Noonan, FC Cincinnati dominated by CF Montreal in 3-1 loss
Damon Gumbert
“It just didn’t look like a group on the field that had that desire to go win a game,” Head Coach Pat Noonan said of the performance that his FC Cincinnati side put forth against CF Montreal on Saturday.
It’s unclear why the players who were on the pitch, most of whom were finally getting playing time with all of the departures for the international window, put forth such a toothless performance. Theoretically, this was their chance to make a case for more minutes. Instead, they played like people who regretted showing up for work.
Noonan was without many of his star players, such as Kevin Denkey, Pavel Bucha, and Miles Robinson, but still had Evander, Dado Valenzuela, Bryan Ramirez, and Obinna Nwobodo. His starting lineup had Roman Celentano in goal, a backline of Teenage Hadebe, Nick Hagglund, and Sam Gidi, flanked by Ramirez on the left and Kenji Mboma Dem on the right. The midfield consisted of Nwobodo, Valenzuela, and Evander, with Ayoub Jabbari and Tom Barlow starting up top.
Not an ideal lineup, especially that backline, but far from a bad team. Or at least that is what you would have thought going into the match. That on top of Montreal only having three outfield players on their bench, and were touting the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
You would have thought the standings were reversed after watching this match. Cincinnati played with no urgency, constantly cycling the ball back to the backline or even back to Celentano when they had the ball in the Montreal half of the pitch. FCC took 18 shots on the night but only managed five on target. On multiple occasions, they sent clear attempts sailing over the crossbar, none more disappointing than a gimme-shot from Evander while within feet of goal.
The Brazilian 10 hasn’t scored a goal since Aug 22nd while also only notching two assists in that period. He has only had three shots on target over that stretch, while only managing eight shots in total. The way the team has played in that time is similar, allowing 17 goals and only scoring six.
Allowing 17 goals in five games is bad, but that has been how The FC’s defense has been playing all season essentially. Scoring only six goals in that time, and three of those in a match that Evander didn’t feature in, is quite possibly more concerning. This was an offense that was the second-highest scoring offense in the league, behind only Inter Miami. They are now free-falling down that list, only one goal ahead of the surging Philadelphia Union and five ahead of FC Dallas.
The only goal scored by FC Cincinnati on Saturday was arguably one that should not have been allowed. While VAR checked and approved the goal, it looked fairly obvious that Barlow, the goalscorer, was offside. Other than the aforementioned sailing shot from Evander, there weren’t a lot of significant chances in this match.
While chasing a goal, and then two, Noonan made five substitutions and brought on three defensively minded players and only two offensive substitutes. In the 58’ he brought on new addition David Doudera on for Jabbari, moving Mboma Dem up to striker and sliding Doudera into the right wingback role. In the 77’ Noonan brought on Kristian Fletcher and Kyle Smith for Ramirez and Nwobodo. His final two subs in the 85’, needing an offensive spark and having another offensive player on the bench in Stefan Chirila, brought on Alvas Powell and Brian Anunga instead.
The damage had already been done on defense, so making offensive substitutions would have been the smart choice if you were trying to salvage a point from this match. Noonan decided to throw in the towel and put in two players who have combined for one shot on target this season.
We can talk about how the defense was bad or how Celentano gave up a stupid penalty and failed to stop it again, but you need to score goals to win the match. Yes, it’s much easier to do that when you have a defense that can stop the other team from scoring, but as this team showed earlier this season, they have the ability to match another team's offensive explosions.
Where did that offense go? Since the World Cup break, there have only been seven matches, including Leagues Cup, where The FC has scored more than one goal. In nine of the final 10 matches before the break, they had scored more than one goal.
Some people think that the recent release of Matt Miazga has broken this team, fracturing it from the front office and coaching staff. I would argue that the problem has been there longer, since the summer transfer window opened and The FC turned down potential suitors from Europe for their top stars.
It’ll be very hard for Cincinnati to make the playoffs, which they are currently on the outside looking in, if their offense does not reignite some of the fire that it had earlier in the season. The club has a break until Oct. 10 to get their minds right and refocused. Four of their final eight matches will be against teams lower than them in the Eastern Conference standings, but as we saw with Montreal, that does not mean they will be easy games.
In the other four matches, they will play the top tier of the playoff picture, with matches against New England, Miami, Philly, and Nashville. They’ll need every point they can get if they want to continue their playoff streak for another season.
