The old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. ” that seemed to be the front office’s approach to New York City Football Club and the last transfer window, bringing in no new players to help with losses from the team. Now, after the team lost their star striker, head coach, and offensive minding midfielder; the team has suffered a run of form that leaves many asking, ” Is it broke after all?”
NYCFC have not won a game since Valentin Castellanos left. The club has one draw and three losses now after Wednesday’s home loss against Charlotte. It was a game that left players, Fans and coaches shaking their head and wondering what is wrong.
Once again, NYCFC shot themselves in the foot early giving a way a ball in the back and going behind in the Sixth minute of play. NYCFC rallied back soon after with a wonder strike from center back Maxime Chanot, but Charlotte would go onto score two more goals on the evening and take home the victory.
Aug 17, 2022; Harrison, New Jersey, USA; New York City FC defender Maxime Chanot (4) celebrates his goal in front of Charlotte FC midfielder Derrick Jones (20) during the first half at Red Bull Arena. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
This is the first time in club history that NYCFC have given away three goals in three consecutive games, and it is a troubling trend for the team. Individual errors have been their downfall of late and that speaks not only to player focus but also to preparation.
NYCFC have only had four wins in MLS since Head Coach Ronny Deila left in June along with four losses and three draws. If you count the three goal loss in the Open Cup then that gives interim coach Nick Cushing a losing record while in charge. This was a team that sat second in the Supporters’ Shield Race with a game in hand before the coaching change. Most of the losses have come in recent games.
Nick Cushing had a lot to say after the game. “I’ve been pleased with portions of the matches against Columbus [Crew], [Inter] Miami, and here tonight, though the results haven’t gone our way. I think you are always going to look at positives and negatives, whether we win or lose, to correct the negatives and highlight the positives. I think the best thing for us is that there have been many positives. We were in this position last year when we were in a bad spell. The spell was a lot longer than it is now but we just have to stay together and keep working. We just need to concentrate. There are a lot more games to play. We need to focus, regroup, recover, and move on to Chicago [Fire].”
Indeed, last year, the team suffered a staggering run of form before course correcting right before the playoffs. With only nine games left, something must be done. The team is not pressing as efficiently up to and even though they are creating chances, they are not scoring on a large part of them. The loss of Keaton Parks has left a void in the midfield causing Maxi Moralez to move back and play deeper. While Maxi does get into the offense still, the position change structurally weakens the team on defense.
When asked about the change after Cushing does not believe it is a problem with the team. “I think it’s natural when you add another offensive player into the line-up, you are going to become more open. Though, I don’t think we are wide open, to the point where we give up so many chances. Though, as you can see, three goals tonight is 100% not what we need, and we are unhappy about that. If I go back through all the goals, I can’t fault anybody. The structure of the team is okay. We have to cut out those individual errors. We lacked a little bit of shape on the second goal tonight, we were wide open and the spaces between the lines were too big. We will go back and review it but I don’t think team shape is a problem for the team.”
The numbers do back him up. In the past three games NYCFC have been dominating nearly every statistic except the one that counts, goals. The club needs to find a way to fix that and fast with the fan base growing frustrated as the losses pile up. Wednesday’s game was a game NYCFC should have won. Charlotte have been awful on the road this year and NYCFC dominated procession and shots. Anton Tinnerholm said after the game that the first half was possibly the one of the best halves the team has played all year. Perhaps he summed it up perfectly afterwards when asked if he noticed a trend in the past three games that needed fixing. “We concede some easy goals and we done score as much as we want to. Sometimes it is easy like that”
For NYCFC how to fix that problem may not be so easy. The team faces Chicago on the road this weekend and will look to turn their streak around.
