New York City FC: 3 positives to take despite CCL defeat
New York City FC have lost both their MLS games and fell 1-0 to Tigres on Wednesday night. Despite the rough results, however, here are three positives.
New York City FC have lost their two opening games in MLS by 1-0 scorelines. They then fell to Tigres UANL in the first leg of the quarter-final of their CONCACAF Champions League tie 1-0 on Wednesday night. While they came through Round of 16 contest against A.D. San Carlos to open the year, it has not been the best start of the 2020 campaign for Ronny Deila and his side.
However, while the results have been underwhelming, and even some of the performances posed pejorative signs, there are positives to take from their recent run, especially their 1-0 loss to Tigres.
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Here, then, are three positives for New York City FC to take.
3. Wingers showing promise
Against Toronto FC last weekend, New York City FC got very little from their wingers. As we noted at MLS Multiplex, neither Jesus Medina or Alexandru Mitrita could imprint themselves on the match, despite getting into some promising positions. As modern football has leaned into the importance of wide attackers, this obviously seemed problematic for NYCFC.
However, on Wednesday night, NYCFC at least got a little more out of their offensive wide players. Mitrita looked very dangerous with the ball at his feet, skipping past defenders with twisting dribbles and explosive bursts of acceleration, while Ismael Tajouri-Shradi showed positive intent on the opposite flank with some pacy dribbles out wide, three shots, two of which were on target, and dangerous crosses into the penalty area.
The end product was not quite there from either, and NYCFC’s decision-making in the final third more generally was extremely problematic, but they at least showed that they can be dangerous when put into positive situations. And that is something for Ronny Deila and co. to build upon.