Uptown Funk: What's Ailing NYCFC?

This article originally appeared on mlssoccer.com

Sunday’s Hudson River Derby loss against the New York Red Bulls had to be disheartening for NYCFC.  Despite being up a man for the majority of the match after Matt Miazga received his second yellow in the 35^th minute, NYCFC could not take advantage and were easily dispatched 2-1.  As a result, the team from the Bronx has now only one win to their credit over the first 10 games.

Despite Jason Kreis—the successful ex-RSL manager—taking the reigns over a year before playing their first game, immediate success has proven elusive for NYCFC.  It generally always is for expansion MLS teams.  Certainly, it has not helped that of their three highest profile players, Frank Lampard has yet to arrive from Manchester City, David Villa has been hampered by injury, and Mix Diskerud has struggled to lead in the middle of the field.  Kreis’ successful RSL squads all had a clear tactical style and consistent lineups. By contrast, per Opta NYCFC has already trotted out five different formations to start games this season, more than any other team.  All of these issues underscore the simple problem that has led to such a poor start:  the team is struggling to put the ball in the back of the net. NYCFC are averaging a meager 0.7 goals per game, which is the lowest scoring rate in the league—excluding the Montreal Impact.

Looking deeper at attacking data provided by Opta, it is striking how little width NYCFC is showing in attack.  Looking at shots taken by MLS teams in the penalty box, or the “danger zone” as analyst Michael Caley calls it, we can see that virtually nothing is being created by NYCFC from the flanks, as demonstrated by the percent of these shots coming from crosses. 

Shots from Crosses (%)
Team	% Cross
New York City FC	19.4%
FC Dallas	22.6%
Portland Timbers	34.8%
Seattle Sounders FC	35.9%
New England Revolution	36.0%
Vancouver Whitecaps	39.1%
New York Red Bulls	41.2%
Colorado Rapids	43.6%
LA Galaxy	44.7%
Philadelphia Union	45.8%
D.C. United	48.3%
Montreal Impact	50.0%
Sporting Kansas City	50.8%
San Jose Earthquakes	51.2%
Toronto FC	51.5%
Orlando City SC	53.7%
Houston Dynamo	56.3%
Chicago Fire	62.9%
Real Salt Lake	63.0%
Columbus Crew SC	72.0%

NYCFC has the lowest percent in the league.  On its face, this is not necessarily a good or bad thing as it represents a stylistic choice more than anything else.  However, when a stylistic choice is not resulting in goals, then you have a problem.

If the attack is not going to come from the wings, then it has to be generated in the middle of the pitch.  Here again, NYCFC has struggled to connect their midfield to their forwards.  Despite having the second highest possession % in the league, it has been of the toothless variety.  In particular, it appears that Mix Diskerud might be playing too simply.  Diskerud is the highest volume passer for NYCFC, but compared to other high volume passing central midfielders, an abnormally high % of his passes are short ones that do not stretch defenses.  On average, Mix is playing approximately 14 short passes for every longer pass.

Name	Short Pass: Long Pass
Mix Diskerud New York City FC	13.8
Dax McCarty New York Red Bulls	10.5
Tony Tchani Columbus Crew	10.4
Michael Bradley Toronto FC	10.1
Juninho L.A. Galaxy	8.6
Darwin Ceren Orlando City	8.4
Gonzalo Pineda Seattle Sounders FC	7.8
Matías Laba Vancouver Whitecaps	7.6
Diego Chara Portland Timbers	7.4
Lucas Pittinari Colorado Rapids	6.7
Matt Polster Chicago Fire	5.8