New York City FC is preparing for its second match in Phase One of the Leagues Cup after a 3-0 loss to Club Puebla. Head Coach Pascal Jansen discussed how the team has learned from their defeat and is focusing on improving ahead of their next game against Club León.
Jansen pointed out that while there were some positive moments in the second half, the main lessons came from mistakes made earlier in the match. “Well, the positive was the second half of obviously, when we made a couple of changes and once a few other guys came on pitch, we created a few good looks and a good moments in order to get back into that game,” he said.
“But the biggest lesson were learned in the first half. the way we started our game, conceding from the set piece like we did, and not sticking by our principles, that came back to us, and it hurt us really bad.
“Given the fact that you play games at this level against strong Mexican sides, it’s going to be very hard to get back into a game, but we tried that in the second half. We had our moments to get back into the game, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. So that is, that is the biggest takeaway going into the second game, making sure that we get everything right in order to have a bigger chance of a better result.”
With only one group stage match left before facing Toluca, Jansen emphasized how quickly his team must regroup. He believes having another opportunity so soon can help sharpen focus.
“Like we’ve done from game number one in this season, we always take our moment to reflect and review, and that’s what we’ve done,” he said. “It’s quite clear, if we want to be a bigger part in this or play a bigger part in this tournament, a few things have to be done differently, and if you get the chance to play a next game in a few days that always helps getting the focus right and making sure you go into this next game with that plan.”
Jansen also spoke about competing against Liga MX teams as both challenging and beneficial for his squad’s development.
“That is also one of the interesting aspects of this tournament—you get to experience the Mexican culture, the way they play game,” he said.
“As I mentioned to my players, going into that game it was very clear. It’s not a friendly game, it’s competition played on the edge of the game. Making sure that everybody is as aggressive as we should have been.”
Defensive issues remain an area of concern for New York City FC following recent injuries and lineup changes. The absence of captain Thiago Martins continues due to injury; Birk Risa’s departure has also affected stability at center-back.
“That is something that we’ve been asking ourselves from day one—once we got the information that Thiago would be out of the team for a while,” Jansen explained. “You’ve seen in the game against Dallas, we started with Tavon Gray in the middle; we finished with Tanasijević in the middle.
“We have multiple options to occupy that position but—the one we must not forget who was also part of this—the most consistent phase in season—is Birk Risa; he left as well. We’ve had couple changes at back four—that’s something we’re trying find right balance again; happens training pitch course during games unfortunately conceded six goals two games which way too much us standards.
“So we’ve been handling our business past two days order come out stronger better second game hopefully present ourselves better than did first.”
