New York City FC are back on the road this weekend as they take on Nashville SC at GEODIS Park.
The Boys in Blue head to Music City after a disappointing midweek defeat to the Houston Dynamo. Head Coach Pascal Jansen spoke to the media on Friday and emphasized the importance of responding to Wednesday’s setback with a strong performance at GEODIS Park.
“Our priority going into the Nashville game is to show—mainly to ourselves—that what happened on Wednesday was an incident,” he said. “We have to make sure we treat it as such and get back to our identity.”
Reflecting on the game against Houston, Jansen shared his thoughts on the positives and negatives from the performance.
“The first 15 to 20 minutes, we were ourselves—fluid, good on the ball, good press moments, high [possession] regains,” he explained. “We didn’t have a lot of chances, but we were in control. Then the goal came, and credit to Houston, they made it really tight and compact in the middle.
“The thing that bothered me was our speed of play. It was way too slow to find the spaces. That’s something we need to address.”
Looking ahead to the Nashville clash, Jansen stressed the importance of taking the initiative, particularly in front of goal.
“Scoring the first goal is always part of our conversation with the players,” he noted. “It has a huge impact on the dynamics of the game. When Houston scored, they sat back and made it difficult. That’s the reality of this league—you have to fight harder to come back when you go behind.”
With another quick turnaround and a tough opponent ahead, Jansen is focused on seeing a response from his squad.
“This group has shown what it’s capable of,” he said. “Now it’s about proving that consistently. Starting with Nashville.”
That talk of consistency was echoed by defender Birk Risa, who has recently been utilized as a left-back.
“We want to be more consistent,” he said. “It's something that we're working on. If it were just as easy as saying it, we’d have done it already, but it’s not. So we need to figure it out, and we’re working on it.
“We’re talking a lot about it—among ourselves and with the staff. We’re working hard and trying to find solutions.
“I also think if you look at our performances—take away Wednesday—we’re on a good roll. But yeah, then this one comes [against Houston].
“Now we’re looking forward to tomorrow. Put in a performance. We can. We can start over again.”
