Welcome to the latest edition of the Hudson River Blue Roundtable, in which Noah Kassell-Yung, Andrew Leigh, and Anthony McKenna issue their final grades for the 2022 New York City FC season, updating the Midterm Report Card that came out in July.
1. Defense and Goalkeeping
Andrew Leigh: Statistically it was another solid season, though there were some drastic swings in quality throughout. The month of August was a collective flop for this group, with self-inflicted errors regularly costing goals and points in the standings. Depth and health were recurring problems throughout 2022, with too many non-defenders asked to fill in along the back line to cover for absentees. A switch to a three-at-the-back system improved goal prevention in the season’s latter stages, but this unit was a bit too error-prone to help push the team back to MLS Cup.
Midterm Grade: B
Final Grade: B
Anthony McKenna: NYCFC conceded the seventh least amount of goals last season, tied with the Red Bulls at 41. The club’s 14 clean sheets were second-best only to the Philadelphia Union. By the numbers, NYCFC’s defense was above average to elite, however, the numbers hide the poor run of form that saw only one clean sheet in nine between August 6 and September 10. Individually, Alexander Callens had his best season and should’ve undoubtedly been Best XI and potentially defender of the year. His work on both sides of the ball, in multiple different systems, was crucial to the team’s success. He was the team’s most important player this season and without him, the defense and team would not have been as successful.
Midterm Grade: A-
Final Grade: A-
Noah Kassell-Yung: The highs were incredibly high for this group and the lows were incredibly low. At times, this was a defense and keeper that were close to setting the record for clean sheets. At other times, the defense couldn’t stop giving away chances and handing away games. However, the good largely outweighed the bad. The resurgence of the wing backs providing attack with the change to the three in the back helps too. As with real school grades though, a bad streak does keep you out of that A+ territory.
Midterm Grade: A-
Final Grade: A
