Nick Cushing says the New York City team are doing all they can to dig deep and pull themselves out of a difficult period.
On the back of a tough run without a win in their last seven, the Boys in Blue have the chance to bounce back from Wednesday’s night defeat at home to Eastern Conference leaders FC Cincinnati with another game on Saturday against New England Revolution.
Speaking ahead of the game, the Head Coach admits this period has been a challenging one for all involved with the Club, but asserts every member of the squad and staff are sticking together
“I think a time like this really challenges the togetherness of the group, really challenges the cohesion and spirit of the group,” Cushing admitted.
“You can go one of two ways: it starts to splinter, and it starts to break, and then it becomes a real important job for me to make sure it stays together, and to highlight areas where it’s coming apart – or what we’re experiencing, which is that it pulls you closer together because each guy sees the will to want to win, sees the effort of each other.
“I asked for one thing [on Wednesday] which was fight – I asked the guys to fight for each other, and in every way, I can see a group that is really fighting hard to give it 100% if not more to fight to get through this.
“It’s the same again today. I speak to the experienced guys and they’re working hard to keep the younger guys enthusiastic. I don’t find keeping the group together difficult at the moment because this is almost pulling us together, stronger.
“I have an excellent staff. I rely on my staff to give me their perspective, their opinions on where and how we can continue to improve this team.
“For me, it’s about focusing on the right things – the performance, the areas where we need to improve – but it’s about making sure you keep your feet on the ground.
“This league is streaky. Of course, this period is longer than we want, and we understand it’s wins we’re in it for, but I really believe we’re not far away. If the breaks for us, and we have that little bit of luck, we win the game [on Wednesday] – I’m sure if we played that game ten times, we win it more times than we lose if we play that way.”
With Thiago Martins, Mitja Ilenič, Talles Magno, and Matías Pellegrini absent from the Cincinnati clash, Cushing also shared an update on the roster.
“The guys that didn’t play went out and trained,” he explained. “Talles trained – Talles and Mitja were with the Performance Department. I haven’t had the full update but it was positive.
“They’ve made another step, which doesn’t rule them out 100% for the weekend, but also doesn’t rule them in… There’s still a bit of time.
“I know Mitja in particular was really positive with the progress he made. We were really pleased Alfredo Morales came on for 30 minutes [against Cincinnati] – he now will be pushing to start the game.
“Thiago Martins is out. That one is going to be longer than this weekend. Everyone else is fine.
“We’re a little bit frustrated, we’re a little bit tired based on a heavy schedule but injury-wise, those guys are pushing hard to be back involved.”
NYCFC face New England for the second time this season, having earned a valuable 1-1 draw at Gillette Stadium in April.
The City Boys had traveled to the Eastern Conference leaders that night, but the Revs recorded mixed results in May, shipping nine goals in their last three games, which included successive 3-3 draws.
Cushing anticipates another hard-fought contest and encouraged his side to learn the lessons from this week’s fixtures against Philadelphia Union and FC Cincinnati.
“I said after the [Cincinnati] game: if we stick to the way we play, and we continue to apply ourselves in the right way, we can have the same game we had in the sense of pushing the game, carrying the game, being the team that has the urgency to go and win the game; has the urgency to really push forward,” he added.
“We know New England are dangerous. They’re dangerous in transition, [Carles] Gil is dangerous with the ball at his feet… They are very similar in the sense of Cincinnati and Philadelphia that they are comfortable attacking direct and using their number nine, or number nines if they choose to play two – putting the ball up the field and playing on second ball.
“We’ll have to carry the same game, hope our luck changes and that we get the breaks. The key thing is that we apply ourselves properly.”
New York City Football Club are back in The Bronx on Saturday, welcoming New England Revolution to Yankee Stadium in our final game of a three-match home stand.
The clash kicks off at 3:30pm ET on June 3, and tickets are available.
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