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Happy with the Point on the Road Against one of the best offense in the Eastern Conference, the Montreal Impact defense was able to keep their discipline and shutout David Villa for the first time at home this season. Even though his play was instrumental to Wallace's goal, David Villa was kept off the score sheet for NYCFC. It could have been better, of course, but a 1-1 draw at Yankees Stadium versus an offense who had put 4 goals past DC United's goalkeeper last week is an accomplishment unto itself. It wasn't pretty, but Montreal was able to keep the score close. Montreal was dominated in the first half but with a mix of blocked attempts on goal and bad accuracy by the trio of Villa-Moralez-Wallace, the Impact kept the result in striking distance. Even though they conceded a late goal in the first half, the Montreal defense was more disciplined and focused than in the previous two games. No early yellows (no yellow card period for IMFC's backline), no dangerous or questionable tackles in the box, so basically, a very well rounded performance by the defense. Their best of the season. What really caught my attention once again was the performance of the defensive midfield and Patrice Bernier. The assist of Bernier on Montreal's equalizer scored by Dom Oduro at the 68' is a sight to be seen! A great read of the play, followed by a pinpoint accurate lob pass to Oduro, bypassing the entire midfield of NYCFC (Pirlo included) to create the scoring chance that would become Montreal's first away goal in 2017. Montreal's control of the midfield late in the game Saturday gave them a few chances to score the game winner, but a post by Piatti and a few great saves by Sean Johnson kept it at 1-1. Going back to the captain, Patrice Bernier's play has been outstanding in the last 2 games; from ball possession control to controlling the pace of the game, to creating time, space and looks on goal for his teammates, Patrice has been the spark of the offense in 2017. Since the snafus of the first game, the ball movement in the midfield has been excellent. High 80s and 90s of passing accuracy, controlling the tempo of the game, finding the open men on the flanks and using them to move the block forward, all adjustments and directives by Mauro Biello that have been well executed by the Montreal Impact midfield. Even with the late switch on the starting 11 of Marco Donadel for Callum Mallace, Marco "felt something" during the warm up, the midfield accomplished its mission of giving opportunities to the offense to be, no pun intended, impactful. All in all, 1 point at Yankees Stadium, 1 goal conceded and good game adjustments and substitutions by the manager made for an appreciated trip to the Big Apple by the players. A win was possible, even probable with the pressure Montreal was putting in late, but a draw is manageable and hopeful for the next few difficult games ahead. View full record

Every Friday, I will give my keys to victory for the Montreal Impact, in 3 points! Point 1 Backline Discipline The Montreal Impact defense have already racked up 4 yellow cards in the first 2 games, particularly early in the first halves ( Camara, Duvall and Ciman). On top of exposing your team to the risk of having a player sent off, those early yellows affect the way the player on notice approaches his tackle opportunities. On a very small pitch like the one at Yankees Stadium, the fraction of a second loss to hesitation from the defender on notice can prove quite costly and before you know it, you find yourself defending David Villa in the box . You add the Laurent Ciman 76' foul in the box against Seattle and you have a situation where after 2 games, 3 precious points were lost due to the lack of discipline by the Montreal Impact defense. For a positive result this Saturday in the Big Apple, patience and discipline are the directives for Montreal's backline. Point 2 Possession and Transition in the Midfield Last week, the midfield executed very well the game plan of having the ball and transitioning it successfully higher up the pitch, creating breakthroughs in Seattle's defense. The passing accuracy of the three defensive midfielders (Bernier 84.6% Donadel 91.1% Bernardello 93.6%) was quite impressive and quite an improvement from week 1. This is even more important in an environment like Yankees Stadium, where the edge of the box and the midfield line are not that far apart. If the defensive midfield trio of Montreal is able to replicate the passing accuracy performances of last week you will see a Montreal ball possession transition more efficiently from midfield to the last third of the field, thus creating more theoretical goal scoring chances for Piatti, Mancosu and Co. Point 3 Beware of Villa-Moralez-Wallace If it's not one of them, it's all three. The prolific trio that led to four goals versus DC United last week, is the main goal scoring threat for NYCFC. If you can eliminate the threat on New York's left side of the attack by suffocating the service to it, you give yourself a better path to victory. Which brings us again to the battle in the midfield. If Montreal is able to stop NYCFC's transition at the Mattarita and Pirlo level, they might have a shot at suffocating the service to their favored offensive threat. Easier said then done. You can follow Kevin Laramee on Twitter @KevLaramee Off the Woodworkx, a podcast about the Montreal Impact available on ITunes View full record