New York City FC head coach Pascal Jansen is feeling the pressure as the season draws to a close and his club is struggling to remain in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. A demoralizing loss to Chicago Fire on Saturday afternoon, especially going into the second half when they were both up a goal and a man, leaves them looking for answers ahead of a tough two-game trip against Inter Miami and Los Angeles FC.
“Mistakes are part of the game,” said Jansen in his pre-match press conference. “Mistakes will be made in every game, today, 20 years ago and 20 years from now as well. Games will be decided, in some cases, by those mistakes.”
The game over the weekend was certainly in that category as the team’s ironman-goalkeeper, Matt Freese, made the fatal error that cost them any points. An errand pass in front of goal gave Chicago a point blank opportunity that they converted with ease. While it is understandable that mistakes will happen in a game, the level of cost associated with ones recently made by NYC have put them in a precarious playoff situation.
Currently, NYC sits in 10th place, three points off of a playoff position. Their Wednesday night opponents, Inter Miami, are currently in second place but are a club that has shown inconsistency at times. City will need to reorganize themselves to keep their mistakes to a minimum while pouncing on those that are available from Miami.
“We get ourselves into trouble in the final phase of the game,” said Jansen. “It’s mainly about keeping up the level we’ve shown up until the final phase of the game. That’s something we are aware of because it will get us into the right position at the end of games as well.”
Rotation will also be a key aspect of Wednesday’s game as City will be playing their second game of three in eight days. While returning striker Alonso Martinez showed great strides in the game against Chicago, he more than likely will not feature as a starter midweek. This begs the question of who Jansen will turn to in the striker position. There is still Bennie Traore, a player who has struggled for form since joining the club. There are other options as well, such as Malachi Jones or even putting Nico Fernandez into the striker position.
photo from NYCFC