St. Louis CITY SC

What questions do you have about the team, league, rules, etc?

3-3 draw.

Discuss.

Kijima played a great game. Speed and skill where beyond impressive. His touch and determination is what the team needs.

His outlet ball to Indy for the second City goal was world class. Excited to see his continued development.

This is the third installment of my posts where I provide my thoughts on the team to try and a discussion and learn where we differ. If you’re interested, you can read part 2 here and part 1 here.

Last time around, I led with the statement “No Löwen? No goals.” We’ve only seen Löwen back now for a handful of minutes, and I think I was right on the money. But, it isn’t the whole story.

Löwen, other than Burki, is likely our best player by a large margin. Looking back to last Saturday against Seattle, the entire game shifted when he stepped on the pitch. He didn’t just play for St. Louis City, he was City. Löwen’s ability to pick out passes and create chances is unparalleled within our squad, and missing him was a massive hit to the team and that’s been proven in just 100 minutes. 

My hope is that Löwen can finally help the biggest problem since I wrote my last post and even before that. We can’t finish for shit. Every time we get into the final third, it seems like play just stands still and we can’t progress towards the goal. Extra passes, misplaced balls, and a general lack of what to do has plagued this team. Löwen brings creativity and pure talent to the attack at a time when we really need it.

Now that brings me to the “Löwen isn’t the whole story” part. One player does not make a team. I live and die by the Polish National Team, but even with Lewandowski, arguably one of the best strikers of this generation, we’re absolute dogshit. I could write a whole book on why the Poland sucks literal ass at football with decent talent, but that is neither here nor there. They point is that football is an 11 man sport - not 1. Löwen coming back will no doubt usher in more goals, and hopefully more points, but we still need quality across the board to win games, and we’re really lacking a Gioacchini right now. 

Cedric Tuechert is Lutz’s answer to the hole left by our old number 11. I’m not trying to be pessemistic, but I’ll believe it when I see it. I haven’t watched him play enough to make any sort of judgement on whether he’ll fit in at City, so I’ll hold any commentary until he’s putting in decent shifts. I hope to God that he can fill the role that Gioacchini once played, just being able to put the fucking ball on net. If we have that, I could see us finishing much higher than our current position. 

Now the fun part. There’s been a lot of negativity in this sub - some of it coming from me, I’ll admit - but I think this is the most exciting time for CIty since our first game almost a year and a half ago. We have less points than the same time last season, but I think we’re much better than we were last year. I spoken extensively in my last few posts about our inability to play through the midfield, and if we can figure than part out, we’d be golden. I think we’re finally getting there. I absolutely hated watching the kick and run footy we used to play, just launching the ball up to Klauss and watching him work his magic. It wasn’t sustainable then, and it isn’t sustainable now. Let’s also remember the sheer number of goals that we were scoring from set pieces last season, and now we’re finally scoring fairly consistently from open play. 

We’ve needed to lose games and tie (a lot) more to get to this point, but I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Being able to play through the midfield is essential to a good and sustainable strategy, and I’m really excited for what comes next this season. I certainly haven’t been the most optimistic person when it came to City in the past, but I feel it now. Big things are coming. 

I had written the preceding analysis before the Miami game and intended to leave it there. It was overall positive and I was finding a lot to like. Bradley Carnell sucks at managing the game while we're playing. The entire Miami game we were in control and we were the better team, and we easily would have walked away with 3 points had BC not subbed on Hiebert and Thor and parked the bus. He makes the exact same mistakes week in and week out and never seems to learn from them. Parking the bus didn’t work the first 4 times, but surely the 5th will buck the trend! Of the 8 draws we’ve had, probably about 6 of them have come from games we should have won, but due to poor decision making in the second half, we ended up with 1 point instead of 3. Miami was just another addition to that tally. I’m not calling for the gaffer’s head quite yet, but it doesn’t take a football genius to realize that parking the bus never works for us and to finally make some smart subs instead of subbing people in and out willy nilly. I had come into the Miami game expecting nothing but I still left watching that game disappointed. 

Now that my rant is over, that brings us to my favorite segment - Stars, Standouts, and Stinkers. Just like last time stars are those we are seeing put down really good performances consistently, standouts have shown the have massive potential but don’t bring it every game, and stinkers, well, stink. (-) means that the player is in the same bracket as last time or I didn't rank them. (-1) and (+1) mean moving down or up, respectively.

Stars:

Burki (-)

• Bürki is St. Louis City and St. Louis City is Bürki. I don’t even want to imagine where we would be if we didn’t have him.

Totland (-)

• Tots has been massive for this club. With our right and left backs, we’ve always struggled with finding someone that has good offensive upside but still defends well. We’ve found that with Tots and it has proved massive for our attack and backline.

Durkin (-)

• Durkin fits the City system perfectly. He came up massive against Miami and has proven to be a good constant at CDM. If he can clean up some of the unnecessary fouls, he’d be in the running for our best outfield player

Löwen (-)

• I’ve spent most of this post describing just how essential Löwen is to our success, so I’ll leave it there.

Vassilev (-)

• Vassy has really stepped up this season. He was still very good last season, but it seems like he’s really grown into his role this season, and we’re better for it.

Standouts:

Célio (-1)

• It hurts to bump Célio down, but he hasn’t been as good as he was last time I wrote an update to this post. He is still a great play maker and his dribbles are almost godly, but he is hard too timid with the ball. It seems like there is a situation every game now where I’m shouting at the TV “Shoot the fucking ball Célio!” He holds onto the ball far too long, and instead of taking it himself, he instead waits for someone to arrive to help him and it always ends up being a poor decision.

Alm (-)

• I honestly don’t know what to write for Alm. He’s been good, but I also kinda forget he’s on the field sometimes. He always makes really fast runs to press, but nothing really every comes of it. I think Alm will benefit a lot from the presence of Löwen on the field.

Kijima (-) 

• Hosei my hero! Kijima has had massive potential since that very first goal against Dynamo is CCC. It hurt that BC wasn’t trusting him with more minutes, but instead putting AZ on (don’t you worry, we’ll get to him). Last night, Kijima was one of the best players on the field, and there were 4 legends of the game sharing it with him! I foresee starts coming for Kijima, and we’re going to be much better for it.

Klauss (+1)

• Last time around, I had Klauss as one of the only stinkers. He’s grown a lot more since then, finally seeming to feel more comfortable in the new formation and without Gio to help him up top. We haven’t seen Santa Klauss since the SKC game, where he went on an absolute tear. But since then, Klauss has been… fine? I think like many others, Klauss has struggled without Löwen’s beautiful balls. He usually has good chances, but he either bricks a clear chance or is positioned somewhere he definitely shouldn’t be. Hopefully when Tuechert arrives, we can get back to Klauss doing the work and Tuechert finishing. Klauss can get the ball where it needs to be, but he is far from the best finisher on this team. 

Stinkers:

AZ (-)

• Boy oh boy I’ve been waiting to write this. Last time I wrote a update to this series, AZ was still getting consistent starts and I called for him to ride the bench for awhile. That actually happened, and now I’m calling for AZ to be sent down to City 2. He isn’t cut out for professional football. He’s had moments this season when he wasn’t plain bad, but even with that, when he steps on the field, he is our weakest link. He’s small and gets muscled off the ball easily, and then flops to the ground to try and get a call because he simply isn’t cut out to battle with players who have fairly normal physicality for MLS. He provides this team with minimal benefit when he’s playing well, but is a massive detriment when he isn’t. With the run of form Kijima has been on, I hope to see AZ less and less. 

Big Sam (-1)

• If I had a nickle for every time a pass hit the back of Sam’s foot on a break, I’d have 4 nickles, which isn’t a lot, but isn’t it crazy it’s happened 4 times? Sam started the season off great, but he just isn’t it right now. He had so many great chances against Miami, and couldn’t capitalize on any of them. A lot of people have said that Klauss is a much better team player than Sam because he comes back to help defend. I think this is one of the biggest weaknesses of Klauss, personally. He backtracks and then ends up in a suboptimal position if the run of play turns our way. I think our 9’s shouldn’t have to be backtracking to defend. They should be waiting up top for a good ball so they can break quickly. So when Sam didn’t come back to defend, I didn’t have a big problem with it, but if you’re not going to defend you better be able to score goals. 

(for all the players not ranked, this post is already long enough and I didn't have any major thoughts about them)

Conclusion/TLDR:

I'm really excited for the next set of games. Like I mentioned before, we're finally figuring out how to create chances in open play, but we're still lacking a bit in being able to convert those chances into goals. I've been begging for Lutz to finally spend some money on a good outfield player that will be able to score goals, and I hope one of my next posts will have a lot of good to say about Tuechert. Löwen, apart from Bürki, is our most important player right now. With him on the pitch, the game completely shifts in our favor. Carnell is just straight up bad at making decisions during the game. Every manager has their own weaknesses, and I hope that BC will finally recognize that weakness and try and learn from it.

I know this was a really long post. My hope is, like always, that we can have a conversation about the good and the bad and maybe even debate my thoughts a bit. Looking back to my older posts, it's gone from a scathing review of City, a somewhat measured analysis of both the good and the bad, to now being overall pretty positive. If anything, that means we're on a positive trajectory. We might have won the western conference in the first 5 games last season, but the last 5 games will be just as important this season.

Till next time.

My man Celio gets sandwiched at the top of the box and no foul called? If that had been Messi, homeboy Chapman woulda issued multiple cards.

Nibbler ‘accidentally’ trips two people and gets a goal off one of them? Poor guy.

Offside call overturned in record time. Chapman knew the call before he even checked VAR.

It sucks to have one of our best looking offensive games tainted by dubious reffing.

Sorry, watched the game on delay and more than a bit salty about a missed opportunity here.

We would be dead last this year. He makes 2-3 at least unreal saves a game to save a point at least for us. This year and last. It would be scary if we didn’t have him.

This is hearsay, heard from my BIL’s friend who heard from a ‘reliable source’… but anyone have other information details on trouble between Carnell and the locker room / Carnell not being liked? I find it could potentially be believable… with Sam’s absence the other week, AZ’s absence last night (though, I think this could be because of performance). Am I looking too much into it?

Ok. I get it. The prevent defense is painful. “The only thing it does is prevent you from winning!” It’s painful to watch.

Last night we gave up their third goal on an a possible offside after getting behind the defense. Is that because of Parking the Bus or a breakdown in D? Many of the most vocal fans here have said that parking the bus Never works. I think that’s a bit of an emotional response.

The flip side is to not load up the D and depend on an alternative approach as a response to what is most likely a more aggressive and gambling offensive approach by the opposing team. Maybe an alternative approach would be the answer, but it’s rare that anyone provides an idea. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Parking the Bus is about having enough people back to intercept and clear passes and rebounds, etc. it may allow them more time in your end, but it gives the goalie a solid chance. Maybe we aren’t great at it, but c’mon, what is the alternative? Teams do it because it does work, however painful to watch.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdB8CZxiz5o2Ks5Sku-2qQznFu_UKmaiOMIDDHoYbw6DXlSiA/viewform

Hey everyone! Just so yall know I’m on an extended vacation so I haven’t gotten the graphic for the last one out yet. This graphic will also be a bit later than I normally do!

I’m sorry but I just don’t know if he’s ready to be a starter. Feels like every game I watch at least one goal is given up all because of a horrid mistake made by him. Didn’t like him when we added him last year tbh, and I feel like as he’s played more I’ve only grown more distaste for him

Any thoughts about the officiating tonight?

Bruh it’s not often an offsides call gets reviewed and overturned… It’s our luck it happens when we play Inter Miami 😅

The bot is broken today, so we'll use this as the match day thread.

If you're in town for the game and not here yet, get on up here! Tons of people hanging out having a good time!

I’ve lost a lot of weight and my 3xl authentic home kit looks like I’m wearing a tent. Is there anyone in the StL area with a 2xl that’s a little snug and would be willing to trade? Mine’s in awesome shape no snags, stains, or peeling logos.

I don’t know why but I’m overcome with this feeling City will beat Miami in a wild game. Screenshot this

City - 4 Miami - 2