In all reality New York City F.C. was the last club Minnesota United would have liked to face off against with what head coach Adrian Heath has labeled a “bare bones” squad.
NYCFC represents one of the deepest squad rosters in the entirety of Major League Soccer, headlined by the likes of David Villa, Andrea Pirlo and Jack Harrison. Though United did jump to an early lead via Christian Ramirez’s team-leading 10th goal of the season, New York City completely overhauled the match the rest of the way to come out on top 3-1 on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.
“They were better than us on the night in most departments,” Heath said. “We got ourselves an early goal, we got ourselves in front and never really then took the game to them. Because I thought we had about a ten-minute spell after where we were one pass away from maybe going two-nil up. But, there wasn’t enough desire to go and get that second goal – to really take people out of their comfort zone – and we don’t really do enough of it on the road I’m afraid.”
It’s true, the Loons are completely listless on the road this season as they remain winless with a record of 0-7-2 away from TCF Bank Stadium.
After the match, Ramirez revealed that the team held a players meeting after the game to hash out a solution to poor form away from home.
“We had a team meeting, and it can’t happen anymore,” Ramirez said. “We can’t be a completely different team on the road compared to how we are at home and there should be no excuse for how we play on the road.”
As a good example of the stark contracts between the Loons home/road splits, NYCFC out-possessed Minnesota with 64 percent of the ball on Thursday. Compare that to United’s last time out when they held the ball 73 percent of the time in the 2-2 draw versus the Vancouver Whitecaps.
In last Saturday’s fixture, Minnesota outshot its opponent 17-11. But now compare that to Thursday where the Loons were outshot themselves 20-6 by New York City.
“I can’t put my finger on why we’re so weak physically and mentally on the road,” Heath said. “Completely different set of people on the road than we are at home. Now I know it’s different on the road, but we’ve got to show a lot more. We’ve got to show a lot more…drive and usually has this desire to want to stop people from scoring goals but we don’t at this moment in time on the road. People score goals too easy against us. The goal from David Villa, somebody took perfectly. It’s a throw in. A needless throw in on the halfway line and two seconds later in the back of our net. Nobody’s doing enough to stop anybody.”
Read that last line again… Nobody’s doing enough to stop anybody.
It’s abundantly clear that Heath is calling out his players directly to the public. Say what you will about that, but his honesty is refreshing. This isn’t the first time Heath’s done that. In fact, at this point you’d have to say his candor is hallmark of his coaching style.
Oh, and he wasn’t done as it pertains to the lack of players he has currently at his disposal. (Something we’ve talked extensively about on the Minnesota Soccer Podcast.)
“We haven’t got enough depth to change things around, because trust me if I could I would,” Heath said. “I can’t keep watching this. It’s driving me crazy. Watching people play at home with all of the intentions, good intentions, and play with everything we ask of and then away from home I’m sorry but we just don’t get enough out of them. And the players are kidding themselves if they think they’re trying as hard as they can and I’ve just told them that in the dressing room. They’re kidding themselves.”
That’s right, the head coach is telling the media that his players are kidding themselves. That’s bold. And again, though it seems brash, you can’t help but respect his call to action.
Heath is in luck as it sounds as though the front office agrees with him and will be looking to add a lot of fresh bodies when the MLS summer transfer window opens on July 10. It is being widely reported that the Loons have already received the signature of Scottish winger Sam Nicholson.
After the match Minnesota midfielder Sam Cronin said: “We have to be honest with ourselves individually and collectively and be stronger and tougher on the road.”
Well, the good news right now for United fans is they can definitely count on Heath being brutally honest.
