by Anthony J. Merced
New York City FC head coach Nick Cushing didn't mince words when discussing his team's 2-0 loss to open the 2023 campaign against Nashville SC. The English coach pointed out his team's inability to hold the ball but also their trend of handing easy set pieces to the opposition.
"I don't think we carried the ball enough to control the game," said Cushing after the game. "There were far too many set plays - we gave away far too many set plays because we didn't carry the ball enough, which meant that they could throw the ball."
Cushing focused particularly on the first half where City were unable to control the pace of the game and often caught out of position due to poor passing. While Nashville was only able to score once, their chances were plentiful and required goalkeeper Luis Barraza to make key saves to keep the team in the contest.
"We're really disappointed with the counter attack. Ultimately, we've come here and not played so well in the first half. We played more like ourselves in the second half and lost the game to a set play and a counter attack, which is really disappointing."
Despite the result, Cushing did have positive takeaways from new players, particularly goalkeeper Barraza who is attempting to replace club legend Sean Johnson.
"Luis was really good. He made some big saves. He looked confident in goal and I was really pleased with his performance."
Expectations are that Barraza will get another chance on March 5th against Chicago Fire at Soldier Field. Cushing also stressed the importance of getting back to training to impart the team's mentality for the rest of the campaign.
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