New York City FC open four-match road trip with 2-0 loss at Charlotte FC
By Chris Tsakonas
New York City FC’s road struggles continued tonight with a 2-0 loss to Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium. Idan Toklamati opened the scoring for Charlotte in the 14th minute, while Kerwin Vargas doubled the lead in the 81st minute.
Here are three observations from New York City’s loss tonight.
Slow start costs New York City
Tonight’s match began unusually, as the original 7:40 p.m. kickoff was delayed an hour and 18 minutes due to a prolonged lightning delay. Once the match finally got underway, New York City struggled to do much despite winning the possession battle, creating just one total shot inside the opening 30 minutes of play.
While Charlotte also failed to regularly create chances early on, it ultimately didn’t matter. Charlotte’s breakthrough came in the 14th minute when Pep Biel collected the ball on the left side of the box before cutting it across the middle to set up Toklamati for the goal.
“It's a moment where a defensive shape allows them to attack a corridor on the right side, which was something that shouldn't be happening in that moment, but we make up for it,” head coach Pascal Jansen said after the match. “Everybody realizes we have to close down the spaces in defense - and once we're back in our structure, they surprise us with a deep run in the corridor again, and there was no communication between a few guys in that moment, which allows them to enter the box and finish us off.”
Tactical adjustments lead to offensive flashes for New York City
New York City’s attack began to create more frequent chances towards the end of the first half. New York City nearly capitalized on a giveaway at the back from goalkeeper Kristjian Kahlina, which led to an Alonso Martinez shot getting blocked by Adilson Malanda and a follow-up from Agustin Ojeda being saved by Kahlina. The chances combined for 0.39 expected goals - but it didn’t lead to an equalizer.
New York City looked even more comfortable in possession in the second half, regularly stringing together passes in the final third and generating eight total shots. One of New York City’s best chances came in the 57th minute, when a clean look from Julian Fernandez tried to curl it into the lower left corner but put his shot just wide.
“In the first half, I thought our build-up shapes were too predictable, so in the second half, we changed our shape and the positioning of Kevin O'Toole,” Jansen said. “We have guys at the wing that are quite good at playing one-v-ones, so we had to make sure that we get into an established build situation and get them in the one-v-ones in order to have these looks.”
Despite ending the match with 15 shots, four shots on goal and 1.4 expected goals, New York City failed to find the back of the net for the eighth time this season.
Vargas seals the deal late for Charlotte
Heading into the final minutes of the match, New York City firmly controlled the run of play and regularly threatened to score an equalizer.
In the 81st minute, Charlotte sealed the deal. It began with a long ball from Ashley Westwood to find Vargas, who chested it down and turned for the shot. The initial strike was blocked by Thiago Martins - but the ball fell right back to Vargas to finish on the second effort.
Next Up
New York City has a short turnaround before the second match of this four-match road trip against Orlando City on Wednesday night. Live radio commentary from Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence will get underway at 7:15 p.m. at newyorkcityfc.com/radio.