Pat Noonan Reacts After FC Cincinnati’s 6–1 Loss to New England: “No Excuses”
Damon Gumbert
“Yeah, another bad league performance and result,” Pat Noonan said as he began his post-match presser following a devastating 6-1 loss against the New England Revolution. “A lot of things done poorly today. Not a lot of answers for what we saw.”
Noonan didn’t mince words following a third straight defeat in MLS regular-season play. The club was riding high entering the day following a 3-0 victory over Liga MX side Tigres on Thursday.
All of the positivity that was garnered in that game fell to the wayside fairly early in Sunday’s match.
Cincinnati’s starting lineup was heavily rotated, highlighted by the first MLS start for Andrei Chirila, who was brought up on a short-term loan from FCC2 prior to the match. Chirila was joined by Kyle Smith and Brian Anunga in their first starts of the season for Noonan’s side, as well as Ayoub Jabbari and Evander making their returns to the starting lineup.
When asked if the rotated lineup had anything to do with how the team played, Noonan would accept no excuses: “Doesn’t matter how many changes, it shouldn’t justify the way we played and the end result.”
Along with the changes to the lineup, there was also a formation change, seeing one man up top in Jabbari and four midfielders in Evander, Anunga, Dado Valenzuela, and Obinna Nwobodo.
The FC struck first, with Evander finding Dado on a quick restart and the 21-year-old dribbling past multiple defenders before sending the ball to the back post and past an outstretched Matt Turner.
That was the last time the Orange and Blue would celebrate for the night.
One of several problems that showed themselves as the game went along was that there were not enough good passers on the pitch during this match. Anunga, Nwobodo, and Jabbari turned the ball over countless times in the first half, with Nwobodo and Jabbari notching an abysmal 60% accurate pass rating according to FOTMOB.
Another problem, and arguably one that has been around for years, was the set-piece defending. More than just set pieces, the defense couldn’t stop crosses the entire night. All three of the first-half goals for New England came off crosses into the box and headers by Revs players.
The first goal was immediately following a Bryan Ramirez foul that garnered him a yellow card, which led to a free kick from Luca Langoni, who sent the ball looping into the box and found a leaping Brayan Ceballos for the headed goal.
The next goal came off a normal cross into the box. Miles Robinson was in perfect position to stop the cross, but lost track of attacker Dor Turgeman, who snuck in beside Robinson and put a header past keeper Roman Celentano.
The third goal in the first half was nearly identical to the first, with Ceballos leaping over all the defenders on a corner kick and sending a header into the back of the net.
Celentano and Robinson both had nights they would like to forget, with Robinson being subbed off in the 61’ after a fourth goal for New England and a subsequent foul that had Evander on the pitch for several moments.
Halftime subs of Kevin Denkey, Tom Barlow, and Ender Echenique added a brief spark to the Orange and Blue, but that spark was snuffed out fairly quickly.
In the 69’, down 4-1 and needing to stop the bleeding, the wound was ripped even more open when Dado Valenzuela came in late on a foul, leading his cleats into the calf of a Revolution defender. Valenzuela was immediately given a red card and put FC Cincinnati down to 10 men for the rest of the match.
Two more goals would cross the goal line before the full-time whistle granted mercy to the FC.
“It was a collaboration of poor performances,” Noonan said after the match. “I don’t think the one performance should have us thinking that we don’t have the depth to go out and compete in this league.”
Depth may be the last thing that Noonan should be worried about. Fans are justifiably angry about the start FCC has had to the season, with many people calling for Noonan to be replaced.
Chris Albright gave a full-throated endorsement of the coach last season when similar calls for the coach’s job were coming out. It would be shocking if his opinion has changed on the coach following a second-place finish in the Supporters’ Shield race and a first-round defeat of the Columbus Crew in the playoffs.
Noonan took FC Cincinnati from three straight Wooden Spoon seasons to the playoffs in his first full season as coach. The following year, he easily secured the Supporters’ Shield and won Coach of the Year on his way to the Eastern Conference Finals. The coach has the best three-year run for a new head coach in league history, but fans are asking, “What have you done for me lately?”
Everything I already mentioned, for starters, but also a chance to turn things around when the team travels to Monterrey, Mexico, for the return leg against Tigres on Thursday.
When asked whether he wants the players to quickly forget this match or to use it as a chip on the shoulder, Noonan said, “It’s a little bit of both.”
“We’ll analyze the things that we need to analyze, because there’s still plenty to take away from it. As far as the mental component of it, how do you put a bad performance and result past you? Because we have to turn it around quickly for an important game on Thursday.”
If FCC can prevail in Mexico, it would be the farthest the team has ever gotten in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and would be one of only a few MLS teams to walk into Mexico and win against a Liga MX team. Not that they even need to win, a loss by less than three goals would still secure them a spot in the next round.
The FC will then have to turn around and prepare for a 1:00 p.m. game against CF Montreal on Sunday, Mar. 22, at TQL Stadium.
