NYCFC 2020 Season Review, Pt. 4: The Dark Ages
NYCFC 2020 Season Review, Pt. 4: The Dark Ages
September to October
When the City’s town crier Glenn Crooks announced in September that Maxi Moralez would be out up to six weeks, we knew grim times lay ahead for those sworn to the right side of the Hudson River. A conspiracy theorist named Heribert Illig once claimed that the European Dark Ages were 300 years shorter than recorded, and that the entire Carolingian period never actually occurred. He was crazy, of course. The truth is those dark centuries happened during the next six games of NYCFC’s absurd 2020.
As with many American tall tales, this one begins in New England, as the Pigeons made their second visit in as many weeks to Lord Kraft’s Gillette Stadium. Young squires Acevedo of Uruguay and Scally of Lake Grove got their debuts on the artificial turf that kept Jarl Tinnerholm away. A fortnight prior, the Bronx Boys had taken three points from the Revolution, but the result this time with a weaker lineup would not be as rosy. Once again, Captain Ring played further up the pitch as the first to press, but though he caused chaos he was not rewarded for it. By insisting on playing a defensive midfielder up front, Ronny Deila chose consistency over creativity, making it almost impossible for his side to score a goal. As your trusted historian summed up the game:
So what did Deila do to try to right the ship? He put the Finn back on the left wing of his immutable 4-2-3-1 formation. With the return of Sir Sands of Rye, Jarl Tinnerholm, and the wild tattooed Romanian Mitriţǎ, the squad looked strong headed into a match with the red devils from the north, Toronto FC. Sir Johnson of Atlanta stood on his head but was ultimately beaten by a very softly given penalty in the game’s waning moments. City continued to squander chances in front of the net, taking its 12 shots from open play at long range, with an xG per shot about half the league average.
To make matters worse, the Brazilian line leader Héber went down injured in one of the saddest moments of my NYCFC fandom. To see the enthusiastic light of the team extinguished was truly heartbreaking.
Next the depilated giant Jaap Stam wandered north with his bottom-dwelling club for a donnybrook. Because injuries and cosmic forces forced his hand, Deila had to play Alexandru the Short at the magical spot, the No. 10. The Romanian scored almost immediately from a dynamic run in the first minute, supplied by a purposeful ball from Tinnerholm at right back. The Knights of Cincinnati had come to defend their portcullis without much thought of attacking out of a defensive 5-3-2. NYCFC played vertical passes to split defenders, create overloads, and find quality opportunities in the final third, an attacking performance reminiscent of the Pineapple Professor Torrent’s long ago 2019 team. It seemed NYCFC had finally cracked their inability to score, as they vanquished the Lions of Cincinnati by a score of 4-0.
Ring at left wing continued when the Boys in Blue flew to battle the Flamingos of Miami in early October. There were already rumblings before the game that Mitriţǎ was leaving the club, but he took the No. 10 mantle and promptly scored two more goals. Medina returned from the middle of the field to the right, where the young Paraguayan likes to operate with the ball on his wand of a left foot as an inside winger. Jesús’ positioning gave Tinnerholm an even wider avenue to get up the right wing, maximizing his offensive threat. But poor midfield passing allowed the international men of mystery of Miami, via the meritorious Morgan, to get back into the game. In the second half Deila moved Captain Ring back into a midfield three with Sands and Parks to provide his beloved defensive solidity. Three points were won, but dark clouds loomed on the horizon.
And just like that, the news broke that Romanian was to travel to distant lands to be with his Princess and unborn child in the Kingdom of Saud. After playing easily his best two consecutive games for the club, the little devil’s departure was another blow. The erstwhile DP added his name to a growing list of the missing, including Héber and El Mago Maxi, leaving the team bereft of attacking options.
But just as the future looked hopeless, the Starry Eagles from the District of Columbia came to town. It would be the last game for their longtime manager, Ben Olsen—the final nails were driven in by Taty, Ismael, and Keaton. In truth, Olsen’s endless love of bunkering had been his own undoing. DC United’s 5-4-1 wanted no part of the game and ceded 72% possession to the Boys in Blue. NYCFC’s second-string attack created the highest expected goals total in any MLS game in the last five years, though they scored only two non-penalty goals from those chances.
Someone once told me that time is a flat circle, and so it was that the Massachusetts men come to town for the third match in just over a month against our easterly neighbors. With no Mitri, Maxi or Héber, Deila nonetheless managed to field a stronger eleven than the previous scoreless draw. Taty played as the lone striker, Medina took the No. 10 role, and Tajouri-Shradi grabbed hold of the right wing. Ring played another offensively ineffectual game at left wing, while behind him Parks and Sands took up arms as the two defensive midfielders in Deila’s ever-consistent 4-2-3-1. But this game got away from the Pigeons quickly. A 3’ goal from the Canadian Bunbury via Lee Nguyen’s creative counterattacking made the game an uphill climb, and alas the goals dried up. As a possession side that’s been poor at converting chances against competent counterattacking teams, NYCFC never quite found a way back into the game.
NYCFC was settling into a familiar pattern. Against bottom-dwelling teams, the club could pour it in. Against top opponents, the offense stalled and the defense played on a knife’s edge. And against midtable rivals, results came down to refereeing and a handful of high-leverage goals.
Deila made clear what he’d do when faced with a dwindling roster. Where other coaches might have changed formation to accommodate the available players, he stayed committed to the 4-2-3-1. He consistently looked for ways to position Alex Ring as a presser in the attacking third no matter the opponent. But in yet another cruel turn of fate, the young knight James Sands was sidelined with a fractured right foot. This injury, along with all the others, forced Ring back into his more natural defensive midfielder role.
This six-game stretch felt like the Dark Ages for a club that had started the year with visions of Shields and Cups. But the Boys in Blue rode on toward the final stretch of the season, looking to fight their way out of the ups and downs of injury-ridden mediocrity and become the champions they’d fancied themselves to be in the spring. ❧