By Keira Smith // @keiramunsmith
After an inconsistent start to the 2019 season, New York City Football Club appears to have found their groove with a 2-0 win over Montreal Impact. The victory was, in part, due to solid play by the misunderstood Ben Sweat and smart strategy by the often-maligned Head Coach Dome Torrent.
Prior to this match, it looked like City had found a solid starting lineup:
However, injuries to Alexandru Mitrita, James Sands, and Ronald Matarrita suddenly made the team’s chances versus Montréal less certain.
Team depth, particularly in the midfield, paid off big time as Ben Sweat stepped up his game and executed his wingback role beyond expectations and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi returned to his starting position of right wing.
Tajouri-Shradi, one of 2018’s top team scorers, has not been consistently in the lineup, which was sparking questions from many fans. The biggest cause for concern prior to this match was the injury of defensive powerhouse James Sands and how the team would fill in for his strength and consistency.
What i think dome will do:
Johnson
Ibeagha Chanot Callens
Tinnerholm Ring Ofori Sweat
Maxi
Heber Taty— Bleacher Creature (@NYYxNYCFC) May 3, 2019
And in the end Torrent chose to go with a 3-4-3 just as certain adept fans so accurately predicted.
*Ibeagha for Sands. pic.twitter.com/Hwm0ivpJyr
— Roddy Russell Jr. (@rrusselljr93) May 3, 2019
The depth of the team and the adherence to a strategy of ironically “widening the field” (you know, since we have such a narrow home pitch?) and playing the majority of attacking sequences down the flanks ultimately were the doom of the Impact.
With this ball and player pattern, Montreal had no idea who to cover and how to predict the play, particularly in the second half. Wouldn’t it be interesting if this winning strategy was more effective on the road and the team ended up more successful on the road than at home? Is this likely? Probably not, but it would make things very interesting.
With goals scored by Moralez (6′) and Tajouri-Shradi (49′), the team demonstrated depth in offensive prowess and the ability to generate goals without Designated Player Mitrita and despite striker Héber having a rare non-productive outing.
Also worth noting is that the Impact generated a few first half goal scoring chances but NYCFC’s back line of Sebastien Ibeagha, Alexander Callens and Maxime Chanot ultimately were consistent in their defense.
Next up, NYCFC has three challenging games on the road: LA Galaxy on 5/11, Chicago Fire on 5/25 and Columbus Crew on 6/1 before returning home to host FC Cincinnati on 6/6.
I would anticipate that Coach Torrent will continue to utilize a formation with wingbacks, either with or without Sands. Will this formation be as useful on the narrow home pitch? As of now, City is unbeaten over the past 6 games, but the matchup against the LA Galaxy will be a true test of this apparent upward momentum.
Featured Image: NYCFC.com
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