New York City FC Vs Montreal Impact: Player ratings – Still winless

New York City FC could not capitalize against a shorthanded Montreal Impact, and remain winless. Here is a look at the match, including the player ratings.

On Saturday, New York City FC engaged in their second scoreless draw at home this season, remaining winless. They faced off against the Montreal Impact, who were without their best player, Ignacio Piatti, and went a man-down after Maxi Urruti received a red card in the 69th minute. Once again, NYCFC looked like the best team on the pitch. They had nearly two-thirds of the possession and took 13 shots, while only allowing their opponent to take three. Unfortunately, the end result still means each team takes a single point. New York City FC will regret all of these home draws later in the season.

While Montreal were without Piatti, New York City FC’s own best player was once again absent. Maxi Moralez missed his second-straight match due to injury. His presence was desperately needed. NYCFC lacked a creative spark in their attack, and Alexandru Mitrita (who began the match playing as a free-roaming midfielder) vacated the middle to play on the left. That would have been fine if either Jonathan Lewis, who played as a left winger, moved into that space, or if Jesus Medina, who was often isolated on the right, cut inside. But, neither of those things happened, and instead, NYCFC relied heavily on long passes from the backline.

The defense, along with holding midfielders James Sands and Alexander Ring, was once again stellar, and Montreal failed to threaten to score themselves. However, the lack of offense from the home team is disheartening. New York City FC have scored just four goals in five matches. New signing Heber made his debut, playing the final third of the match and showed glimpses of being the striker this team needs. Hopefully, we get to see Heber, Maxi Moralez and  Mitrita all play this Saturday against Minnesota United FC. And in their preferred positions. NYCFC need to start winning matches, and to do so, they need to score.

Here are the player ratings from the 0-0 draw.

All statistics come from whoscored.com

Goalkeeper

GK – Sean Johnson – 6.5

Sean Johnson enjoyed a quiet day. He only had to make a single save the entire match, while Montreal were only able to get three shots off against him. This goes to show New York City FC dominated this match and stifled the Impact’s attack, who dearly missed their injured star, Piatti.

Johnson was good with his distribution. Seven of his nine long passes were successful. He tried to push the tempo and spring the counter-attack by playing the ball quickly. However, as YES network’s color commentator often pointed out, his teammates were not always eager to get out in front fast enough.