St. Louis CITY SC will be happy to head back down I-55 after back to back losses in Chicago this week, Saturday’s 1-0 shutout being the icing on the ‘welcome to the league’ cake.
Every club goes through times like this, but it’s hard to ignore the fact the St. Louis is treading water without star DP Striker João Klauss.
Saturday’s loss to the Fire was a similar sight; periods of free flowing, high energy soccer, undone by unexplainably bad moments of defending… but it’s hard to blame John Nelson’s poor set piece defense in the 40th minute when you only generate .47 xG against one of the league’s worst defenses.
St. Louis was tested from the start when a Kei Kamara shot was stopped by Roman Bürki’s outstretched leg but it wasn’t easy going for either team.
The Fire finally broke through for the game’s only goal in the 40th minute, a moment of set piece defending that John Nelson will surely want back. Rafael Czichos slipped by Nelson and slotted home the Xherdan Shaqiri delivery.
The Fire have been strong at home, yet to lose a match at either Soldier Field or Seatgeek Stadium in Bridgeview and only allowing a goal per game across all competitions. St. Louis never really tested those friendly confines though, their eight shot attempts only resulted in two shots on target over the 90 minute battle.
Roman Bürki would speak to the lack of production after the match, “I have a feeling that something is missing, maybe it’s Klauss, I don’t know, but something is missing.”
Bürki has a point, xG doesn’t always tell the whole story, but it’s telling that CITY has only generated: .9 xG vs Portland, .44 xG vs Dallas (postponed at 50′), .47 xG vs Chicago, in the three MLS matches since Klauss’ was sidelined.
The good news for St. Louis is that Klauss, along with Rasmus Alm, should be returning for next week’s highly anticipated match with Sporting Kansas City.
Klauss’ absense has been very noticeable, without his hold up play in the attack, CITY have not had the X-Factor that made their start to the season so explosive.
“We want to play more vertical, we want to play more brave, I air on the side of aggression, on the side of playing the ball forward, I stand by these players and they can move past this bump in our form.”, CITY Manager Bradley Carnell would say after the match.
Carnell hasn’t been afraid to tweak the lineup as he chases a way out of this run of form. Some interesting tweaks in Chicago looked to have some fruit, as Jared Stroud’s insertion on the right side for Full Back Jake Nerwinski pushed the line of engagement further up the pitch.
Njabulo Blom’s insertion into the 2nd half was great to see as well, by far his longest appearance since returning from injury, completing 100% of his passes, including four into the final third.
It’s a young group, these bumps in the road will happen, CITY fielded three teenagers with Isak Jensen and Miggy Perez occupying critical spots in the rotation.
While no one would call this a successful outing, including Sporting Director Lutz Pfannestiel, there was success in fielding 16 year old Caden Glover. Glover was the first ’07 to see the pitch in MLS this season and is a player that St. Louis is very invested in, becoming the club’s first homegrown signing in the spring.
“We believe in our academy, we believe in our young players. So, the result is a failure but we had a few successes. Caden will take these minutes and grow, whether that’s with us, CITY2, he needs moments like this where we’re chasing”, Bradley Carnell would say about Glover’s appearance.
So, while CITY can hang their hat on the process, and find some solace in the progression of their young players, a return home for three straight matches will be a welcome reprieve as they have now failed to find a win in four straight away matches.
Next Saturday’s showdown with cross state rivals Sporting Kansas City will see yet another lineup from Bradley Carnell’s men as John Nelson picked up a second yellow as CITY were pressing for the equalizer in the 70th minute.
Carnell would defend Nelson after the match saying, “I stand by my players that defend forward and are brave, he arrives late but I fully stand by my players that are trying to make a play”.
With Nelson unavailable, it’s possible that Selmir Pidro sees his first MLS start, or we could see Full Backs become Wing Backs in a 3-5-2 type of setup.
Technically next weekend’s return home shouldn’t be seen as a “must win”, but the club is in desperate need of a result.
SKC have won their last two MLS matches, paving the way for what is bound to be an explosive showdown.