(Photo by Ben Franke)
Home:
As hyperbolic as it might seem, New York City FC was at a season-defining moment as they began a five game home stand against Atlanta United last Saturday. While the season is still young, there are certain facets of The Pigeon’s game that are already causing some ire amongst the fanbase. There have been few reasons to celebrate as prior to this game they had scored four total goals and conceded eight. However, New York City FC have always been a resolute home team. A matchup against Atlanta United, who had yet to score an away goal, looked like a good opportunity to right the ship and build some momentum. The excitement only grew as prior to the game it was reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution that star striker Giorgos Giakoumakis would be unable to play in this contest.
Giakoumakis out vs. New York City
Fans of New York showed up with an impressive nearly 21,000 attendance, undeterred by the 7 train’s maintenance. The scene was set and the mood could not have been more perfectly explained by the team than from their pre-game picture.
The seriousness of the occasion and the portrait of this team is the purest form of life imitating art. This was a big moment - the team knew it, the fans knew it, and the manager knew it. What followed was 90 minutes of soccer that seemed largely emblematic of the attempted soccer that has happened all season. A game was played, a draw was “draw’d”, and the frustration continued to build. This all begs the questions: What reprieve is there for fans as they look toward the next four games of this home stand? What was learned? Will it get better? Why was the 7 train down? Will there be another eclipse before I die?
Inverted Wingers:
One of the hallmarks of Cushing’s game over the last season plus has been the insistence on inverted wingers, allowing for the full-backs to overlap and create width in the final third. Cushing seems to value adding numbers to the mid-field by having the wingers tuck inside as well. As noted by the average-positioning below, it’s noticeable that versus Atlanta, Alonso Martinez (number 16) and Hannes Wolf (number 17) generally tend to line up either in the half-space or completely in the middle.
(Average Positioning of every New York City FC player via Whoscored.com)
However, if you look through this season’s (albeit small) sample size it is reasonable to suggest that the wingers are better when they are not asked to invert.
The Pigeons started their previous game in Miami with a two striker pairing of Monsef Bakrar and Alonso Martinez. However, thirty minutes into the game they switched to a better known 4-3-3 and Alonso was pushed over to his favored right side, after which he netted his first goal for New York City FC. Throughout his career Alonso has played the majority of his games on the right side. So why would he have been deployed as a left winger against Atlanta if he is clearly more comfortable on the right? The only answer can be that Alonso is right footed, which is the obvious preference for a left-winger who is looking to play inverted. The same could be said for Hannes Wolf. While he has had decent games playing on the right, in critical moments on his weaker right foot, he is less decisive as opposed to when he can receive and shoot on his left foot. Hannes himself said in a post-game interview that while he can play anywhere, he prefers to play in the middle. But why would he play on the weaker right side and drift inside when he can play through the middle and drift to his stronger left?
In 2023 and through 2024, the Pigeons have scored a paltry total of thirteen goals and six assists from wingers. If you subtract goals and assists by wingers playing on their natural side, that already small number shrinks to nine goals and five assists from wingers. That is horrendous. New York City FC has not netted a large amount of goals in that time frame, but how much of that is due to the fact that the Pigeons routinely ask players to play in positions they seem to be less comfortable in to fit the system?
Diamonds and Coal:
As mentioned in our piece prior to this Atlanta game, New York City has drastically improved their pressure from 2023 to 2024. Per Wyscout, our passes per defensive action (PPDA) in 2024 is 8.64, improved from 2023’s 11.61. This indicates a pretty significant change in style of play over those two seasons. It was New York’s pressure that led to Santi’s penalty as he recovered the ball and was taken down in the box. However, the press also has its downfalls, specifically against teams like Atlanta that enjoy possession. After Guzan recovers the ball the Pigeons had intent to press Atlanta and left themselves vulnerable to a well hit ball over the top. That is exactly what happened leading to Atlanta’s game tying goal. Edwin Mosquera got in behind due to a picture perfect ball over the top by Guzan. Mosquera then hit an inch perfect cross to Thiaré who took his opportunity well, tying the game.
Soccer is a game of give and take. Pressing can often leave teams exposed to conceding goals and New York City FC has to consider the lesser of two evils. While they conceded a goal because of their aggressive field positioning, the likelihood of conceding multiple goals in that same scenario is very low. The choice to live and die by the press should be celebrated, but there has to be a reasonable expectation that while pressure can lead to two distinct elements, diamonds and coal, one significantly more valuable than the other.
Looking Forward:
The game against Atlanta left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. Not even an earthquake could arouse the anemic Pigeons, leading to more dropped points at home. However, the homestand continues against a Revolution side that has been equally (if not more) unimpressive than New York City FC. The problem with facing struggling teams is that the expectation of success is heightened. Compounding this with the already frustrating start to the homestand versus Atlanta, the pressure on the Pigeons to get three points from this game will be exceptionally high. It seems strange to consider these games as must-win games so early in the season. Unfortunately, New York suffered last year dropping significant points at home which led to them missing their first postseason since the inaugural season in 2015. A similar story has started to unfold in 2024 and Nick Cushing will be looking to right this ship immediately. There is an opportunity to build some momentum here, but also for catastrophe should we drop points again. The stage is set for a very exciting game against New England.
(Photo by Ben Franke)