New York City FC suffered a demoralizing loss to Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, a 3-0 loss that set back their recent positive efforts. The month of May has seen the club play a difficult schedule, seven games in total with one more left to go, with recent results showing that the team had adapted well. However, head coach Pascal Jansen spoke about how the recent poor performance has set the club back mentally.
“Everyone understands that it was a poor performance,” said Jansen after the game. “The quality was missing today. I just addressed that, the quality wasn’t there. Like usual, 24 hours after a positive or negative result is the next step, and all focus is on the next match.”
That next match is a road trip Nashville against a team that has gotten results in each of their last seven games. Currently, City’s opponents have pushed themselves up to third place in the Eastern Conference and look to make a statement against NYC the way they did against New York Red Bulls earlier in the month.
The lack of consistency in the attack is one of the reasons that City has suffered this season. While their focal point in the attack, Alonso Martinez, has produced this season, the lack of alternate options has made them one dimensional. Teams have had the ability to plan accordingly and push for the club to come up with alternatives. However, at the moment, no one has been able to produce anywhere near the level of Martinez in 2025.
“We were a little slow,” said winger Julian Fernandez. “We had been doing very well, and now we have a chance to bounce back on Saturday (against Nashville). So we have to keep our heads up and continue doing what we’ve been doing well over the past two weeks.”
While there will be much internal review in the days leading up to Saturday’s game, it is hard to look past the lack of ability at home. Three of City’s six losses have come at home, putting pressure on their recent road form, which has seen them only garner one win in seven attempts. Meanwhile, Nashville has only dropped one game at home, making the meeting that much more complicated for NYC.
Still, the team doesn’t believe that the momentum was completely halted. Leading into this game, City had garnered results in three straight games, a draw against DC United and wins over Red Bulls and Chicago Fire. Losses to Montreal and Houston have put a slight damper on the hectic month, but a win against Nashville can set the team straight heading into June.
“We know Nashville is coming up this weekend,” said Martinez. “We’ll try to win that match. In games like this, where there’s not much attacking play, the pressure is always going to be there. I think you have to prepare yourself for these kind of matches. This one or any other.”
photo from NYCFC