New York Red Bulls 1-0 FC Cincinnati: Worry.

Great album for the right people, btw. (Punk.)

Having just completed my penance for missing the first 10 minutes of the second half, I can admit that FC Cincinnati had more chances than I remembered (linked to in order, fwiw; and consider that they got a super-majority of clips in the highlights over all). All I know is that, when I watched the game in real-time, I was as focused on pulling for it to end as anything else.

Jesus Christ, what a discouraging turd of a performance – and that applies to both Cincinnati and the Red Bulls. They dragged everyone who endured the experience through, in terms of competence and technical proficiency, looked like two high school teams bumbling through 90+ minutes that only a parent (or truly dedicated fans) could love. Anyone wondering what’s throttling Red Bulls this season need look no further than their once-lethal passing drying all the fucking way up. Last season, and even a couple before, they would have cut FC Cincy to ribbons, often as they forced all those turnovers and clearances that didn’t get the clearances nearly far enough away.

And that’s really where the source of my concern comes in: had Cincinnati earned this result against Red Bulls 2018, the tone of everything below would read brighter. Meanwhile, back in 2019, Cincinnati barely lost to a bad team that continues to play badly. That takes nothing away from Cincy’s back four – all of whom played well, with Kendall Waston standing rather impressively out (happy that he’s delivering for them too, something I second-guessed on my way into 2019) – but they look increasingly like the sole stable, functioning part of this expansion team. New York’s tactical/technical aimlessness lent them a pretty massive assist, but they stepped well where they had to, and didn’t give the Red Bulls much. The fact remains that they couldn't get it done against that team. They gave them enough sadly – your classic momentary loss of muscular coordination – and that got New York their first win in…six games? (Yep.)

Whatever faith I have in Cincinnati to succeed in its inaugural season is centered on Leonardo Bertone and Victor Ulloa (or whomever they start) being able to smartly manage the traffic heading in both directions through midfield. To give the Red Bulls a little credit, it felt like those two struggled to pass any direction but sideways yesterday, and that’s my theory for why FC Cincy could only snatch for scraps out there. I’m open to other theories, but I didn’t see much in the way of attacking cohesion from the visiting team. Just to note it and/or keep the spirits up, for all their woes, the Red Bulls remain one of the league’s better defensive teams. Perhaps and hopefully that goes some distance to explaining why Cincinnati looked so damn clueless out there (getting an answer to why New York looked so clueless would turn around their season).

Then again, a stat that I almost certainly misheard hints that their problems run deeper: Shep “Please Shut Up” Messing said something about Cincinnati not scoring for over 300 minutes – which can’t be right, because this happened fewer minutes ago – so, I have to assume the number is about scoring during open play(?). I don’t care enough about that to look it up, because Cincy has scored just one (1) goal in their last five games, and now we all know that nightmares can come true, and that if you say, “FC Cincinnati will struggle to score” in front of a mirror three times, it will come true.

That pill tastes a little more bitter for anyone campaigning to get Emmanuel Ledesma on the field to goose the attack (me). For what it’s worth, I don’t count Ledesma as a lead-the-line kind of attacking player (and I doubt that’s how he was used), but he struggled as badly as the rest of the team when it came to finding options. If asked to nominate the most dangerous player in orange and blue yesterday, I’d go with Roland Lamah – a statement that expands reasonably to the season as a whole – and that leaves open the question of whether that’ll ever be enough to earn decent, useful results. Maybe getting Fanendo Adi back on the field will help (and, remember, goals have magic properties of rehabilitation/amnesia with your average sporting fanbase), but based on what I saw yesterday, I don’t see him changing the final outcome any more than the several close calls Cincinnati managed – late in the game, a lot of them.

To offer a counter-point to all the above, if the Red Bulls are such a solid defensive team, where’s the shame in FC Cincinnati failing to score against them, and on the road? Even if they ultimately created fewer chances overall, Cincinnati’s openings looked better than New York’s, the woodwork had to play 12th-man more than once, etc. Had they stolen a point, no matter how dubiously, that one point could have paid off down the road – if nothing else, it could have provided some solace and a positive to hold onto. A better result would have been nice, no question.

Overall, though, I can’t shake the sense that this presented as one of the lower-hanging opportunities to earn at least one point – i.e., a team with a struggling offense, and in such a state that rumors/vultures started circling (e.g., the noise about Thierry Henry taking over Chris Armas’ coaching job). I’m less disturbed by the fact that Cincinnati didn’t get one pilfered point than I am by the sense that they haven’t really figured out how to attack. That’ll come at some point, obviously (I mean, it has to…right?), whether by smarter tactics or new personnel. At this point, I can’t help but think it’ll take the latter.

All right, that’s enough outta me. If anyone wants to throw up a little, take a look at Cincinnati’s next 5 games. Uff da