{"id":6009,"date":"2017-04-10T22:04:19","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T02:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/?p=6009"},"modified":"2017-04-11T00:24:23","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T04:24:23","slug":"nycfcs-loss-to-dc-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2017\/04\/10\/nycfcs-loss-to-dc-united\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it Broke Yet? NYCFC\u2019s Loss to D.C. United"},"content":{"rendered":"

On my long drive through the mid-Atlantic night after NYCFC\u2019s loss to D.C. United, I had the opportunity to listen to several New York City Football Club podcasts. Now, \u00a0I am too much of a gentleman to call out the specific predictions my friends made. But I would be remiss if I did not point out that, nearly to a man (no women were on\u00a0the podcasts; more\u2019s the pity), they all prefaced their predictions with the same observation:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t change the line up. Or\u00a0the strategy. Or\u00a0the substitutions, or\u00a0the approach. The team are on a three-match unbeaten streak. Why mess with that?<\/p>\n

Is it Broke Yet? NYCFC\u2019s Loss to D.C. United<\/h2>\n

But after NYCFC\u2019s loss to D.C. United, in which their winless streak on the road continued, against a team that had scored only two goals all season and<\/strong> that had a -5 goal differential (lopsided in part because of the pasting NYCFC put on them a month earlier), one must ask if perhaps now<\/strong> things are in fact broke. Er, broken. If the glitches we\u2019ve seen were not merely bumps in the road, but, as the lady says, \u201can early clue to the new direction<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Case That it\u2019s Broken<\/h3>\n

The shoddy defense that led to the goal against San Jose. That turned three points into one against Montreal. That gave up as many goals to D.C. United as they had previously scored all season. The concern that no matter who the team bring in, no matter what combination of players are used, no matter what formation is employed, the NYCFC defense compares unfavorably with Swiss cheese. As one fan said to me, \u201cI felt like I was watching last season all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the case that NYCFC\u2019s broke.<\/p>\n

Add to that the dearth of goals scored by captain David Villa. Which is concerning on its face, but more worrisome when one remembers that the team will be without Frank Lampard\u2019s sizable contribution this season.<\/p>\n

And finally, that the formation\u00a0the team displayed during NYCFC\u2019s loss to D.C. United was, shall we say \u201ccurious.\u201d Sometimes Maxi Moralez was on the front line. Sometimes he was not. Sometimes Jack Harrison was in the midfield. Other times it looked like he was on the backline. Sometimes Rodney Wallace was in the midfield. Sometimes he was not. As someone who has watched a confused and dis-spirited US Men\u2019s National team conduct themselves this way, NYCFC\u2019s performance is at least irritating if not actually alarming.<\/p>\n

The Case That it\u2019s Not<\/h3>\n

Orlando had one real chance in their match, and they converted. Montreal, essentially the same. And in NYCFC\u2019s loss to D.C. United two mistakes resulted in two goals. Simple as that. Are mental errors acceptable? Of course not. But the point is, NYCFC are not being dominated. Quite the contrary; they\u2019ve had more possession and better passing accuracy than the opposition in every game this season. And their biggest margins were in the two matches they lost.<\/p>\n

Which all would seem to indicate that no, it\u2019s not broke, that these are just bumps in the road. Disappointing bumps to be sure. But the kinds of unfortunate breaks of the game that happen to even the best of teams. If you\u2019re dominating, if you\u2019re making your passes and if you\u2019re creating chances, then the wins will come. Especially when you have players like David Villa, Jack Harrison, Rodney Wallace, Maxi Moralaz, and Tommy McNamara on the pitch. And when you have Patrick Vieira on the touchline.<\/p>\n

And when you couple that with the fact that, of NYCFC\u2019s first five matches, two were against teams in the top third of their divisions \u2013 to whom they gave up a total of two\u00a0goals and from whom they took three points \u2013 one has to be reassured about the state of the team.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Next?<\/h3>\n

All that said, there would seem to be two options available to Patrick Vieira after NYCFC\u2019s loss to D.C. United. One is that he uses the starting XI\u2019s lackluster play on Saturday as an opportunity to make some wholesale changes. This would allow him to\u00a0reward players who haven\u2019t been able to get on the pitch. And<\/strong>\u00a0to punish those who may have gotten complacent.<\/p>\n

The other option is for him to ride herd on his team this week in training and then start his regular squad to see if they respond the way professionals ought to.<\/p>\n

Either way, he has a tremendous opportunity to send a message to his team. And it couldn\u2019t happen at a better time. Because not only does it come early in the season, when it can really do some good, but as NYCFC face ostensibly the worst side in the league. The Philadelphia Union are one of two winless teams left (Montreal are the other one). They are currently -4 on goal differential.\u00a0And curiously for a team that calls the lovely\u00a0Talen Energy Stadium home, they seem as woeful there as they are on the road.<\/p>\n

And while after NYCFC\u2019s loss to D.C. United it would be nice to take at least one point back to Yankee Stadium (especially as the team face the top two teams in the division in the next two weeks), I would still be satisfied with no points if I felt that NYCFC had used this episode to reforge themselves as the dangerous and unified fighting force we know they can be.<\/p>\n

That would be the best result of all.<\/p>\n

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Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n