A dominant display in the World’s Borough last night saw New York City FC rightfully finish this stretch of home games with back-to-back wins.
FC Dallas just couldn’t step up and take hold of any aspect of the game. For a team performing well in the Western Conference, Dallas showed too much respect to NYCFC, and the Boys in Blue capitalized on that deference. New York City were able to play past the Dallas press and constantly put themselves into scoring scenarios. The stable back line, the fluidity of the midfield, and the gelling of a front three of Santiago Rodríguez, Talles Magno, and Gabriel Pereira won the night.
Let’s be honest, the 3-1 scoreline was ultimately flattering to Dallas. Rodriguez, Talles Magno, and Pereira could have scored more than those three goals. What we saw on display last night will boost the team, and fans, as we moved forward this season.
This was the first game this season when it felt like everything was clicking for NYCFC.
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But a work in progress is not without its flaws: NYCFC could not ice this performance with a clean sheet. Absolutely woeful defending on a corner led to a consolation goal for Dallas. This was more-or-less a theme throughout the game, as the most dangerous threats on goal from Dallas came from set pieces.
Goalkeeper Luis Barraza’s play could be a point of concern for those watching the game. While the keeper pulled out some excellent saves, they felt almost lucky at times. Poor clearances, questionable decision-making, and an inability to control easy shots: Dallas could have scored early and put NYCFC on the back foot.
Is it time for a change in goal? Barraza is growing into the position with more game time, but the question remains.
All those shaky moments in the back, while worrisome, don’t sit in the forefront of my mind when remembering last night’s game. I think everyone will be buzzing about this tenacious display of attackers, and have much more hope for NYCFC this season.
I’ll disagree with you on Luis Barraza. He’s been pretty good in goal, better than anyone expected. His save percentage is over 70%, top 5 in passing %, GAA, saves, etc…. are all top half of the league. He has proven week after week that he can stop shots in open play. There are 10 other guys responsible for set pieces. To call what he is doing ‘luck’ is an insult to his hard work and superb positioning.
I think it is Nitpicking if your Criticism is based on a couple punches that didn’t clear the 18.
Stats show he has outperformed Sean Johnson this far in the season at a fraction of the price.
I highly disagree that Barraza has not been performing well. From my perspective he has outperformed Johnson in many aspects, he is much better with his feet, can actually catch corners and crosses (let’s remember how bad comunicaciones exploited that specific weakness from Johnson), and a good goalkeeper is also a lucky goalkeeper. His #1 job is to stop the goal, it is the defense’s job to clear the ball if the keeper is not able to make a perfect clearance. Taking him out would be a huge mistake.
Looking at the pre match warm up you can see that the coach is addressing the team’s issues game by game, this is the first time we have seen players shoot from distance consistently, plus I love seeing them use Keaton’s height more; now if they can only get Magno to pass the ball more often we are likely to score a few more goals a game. Keeper is not a position that needs changing at the moment.
let me stay in the middle here re: Barraza’s performance.
1. yes i’m happy with how he’s been doing. far exceeding expectation. and do agree, he’s way more reliable than Johnson. if you guys looked at the latest Philly:TFC, would totally agree. (sure it caused also with sh^tty Toronto defense, but Sean started showing all the worries as a package, especially the inability/indecisiveness of making a decision between wait or come up.
2. however, yes Barraza still misses some fine touches—to become a MLS ‘highly regarded’ caliber goalie. his punching—while extremely nimble/reactive—falls usually rather to the opponent than cleared off, and his direct kick fell down to have become a dangerous second ball opportunity for Dallas’ MDs. gotta say, tho, most of them also got caused by NYCFC’s dangerous habit of defender’s circulating the ball like from the scratch. our defenders/DMs didn’t give Barraza enough time, and Dallas was totally ‘aiming’ on it. i mean we outperformed them, but how Dallas operated last night seemed to totally ‘foresee’ how we are gonna move by giving us overpressure in their front line. it’s a ‘known’ fact, NYCFC build up starts from circulating the ball all the way down to the goalie. Barraza should show a bit more confidence at handling the quick passes when the opponent presses us hard. this will be tested with high pressing teams like RB or Phillies.
IMO, fair to say Barraza’s doing a good job, with cautions. sure dramatic saves are looking good—at which Sean Johnson was shining often times—but not putting himself into a dangerous position A. by being able to control the bottom D line + B. a bit more decisive + precision at quick handling are still required quality for him to be a real No.1 goalie of a high flight PO qualified team.