New York City FC’s fullbacks are always an integral part of any successful squad. Think of the prime years of Anton Tinnerholm and Ronald Matarrita, or when Gudi Thorarinson and Malte Amundsens helped carry the team to the league title in 2021.
At their best, NYCFC’s fullbacks are elite players who add width to the attack and stability to the defense.
But NYCFC didn’t find like-for-like replacements for the players they lost in recent years, and instead decided to go down the youth development road. This season, we saw 19-year-old Mitja Ilenič and 22-year-old Tayvon Gray split time at right back, notching 1733 minutes and 1720 minutes respectively. On the other side of the field, 26-year-old Kevin O’Toole made left-back his own — barring the 368 minutes that 17-year-old Christian McFarlane played midseason.
To start off with the good: Ilenič, Gray, and O’Toole all scored their first goals for the club – significant milestones for all three. Furthermore, all three can be credited with taking steps forward in their games, improving their play from the previous season. Most notably, Gray grew into the position by adding seven assists on top of his first career goal in what was by far his most productive season so far.
Another positive was the introduction of McFarlane, who was hyped up since signing his first professional contract three years ago at the age of 14. The English fullback didn’t overly impress in his limited appearances, but he notably played the full 90 minutes in the milestone 2-1 victory over Liga MX giants, Tigres UANL.
Now for the bad — or, more accurately, the mediocre. While there weren’t many glaringly poor moments this season, the fullbacks were not positions of strength in the ways that the best NYCFC teams have seen. The splitting of minutes between Ilenič and Gray was due in part to neither of them earning the spot full-out. On the flip side, O’Toole was the solidified starter mostly by default after Braian Cufré didn’t return to the squad in 2024, and McFarlane struggled to impress.
Yes, all four players improved their games in 2024, which is promising considering the age of the group. At the same time, there was an overall lack of quality. The positions struggled to make an impact on the team and was one of the weaker elements of NYCFC’s 2024 squad.
Looking to the future, I wouldn’t be surprised if a left-back is brought in to compete with O’Toole for minutes — especially if McFarlane heads off to the blue side of Manchester as expected. On the other side, right back remains a position of growth potential considering the youth of Gray and Ilenic, and the improving quality of their play. I hope that the two will continue to compete in 2025, and continue to elevate their games — there’s plenty of potential between them.
Final Grade: B-
Gray and Ilenic seem to push each other to be better, and that’s a good thing. I’m excited to see how they level up in 2025.
Tayvon became a better attacker as the season wore on, and Mitja became a better one-v-one defender. They’re good for each other. Kevin O’Toole deserves a bit more credit on the other side, though. He’s a very, very smart player, and he handled some very tough assignments about as well as we could have hoped (not letting Lucho beat him to the end line for the cutback pass back in October immediately leaps to mind).Could we upgrade at left back? Sure. Theoretically, we could upgrade anywhere. But I like where we are with him. It’s not a position where we’ve had an incumbent for a career, but it’s entirely possible we have one now.
I like O’Toole, he hustles and he’s really worked on his 1v1 defending, but I’d really like us to bring in some real competition for the position. Even if McFarlane stays around, we need more from the position and would help drive competition like Gray and Ilinic.
If McFarlane stays (doubt he will – maybe we get part of, or all of, one more season with him max), he will absolutely continue to improve. High ceiling for that young man.I love O’Toole. His work ethic and attitude are excellent examples for the even younger guys we have. Maybe he won’t be an elite lockdown defender, and competition not a bad thing. I do hope he’s with us for the long haul though.