By Chris Tsakonas
NEW YORK – New York City FC is now winless in six league matches in a row after a 0-0 draw against Nashville SC at Yankee Stadium tonight.
Here are three observations from tonight’s match.
Pigeons attack well in transition
When New York City generated quality chances in this match, it often came in transition moments. The first high-quality chance for the Pigeons came in the 15th minute, when a quick counter out of the back led to a breakaway for Agustin Ojeda on the right flank that was saved by Nashville keeper Brian Schwake.
New York City created another quality chance in the 32nd minute, when Benie Traore cut it back on the endline and played a dangerous ball across the six – but Luighi missed the target. New York City finished with six total shots tonight, with two of them ending up on frame.
New York City attack stifled in quiet second half
After putting together some promising counterattacks in the first half, New York City struggled to generate much of anything in the attacking third. The Pigeons conceded most of the possession, holding just 36 percent of the ball.
New York City also struggled to turn the possession that it did have into scoring chances, with no shots and only four touches in the opposing penalty area in the second half.
This marked the sixth straight match without a second half goal for the Pigeons, with the last one coming from Ojeda in the 70th minute of a 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew on July 22.
Defense snaps clean sheet drought
During New York City’s summer slump, one challenge has been keeping the ball out of the net. Entering tonight’s match, the Pigeons had gone nine league matches without a clean sheet, conceding a total of 13 goals during that stretch.
That changed tonight, as New York City kept Nashville from generating too many quality chances. While Nashville finished with 16 total shots, only two of them were on target with an average of 0.1 expected goals per shot according to FotMob.
The closest call came in the 43rd minute, when a giveaway from keeper Matt Freese left Hany Mukhtar with a mostly open net to shoot at from the edge of the area. Mukhtar fired a powerful shot that went off the crossbar to help preserve the clean sheet. Freese recovered from the error to finish with three saves in the win.
Next Up
New York City will head across the East River to host the New England Revolution at Citi Field in Queens. New England currently sits at 4th in the Eastern Conference on 37 points ahead of a road match against the Los Angeles Galaxy tomorrow night.
The match will kick off at 8 p.m., with radio commentary getting underway at 7:45 p.m. at newyorkcityfc.com/radio and the Apple TV Home Radio feature.
