There are few, if any, players in Major League Soccer that have had a more profound impact on their club than David Villa has for New York City Football Club. He has scored 72 goals for NYCFC since 2015, more than any other player in the league. Saturday against Colorado was his day and he took full advantage of it by scoring a brace as NYCFC drubbed an outmatched Rapids team four to zero.
NYCFC are unbeaten at home this season winning all five games they have played at Yankee Stadium. They have also have played the toughest schedule in MLS so far, making their twenty four overall points and second place in the East even more impressive. David Villa has been a big part of that. scoring seven of the club’s goals and on a rainy Saturday in the Bronx he started off doing what he did best. After a poor clearance by goalkeeper Tim Howard, Maxi Moralez sent Villa a fine pass and the captain notched his first by sending a great shot into the back of the net. Tim Howard had no chance. This would only get worse for Colorado in the second half.
Despite being ahead Patrick Vieira expressed frustration at how his team played in the first half but after the game had good things to say. “I think it’s just the attitude, we came back in the second half with better concentration, determination and I think we respected the game more in the second half than we did in the first half. We know that we are a good team we have really good players, but that’s not enough to win football matches we have to respect the game plan, we have to respect the game, we have to play together because if we think one player will make us win the game its wrong. That’s why I felt that we played much better in the second half, we played as a team and that allowed us to create those chances and score the goals.”
It did not take long for the team to show Vieira that they had listened to the halftime speech. In the 49th minute, after a nice give and go between Villa and Jo Inge Berget, Berget found himself with a one on one opportunity against Howard. Howard made a great save but the ball popped out and right to a Ronald Matarrita who calmly headed it home. Berget again found Villa seven minutes later. Villa dribbled to the center of the pitch and somehow got the ball to a wide open Moralez who sent a great shot past Howard for the third goal. But Villa’s day was not done. Rodney Wallace came on and found Villa again in the 74th minute and Villa claimed his second goal of the day. This was his day. Patrick Vieira had this to say about Villa’s performance.
“I think you have to give credit to the players around him. I think he performed well, he didn’t play at his best today but still scored two goals because of the players around work hard and work well. I think we have a system that allows him to express himself, we have players around who work hard to try to help him to express himself and of course when you put it all together I think that that allows him to show his talent. Even when he will be 45 and you put him on front of goal he will continue to keep scoring goals because of the quality, he is a goal scorer. I think what is really important is to create a system and the system that we have fits his talents really well and we have players around him that don’t get much credit, but they are working really hard to allow him and the players around to express their talent. I think all the credit goes to the team and of course to him because you have to need to finish those chances, but I’m not surprised. He’s been doing it since he was fifteen years old so he knows how to score goals, he’s so calm in front of the goal he’s so composed and he knows where the goal is.”
There were not many bright points on the day for Colorado who looked out gunned, out matched and exhausted by the end of the game. They must go home an lick their wounds and try to regroup. NYCFC Looked good but not perfect in a new formation designed to combat the high press that exposed them in the games against Portland and Red Bulls. The 3-4-1-2 formation with Alexander Ring dropping back and Berget moving more centrally worked well. All the players performed and executed in their new roles and the score line very easily could have been more lopsided than it was. But this was against a struggling Colorado team. NYCFC will travel to Houston on Friday where they will face a tougher test. Saturday was Villa’s day. He lived up to the billing and the team can rest easy before they start their training again on Monday knowing that they have a player like Villa on their side.
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