Match Thread: May 29, 2019 - HFX Wanderers v. York 9

[narduch]

Match is at 7pm local (6pm ET) on One Soccer.

Battle of the basement. Both teams are looking to rebound from 2-0 losses on the weekend.

Edited May 28, 2019 by narduch

[Copes]

I'm very optimistic for Halifax. If both Perea and Williams are back, I think we are stronger across the field. I hope we see the "Staring XI" that Hart plans to play moving forward. York and Pacific are the two teams we are fighting with at the bottom. Two wins at home against other low-table teams would give us 6 points - for a total of 9 after 6 (just one point behind Forge at the same number). 

I'm done hoping we win the Spring - time to get ready for the Fall. But I do think we can finish mid-high table if we can string together some solid performances with a healthy squad. 

York and Pacific will of course be hoping to do the same. Hopefully we can put the home field to good use.

[grasshopper1917]

I agree we are out of the spring race for sure. I think now it is important to get some positives to carry forward into the fall season. This is the time to do it we have the two weaker teams in the league home back to back. I think we need o to take at least 4 of those points and show some spark. Clearly we also have to show some offensive life.

If we don't get any results from these 2 games its hard to see a way forward in the rest of the spring competition.

I guess what im saying is we are going to have to see a sense of urgency tomorrow - because these two games are critical for taking something positive out of the spring session.

[Terry_Canuck]

Oh how we miss Perea from the line-up.  We've had mostly the same defensive back four, but an ever changing midfield and front line.

I'm forever the optimist though and I do think we will take all 3 points, but it might be a scrappy 1-0 win.

[Mikmacdo]

Hopefully Cox gets the start for York. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Way more blue and red dots showing for this one on Ticketmaster than usual. Looks like Saturday might be heading for a sellout though.

[KW519]

1 hour ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Way more blue and red dots showing for this one on Ticketmaster than usual. Looks like Saturday might be heading for a sellout though.

All that time you spend lurking ticket master..do you ever buy a ticket to support the league?

[Ansem]

Perea is back

 

[Ams1984]

25 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Perea is back

 

Who will play forward for York 9? It looks like maybe Gattas alone up top? Why no Cox?

[Zem]

Oof, tough start for Wanderers. 4th-minute hand ball in the box results in a penalty, which Gattas converts for his second goal of the season.

[Mikmacdo]

30 minutes ago, Ams1984 said:

Who will play forward for York 9? It looks like maybe Gattas alone up top? Why no Cox?

Cox didnt make the trip. 4-1-4-1 formation. 

[jonovision]

These may be two of the bottom feeders but in terms of action and style of play this has been one of the more pleasant watches of the season (for a neutral). Seems like a decent crowd given the weather.

Edited May 29, 2019 by jonovision

[Unnamed Trialist]

I like this match too, however sloppy, it is intense and the play is attractive in its own way. 

The ref is pretty good considering, it has not been easy to keep under control. I like how he smiles through all the yellows he shows.

There was an interesting play exemplary of the new rules m. 53 whereby attackers can't be within a metre of the wall--they set up in front and off to the side of the wall, and then Langwa I think it was tried to go under them but shot just wide. Just an unusual tactical variation and perhaps even worse for the keeper.

Porter is a very sloppy player, I would not play him if he cannot learn to make a basic pass and show the minimal football intelligence of a pro. Some guys need to be sent back to the workshop for repairs. I'm saying this as I saw the same the last YOrk9 match I watched.

EDIT: The scale and feel of this stadium, the fan presence, is the one I like best in CPL. I think it could still be improved on, in little and bigger details (and maybe a future covered stand or few), but it is, for me, what I would like to have across the league.

Edited May 29, 2019 by Unnamed Trialist

[Mikmacdo]

Gattas should have scored on that giveaway. Telfer and Ingham are tge only impressive players on york in the 3 or 4 games ive watched. 

[Ams1984]

5 minutes ago, Mikmacdo said:

Gattas should have scored on that giveaway. Telfer and Ingham are tge only impressive players on york in the 3 or 4 games ive watched. 

Definitely should’ve scored, but I disagree that they’re the only impressive ones. Gasparotto has been solid, and I’d say Emilio Estevez looks pretty useful. 

[grasshopper1917]

Was a great game to watch from my vantage point in the stands. Lots of great chances and excitement. I feel we should have won. A crossbar and i'm not 100% sure why that goal was called off. 

However I do admit im a bit biased 

 

[Shortdutchcanuck]

1 hour ago, Mikmacdo said:

Gattas should have scored on that giveaway. Telfer and Ingham are tge only impressive players on york in the 3 or 4 games ive watched. 

I've actually been quite impressed with Abzi as well.  Young, good combination of size, athleticism, and skill.  I think he has a bright future ahead of him.  And of course Gasparotto and Gogarty have been very solid too.

[Copes]

51 minutes ago, grasshopper1917 said:

Was a great game to watch from my vantage point in the stands. Lots of great chances and excitement. I feel we should have won. A crossbar and i'm not 100% sure why that goal was called off. 

However I do admit im a bit biased 

My thoughts echo yours. I know both teams wanted it, but Halifax should feel a bit more hard done I think. Far more clear chances, a crossbar, and a called off goal that I don't think should have been called off. This performance was sloppy, but I'll take it over most of our others. There were some flashes of attractive soccer and some quality shown.

[Mikmacdo]

21 minutes ago, Shortdutchcanuck said:

I've actually been quite impressed with Abzi as well.  Young, good combination of size, athleticism, and skill.  I think he has a bright future ahead of him.  And of course Gasparotto and Gogarty have been very solid too.

Gasparotto and gogarty have been ok but they weren't the best cb on the field today. 

[Shortdutchcanuck]

8 minutes ago, Mikmacdo said:

Gasparotto and gogarty have been ok but they weren't the best cb on the field today. 

No with those 2 I meant through the season as a whole.  Gasparotto particularly has impressed me, Gogarty more surprised me because  I wasn't expecting that much.  Haven't seen the game tonight yet because I was at Forge FC game.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[HfxCeltic]

That was a fun game! Kudos to everyone for showing up on another rainy and cold night!

Thought we deserved more; match could have easily been 3-1 or 3-2 for the Wanderers. The foul to call back Schaale's 2nd goal was bullshit, Perea hit the crossbar, and Arnone almost gave 5000 people a collective heart attack.

Perea is very good at what he does - hold up play, dribbling in tight spaces to find the right pass and open up the field, his spatial IQ. It's very clear he's the man up front. Thought the midfield finally had some organization and cohesiveness - Simmons played well, Iida was Iida, and John does the small, almost unnoticeable things really well. His first touch volley to clear the box after a corner kick was absolutely perfect - I have no idea how he reacted so quickly to a flicked on wet ball. Schaale seemed to struggle a bit on the distribution side - think the wet field and ball troubled him a bit. Williams made some key saves and collected the ball well; although his clearances seem to get caught in this imaginary wind and hardly ever hit the half line.

Nearly all of the goals (including yesterday's penalty) or half-chances we've conceded so far have been from low crosses - seems we shored that up a bit, but there were still some scary moments in our box. I'm not sure if Schaale and Arnone cleared those crosses better, or if York just didn't have the movement to attack those spaces like Cavalry, Forge, Valour, and Vaughn did. Have to say though, as the game went on, it seemed Bona and Langwa were preventing more and more of those crosses from coming into danger areas.

No substitutions made by the Wanderers, so am a little concerned we'll see a lot of squad rotation on Saturday vs Pacific. At least there might be some sun!

[Copes]

24 minutes ago, HfxCeltic said:

 

No substitutions made by the Wanderers, so am a little concerned we'll see a lot of squad rotation on Saturday vs Pacific. At least there might be some sun!

I hope not, but I suspect you're right. I think that the team we saw last night was quite close to our "preferred XI". I always want to see Schaale / Langwa / John / Kourouma / Perea on the field so I hope we can at least maintain that. If we had Bona -> Sukunda, Iida -> Guti I think those would be sidegrades. Arnone -> N'sa or Hocine would be an upgrade. Williams -> Oxner is a slight downgrade. Garcia -> anyone, Simmons -> Outtara would likely be downgrades. 

We'll see what we see. Perea is the biggest one for me though. He is all about the holdup play, which is fine, but there were numerous instances where he successfully launched other attackers. That is something we haven't had, and its something we desperately need. I feel like Skublak has a build that could also play this way, but he is very very raw compared to Perea.

[ironcub14]

14 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Porter is a very sloppy player, I would not play him if he cannot learn to make a basic pass and show the minimal football intelligence of a pro. Some guys need to be sent back to the workshop for repairs. I'm saying this as I saw the same the last YOrk9 match I watched.

Agreed, Porter's only viable position for this team at the moment seems to be RB. He has been downright poor when played at CM or at LW over the month. His best game so far was the season opener vs. Hamilton when he led the team in most of the defensive stats playing at RB, and he can overlap and such, though his crosses haven't been very good.

[ironcub14]

12 hours ago, Shortdutchcanuck said:

I've actually been quite impressed with Abzi as well.  Young, good combination of size, athleticism, and skill.  I think he has a bright future ahead of him.  And of course Gasparotto and Gogarty have been very solid too.

Gogarty has been pretty good defensively, but his technique on the ball is easily the worst among the Y9 players I've seen, both the starters and from the bench. He sticks out on the team in terms of how many times he miscontrols the ball, and how often his passes get intercepted or blocked. He may be a CB, but the CBs are often the ones to initiate the attack, so all of his attacking aspects are relevant as well.

Abzi has been good, has given much credence to the idea that this league should have recruited far many more than just 1 or 2 PLSQ players. Gasparotto and Ingham have been without a doubt the best two players for Y9. Estevez is very slippery, which is really good to have, but his final pass has been not good, his only good kill pass so far has been the one that led to Adjei's goal vs. Calgary. I'd say Murofushi has been the most impressive among the CMs so far, though he's been prone to turnovers as well.

The player that makes me wonder the most about what his best position is and where he could be most effective for us is Telfer. I could write 2-3 paragraphs on it easily but I won't lol, just debating whether he's going to be more useful for us as a RW or as a LB. It's not as cut and dried as people would expect.