New York City loses to Houston on a miserable night in The Bronx

New York City FC stumbled on a cold, rain-filled Wednesday night in the Bronx, losing 3-0 to the Houston Dynamo. It was a trap game in the eyes of some. Pascal Jansen's side looked off the pace from the opening kickoff, with the season-long inconsistencies in attack once again sinking the team.

An own goal from Justin Haak and a brace from former NYCFC backup striker Gabe Segal proved enough to hand Jasen's side its third home loss of the season. And with just one shot on target against a Houston side that's conceded six goals in the last two matches, it's clear that the qualities from Sunday's win over the Chicago Fire did not carry over into this midweek clash.

Playing down to poor competition

Houston's opener came courtesy of an unfortunate Justin Haak own goal in the 26th minute, when he headed a fizzing Jack McGlynn cross past goalkeeper Matt Freese into his own net. New York City responded by remaining complacent and docile, lacking that extra drive to push toward an equalizer. This lack of energy would carry into the second half.

What little pressure New York City applied to the Houston backline didn't trouble the visitors. As the minutes ticked on, and the rain continued to pour, the NYCFC defense would be the orchestrators of their own downfall, completely falling apart when they allowed Houston to bag a second goal.

After what appeared like a momentary lapse in communication, Houston's Erik Duenas found himself all alone at the center of the NYC penalty area, before firing a low shot towards Freese in goal. The American dove and parried it away, but only as far as Segal, who hammered home from close range to extend the lead over his former club. He opted not to celebrate in a brief moment of respect towards his former home.

Although Segal didn't mind scoring again when he converted a penalty in the 94th minute following a clumsy challenge from New York City left-wingback Nico Cavallo. His first Major League Soccer brace put the icing on the cake for the Dynamo.

This, like the losses to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and CF Montréal at the start of May, is another example of New York City failing to take advantage of matches against lesser opposition. Houston came into Wednesday night outside of the Western Conference playoff spots, having just conceded six goals in their last two matches. Not to mention that Houston was without star striker Ezequiel Ponce, the club's top goalscorer, due to suspension.

Riding the momentum from emphatic wins over strong Eastern Conference opposition like Chicago and the Red Bulls should have paved the way for another solid performance ahead of a great test away at Nashville on Saturday. Yet, NYC fell for the trap game, and now heads to Tennessee boasting far less confidence than before.

No lessons learned

In the 3-1 win over the Chicago Fire on Sunday, NYC struggled to create clear-cut chances early on. It wasn't until Chicago was reduced to 10 players after a red card was shown to midfielder Brian Gutiérrez for a silly foul, that the home team controlled the game and grabbed all three points.

Last night, however, the same Starting XI that featured on Memorial Day Weekend barely got out of first gear.

From the opening kickoff, it was clear that New York City was off the pace. Despite employing a high press that made things difficult for the Houston defenders from the jump, the creativity and composure in front of the goal left a lot to be desired.

Forwards Alonso Martínez and Hannes Wolf, two of the three goal scorers from Sunday's win, combined for just two shots, neither of which was on frame. To make matters worse, the duo combined for just five touches in the Houston penalty area in the 65 minutes they played before being hooked in the second half.

Attacking midfielders Julián Fernández and Maxi Moralez didn't fare much better, either, as both Argentines failed to put a shot on target between them, while swinging in just one accurate cross from a combined 11 attempts. As a team, New York City created just seven chances all match, struggling to penetrate the Houston low block with any poise or conviction. Compare this to the 17 chances created in the win over the Fire, and it's evident that the creative spark found on Sunday was doused by Wednesday's rain.

And it would be easy to blame the conditions, considering the torrential downpour slammed the patchworked pitch at Yankee Soccer Stadium from kickoff to the final whistle, but the weather wasn't to blame. During his post-match presser, Jansen was blunt, saying that "it had nothing to do with the conditions. The level was poor today. We didn't play well. [...] We should've played a lot quicker, a lot faster, a lot more aggressively. Today we didn't create anything, nothing at all. That's not because of the circumstances, that's because of us."

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A tougher test awaits

The next match for New York City is not an easy one. Jansen's side travels to Nashville SC, taking on the 3rd Place team in the Eastern Conference on Saturday afternoon – with a 4:30 pm ET kickoff coming in the middle of the UEFA Champions League Final between Inter Milan and Paris Saint-German. Led by English striker Sam Surridge and German midfielder Hany Mukhtar, who have 11 goal contributions each, Nashville boasts the best home record in the East, with six wins, two draws, and just a single loss.

New York City, by contrast, is 1-3-3 away from home in the league this season, having scored just six times while conceding nine. Jansen and his staff will be looking to bring the squad back into the same state of mind that saw them dispatch the Fire last weekend, while mitigating as many mistakes as possible.

If this season has proven anything, it's that New York City FC seems to flourish when being considered an underdog, and they'll certainly be tipped as one on Saturday. But one thing is for certain, NYC cannot start that contest as lethargic and dull as they did on Wednesday. A heavily rotated Houston did not put forth a strong performance, nor threaten the NYCFC goal all on their own. The majority of Houston's chances came by way of mistakes made by the Boys in Blue, and they were punished for them.

And in the face of a much stronger opponent this coming weekend, those mistakes cannot be repeated, or Jansen's side may find itself sliding back down the standings as quickly as they shot up.