New York City FC Are Consistently Inconsistent

New York City FC 0-1 CF Montreal

BRONX, NY–On May 4th, New York City played arguably their best game of the season defeating FC Cincinnati 1-0 at home in a game that could have had a far more lopsided scoreline. The club followed it up with two of the worst losses this season, an Open Cup loss to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and a loss at home on Saturday to last place CF Montreal.

The club does not have a lot of time for tweaking or working on things in practice this month because of a brutal eight game schedule. Pascal Jansen was visibly frustrated after both losses this week and spoke after the match Saturday. “That’s the only advantage of a [three-game] week like this. You play so many games, so you get an extra opportunity in a few days to recover and set it straight again. That was our plan going into this game. Even though over 50% of the starting XI today wasn’t involved in the [U.S. Open Cup] game on Wednesday [against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds], the defeat on Wednesday was on all of us—even the guys who didn’t come with us on the road. So we were very determined today to make sure we set things straight. If you go back to the first 20, 25 minutes or so, we should have done exactly that, because we had a few opportunities to get into a comfortable position. But let’s try again in D.C. on Wednesday.”

Pascal Jansen on the sidelines in Yankee stadium

Both games last week followed the same script with New York City dominating possession but being unable to create meaningful chances on goal or not being clinical enough in the chances they did create. The generated a measly two shots on target against CF Montreal, and had only one shot on target in the first half of the Open Cup loss.

For Jansen the problem is not having players who can support Alonso Martinez up top. “The attacking threat is too much depending on Alonso. We expect more from a player like [Andres] Perea, Julian [Fernandez] or [Augustin] Ojeda…he can’t do it all by himself.”

Part of the team’s inconsistent attack can be chalked up to young players on the wings but Jansen also believe it could lie in the player’s determination. Jansen went on to talk about the unique combination of determination and talent required in game play.

“If you look for instance at Ojeda during the week when he gets the one v ones and one v twos he is almost unbeatable but somehow he is not able to transfer this attacking threat into the games we play. Even if would look at the game today we had him in four or five good situations where he can go one v one and he is not as determined as we have seen him through out the week…It surprises me that is does not happen here as much as I have seen throughout the week.”

The wingers have been wildly inconsistent in play this season with Fernandez seeming at times to favor his left foot over his right making scoring situations more difficult and Ojeda not living up to his potential to break down players in one v one situations. Consequently the attack for New york City stalls and slows down dramatically in the final third. The team is unable to break down opponents who pack the box and often find themselves vulnerable on the counter. The loss to Minnesota is a prime example of this.

Maxi Morales tries to create options Photo Credit: Newyorkcityfc.com

One more thing weighing on New York City is roster construction and losses of key players to injury. The club is thin at almost every position and are finding themselves relying on a seventeen year old and a thirty-eight year old to run the midfield. Maxi Morales has long been a star for the club but the team relies to much on him as the sole creator. Johnny Shore is promising and getting better every game but is often muscled off the ball by more mature opponents. The team is missing a key piece lately that ties it together. Keaton Parks glues the midfield, defense and front line together and the team is noticeably worse when he is not on the pitch. For weeks now Parks has been battling with a foot injury and had had to sit out the last two games in an effort to heal. This comes at the worst time possible for the club when every player is needed in this eight game stretch.

Johnny Shore Photo Credit: Newyorkcityfc.com

David Lee only brought one player in to help the club in the offseason, midfielder Aiden O’Neill. O’Neill is a promising signing to be sure and looked good in his first outing with the club on Saturday, but his presence does not make up for the loss of James Sands and the scoring prowess of Santi Rodriguez.

New Signing Aiden O’Neill

What makes matters worse for New York City is that this first two games in May were arguably the easiest and the ones the club was expected to win. CF Montreal had not won a match in MLS until Saturday and was dead last in the table with only three points. Now New York City travel to DC on Wednesday and face a derby match against NY Red Bulls on Saturday at home. The Red Bulls decimated LA galaxy in another red wedding score of 7-0 on Saturday and are probably licking their chops to face a wobbly New York City squad.

The team has lots of work to do and little to no practice time to do it in this crowded month. Jansen has his hands full trying to balance this team and bring out the talent and determination in the team. So many games. So many unknowns. only time will tell if it can be successful or at least hold on until the summer window when Lee can sign some reinforcements.

Defender Mitja Illeic summed it up perfectly after the match. “We were kind of without power—not our best performance. I don’t want to say too much, but this week just hasn’t been good, coming from Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup match to now. We need to forget about these results and move on because we have a lot of games ahead.”