The players in this tier are listed in order. Hiebert picked up a knock in practice we found out, and I feel strongly they won't risk him Saturday and save him for Tuesday. Carnell says Vassilev is good to go, and maybe he's just that tough but a fractured wrist still blows and is painful, so I'm curious to see how they use him. 

Alm caught a cold and is missing practice right now Carnell says, delaying his return to fitness and continuing his string of bad luck. 

So you scored the match winner and are still on the bench with your buds

Kijima, Watts, Glover

Glover might not even make the bench but I imagine he'll see minutes with CITY2 for a bit to start the season, with a goal of him making the bench later on. Watts is a perfectly serviceable spot replacement for any of like 4 different positions but there's really no way I see him starting, and while Kijima is the hero we all needed he's still young but I wouldn't be surprised if he comes off the bench and is good again.

Ben Lundt

I don't know what to tell you. This is where this dude lives until Burki needs a break, which I half expect to be Tuesday potentially, but until then here he is.

Gun to my head line-up

If I'm wrong on Carnell going with one or two strikers easily half this lineup could be wrong, but I think they run out a strong starting 11 but maybe try something different with an eye for subs making the difference off the bench and preserving some of your A players at least a bit for Tuesday.

4-2-3-1

Klauss

Thorisson    Jackson    Ostrak

Lowen    Durkin

Dyhr    Nilsson    Parker    Totland

Burki

Match Reaction: STLSC 2 - Houston 1 (WE BACK)

 WOOOOOOO.

What a game. Showed up for a first half of more or less watching paint dry, but luckily in the second half a soccer game broke out. Let's talk about it.

Definitely started kind of shaky, with a couple dangerous crosses put in the box, but Houston apparently can't head the ball down so we more or less ended up fine. I do think we got lucky with the offside call, I was down close to the field at the stadium so I couldn't really tell if they were or weren't and on the replay it looks heckin' close; I imagine Houston fans are going slightly insane over that call and imagine I would be too if the same had happened to us. 

That non-goal seemed to provide a spark though, and we were definitely playing better by the end of the first half and into the second. Shout out to Vassilev for putting in a shift and hanging in there, really hope he's ok because the angle of that fall on the wrist looked nasty. He almost scored an incredible header right after that would have been legendary but I don't think he'll be too upset to settle for an assist. Then we got caught on the counter where we missed like 5 tackles that we'd typically make and Blom stopped his defensive run for some reason, so things started getting tight again but shoutout to the boyz for not giving up and special shout-out to Blue Lock graduate Hosei Kijima for smelling a goal and stealing a win away for us. Welcome to St. Louis man!

I do want to talk about players individually to give credit where it's due, but I don't want to get caught up in trying to arbitrarily assign player ratings because as largely made up as those numbers seem to be to me defeats the purpose. Not hating on player ratings, more just saying I know mine would come from a marginally uneducated viewpoint so I don't want to mess it up. With that aside, let's get into it.

Starters

Burki - He got left out to dry on both the goal that called back and the one that counted. I feel like Burki can only make god-level physics defying saves so many times a year and I don't mind saving those for when we need 'em. Good on distribution, made the plays he could, honestly not a whole lot for him to do which is fine by me.

Totland - Everything we saw in preseason is coming true. This s our first choice right back, hard stop. Barring an incredible decline in form, Totland is going to be a huge difference maker this season for us, calling it now. He was everywhere defensively, put in great crosses, and almost hit a trivela goal that would have set CITYPARK on super fire. That's right, not just regular fire. Super fire.

Parker - Dude's Him. Not sure what else you want. He now has CITY's first ever regular season goa, playoff goal, and CONCACAF goal. He just comes up clutch for us in every way, and defensively was as solid as he always is. I didn't really watch the MLS before we got this team, and I know he's bounced around as a glue-guy/roleplayer before us but he's really come into himself here in St. Louis. You can just tell this dude believes in himself. FUN.

Yaro - Settled down eventually but that's probably a game he'd want back on the hole. Most of the goal chances including the offside seem to come from him getting beaten over the top or on the run, although funnily enough it didn't look like the goal that actually counted was on him in any way. He also though had some great pass blocks when we were in dangerous positions and overall I still think he played ok.

Markanich - Love this dude's intensity. He presses so high and generated a couple really dangerous chances for us. Defensively had some great cross blocks, although there were a couple times it seemed like he lost his man, but I also could have had a bad angle in his defense. No complaints really.

Durkin - I feel like we didn't see everything this dude can do yet, but what we saw so far was pretty good. He's really going to fill a gap for us I think as while not as good defensively as Blom (so far) and not as good offensively as Lowen, he can at least do both in the same game. Looking forward to what he'll provide.

Ostrak - I saw flashes. I still haven't seen what I want to see out of him. But it's there (I think). He had some nifty turns and some nice passing, and played better defensively than I expected. If Vassilev actually is out for a bit, he would be a candidate to play that wing spot closer to his natural position while he's out and see what he could provide.

Vassilev- St. Louis loves this guy already, but playing through a potentially broken wrist and almost scoring and then later assisting a goal before coming off definitely solidifies "man of the people" status. I hope his injury isn't anything serious and he's back soon.

Jackson - Jackson did Jackson things! And that's really all you can ask for. He beat four dudes on the dribble and later sorta just... lost the ball in front of one dude. But it was mostly good stuff, and as always if this guy can raise his floor it'll be wild to watch.

Klauss - Hoo boy we almost got another Klauss back pass goal. From the field level in the stadium where I was at we thought he was going to bury it but on the replay Houston did well to cut his angle pretty fast so *shrug*. At the end of the day you'd want a little more from him and I imagine he's kicking himself for not scoring that chance 6 feet from goal, but he'll be fine.

Adeniran - Adeniran also did Adeniran things. I think he tried to 1v4 about three separate times and hit the post on one of them. His height makes his skill on the ball kind of sneaky and you could see how some of the Houston players got caught off guard by his acceleration. Just give me more of that and we'll be fine.

Subs 

Blom - Came in for Indy and did ok. No crazy stops that I noticed, and not sure what he was thinking on the Houston goal because he stopped his run when he might have been able to cut the pass. Guess he was worried about a cut back? Not sure. Anyways, still put in his shift.

Lowen - You noticed when he was back on the pitch. The team just sort of naturally flowed through him, and goodness his ball control is just miles better than anyone else we have. He didn't get to create any dangerous chances, but they'll come.

Pompeu - The team didn't manage to get him in isolation all that much to try and beat guys off the dribble, so a more muted performance aside from a couple glimpses but not a bad shift at the office, just filling a spot til the end of the game.

Kijima - Honestly I was kinda surprised when they brough him on, but oh man, welcome to the club. Debut goal to win the game at home is definitely one way to endear yourselves to the fans, and I think this guy is definitely going to contribute this year.

All in all, good start to the season! Let's do it again on Saturday!

Let's play the first ever game of WILD UPSIDE!

 So, I like to play a game every once in a while I call WILD UPSIDE (shocker). This is a game where I take certain players and scenarios and extrapolate them to their explore the best possible potential development. 

Now, I only explore the possible upside within reason. I'm exploring wild upside, yes, but not impossible upside. For instance, one of my possible wild upsides last year was; what if Kyle Hiebert developed offensively as a left back in addition to his defensive capabilities, and can be an average to above average MLS left back who can contribute offensively? (Spoilers: so far no). That is a good example of wild upside; yeah it probably won't happen, but it could. And it could have had development along that path without reaching the full possible wild upside.

A bad example of wild upside is; what if Aziel Jackson developed into prime Messi level skill? Now, it's not that I don't think Aziel has a high ceiling but last I checked they only made one Messi, and by Aziel's current age Messi was already destroying La Liga. so this is a bad example because realistically it's just not gonna happen. If I'm wrong, I'll gladly take the L on that one.

So with the new season upon us, why don't we play a large form game of WILD UPSIDE. I may play this game using smaller scenarios but lets look big picture this go through.

WILD UPSIDE: What if Nilsson is the CB the front office thinks he is?

This might actually be conservative as a wild upside, but I remember interviews where Lutz was touting this dude as the potential to be one of the best defenders in the league. When Lutz talks about the "spine" of the team, most of my buddies imagine Klauss, Lowen, Parker, and Burki, but the front office signed Nilsson to be that dude instead of Parker, remember. Parker's almost his own game of wild upside coming to fruition last year, and I really think he'll keep that up, but if Nilsson can also get settled and slot in as an even better center back than Parker, things are gonna get FUN.

WILD UPSIDE: What if Totland and Dyhr solve our fullback problem?

This already looks pretty likely. And to be clear what I meant by fullback problem is "there's no really clear #1 guy who can play both sides of the ball well". Watts and Nerwinski were basically one or the other, and kinda same with Hiebert and Markanich. Totland I've watched in preseason and I'm already sold, that dude looks like the TRUTH. I haven't seen Dyhr play all that much, but his pedigree leads me to believe he will most likely also cement himself as the first choice left back. And if he also can go forward and defend well, lord help the teams having to deal with fullback threats from both sides at once with our offence.

WILD UPSIDE: What if when Rasmus Alm recovers from his offseason surgery he stays healthy all season?

I wrote about this earlier in my line-up prediction but I think Rasmus Alm is our best off the ball player. My season tickets are 4 rows back from the field opposite the team benches, and you don't see this on TV but the amount of times this dude tried to make a run in behind so we'd have a long ball opportunity was BANANAS. If we had a defender that could a reliable long ball Alm would have eaten any defense we played against alive. I'm convinced that's half the reason he kept getting injured, his work rate is just so damn high. He had offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia, but if when he's match fit he can stay so, he offers a threat down the wing that we sorely need.

WILD UPSIDE: What if we learn to break down an opposing teams defense through possession?

We do this we're winning the Cup. I'm not kidding. The only really consistent thing negatively about last season was if the other team settled into a low block we didn't really have much for them aside from hoping Pompeu could beat 4 dudes off the dribble or Lowen hitting the corner from 40 yards out. Coach Carnell said in an interview that learning what to do with possession was a focus for them in preseason training, and if we can start cutting a team to pieces with the ball and leverage an effective press into transition chances then Goal Voltron is complete

That's all I can think of for now, I may play this game more during the season, and I probably won't have another post until a match reaction after Tuesday's CONCACAF game. Until then, thanks for reading!

Why I want good things for those who aren't on the team anymore

So, as I mentioned in my post before this one, I have an ironclad rule I follow as a CITY fan, which is if you wear the jersey and play for the team, I want good things for you and will root for you. 

I just don't have it in me to be a toxic fan. It's just too stressful. Plus, my buddy and I waited 9 years from our pact in 2014 to become superfans if we got an MLS team for me to waste it being negative, and if I ever got the chance to meet one of the players I'd want to genuinely be able to tell them I'm cheering for them and not have in the back of my mind that I called them a wanker for missing a pass or some such.

I plan to continue this rule past when the players who've donned the jersey move on to other opportunities; see note about I just don't have it in me to be a toxic fan, and if you put in minutes for the first team in any competition unless you straight up diss the club in an unforgiveable way or turn out to be a murderer or something I still generally want good things for you.

So, with that in mind, before the season starts I figured I'd go through our list of departures and just say good memories of them I have while they were with CITY, and wish them well on their new opportunities.

I won't be including those on loan but that we haven't actually sold yet, like Pidro or Jensen, and I similarly won't be talking about those who had first team contracts but never actually stepped on the field for the first team, like Max Schneider and Owen O'Malley. The latter I'll mainly be excluding just because I don't really have a memory of them or anything to say really rather than any ill intent, as I still wish them well, although special shout-out to O'Malley for making me REALLY CURIOUS about rumors he got suspended for violating team rules (twice, supposedly) and more or less getting discharged at the end of the year.

John Nelson - Look, he may have essentially played himself out of his job by midseason, but he was our starting left back to start the first game at CITYPARK and that means something. When the Cincinnati game was waiting to start and I was sheltering in the parking garage while it rained, my buddy and I had a whole discussion about him being on Cincinnati last year and how he'd perform against his old club, and of course that was his best game! He dribbled through two dudes and lasered it to Niko, and only didn't get an assist because Niko bobbled it. When he was on the field, he worked hard, results sometimes aside.

Now, I follow all the players on Instagram, and I saw a few weeks back that Nelson has removed all posts that showed he played for CITY, so I can only speculate that he may have been dissatisfied with how things played out with his role. However, it seems like he's still cool with all the current players and I can't really blame a dude for being upset at losing his job, so I hope his stint with LA Galaxy works out (although I still giggled when AZ cooked him in the preseason game).

Jon Bell - Jon really only ever got spot starts, and while I'd agree he never really earned more than that he was perfectly adequate the times he did play. It really seemed like he enjoyed giving back to the community too, as I remember seeing a lot of posts about him visiting local schools and hospitals talking to the kids and just being a general all around good dude. 

I saw a while back a minute long clip of him talking to some media outlet and the caption was something like "Jon Bell never felt like CITY SC gave him a chance" or something, and I never listened to the audio myself (I spent like 20 minutes scrolling twitter trying to find it and just couldn't dig it up). I hope he knows the he kinda signed up for the same thing with Seattle, but for his sake I hope it works for him.

Lucas Bartlett - C'mon, you gotta like Lucas' story. Gets to camp as a trialist and wins a spot, fills in early when Parker had his brief injury, and did a really good job! I remember seeing a lot of reddit posts of people saying they thought he would be a no doubt starter long term, and while that didn't pan out, he was depth for us when we needed it. I never made it down to the Pitch during the events where he bartended, but it seemed from the pictures like he really enjoyed meeting the fans and making the experience memorable. D.C United was the first MLS club I vaguely rooted for when I was 7 (I'm still looking for a Marco Etcheverry jersey) so I hope they do well with him.

Niko Gioacchini - Say what you want about his frequency going to ground, the dude stepped up when Klauss was out and scored ten goals for us. He didn't even complain when Klauss came back and Adeniran started balling, being a bench player and super sub for us later in the season. It seemed like he really liked the area too, I remember an interview of him saying he was looking for houses here and he also did more than his share of community appearances. Plus, c'mon, the video of his goodbye speech had ninjas cutting onions for everyone.

Jared Stroud - This one hurt. There's few things that gave me greater joy during the season than Stroud running up on a dude and starting beef. I remember one game, I think it was the Cincinnati game, where Klauss had gotten in someone's face earlier and then something else happened and Stroud got run up on and I commented to my buddy "see, they've messed up because Klauss can kill you, but Stroud will kill you"

Scary Jerry just always was the attitude we needed when we needed it. I remember when I found out he's from Jersey and is the oldest of three brothers and just thinking "ah, that tracks". I plan to bring a sign to the D.C United game that says "Stroud, we miss you! But we hope you lose today! Please don't kill us!" and I hope he smiles when he sees it. And doesn't kill me.

And finally, do we win that first game in Austin without THE MOST EGREGIOUS BACKPASS IN ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY. There's so many speculations on how that goal came to pass, and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Stroud actually managed to pull that off on purpose because if you watch the video, he appears to look at Kipp Keller (who is by the way a St. Louis native) and motioned to get the ball at his feet, and Kipp obliged him. Kipp even backed off after he passed to Stroud to give space, which is what you're supposed to do when you passed to your own team, which they were the year before. Potential incredible subterfuge aside, that goal set up the Klauss comeback winner and set the tone for the whole season. We don't win the first 5 games in our teams history without that one folks.

If any of the players I listed ever read this, know that I want good things for you as fellow human beings and wish you well. You were a part of something incredible last year, and I at least will always appreciate that.

Thanks for reading!

Tomas Ostrak, and why I forgot about him three separate times

Tomas Ostrak. The man. The myth! THE LEGEND!

And why with all due respect, I forgot about him three separate times when I was creating my first post for this blog.

Ostrak has been a bit of an enigma for me to judge. He's highly rated based on comments from Lutz, and as stated before my trust in Lutz knows no bounds currently. And I have an ironclad rule that I'm slightly breaking when I write this blog; if you wear the jersey and are on the team, I want good things for you and will cheer for you. When Niko was going to ground when someone merely entered his five foot square (DnD reference) I refrained from criticism even while I intellectually acknowledged it was in somewhat bad taste. When Johnny Nelson was playing himself out of his job I would be like, "but hey man, that performance against Cincinnati!" and hoped he'd turn it around.

With Ostrak it's kind of like that, except there's really nothing for me to (not) criticize, because even in the games he's played in I honestly can't remember about 80% of his touches on the ball. When he's played so far he's been just a cog in the machine to the point that he's just sort of a human shaped blur in a CITY jersey.

And that's not a bad thing! Necessarily. There's no real lowlights for me to harp on, and he's perfectly adequate when he's been on the field, but we just haven't seen the ceiling we could potentially get yet.

He's been so average that (story time) when I was coming up with the tiers for my first blog post, just jotting stuff down, I completely missed that I hadn't included him. I didn't realize until I went to actually write the blog post, at which point I was like, "no worries, just put him in a tier as I write this" and then I forgot to include him again.

Then, as I created this blog and copied the first post over, I was glancing through it for any needed edits and realized I still hadn't included him. No worries again, says I, just put him in before I hit publish. AND THEN I FORGOT HIM AGAIN.

So when I woke up this morning and realized my vaunted first blog post had a big Ostrak shaped hole, I decided to make it up to him by giving him his own post.

Above is Ostrak's scouting report for the last year, per fbref.com

And this is Aziel Jackson's. They played roughly similar minutes last year, Ostrak had 1,151 minutes while Aziel had 1,119. They mostly play similar positioning, either centrally as the 10 or on the wing.

As you can see there's a lot of areas where they are similar, but there's WAY more areas where Aziel was strictly better. The one I especially want to highlight is Shot-Creating-Actions; Aziel almost doubles that stat compared to Ostrak. And I know what shot creating actions they're talking about. The only ones I can specifically remember for Ostrak minus the goals he himself has scored are the assist to Miggy to seal the game against Vancouver and the pass to Indy to score the 4th goal against kansas.

With Aziel, everytime he's on the ball, you know something is gonna happen. It might not be all good, but damned if it isn't memorable.

I do believe Ostrak has it in him to live up to what we need; it looks like in pre-season they're using him less as a 10 and more like an 8, and he's been decent so far like that. He might even get to start for the beginning of the season while Löwen gets back into gear from his extended break getting his green card. I hope he does well in that role, because having him be a dependable role-filler for us might be the difference maker as we fight for like 5 different trophies. Plus if he starts making Aziel-type plays consistently, the highlight reel when those guys play at the same time would be bananas.

That's all for now folks! Thanks for reading!

Line-up Prediction for Houston 2/20/24 (First Post!)

 CONCACAF Game 1 vs. Houston Line-up Prediction

Welcome to my first post! I have been a CITY fan since 2014 (yes they only kicked off last year, but that was the year my buddy and I made a blood oath if we ever got an MLS team, we’d go full scarf wearing season ticket holding superfans) and I spent our inaugural season just being a fan and enjoying the team, and what a ride it was. There was stuff last year that will be a core memory for me til I die (Klauss’ goal against Austin, Bürki yelling at Copetti during the first ever home match, etc.) and this year I decided to start a blog as a creative outlet for how much time I spend kicking this stuff around in my head anyways.

I have no idea how well this will do, or even if anyone will even pay attention at all, and frankly that’s fine; I’m doing this for me and maybe a few buddies of mine who are amused by what goes on in my head, and if that’s all this is that’s fine. If any of you do enjoy this, good! I plan to keep doing it. 

All opinions are my own, not necessarily accurate or correct, and I don’t really engage in discussion on the internet so even though this blog is by definition discussion on the internet, any dissenting opinions will most likely not be responded to. Not that anyone who dissents is wrong, I just don’t go in much for trying to change others opinions. It stresses me out. Any responses I give in deference to intellectual discussion of different views will be made on my own discretion, and be warned I don’t feed trolls.

So. First post. To stay somewhat structured, my initial plan is to put out a line-up prediction and game review for each game, and any other posts when the mood strikes. 

That being said, this first line-up prediction is a doozy, because it all kind of hinges on one thing; how much you think CITY/Carnell care about the CONCACAF Champion’s Cup. The home opener is 3 days later, so how do you balance who starts/who rests and so on? Would you rather play the A team on Wednesday and maybe take an L in the first regular season game because hey it’s CONCACAF or do you put more weight on the MLS opener and kinda punt the cup?

Well, I think in all honesty this early in the season with most players well rested they’ll try to win both. If you’re gonna punt anything, punt the away leg of CONCACAF and maybe play team A and a half against New York City March 2nd or vice versa. I think they’ll want to start the first two home games with W’s and play strong lineups with a few rotations in both.

That being said, let’s get into my prediction. For these I plan to divide players into completely made-up tiers that will change every time because deal with it, give brief explanations on each player and my reasoning for their tier and follow it with my “Gun to my Head” Line-up (By which I mean if you held a gun to my head and told me to name a starting 11, this would be it). So let’s get into it!

Slam Dunk Starters. If you argue with me, you’re wrong

Klauss, Parker, Löwen, Bürki

I know I said I’d explain my reason for each player, and I’m already breaking that rule, but c’mon. Any serious line-up starts with these four, and I see no reason or need to justify them individually. I wouldn’t be surprised if Carnell actually had copies made of a line-up sheet with these four names already written in just to save himself some time.

One of these players will start, the other won’t

Nilsson, Yaro, Durkin, Blom

Nilsson - I honestly believe Nilsson is better than Yaro, and based on some of Lutz’s comments from last year I’m pretty sure he thinks Nilsson is better than Parker. He probably is correct; Nilsson when he played last year showed flashes of who I believe he can be, but coming off that long injury and other acclimation factors I believe led to his mostly average showing. That being said, we’re still talking about a dude who saw serious minutes in Europe and while Parker is HIM he’s also mostly bounced around the MLS, so I’m inclined to trust Lutz on this one (Hell I’d trust Lutz on most things honestly).

Yaro - While I do believe Nilsson is better than Yaro, Yaro put in some really solid work when called on. As captain of CITY2, I also think he’s a leader in the locker room and he established a really good pairing with Parker. Could totally see him getting the nod to save Nilsson for the home opener, or vice versa.

Durkin - I like what I’ve seen so far, and if that pace holds steady as much as I loved Stroud and Bartlett having this dude basically beat all of Stroud’s defensive and passing numbers historically plus being younger and having higher upside could make that trade really lopsided towards us. In pre-season he's looked great.

Blom - I almost put Blom in a different category, but didn’t because he more fits this, “If not A, then B” category. Blom when he’s on is a game changer. Defensively the dude can be astounding, and his work rate is nothing to sneeze at. The question mark is his on the ball moments. I’ve seen him brilliantly win a ball, dodge 2 dudes on the other team but then immediately pass it to a third. Sometimes he doesn’t even dodge the second dude, leading to some dangerous movements going the other way. But lord help the other team if Blom came to play. They won’t get the ball past midfield.

Are they their ceiling, or are they their floor

Adeniran, Jackson, Vassilev

Adeniran - I love this dude. 6’ 5” with pace? And skills? HOO BOY that trivela against Austin *fans self*. The problem is sometimes he seems to forget what he’s good at. For a dude as fast as he is, he doesn’t try to get in behind a whole heckuva lot even though when he does it causes all sorts of problems for the other team. And while as stated I love the 1v6 Adeniran vs the world goals, there’s a bunch of times those moments ended instead with him giving away possession. 

Jackson - Because I am a huge CITY fan and also a huge geek, I play pokemon Nuzlockes where I name the pokemon I catch after CITY players. Means a whole lot more to me if I’m in a battle and if Klauss faints I have to release him, let me tell you. Anyways, where I’m going with this is I did a Nuzlocke a few months ago and named the Abra I caught Jackson. When my wife asked why, my response was, “Because he either magically wins you the match, or teleports himself right out of it.”

Vassilev - Indy might be my favorite person on the team, just as an overall human being. Every piece of social media content CITY puts out with him have been hilarious, and the interviews of him I’ve listened to reinforce that. And I absolutely see it sometimes on the field; when he was playing the 10 for that string of games, especially against Kansas, I was convinced that was his best position. Kind of still am honestly. But I’ve also seen… I dunno, just some overall shakiness. His passes sometimes aren’t on target. Strings of attacking movements sometimes end with him passing back because he didn’t move quick enough to connect to the next piece. But man if he develops… *shivers*

Starting caliber, but probably won’t due to health/fitness/other

Alm, Dyhr

Alm - I honestly think Alm is one of our better players, and our best off the ball player by far. The amount of times he makes runs trying to get in behind or even just to draw coverage and create space is incredible. I’m kinda worried it’s why he can’t seem to stay healthy, but hopefully this season is better for him once he comes back.

Dyhr - I might be jumping the shark on this, but I really don’t think so. In preseason it already looks like they moved Hiebert back to CB and have had a patchwork group of people play LB aside from Markanich, and while I thought Markanich played well at the end of last season for the most part even though I haven’t seen Dyhr play personally, his pedigree makes me confident he’ll take the starting LB job once he’s up to speed.

The current match fit fullbacks

Totland, Markanich

Totland - The title of this category makes it seem like I view Totland as a placeholder, which I absolutely don’t; based on what I’ve seen of him in pre-season he almost could be included in the “Slam Dunk Starter” category but I held off because A: it seems premature even if he looks good in pre-season, and B: I didn’t want to detract from the 4 names in that category. He also didn’t fit well in any other category I thought up, so here he is.

Markanich - Good role player for us last season and a perfectly functional left back. Sometimes I get thrown off on him because he looks 12 years old but is 6’1”. I fully expect him to start this first game for fitness/other concerns, but for the reasons I listed above I don’t see him as the full time starter long term.

Starter? Or Super Sub?

Thórrison, Pompeu

Thórrison - Lutz and co. seem really high on him, and see above note regarding my trust in Lutz. He looked fine to me, nothing to complain about, but I haven't seen anything that locks him as a starter to me yet but he’s definitely good enough to see important minutes. We’ll see how they utilize him.

Pompeu - Now THIS dude, oh man, honestly I think he’s the most exciting player on the ball we got. If we need a dude to win a 1v1 with the game on the line he’s the guy that gets the ball. There’s only two reasons I don’t think he’ll start; he’s not all that great defensively, and I think he’ll make the most impact as fresh legs vs tired legs. I really, REALLY want him to develop into a no brainer starting winger and think he’s maybe 2% away.

Great human beings, most likely bench warmers

Hiebert, Watts, Nerwinski

I have nothing against any of these dudes individually or as a group, they all have their strengths and weaknesses, I just think at the positions they play there are better starting options. That’s all there is to it.

If they make the matchday squad at all, it’s on the bench

Glover, McSorley, Kijima, Wentzel

These guys have all gotten preseason minutes, and it would not surprise me if some saw 1st team minutes this year or were impact players in our future, but not for this game.

P.S - After I wrote the first draft of this I watched the pre-season game against LAFC and out of all the names in this tier Kijima I think will see consistent first team minutes first. He isn't quite there yet but I see why they drafted him.

Ben Lundt

Ben Lundt. Look, you need a back-up keeper on the bench, and it’s this guy for the moment. I honestly think he’s good, he looks like a starting caliber MLS goalie when I’ve seen him play, he just happens to play on the same team as the guy who’d play goalie on the team where God plays the number 10. Not his fault, but that’s the way it is.

Gun to my head line-up

In pre-season games so far Carnell has them playing a lot of two striker up top formations with Klauss dropping back further behind to play sort of a false 9. I personally have reservations about playing both Adeniran and Klauss at the same time, since they're very similar strikers, but I don't feel like Carnell is hiding any plans here. That being said, you also have a tight set of games the first few weeks, and I could see them wanting to rest one or the other too. So with that in mind, here's my predicted starting 11. Thanks for reading!

4-2-2-2

Klauss    Adeniran

Jackson                                Vassilev

Durkin    Lowen

Markanich    Parker    Yaro    Totland

Bürki