Nobody Won This Game
Both NYCFC and Cincinnati’s defense worked hard to lose this one.
The 4-4 draw between New York City Football Club and FC Cincinnati was a slap fight. But it was a stupid one. While the scoreline suggests this match may have been a swashbuckling contest between two high-powered attacks, it was actually a duel of defenses where each side slapped itself in the face as hard as it could until both inevitably collapsed.
Roman Celentano slapped first. The Cincinnati goalkeeper fumbled a cross from Aidan O’Neill right into the waiting feet of Nico Fernández Mercau for an easy rebound. But as bad as Celentano’s mistake was, the defenders in front of him responded with “hold my beer”. Head coach Pat Noonan deployed an aggressive man-marking tactic with defensive midfielder Samuel Gidi floating in and out of the backline. Gidi’s position fluctuated depending on the depth of Maxi Moralez and Fernández Mercau, shifting Cincinnati between a back three and a back four. But whatever formation they were in, the backline certainly wasn’t a line.
The Pigeons pulled Noonan’s defense apart as Cincinnati struggled to handle the simplest of rotations, but Cincinnati’s defensive woes were as much about personnel as system. Despite a decimated defense without Miles Robinson, Matt Miazga, and Nick Hagglund, Noonan pushed forward man-marking without all of his top three center backs. Noonan’s predicament worsened when the fourth center back on his depth chart, Teenage Hadebe, went off injured in the 24th minute.
Noonan had no choice but to wake up Alvis Powell from his nap to fill in. Like anyone disturbed from a deep slumber, the left defender made his head coach regret the audacity. Powell barely broke a jog. The culprit of several Cincinnati defensive breakdowns, Powell didn’t make it to the second half, substituted off after 23 minutes of apathetic play. The rest of Noonan’s defense were more willing participants in his man-marking scheme. They just did a bad job of it.
Eager to press forward, Cincinnati’s central defenders kept forgetting the other half of man-marking: tracking back. New York City got in behind the backline with ease, completing a season-high 14 passes into the final third from their own half, sixth-best in MLS this season. Before it was all said and done, Noonan tried four different iterations of a backline, but each provided a slap to the face of Cincinnati’s defense.
Where Cincinnati’s defensive woes were chronic, New York City’s were acute. Throughout the run of play, the Pigeons limited Cincinnati’s chances, holding the visitors to a pedestrian 11 shots and 0.98 non-penalty expected goals. But head coach Pascal Jansen’s team once again displayed their habit for mind-numbing defensive gaffes.
Rather than being the culmination of sustained attacking pressure, Cincinnati’s goals came from nowhere. The first came within seconds of a Cincinnati throw-in. With left back Kevin O’Toole out of position from the previous possession, right midfielder Ender Echenique fired a cross immediately into the box. Tom Barlow, the worst half of Cincinnati’s front two, had gotten goalside of defensive midfielder Kai Trewin and attracted central defender Thiago Martins. That left Kevin Denkey, the better half, completely unmarked for a simple volley.
Aidan O’Neill’s unnecessary foul on Evander handed them the second. New York City compounded his error by letting the subsequent free kick fall to the feet of Denkey. Andrei Chirila scored an absolute screamer for the third. But a makeshift lineup that receded in protection of a two-goal lead afforded Chirilla the space to do so, as the Pigeons conceded 63% of possession from 70’ onward. Kevin O’Toole then landed the knockout self slap. An innocuous sequence quickly escalated to an Evander nutmeg and a desperate lunge for redemption from the NYCFC fullback. Instead, O’Toole clumsily took out Evander from behind to give Cincinnati the equalizing penalty.
While NYCFC concedes xG in second-half stoppage time at a league-average rate, they’ve allowed the 3rd-best shot quality after the 90th minute in MLS. Giving away high-quality chances late in games can turn comfortable performances into dropped points, which the Pigeons have now done for the third consecutive home game. Two stoppage-time goals make this one worse than the draw versus St. Louis and the loss to Charlotte. For the 13th time in team history and only the 6th time at home, NYCFC conceded at least four goals. They have quality, but lurk on the edge of disaster at any minute. ❧
Image: Francisco Goya, Children Fighting Over Chestnuts