- NYC is now winless in its last 5 Away games. In 2017 the longest Away winless streak was 2 games. In 2016 the team had one streak of 5 games winless Away, while achieving the best overall Away record in its short history. In 2015 the club had both a 5 and 6 game winless Away streak (and 0.882 PPG). The 2017 away record was 1.294 PPG, 6 Wins and 22 points. 2016 was 1.412 PPG, 7 Wins and 24 points (against just 8 wins /30 points at home).
- With 9 Away games left, 3-2-4 gets 22 points to match last year, and that is well within reach, though we hoped for better. 4-2-3 yields 24 points and matching 2016. The optimistic reach goal would be 5-2-2 and 26 Away points.
- With all that, it’s starting to appear that if NYC is going to win either SS or the 2-year CCL spot, they will have to do so with one of the best Home records in the league and a solid Away record. Going into the season I very much expected the opposite.
- NYC has the Fourth Best PPG and third in the East after a brutal schedule. The upcoming opponents are legitimately tough but 6 of 7 are at home and NYC needs to dominate or probably resign itself to a one-game playoff round (or hope other teams stumble even more). Fortunately there remains a somewhat substantial gap between NYC and 5th place, so at worst that 1-game playoff should be at home (Stadium TBD).
- Full season goals and how to get there:
- Well, exceeding 70 points was always a stretch, but it seemed a reasonable stretch to consider after the first 7 games. We are starting to reach a point, though, where it would take a run of truly uncommon form to get there. To reach that, the team cannot lose more than 2 games over the last 21, or it can lose 3 (and even 4) but win nearly every game it does not lose. I’m not ready to drop those possibilities from the chart, but disappointments in the next 7 games could do it.
- Finally, the line graphs, and again, with the worst of the schedule probably behind us, there is hope the lines start moving up.
- The last Goal Differential downturn in 2018 caused by the Houston loss is obscured by the 2017 line. The team GD for both years was 9 after Game 12 and 7 after Game 13.
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