New York City FC have not been terrible defensively, however they have shown an inability to hold leads in games as was on display on Saturday night when they surrendered yet another home lead in the second half against Atlanta United FC. Despite numerous chances to put a comfortable lead in place, the team had to rely on defending to hold a slim one-goal lead for 45 minutes but failed to do so.
“We need to be better in some parts of the game,” said Thiago Martins after the game. “We need to work every single day to be better and to impose ourselves at home and win games. It’s always good to have a clean sheet but, at the same time, I prefer to win than have a clean sheet.”
Winning is something that NYCFC has not done much of thus far in 2024. Saturday’s game was the team’s second draw while only having one win thus far. This leaves the club perilously close to the bottom of the Eastern Conference where their next opponents, New England Revolution, currently reside. Another loss could see City fall all the way to the bottom, while crosstown rivals New York Red Bulls have ascended to the top.
“We need to talk,” said Martins about the team’s need to convene a meeting internally. “We need to have some meetings to show people where we are strong and how we can improve. Every single day we have a meeting. We talk between us players, and not just players but staff too. We need to do better. We need to improve in this moment to win the next game.”
New England will be coming into Yankee Stadium on a high after garnering their first win of the campaign, a tight 1-0 win over Charlotte FC. Both teams are at a crossroads and neither wants to be the one that slips any further before a fixture-congested summer opens.
photo by Jordan Banks