New York City FC ended their three-game losing streak with a 4-2 win on Friday over Orlando City SC but the players are yet to be satisfied despite the scoreline. The season has been marked by extremes. Either the team wins or loses in bunches.
“This is the word, consistency,” said team captain Thiago Martins after the game. “We need to keep this with our mentality. We cannot stop because it’s 3-0. We need to keep going. We need to work hard and score more goals if we can. If we cannot score goals we need to keep the ball and keep the clean sheet.”
City have had to rely on their goal scoring of late to keep them in games. Two of their three recent losses came when they were unable to find the back of the net. Overall they’ve only won three games where they kept a clean sheet. The team has been able to ride the wave of hot streaks from players like Alonso Martinez and Hannes Wolf. However, finding consistency has been a problem and something they have looked to correct to little success.
The schedule won’t get easier either. Next up is a game against CF Montreal but then the club will take the road where they have had trouble locking down wins. Four straight games on the road against Austin, Chicago, Atlanta and Orlando will test their resolve and whether they will be a contending team towards the top of the table.
“We have some days before the Montreal game,” said Martins. “We need to make sure we’re ready as we understand the consistency and the mentality to win during the games.”
photo by Jordan Banks