Nick Cushing is keen to see his side produce more attacking football this weekend.
The Boys in Blue host the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, three days after they secured an important three points at home to CF Montréal.
That win pushed NYCFC closer to Chicago Fire who sit in the last playoff spot and Cushing is keen to see a repeat performance from the team against the Whitecaps as they continue to chase a spot in the postseason.
“They’re a really difficult team to play against,” Cushing said of Vancouver.
"I think they're really well coached. I think that Vanni Sartini has done a really good job in improving the team consistently over the years that I've been here and he's been in that post.
“I think they're solid team. We can see how together they are they make the game really difficult. I watched the Chicago game in full and they’re also a team that has a really high expected goals within the league.
“I think they’re dangerous with their forwards, whether it's Brian White, or they change that number nine. They're going to be a dangerous team so we have to be as good as we were in the first half against Montréal.
“We have to control the game as well as we did. For us the aim is to create chances, play attacking football, score an early goal, and get ahead in the game. If we can do that we give ourselves the best chance of winning. I think the key for us is to start on the front foot and be aggressive at home in front of our fans.”
The Head Coach also took time to reflect on Wednesday’s victory after rewatching the game in the days that followed.
Goals from Andres Jasson and Mounsef Bakrar handed City the win, and Cushing saw a lot of positives in the win as well as opportunities to refine their performance.
“Yeah, we were really pleased with the first half performance in particular,” Cushing said.
“I think we've controlled the game. We've said that before that we’ve controlled the game but not got the result, but getting two early goals in the first half was what we needed.
“We wanted to start on the front. We get a corner within the first five minutes and I think that just gives us especially at Yankee Stadium, it gives us the impetus to push the game.
“I think if we're looking at what we did a lot better than we have previously I thought our pressing and how aggressive we were on the front foot - I was really pleased with that.
“Maybe too many counter attacks in the second half – that’s something that I think we've got to work on. We've got to get better at that, but I think in that we were a little bit nervous in those moments, against a Montreal team that just kept throwing more bodies forward.
“Overall a really good win and a comprehensive performance.”
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