Three things we learned at Seattle on Saturday afternoon…
1.Big Day for the Defense
Let’s start with the defense, defense can win you championships and make you successful, for me, seeing the change Jefferson Mena coming into the lineup was always going to be a question mark. It was a big moment for him personally to step into the lineup in place of Jason Hernandez and do a job. He did a fantastic job. I was little bit nervous when he started the game, but he did a great job he was really solid, communicated very well aside Fredric Brilliant, who I thought was very good today and the team defended as a whole unit.
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It wasn’t just about the back four today and the way they defended and limited the opportunities for Seattle, it was about the team how hard they were working and it starts from the front three. David Villa’s work rate was exceptional, but also Jack Harrison and Tommy McNamara, they were really defensive minded today they were behind the ball they were making it very difficult for Seattle to play their game and they were forced to play a lot of longer passes and certainly change their game plan just a little bit because of how hard the midfield was working and how hard the front 3 was working as well so defensively.
SEE NYCFC AT THE NEW YORK DERBY ON JULY 3
What we see was a terrific performance and that defensive performance brought the 3 points back to NYCFC because the whole team played as an absolute unit and Patrick Vieira was delighted with the way that his team defended as well so we learned that defense can certainly give you success and on the road it’s so important to have.
2. Good match for Josh Saunders
So important to get a clean sheet for Saunders. Not many clean sheets so far this season and Saunders confidence has certainly taken a hit conceding goals. It is so important for the team to get a clean sheet going forward especially with the Derby coming up and big games coming up over the month.
So having the zero gives Saunders the confidence but it also bleeds through the team, the defense picks up on that confidence. It’s a really big moment that Saunders comes to Seattle and he has a shutout, and that’s great thing to have, but defensively they limited the opportunities there was only twos shots on target from Seattle the whole game and that’s a credit to the way the team played not only Saunders, but the whole team.
3.Take your chances on the road
Playing against a team that doesn’t score many goals but certainly does not concede many goals, you need to know when to take your chances. Seattle has gone a number of games where they haven’t had much success but defensively they’ve been pretty well-organized.
You know that when you play against a team like Seattle who are struggling in the Western conference that chances will be few and far between, so making sure you’re on your toes and you’re alert and you’re a aware to take those opportunities when they come your way is just so important and we saw that on Saturday, we took our chances, we had six shots on target, two of those ended up in the back of the net.
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Frank Lampard scores in his second consecutive match, and then we see Ronald Matarrita pushing forward after the substitution with Ethan White coming onto the field. Matarrita found himself at the right place at the right time, all he needed was one opportunity and Matarrita made it 2-nil. Taking your chances is so vital if you need success.
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Ian Joy
is an analyst on the YES Network's telecasts of NYCFC.
Joy played over 250 league games for five different teams in England, Scotland, Germany, and the MLS. Joy's 14-year pro career started in Scotland before he moved on to England and then to Germany (playing for Hamburger SV and then FC St Pauli in the Bundesliga). After joining Real Salt Lake in 2008, he helped the team reach the playoffs that year, the first post-season berth in franchise history. After an injury-plagued start to the 2009 MLS season for Real Salt Lake, Joy returned to Germany for a brief spell before accepting an offer stateside to captain the 2010 Portland Timbers team in what would turn out to be his last-ever season as a player.
Following his retirement, Joy did TV and radio color commentary for FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake. From August 2012, Joy had been a soccer analyst for beIN Sports, where he has held multiple roles including color commentator and studio analyst working on Serie A, French Ligue 1 and La Liga telecasts. He also hosted beIN Sports' 2014 World Cup studio show from Rio.
In August 2015 Joy moved to FOX Sports where he hosts the Bundesliga and Europe League coverage.
Joy was born in San Diego and was raised in Scotland.
