Yoann Damet walked into his post-match press conference, sat down and essentially said he hopes he’ll never see another FC Cincinnati performance like that again.
“A frustrating game,” the interim head coach started. “(That was probably) one to put into the category of the bad games we’ve played. Not happy about the content; not happy about the energy and intensity tonight, so a frustrating night.”
Damet went on to say he thought the energy levels were low early in the first half and that helped dictate the rest of the game. Minutes later, goalkeeper Spencer Richey offered similar sentiments.
“Tonight, throughout I thought we just looked a little bit sluggish,” Richey said. “You could put it on the short week, the heat, whatever you want to call it. But overall, the mentality and the application wasn’t there for us tonight.”
If true, then Sunday night’s 2-0 loss to the New England Revolution at Nippert Stadium is an outlier of performances this season.
The loss wasn’t the first time FC Cincinnati struggled against an opponent, but it was the first time that the team’s mentality was questioned.
The game was the team’s third in nine days. In the initial one, the Orange and Blue beat the Chicago Fire for the first road win since March 24. Momentum and morale were high.
Even after a 4-1 loss to D.C. United at Nippert Stadium on Thursday, players kept heads up and said the goals conceded weren’t indicative of the performance. That was an accurate statement.
But then Sunday happened, when the New England Revolution visited the Queen City and resembled the side that has the best form currently in MLS, rather than one that lost to Cincinnati at Gillette Stadium earlier this season.
As Richey put it, the application wasn’t there.
On the first goal conceded, the Revs dribbled into the box and smashed a loose ball past Richey. As for the second, a player was left unmarked after a corner kick routine. Neither was pretty nor necessary.
But when the Orange and Blue tried mustering a comeback, they were continuously denied chance after chance by Matt Turner, who finished with seven saves.
Even with Damet able to deploy Fanendo Adi and Darren Mattocks together for the first time since March 10 at Atlanta United FC, it just wasn’t enough.
There’s no point looking back, though.
With the loss, FC Cincinnati are 13 points behind the Revolution, who now sit seventh – the last playoff spot – in the Eastern Conference standings.
With 22 games played, the Orange and Blue have a dozen remaining in their inaugural MLS season and need to average at least a point a game to make up the gap between seventh and 12th. It’s surely not impossible, but it’s going to take a lot of work, and as Damet said, more energy than Sunday’s performance showed.
“We’ve got to have a bit more pride, especially when you’re going on one goal and at home,” Richey said. “The supporters have been unbelievable. I mean, 25,000 again tonight, and it’s disappointing not to give them a better show.”
