FC Cincinnati with more questions than answers at international break
Damon Gumbert
“We’re trying to figure that out,” Pat Noonan said after Saturday’s 1-2 loss to DC United. He was talking about the issues in the team’s passing, but the phrase also sums up the shocking regression the team has seen this week. After three games in seven days and with no days off, The FC limps into the international break with mounting questions about what has happened to the once mighty squad.
At times during this week, the team has looked good, the first half against FC Dallas being a good example of what this team can do when they are clicking, but many more times they have looked lost and dejected. Following Nick Hagglund’s injury on Sunday, the club has given up nine goals in three games. The defense, once the strength of this club, has gone from near the top of the Eastern Conference in goals allowed to the middle of the pack in seven days.
The loss of Nick Hagglund cannot be overstated. Not only is he a fan favorite and a son of Cincinnati, but he is a leader on the team and has been playing at a high level since his return from injury in March. DeAndre Yedlin was blunt when asked what has been going wrong with the set piece defending, “Nick going down.” In his limited playing time this season Hagglund already leads the team in aerial duels won with 22, something they have sorely missed.
Hagglund’s injury has had a similar effect on this team that Matt Miazga’s season-ending injury did last season, where the club hemorrhaged goals leading into the Leagues Cup break. That has to be concerning for the club as when Miazga went down there were no other options at center-back, and they are spending a lot of money to make sure that isn’t an issue this season. Miazga looks like he’s still trying to regain his fitness and get back to where he was before the injury last season, but there could be a hiccup with that as he left Saturday’s game after having a few collisions to his legs. Miles Robinson has looked good for most of the season, even scoring on Sunday against his former team Atlanta United, but has also had a few lapses in judgment that have cost the team in big spots. Now he will be gone and playing for the US Men’s National Team, leaving the club without another center-back. Gilberto Flores showed glimpses early in the season. Still, a lack of attention and preparedness on Wednesday saw him benched and watching as Noonan played two fullbacks at center back Saturday rather than go with him.
While the defense reels from their trouncing this week, the offense has looked inconsistent and unsure of themselves at times. The team has gotten more people involved on offense, with Pavel Bucha and Robinson getting their first goals of the season, but still nothing from Luca Orellano nor either Sergio Santos or Kei Kamara. On Saturday Evander was able to slip past three DC defenders and find Kevin Denkey in the box for an easy goal in the 16’.
The rest of the game was a different story, with the players being unable to advance the ball into the opposing box. Denkey only had two touches in the opposing box, Evander had one, and Dado had three but was subbed off at halftime for Kamara, who also only had one. Kamara was also called for three offside penalties, with the club having a total of four. Cincinnati currently has the third most offsides penalties in the league with 40 on the season. The team is unable to advance the ball because they are consistently lining up offsides and when they do advance the ball they are unable to get it into the box for their playmakers.
Throughout the three games this week The FC has made over 1500 passes, easily outpassing the opposition and securing possession of over 60% in all three games. Those are impressive stats, but don’t mean much when the results don’t match. Over those three matches, Robinson made 286 passes and Miazga added 143, meaning about a fourth of the team’s passes came from two players. The heat maps provided by MLS Analytics on BlueSky show the full story, the team spends so much time on the ball because they pass back and forth between the center backs, wing backs, and goalkeeper. There are very few attempts to advance the ball to the midfield and the team’s best players. In comparison, DC United’s heat map shows that they played the ball consistently out of the midfield, getting the ball to their strongest players and letting the defense work focus on defending rather than trying to spark the offense.
That’s not the part of the passing that is the most frustrating, though it is still frustrating. The reason that Noonan was asked about the passing in this match was because on several occasions there were passes made that had little to no speed on them and let DC players close in on the ball, forcing the FCC player to make hurried decisions and mistakes. Below is a clip from the game, this happened 12 seconds into the match and set DC to go score the first goal of the match.
Noonan summed up the passing saying, We had too many guys that in some moments, just lacking composure and playing too fast and not recognizing the moments of when to just try to control the ball and control play.” He went on to add, “I think we’re struggling in those moments and then just the simple where there’s no pressure and the decisions are poor. That we have to continue to look at and then figure out a solution for.”
When asked if the issues with the team are large-scale or not, Noonan said, “That depends on which part of the game. I think there's a little bit of both.” When asked about the club struggling this week against three teams near the bottom of the table, he responded, “So, all of those teams, despite their records, show that they can go and beat good teams. Well, right now, I think there's a lot that you can look at our group and say, 'How good are we?'“
That’s a very important question. Noonan has started many of his press conferences this season with the words “poor performance.” He has consistently talked about how inconsistent the team has performed. Many people are asking, how is that still something that is coming up half way through the season? That has to be something that the club looks at over these two weeks while the players try and clear their heads and focus to getting back to playing good football. If the on-field results and product don't begin to improve, more than just Noonan will have to answer as to why, after a winter of high-profile acquisitions, things are still shit.
