Which is the real New York City FC?
What appeared to be an impressive start by NYCFC, picking up points in their first four matches and winning three of their first four, turned into a seven-game winless streak in MLS play and dismal 12 points through the first 10 league games of the season.
It marked the fewest points NYCFC picked up through 10 games since the club’s inaugural season in 2015.
The tides have since started to change for NYCFC, which has won its past two matches and snapped the winless streak with a win over Columbus on Mother’s Day. And at the one-third point of the MLS season, it seems head coach Pascal Jansen diagnosed what ailed the team during their downward spiral.
“We are convinced that for 90 percent, it’s a mentality issue,” Jansen said, citing instances recently where his players seemed to play too “casual” and looked to others to pick up the slack. “There were quite a few good games, but there were also one or two that were way below our standard. I think the game against Charlotte and against Cincinnati stand out in the things that I just mentioned, because if you score four goals against Cincinnati the way we did, that can never be a draw. And that’s a mentality thing.”
The biggest concern was that the “bulletproof mindset” that became the club’s mantra in 2025, all the way to the Eastern Conference finals, seemed to be faltering.
The two games that Jansen specifically mentioned were tough pills to swallow for NYCFC. They dominated Charlotte during an April 18 match at Citi Field only to allow the visitors to score the game-winning goal in stoppage time. The following week’s loss to Cincinnati seemed even more alarming as the club squandered a two-goal lead in stoppage time.
“I think that comes down to details,” Jansen explained. “Being casual at times and maybe relying on the quality of your colleague instead of dealing with the issue immediately.”
That translated to New York City FC surrendering 18 goals through their first 11 games of the season – the most the club ever had allowed in that stretch – while recording just one clean sheet in that span.
Things have come back around now that NYCFC (5-3-5) have put together a pair of crucial wins and has returned to some semblance of the form they were in at the start of the season. NYCFC have looked much more defensively sound in front of goalkeeper Matt Freese in those two matches, with the club limiting Charlotte to just two shots on target and one big chance, according to Fotmob, in their 1-0 win on Wednesday night.
New York City FC have one regular-season match left after they face Red Bull New York on Saturday before the season pauses due to the World Cup. Despite struggling for a stretch, they are still very much in a playoff spot and sitting just outside the top of the table in the Eastern Conference.
And they should get back star striker Alonso Martinez after the break. The pressure will be on the front office to make some additions during the summer transfer window.
But the question for now becomes, can the club continue this form with the World Cup break quickly approaching?
“We saw what’s going to happen if we don’t show that right character,” Hannes Wolf said. “I think in some games maybe [saw] we were up two goals, three goals and didn’t have the right mindset maybe. With our coach, he really points that out and gave us good video sessions where we can see that.
“Then you ask yourself, why? Sometimes you don’t have an answer, but you’re going to work on it. I know we have the quality.”
