PURCHASE, N.Y. – Ned Grabavoy prefers his bye weeks in the summer, not usually at the beginning of a season and certainly not off of a loss.
But the veteran midfielder said a week off after four consecutive games for a Major League Soccer expansion side is just what New York City FC needed.
“For us I think it was good to step back after a few games, reassess what we’re doing, what can we work on, what have we done well,” Grabavoy said. “We’ve had extra time to focus on ourselves and make improvements in some areas and also focus on the positives because there certainly are a lot.”
Grabavoy said it was important to watch how NYCFC has played in the first four games and make minor adjustments. The squad is still getting acclimated to how they should play from back to front, and Grabavoy said he’s noticed the team needs more consistent play throughout the 90 minutes.
“It was good. The training sessions are a high level, the work rate is high from everybody,” Grabavoy said. “When guys put in the work like that, it’s a little easier to take a day or two off on a bye weekend and rest the bodies because we know how much work was put in. I think the break was great for a young team like ourselves.”
It was also a good opportunity to get healthy, especially for David Villa and Sebastian Velasquez, who both missed the last match against Sporting Kansas City, a 1-0 loss on March 28, with adductor strains.
“I think it was a positive, most of all because we had a couple of players who were fighting through some small injuries,” NYCFC head coach Jason Kreis said. “We had a chance to give them an entire week away from full training so they were able to focus on rest, rehab and recovery.”
Villa, Velasquez and Josh Williams, who also missed the SKC match with viral pericarditis, all trained fully on Wednesday. However, defender Shay Facey, who served a one-game suspension two weeks ago, worked with the fitness trainer after suffering a groin strain in a friendly against Clarkstown Eagles SC last week.
Kreis said it is too soon to access Facey’s availability for Saturday’s tilt against the Philadelphia Union (4 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
“I think we’ll know a lot more on Friday,” he said.
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The weekend off also gave Mix Diskerud a first chance to check out some of what New York City has to offer.
“It was very nice because I haven’t had a chance to go sightseeing and look at New York. I went to some great restaurants,” Diskerud said. “I really like the Meatpacking District. I’ve been there a lot with my roommate Khiry [Shelton]. I’ve been to New Jersey now. The next thing I want to do is go to the World Trade Center Museum.”
