FC Cincinnati fell 3-2 to the visiting New England Revolution on Wednesday night despite looking better statistically and leading in expected goals.
“Disappointed follow-up to what was a strong road win, and just can’t carry momentum in back-to-back
games, and certainly in front of our home crowd. So that part’s a letdown,” said head coach Pat Noonan.
Cincinnati was without star midfielder Evander for most of the match and starting defender Miles Robinson.
Tom Barlow struck first Wednesday night when he finished a loose ball off a Tyrell Malacia throw-in.
It didn’t take long for an answer, however, as New England’s Dor Turgeman evened things up at 1-1.
Late in the first half, Josh Wynder headed one home to give New England a 2-1 lead.
Another defensive lapse early in the second half cost Cincinnati, and Turgeman struck again to make it 3-1 for the visitors.
Cincinnati finally gained some life, creating a few more chances while maintaining most of the possession. Eventually, after a few good shots on net, Kevin Denkey trimmed the deficit to 3-2 when he tapped home a cross from Tyrell Malacia, who picked up his second assist of the night.
One of the most telling stats for me is Cincinnati’s 90.1% passing accuracy and 544 total passes, compared to New England’s 387. To me, that shows Cincinnati’s passing was often without purpose despite recording 24 shots, 10 of them on target, yet still losing 3-2 while New England held just 41.2% possession.
It’s quite frustrating because the talent is there to win these games. It’s just not clicking for Cincinnati right now, with too much overpassing, finishing issues, and mental mistakes defensively.
“It’s emotional control after you take a lead or, you know, understanding how to be a little bit more defensively compact…we just
need to be better defensively and have a better feel of the game, and [know] what it’s going to take to be tougher to play against and that comes in each phase in different ways, but it’s still something that’s missing with the group,” said Noonan.
Another sloppy all-around performance saw Cincinnati chasing the game and scrambling late for an equalizer but ultimately coming up short. These are the types of matches you simply cannot lose in a playoff race, and they will likely cost Cincinnati in the long run.
“It hurts losing. Forget having to push late to try to find a win. Yeah, you can appreciate the effort, but we need to find ways to not have to push so much towards the end and take as much risk by conceding less goals. And so, at this stage, we need to defend in a better way and not rely on late dramatics to carry us,” said Noonan.
Hell Is Real is up next on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. at TQL Stadium, a must-win match for Cincinnati if they want to keep climbing the standings.
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