#plus the state of the world is constantly causing existential crisis after crisis in the back of my mind

[backintheblackparade]

So, most of you know that Lucifer “”ended”” on a HUGE STONKING CLIFFHANGER, but I decided to compile a list of the OTHER plot strings that don’t deserve to be left hanging (feel free to add your own).

-Maze and Linda actually finding out about Charlotte’s death:

(a) Linda’s feelings about losing a patient, having her ex leave and fly off to heaven, and contemplate how Charlotte’s death, as the only other human “in the know” foreshadows her own future/destiny. A good place for Linda to examine her place in the world/soul-searching and how she feels about it.

(b) Maze... Though she didn’t feel particularly for or against Charlotte, the fact remains that if she had retrieved Amenadiel on Pierce’s orders she would still be alive. I think she’ll feel some guilt. ALSO, I would swear the writers were building up to our favorite demon growing a soul.

-Trixie: 

She’s a young kid whose life is in a MAJOR state of upheaval. She had a fight with her best friend, who hurt her deeply and then moved out, her father’s girlfriend was straight up MURDERED by her mom’s ex-fiance, who, wouldn’t ya know it, then attempted to kill her mom and her mom’s best friend, who in turn killed said ex-fiance. Said death/revelation is causing her mom to, in the very LEAST have an existential crisis. And in all of this, like with the Chloe-moping-on-the-couch scene after Pierce’s first dumping of Chloe, Trixie is left alone to try and pick up the pieces of the shattered adults all around her. Somebody give that kid a break.

-Dan and Ella need to find out!!1!:

(a) Dan, my poor muffin. FFS, this boy isn’t allowed to be happy for more than 2 SECONDS. His girlfriend who he just seriously committed to, and is the first relationship after a divorce, is straight-up murdered by his boss, a man who was hugely biased toward him (and bare minimum a HUGE bully towards him) but was trusted nonetheless. Turns out the Lieutenant was a serial killer all along, and one of his friends knew about it and didn’t share with the class until AFTER he’d killed Charlotte. Dan was a dirty cop, but he (like Charlotte) was working to improve himself and make up for his past mistakes, but in the wake of Charlotte’s death and who caused it, he backslided and went back to ‘the dark side’, and did it with no regrets. (He tried so hard.... and Pierce just dismissed and mocked him constantly before destroying his heart by murdering Charlotte, another one of his employees who he was supposed to support and protect.)

(b) ELLA! Where we left her, on the balcony (THAT SCENE THO!), our collective fav cinnamonroll-scientist was having a crisis of faith. We’ve seen in the past how strong it was, and have gotten hints at the darkness in the past that it has helped her overcome. Now, after the boss she idolized murdered her good friend/mentee (and, let’s be real. Charlotte had a little bit of a crush on Ella, too.) she’s left struggling to see how a benevolent God could allow all this to happen. (Seeing how quick she turned (and got vicious) on Pierce after his true nature was revealed, what would she do learning that her close friend is the actual Devil, who strongly profuses how much of a jerk his Dad is? What would she think about the hell/guilt system? What (good spirited) mad science would she want to do on Lucifer and Maze?)

-Amenadiel:

This season was all about Amenadiel finding himself and learning that he is not above/superior to humans. He’s just found their value and seen what they can be through his deep friendship with Charlotte, romantic entanglings w/ Linda, and improv with Dan, and just trying to fit in to Human society as a whole. He messed up in the past trying desperately to get back to heaven, even going so far as to mess with the natural laws of life and death with Malcom and that whole.... assassination plot. BUT. BUT! Point is, he’s moved on and actually become a decent person. So, now the question is will he lose all his progress and go back to his arrogant ways, or will her retain the lessons on earth. Will he stay in heaven at his father’s right hand or go back to Earth to be with his friends and family there? We just. Don’t. Know.

-Azrael’s Blade/Uriel’s death/Mum’s Banishment:

This was never addressed..... like, AT ALL. What do Lucifer’s other siblings know/feel about the goings-on of the series? Are more of them going to show up? Will there be consequences for Uriel’s death? What the hell is up with God? We need some celestial closure/worldbuilding here!!

-Chloe:

*drumroll please* Ok, besides the obvious “WTF I’M IN LOVE WITH THE DEVIL, GOD IS REAL, MY EX-ROOMMATE IS A DEMON” etc. etc. Chloe has some things to deal with. How will she explain what happened on the scene once the rest of the cops show up? What will she do now? How will she feel about all the things that went on behind the supernatural curtain in her life? (esp the Amenadiel/Malcolm plot). The emotional fallout of Pierce’s lies/actions and how she feels about herself/her perception/gut instinct abilities after being deceived by him. (Also, what will she think about her child seeing the unfiltered face of a demon from hell and just being... fine with it??) How will she feel about Linda knowing before she does? (What would a conversation between them now be like? How will she help her process?)

-Other bits and bobs:

People finding out what happened to Maze! People/her friends being there for her and caring about her and making her feel at home again on earth!!1! (Literally tho. Pierce demanded she help him kill Amenadiel, she refused, so they fought, he threatened Linda (which, turned out not to be so idle as he murdered the gang’s other ‘in the know’ mortal ally only hours later.), distracted her enough to be able to beat her to hell and then shoot her up with drugs, leave her chained up to popes at a warehouse with 12 of his goons and then leave. When she woke up, still groggy, she broke free, fought off all 12 goons with only a pipe vs their weapons, ran 4 miles to save her estranged friend and then passed out once she was safe.) Like, I can’t live with people thinking that Maze voluntarily gave Pierce her knife so he could kill Lucifer. No bueno. Plus, if Maze can bring the gang to the warehouse, they can arrest the goons and collect the kind of solid evidence they need to make sure that nobody gets in trouble for Pierce’s death and complete what Charlotte started by bringing the Sinnerman’s agency down.

-CHARLOTTE’S KIDS. DO THEY KNOW THAT THEIR MOM DIDN’T ABANDON THEM AND WASN’T MEAN AND ACTUALLY LOVED THEM AND DIED/WENT TO HEAVEN A HERO?!?! THEY NEED CLOSURE/THE TRUTH!!1!

[365footballorg-blog]

Armchair Analyst: Your complete guide to the Week 13 MLS slate

May 25, 201812:17PM EDT

The final weekend of May does not mark the final collection of games this month. There’s a quartet scheduled for Wednesday – two East, two West – so between that, injury and certain players headed off to World Cup camps, expect a decent amount of squad rotation this weekend.

Should we expect goals, though? A month ago the league was averaging nearly 3.3 goals per match and just about everybody was lighting up the scoreboard. Now we’re down to 2.8, and my gut feeling is a bunch of the bottom-dwellers looked at the top teams and said “wow we’d better just bunker against that because if we try to come out and play we’re going to get killed.”

It’s part of the ongoing stratification of the league. Parity is still at the heart of MLS, but certain teams have been better at acquiring top talent, or developing young talent, or integrating all their talent (or all three), so there’s starting to be haves and have-nots.

We know what happens in those situations because we see it all over the world: The have-nots play for the 0-0, or the smash-and-grab. Thus the onus is on the haves to crack ’em open early, control the game state and force them to come out and play.

Of late that’s been easier said than done.

Let’s take a look at Week 13:

Friday Forecast

Toronto FC vs. FC Dallas

8 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

Have you seen the Sebastian Giovinco to Tigres reports? You should look at them, and then think about the fact that Giovinco is 1) 31 years old, 2) not the player he was two years ago, 3) injury prone, and 4) on $ 7 million per year. Then look at this:

Re: Giovinco-Toronto FC GM Tim Bezbatchenko tells me that, despite speculation and rumours, the club has received no offer from Tigres UANL. #TFCLive

— Joshua Kloke (@joshuakloke) May 23, 2018

That is not a real denial, is it? The question isn’t “have you received an offer from Tigres?” it’s “would you listen to offers from Tigres?”

I’d wager they would. Giovinco is still arguably the best player in MLS, but he’s on the downslope and almost certainly won’t be the best player in the league when his current contract ends after next season. But he’s clamoring for a new contract already and, from afar, things seem to be at more than just a gentle simmer.

If Giovinco plays angry it’s usually good, provided he can avoid getting carded for abusive language or simple dissent. Nonetheless the Reds have to deal with all of that as they re-integrate a bunch of newly healthy players, and as they try to climb out of the early-season hole they dug for themselves. It feels slightly dangerous and combustible.

Dallas will be waiting, happily, to try to throw a wrench into the works. They have just one loss all season but just one win in their last four, and tossed away two points last weekend.

Houston vs. NYCFC

8:55 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

Way back in Week 1 the Dynamo blitzed Atlanta United 4-0 in Houston. Atlanta came into that game attempting to play the way that NYCFC play just about every game: four at the back, build with the ball on the ground, push the fullbacks up in order to create overloads and turn possession into both width and penetration.

Houston knew it was coming and just battered the Five Stripes by drawing their line of confrontation at the midfield stripe and turning every 50/50 ball into a breakaway opportunity. If Atlanta were going to play so much on the front foot, and bring their defenders so high upfield, then Alberth Elis was going to run into space all day.

And so he did. That, plus set-piece dominance, made for what is still one of the most resounding wins of the year, for anybody.

Obviously there should be some warning sirens going off for the Pigeons. Patrick Vieira has been adamant that he doesn’t want to change the way his team plays – under him they value the ball and always will – but he’s been a touch pragmatic about where they build, what formation they play (it was a 3-5-2 last week) and how high they’ll push their fullbacks. In other words, don’t expect Ben Sweat to get too far upfield on the left since that’s where Elis lurks.

Do, however, expect Alex Ring to be under heavy pressure from the Houston attackers. If he handles that well, NYCFC will give themselves a much better shot than Atlanta did two months back.

LA Galaxy vs. San Jose Earthquakes

11 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

My colleague Bobby Warshaw has been working on the assumption, since he arrived, that the Galaxy would be better with Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the bench. The idea is that with him out of the lineup the entire team would end up playing with a more egalitarian bent, working for and with each other in order to carve out chances rather than playing through their fulcrum of a superstar No. 9.

This point of view is not without merit (though to be clear: he is wrong. You can build a scheme for a heavy-usage Zlatan and be successful if you’re smart about it).

The real problem for the Galaxy isn’t Zlatan, or the attack at all, really. It’s… elsewhere:

I literally groaned out loud several times making this cut up. Check out the LA Galaxy *trying* to play out of the back against the Montreal Impact today. pic.twitter.com/dwuwV4DgEl

— Joseph Lowery (@joeInCleats) May 21, 2018

That clip’s made the rounds this week, as it should’ve. It’s never clear how LA intend to shuttle the ball from back to front, and so there tend to be a lot of aimless long-balls. With or without the big Swede, that’s not a great plan.

Of course it might be good enough against a Quakes team that, week to week, looks like it has no idea how to defend, and no idea of how to play as a unit. They almost certainly lead the league in hospital balls and are probably second only to Montreal in blown offside traps.

Saturday Slate

Seattle Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake

5 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

How many healthy starters do the Sounders have left? It’s not a ton, but honestly they might still be OK because RSL are just shocking when trying to defend on the road.

Borek Dockal is not, and never has been particularly fast. And yet:

It’s becoming more and more apparent by the week that Kyle Beckerman and Damir Kreilach can not play together without getting carved up because neither has any kind of footspeed. If this was circa 2013 RSL – a team that kept the game small and tight, that constantly used the ball to create angles and meaningful possession – they could probably pull it off.

But that’s not how they play. They’re a “spread the field and run at ’em” team when they have the ball, which means any turnover is an existential crisis. And while it’s undeniably true that RSL aren’t 2013 RSL, it’s undeniably-er true that MLS isn’t 2013 MLS. Teams are better and smarter and even the bottom of the barrel can go HAM if you don’t track through the midfield.

So I’m thinking keep an eye on Magnus Wolff Eikrem or Cristian Roldan bursting out of midfield and into space for Seattle.

Vancouver Whitecaps vs. New England Revolution

5:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

Columbus did a very clever job last weekend of playing over the Revs high press and turning it into a game of second balls in midfield off of Gyasi Zardes knockdowns:

This is pretty much the default setting for Vancouver, a team who hit more long-balls than anybody else in the league. The key will be for them to be measured long-balls rather than the rushed, aimless types they often resort to. And the other key will obviously be to understand their own midfield shape – the ‘Caps play with multiple d-mids, and while that can gum up opposing attacks there’s also often a bit of “you take him, no I’ve got him”-type uncertainty when it comes to closing down lanes and making zonal reads.

Which is to say that you can get in between the lines against a Vancouver team that’s not as defensively sound as they were last year. The Revs weren’t able to do that at all against Crew SC last week, but Columbus are made of sterner, more organized stuff. Watch for Teal Bunbury to release into space as Diego Fagundez drifts into pockets between the ‘Caps midfield and defense.

New York Red Bulls vs. Philadelphia Union

7 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

The Union have won two in a row in commanding fashion. Their “Trust the Process” central defense of Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie has largely been very good, and it’s nice to see a coach give his young players time to improve. Jim Curtin deserves some dap.

It’s been a feel-good two weeks for Philly. And now they head to Harrison to take on the Red Bulls.

Updated top 10 of G+A/90 (no PKs), 500 min+

1) BWP – 1.86 2) Kaku – 1.33 3) Villa – 1.06 4) Lamah – 1.06 5) Elis – 1.06 6) Piatti – 1.02 7) Valot – 1.01 8) Quioto – 1.00 9) Vela – 1.00 10) Diaz – 0.99

BWP is on track for a 25 goal, 16 assist season if he plays 2000 minutes

— Tutul Rahman (@tutulismyname) May 21, 2018

Good luck.

Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire

7:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

A few weeks back I looked at Orlando City’s schedule and said that they were entering a brutal stretch in which they’d be outright favored in just two of the next 13 games. This, the third game in that stretch (they’re 0-2-0 so far, though they’ve played well), is one of them.

The Lions have been much more structurally sound over the past three halves of defensive soccer, having mostly cut out allowing the breakaways that had caused them so much worry through the season’s first two months. The fact that it hasn’t paid off with a point is a type of cruel irony.

Regardless, here’s the simple truth: At home against a slow, injured and fading Chicago team, they can’t afford anything but the full three points. And that means the central midfield has to be better at tracking runners than they’ve shown:

Minnesota United vs. Montreal Impact

8 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

MNUFC – go ahead and @ them if you want to – have taken just seven points from their last nine games as they’ve struggled mightily to defend in the box. Bobby Shuttleworth is putting in damn near man of the match performances on the regular, which has kept more than a few of these games respectable.

By the eye test I’d say that the Loons actually have a better front-to-back defensive structure than they did for much of last year, and recent acquisition Eric Miller has helped noticeably at fullback. But they are sloppy and epically prone to mental lapses in central defense, and if you’re sporting that particular flaw you’re going to lose a lot of games.

Montreal have all those same flaws plus a few more. They’re comfortably ahead of MNUFC’s all-time-worst-defense pace the Loons set last year and have lost seven of eight. FiveThirtyEight puts their chances of claiming a playoff spot at just 8% (which IMO feels high).

They should trade Ignacio Piatti, sell whatever other veterans they can part with, and go into full rebuild mode. Piatti’s not the problem – he never has been – but the timeline Montreal are looking at, he’s too old to be part of the solution. Montreal have largely ignored the draft, have been slow to develop their Homegrown talent, and have been far too in love recently with importing injury-prone, 30-something defenders. They are years away from competing, and Piatti doesn’t have that kind of time left.

Chicago? Columbus? Seattle? Somebody out there will give up all their TAM and a young talent for the guy.

Colorado Rapids vs. Portland Timbers

9 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

The Timbers have been a counterattacking machine over the last few years. That kind of disappeared in March, but it’s come back with a vengeance since then as they’ve ripped off five straight wins. Here ya go:

The question against the Rapids is always “will they give you room to counter?” Colorado are still very much a sit-deep-and-break group (they love a good, direct long-ball over the top to Dominique Badji) and that kind of reactive approach obviously has its benefits in the modern game – if you’re not trying to play with the ball in your own defensive third, you’re not going to have as many potentially fatal turnovers.

But the truth is that somebody’s going to need to be on the ball in this one. Given Colorado’s miserable start, their ever-present 5,280 feet of home-field advantage and the existential nature of their upcoming stretch (four of five at home, and I’d say they need nine points to keep their playoff hopes at all realistic), it’s perhaps time to throw caution to the wind spend time playing on the front foot.

Is that a switch they can just flip without exposing themselves in transition? I doubt it. But nothing else has worked.

LAFC vs. D.C. United

10 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

D.C. got themselves a nice-looking win at San Jose last week. They scored two goals off of high pressure and one on a lovely long-ball over the top that caught the Quakes backline predictably flat-footed and out of alignment. It was good stuff from D.C.

It was also a rarity this season. United have spent less time in the attacking third than anyone else in MLS, and despite a very nice collection of committed, skilled, two-way attackers they just haven’t really been able to figure out how to move forward with intent more than every so often.

The numbers back that up:

Team Passes Into Final Third Sporting Kansas City 924 New England Revolution 818 Columbus Crew SC 776 Minnesota United FC 760 New York City FC 758 New York Red Bulls 755 Philadelphia Union 694 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 669 Orlando City SC 664 Los Angeles Football Club 650 LA Galaxy 646 Atlanta United FC 631 Houston Dynamo 622 FC Dallas 618 Real Salt Lake 617 Montreal Impact 610 Chicago Fire 590 Toronto FC 588 Seattle Sounders FC 572 San Jose Earthquakes 556 Portland Timbers 541 Colorado Rapids 531 D.C. United 398

If you can’t even figure out how to get into the most dangerous spots on the field, maybe your best bet is to just defend there? That’s why there’s promise in the high pressure they used to undress San Jose.

LAFC are obviously a level or three above the Quakes, but they’ve been susceptible to the high press themselves at times this season. Of course they’ve also annihilated a few teams that have attempted to press them badly, and their whole ethos is “we will pass right through you.”

They’ve done so with less effectiveness since Marco Ureña went down injured last month, but what you’re hearing is Adama Diomande’s music. The Norwegian was superb in a midweek friendly vs. Borussia Dortmund, and Bob Bradley – who coached Diomande at Stabæk a few years ago – went out and got him for a reason.

Bright start for #LAFC, possessing confidently and taking the game to #BVB. Adama Diomande showing early signs of good hold-up play as the #9, exactly what Bob Bradley wanted him for. #LAFCvBVB #LAFCBVB #MLS pic.twitter.com/qrqdJ4w1UE

— Jason Foster (@JogaBonito_USA) May 23, 2018

Sunday’s Finale

Sporting KC vs. Columbus Crew SC

6 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

Two of the best teams in the league right now, but both have obvious shortfalls at the moment. For Crew SC it’s still their inability to generate goals from the wing – an ongoing concern that my I’m guessing Gregg Berhalter is prepared to wait out (Niko Hansen has loads of promise as a goalscoring winger, but his decision-making needs lots of refinement).

For Sporting it’s been a lack of any sort of creativity from central midfield in the absence of Felipe Gutierrez. And it’s not just “hey see if you can ping the ball around and open up the defense” creativity, but the sort of goal-hunting, dangerous-movement-off-the-ball creativity that the Chilean brought to the table back in March.

DP signing Yohan Croizet has, uh, not been up to the task:

Kind of amazed by this from Croizet. #MINvSKC pic.twitter.com/3utemwkvJe

— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) May 20, 2018

So yeah, still work to be done. But this should be a good one nonetheless.

One more thing to ponder…

Happy weekending, everybody.

Series: 

Topics: 

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Armchair Analyst: Your complete guide to the Week 13 MLS slate was originally published on 365 Football