For the second time in as many games, New York City FC took the lead in a match they failed to close out and win. But last week’s 1-1 Leagues Cup draw on the road with a heavily favored Columbus Crew was a fair result against the eventual tournament winners, and wasn’t nearly as painful as Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home with a Chicago Crew that started the night in 14th place in the Eastern Conference.
Matthew Mangam
Your player ratings reflect the disappointment of a game that began with an Alonso Martínez brace (yay!) and ended with Chicago converting a stoppage-time penalty (boo!). It was a surprising result after Martínez conjured two goals out of nothing to help the home side outperform their 1.07 xG.
But then a defense that had bailed out the team countless times this season couldn’t keep it together, first giving up a goal in the 79th minute to the always dangerous Hugo Cuypers, then gifting the away side a penalty in the 94th minute when Tayvon Gray’s outstretched arm knocked down the ball inside the box.
the other team got a penalty
— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) August 25, 2024
the other team scored.
🗽 2-2 🔥 | #NYCvCHI
— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) August 25, 2024
You expressed your disappointment by giving four ratings in the 5s, another four in the 4s, and a match-low 3.5 for Head Coach Nick Cushing. Read on to see the full ratings for NYCFC’s 26th game of the regular season.
Note: FotMob ratings are in parentheses.
Alonso Martínez, off 79′ (9.0) – 8.6
Santiago Rodríguez off 85′ (6.4) – 6.4
Hannes Wolf (7.9) – 5.7
Maxi Moralez off 72′ (7.4) – 7.2
Keaton Parks (7.9) – 6.3
James Sands (7.3) – 6.1
Tayvon Gray (6.1) – 4.1
Christian McFarlane, off 72′ (6.9) – 6.1
Thiago Martins (7.5) – 6.3
Birk Risa (6.5) – 5.6
Matt Freese (6.3) – 6.6
Julián Fernández, on 72′ (6.2) – 5.1
Kevin O’Toole, on 72′ (6.5) – 5.0
Jovan Mijatović, on 79′ (6.1) – 4.4
Justin Haak, on 85′ (n/a) – 4.7
Player Spotlight
Jovan Mijatović
It might be too much to expect Jovan Mijatović to have an impact on a game when he’s brought on in the 79th minute. But once again the striker didn’t register a shot, never mind a shot on target.
This isn’t to say that he should have scored the game-winner. But Mijatović could have done more to harass Chicago and force them to defend the game. Instead, the striker had just six touches per FotMob, and only one touch inside the opposition’s box. That’s not going to pin anybody back.
Mijatović hasn’t featured much this year, and it’s hard to find your groove without getting playing time. But he hasn’t done anything with the opportunities handed to him. His excellent Leagues Cup goal against FC Cincinnati aside, the 19-year-old has been mostly invisible. Mijatović has just seven shots in 243 minutes over 14 appearances. More important, he has yet to take a single shot on target in league play.
It’s fair to expect more from a player with the seventh-highest salary on the team, and who makes more than twice as much as this week’s Player of the Match.
Nick Cushing – 3.5
Nick Cushing’s side wasn’t able to close down the game and protect a two-goal lead, and you hold him responsible for the result. His Starting XI dominated his opponents, but Chicago Fire Head Coach Frank Klopas made key substitutes at the half, and then again in the 72nd minute — and scored seven minutes later.
You saw Cushing’s desperation when he took off Santiago Rodríguez in the 85th minute for the more defensive Justin Haak. The move to bunker down and protect what was then a one-goal lead worked until it didn’t: New York City were unlucky to give up the penalty, but it came as the result of Chicago successfully working the ball into the box and looking to create chances.
A more aggressive NYCFC would have gone on the attack and forced Chicago to sit back and defend; a more stout NYCFC would have closed off the midfield and kept Chicago outside of the box. This NYCFC did neither.
Malik Badawi – 4.3
The referee whistled New York City for seven fouls and Chicago for 14, but the most important call he made was for the visitors, when he correctly whistled Gray for a handball in the penalty area. Were there calls not made? Say, a penalty or two for New York City after Chicago made some heavy tackles in the box? Possibly, but you can’t pin this result on the officiating.
Player of the Match
Alonso Martínez
New York City’s No 9 No 16 is your POTM for the second game in a row with a near-unanimous vote from our readers (shoutout to the Freese family). That’s what you get when you score 100% of your team’s goals in two consecutive starts.
At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, both of Alonso Martínez’s on this night were magnificent, and as scrappy as they were intelligent. First, there was the shot he took in the 15th minute from outside the box. He made a simple cut to create a little space, then sent the ball around one defender, through two more, and past a diving goalkeeper just inside the far post.
ALONSO SAID “SAY LESS” 🇨🇷 pic.twitter.com/Qk8nlvVFTr
— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) August 24, 2024
Then seven minutes later, he picked up a loose ball inside the box, made a quick fake to send two defenders to the ground, and then fired a shot with lethal accuracy into the back of the net.
HE SENT THEM FOR A NEW YORK HOT DOG 🥶 pic.twitter.com/40CB0WuhNj
— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) August 25, 2024
To quote what Andrew Leigh wrote about Martínez when he was named POTM last week, “the goal was stunning in its quickness and efficiency.” Really, you could copy-and-paste that line for so many of Martínez’s goals this year. The attacker isn’t particularly big, fast, or physical, but he is El Clínico: Out of Martínez’s 36 shots this season, 19 are on target, and 10 of those are goals.
Andrew Leigh
I don’t know what to attribute it to, but Risa O’toole and Gray have been very good at times in the past and very disappointing the past couple of months. Like Cuyper’s goal happened by him beating Risa and O’toole 2 on 1 to get a clean shot on goal. Martins is always consistently great, McFarlane has been consistently very good, everyone else in our back line recently not so much. When we were flying high earlier in the season(the wins against Charlotte, Red Bulls, etc), we were getting consistently good performances from Risa and both Full back spots. I think that’s really the biggest difference between “we look like a Supporter’s Shield Threat” NYCFC and “What if we give up a bunch of goals in 15 minutes” NYCFC.
I understand that there can be a tendency to blame too much on the manager at times, but I really feel it is warranted here. Teams take on the characteristics of their manager for good or bad. We saw this when a very poor NYCFC team remained true to the plan to be a possession team under Viera even after the disaster of the 7-0 derby. Cushing always says one thing, but his subs and tactical shifts read that he is panicking. It’s hard to believe that it doesn’t affect play. We don’t play like a team with confidence at all.
re: player spotlight:Jovan at least seems good at long throw-in, a luxury talent that the team never had for the last decade lol. gotta build it in to some set-play configs, no?this kind of result is solely on the manager’s (aka coach’s) responsibility. all ‘meaningful’ shifts happened after the 1st round of subs respectively. we were slowing down, they were getting faster. so obvious. let me fu$5kin repeat. parking the bus with 1 goal lead HAS NEVER WORKED OUT IN THIS TEAM. all that keeping happened when the team was still trying to attack. it’s not KoT’s or Gray’s fault. it’s coach’s fault, especially waht the eff happens after 70 mins of the game. 3.5 is overrated. the biggest problem—i reiterate here—is that the subbing is so freakin predictable. wimpy coaching costed the game. pretty sure these 2 points o’ deficit can possibly send us to Harrison for the 1st PO game. uggghhh