Match Recap: LAG 1 -0 NYCFC; A loss in Los Angeles

Welp, rough start.

The Pigeons drop points in their 2022 season opener on the road in Los Angeles after a stunning 90th minute winner courtesy of Javier 'Chicharito' Hernández. After Keaton Parks was dispossessed at the top of the box, the star Mexican international was slipped through by a well-weighted Raheem Edwards pass, and the Galaxy's star DP did the rest. He dropped Maxime Chanot to the floor with a lovely cut-back onto his right foot before smashing it home and celebrating accordingly. Tough look here from Keaton, but you’ve got to give credit to Chicharito - that was class from him in the big moment.

Skipper Ronny Deila offered this on the match:

“I think we were working really hard, in a tough arena, so I feel like we deserved something from the game. It’s very disappointing that we didn’t get a point.”

Despite Deila’s feeling that they deserved a draw, NYCFC leave 'the city of dreams' empty handed, and turn their attention to next week’s matchup up north at Vancouver Whitecaps, where they will seek out their first points of the young season.

But in the meantime, where does that leave us? It’s obviously not a good result, nor was it a game that exuded quality from NYCFC, but I think there are always positives to take from any match, so lets explore some of those where we can…

The Positives:

The main positives we can take away are from our defensive spine in Chanot, Callens, and Morales. They looked solid, and defensive solidity is hard to come by without confident play from your center backs and holding midfield. I think these three were among our best performers on the day.

1) Alex Callens. The Peruvian international made a handful of impressive, athletic challenges on Sunday, and his presence was felt for the entirety of the game. He was not at fault whatsoever for the goal, and I think his performance was certainly good enough to warrant a clean sheet on a different day.

2)Maxime Chanot. He may have gotten burned on their game winner, but he was put in a really tough spot 1v1 against one of the most talented players in the league. His play on the ball was really classy, and he was a real warrior out there after getting bashed in the face on THREE separate occasions, but getting up and playing with just as much authority after each time. He displayed the type of character and leadership that I want to see from my veteran CB.

3) Alfredo Morales. At holding midfield, I thought Morales had a very decent outing holding down the #6 spot. The former Düsseldorf man looked poised in possession as he always does, and provided good cover across the middle of the park for the duration of the game. While their goal ultimately came from a giveaway in our own third, the majority of the Galaxy’s chances throughout the game came from wide areas while attacking our fullbacks. They rarely posed a threat through the middle of the grounds, and I think Morales’ defensive display was to thank for that. During the match he totaled 9 ball recoveries, and won 7 duels for City.

Maxime Chanot Receives Treatment After a Blow to the Face

But, despite the proper outings from our defensive spine, there were obviously things that the boys in blue (orange) will have to improve upon if they are to come back from our northern neighbors with three points this Saturday. Here is some of what went wrong for NYCFC in our week 1 performance…

The Negatives:

At the risk of saying something too obvious, after getting shutout by the Galaxy, I’d say our biggest weaknesses came in the final third. We created a decent amount of chances early on, often as the result of some slick combination play down the right flank between Santi Rodriguez and Maxi Moralez. But, as the match wore on we created less and less in these areas, and offered very little by way of attacking threat in the second half. Here are some key areas that need to see improvement next week:

1) Tayvon Gray’s Crossing. I love Tayvon, and he stepped up in a big way for us in the playoffs last year after Anton Tinnerholm ruptured his achilles. And, his defensive work yesterday was actually really impressive, as he won 10 duels (the most in the match) and had 7 ball recoveries. But too many times, on the back end of a good attacking move, Tayvon would find himself in a great crossing position with runners in the box, and he’d fail to get his service past the first defender. City were often just one decent delivery away from creating a golden scoring opportunity, but Gray was unable to deliver the goods. At just 19, he has so much time to grow and improve, but we really need some better quality delivery from him if we’re going to be dangerous on the right side.

2) Pressing. I’m not saying we have to press all the time, especially against the likes of a dangerous attacking team like LA, but we offered next to nothing in terms of our press in the second half. Not sure if it was tactical, or just a lack of match fitness so early on in the season, but we were rarely able to offer sustained pressure in their third in the second 45. And, more frustratingly for me, when our forward line did decide to put a ball-carrying defender under pressure, we frequently committed cheap fouls which let Galaxy defenders off the hook. Just containing and being patient in these situations could have proved useful for NYC, and could’ve led to turnovers in dangerous areas that often lead to chances…much like the chance that LA created after forcing a turnover in our defensive third that led to their match-clinching goal.

3) The Big Moments. In the end, you can take all the tactics and intricacies of the match out of it, and look at it from the basic perspective of “who stepped up in the big moment?” The answer in this game was really just Chicharito. He had a big opportunity, and he took it brilliantly. Talles Magno had a big time opportunity early on, and he didn’t take it. Taty had an opportunity at the end of the first half, and he didn’t take it. And, probably most glaringly, Héber had a chance to level it in extra time, but he couldn’t find the target. So, it was just LA’s day, they stepped up and got it done. NYCFC didn’t.

Chicharito Scores the Game Winner