New York City FC suffered a loss to New England Revolution away from home on Saturday night, adding to the team’s woes away from home. In 2025, three of the team’s four losses have come on the road, bringing into question the team’s energy, mentality and identity under new head coach Pascal Jansen.
“You have to bring quality to the game,” said Jansen after the loss. “In possession we couldn’t find the spare man in the middle. The connection up front was a little off, so we didn’t get and find our own rhythm and that was the problem, especially in the first half.”
City saw little opportunities created in the first half, outside of a volley effort from Alonso Martinez before the 20th minute. The team was set-up slightly different in the game with Mounsef Bakrar playing in place of Julian Fernandez and Keaton Parks on the bench. The team’s disjointed first half was somewhat rectified in the second half but it was too late as the Revolution already had their multi-goal lead.
How Jansen can get the best out of a young, and undoubtedly talented group, remains to be seen. Martinez is still the team’s top goalscorer and Jonathan Shore has proven himself to be an asset in the midfield. Despite the many positives, the team is languishing in 10th place, a point behind rivals New York Red Bulls.
“We need to have a conversation,” said captain Thiago Martins. “It’s not just the back four. We all need to be better. It’s a team thing. We need to be better.”
City will remain on the road against Toronto FC this coming weekend. Toronto is a club also in search of their identity, having won their first match of the season over the weekend. There is little doubt that City has more than enough talent to handle the massively unbalanced nature of Toronto. However, there is doubt in the fanbase and from within the team as to how the necessary changes will be implemented.
“We have shown in several games that we have the quality to be very dangerous in the final third,” said Jansen on his team’s scoring woes. “You need to be very, very sharp and very bright in these moments in order to get some of the moments that you’re looking for in the final third.”
photo by Jordan Bank