NYCFC vs. Brondby

GAME POST:

NYCFC 0 - 2 Brondby

Yesterday i was lucky enough to get myself from Surrey to Manchester to watch our 2nd pre-season friendly at the academy stadium at Manchester City. An incredible facility and unbelievable set up for all of the fans to enjoy.

I do believe that although we may have lost 2-0 there are plenty of positives to take from this game. Also highlighting the fact that making 10 half time substitutes probably changes what the true reflection of the game should have been. Personally from the sidelines i could see that the trio of Grabavoy, Mix & Jacobsen was used to retain possession at all costs, with Mix being the deeper of the three so that he was able to pick up the ball from the back 4. This also allowed more freedom for the forward 3 allowing more creativity and movement, all be it one of them being Nemec who adds a completely different dimension to the team.

I felt that particularly Mix had a good half, a few passes may have gone astray yes. however he played a few remarkable balls cross field along with many simple balls in the middle third. Already in just 45 minutes of football we can see the class and steadiness to the team he will bring.

The parts of the game we seem to be missing is something that Kreis pointed out in his first interview after the St Mirren game. We have a lack of retention of the ball in the final third and we have yet been able to counter on any defensive mistakes from the oppositions. This is something that hopefully we can see develop over the final few pre season games before the huge opener on March 8th.

In the second half there were a few bright sparks that particularly caught my eye. Mainly Poku yet again having a solid performance along with Shay Facey who has proved so far that his is capable of stepping up into the MLS and personally i hope we sign him on loan (space permitting of course). Also Alvarez showed his quality of delivery from set pieces along with Tony Taylor who shows what a handful hes going to be for opposition defenders all season long.

I think despite the result there is plenty of options and I'm sure plenty of knocks on Jason Kreis's door for a starting place come the game vs Orlando. Hopefully the upcoming games give us and Jason a better idea of the structure that we are going to be playing with, along with the players most suited for the way of football!

K :)