Just one goal away from the playoffs

First, the good news: In 2023, New York City FC allowed just 39 goals.

It works out to 1.15 goals per game. That’s the same as Supporters’ Shield-winning FC Cincinnati, second-place Orlando City, and third-place LAFC. (It’s also the same as the New Jersey Red Bulls, but let’s not dwell.) The four teams that allowed 39 goals are tied for the fifth-fewest in MLS overall this year.

That puts NYCFC in the MLS elite defensively. Go ahead, pop champagne.

Table A: Fewest Goals Allowed in MLS, 2023

* Advanced to the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs

It’s also true that New York City are the only team to allow fewer than 40 goals and not make the playoffs. That’s not exactly something to celebrate.

The fact remains that you win games by scoring goals, and NYCFC were a disaster on that front. New York City managed to find the back of the net only 35 times. That’s the third-worst tally in MLS.

Look at the table below and you’ll see NYCFC among the league’s bottom-feeders.

Table B: Fewest Goals Scored in MLS, 2023

* Advanced to the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs

But wait, there’s more. That 35-goal total for the year is the lowest figure in the history of NYCFC, and that includes the COVID-shortened 2020 season when clubs played only 20 games.

Look at the table below and you’ll see that the NYCFC 2023 edition is dead last in three key categories: Place on the table, number of wins, and number of goals scored.

You’ll also see that this version of NYCFC logged the most draws in club history, and came oh-so-close to allowing the fewest goals in a 34-game season. Only the title-winning 2021 team, with their 36 goals allowed, did better.

Table C: NYCFC Results by Year

* Only 20 games were played in the COVID-shortened 2020 season
** Not including the 2020 season

Look at the historical averages, and you see how much of an outlier the 2023 season was in most categories. The 9 wins are far short of the 14.3 wins the team usually logs, the 35 goals scored far below the 54.6.

But the 11 losses align with the team average of 10.6. And those 39 goals allowed outperformed not just the team average of 45, but also the 41 allowed last year and the 42 allowed in 2019.

What does it mean? Well, you might say that this NYCFC were better than you think defensively: The back line did an admirable job of making the team hard to play week after week, and keeping the club in contention until the final minutes of Decision Day.

This NYCFC were also possibly worse than you think offensively: The attack is right down there with the dumpster fire that is the Colorado Rapids and the highly dysfunctional Toronto FC. The New York City front line couldn’t even keep pace with a no-budget CF Montréal, or a New Jersey Red Bulls whose record-signing striker scored only twice in league play all season, and whose racist comments spurred his team’s most fervent supporters to stage a walkout at the start of a game.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but if this New York City squad had scored just one more goal they would be preparing at training right now and preparing for the postseason instead of cleaning out their lockers.

One more goal in any of the 14 games NYCFC drew and they would have ended the season with 43 points and 10 wins, the same as Charlotte FC, but they would have been ahead on goal differential and finished in ninth place.

Let’s fixate on one of those draws. If NYCFC scored a goal against the Red Bulls in the Bronx on September 16, then New York City not only would have kept above Charlotte on the table, they would have pushed New Jersey down to 11th place.

But nobody scored that day. The game ended 0-0, and NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese made save after save to earn his second clean sheet of the season.

It was an excellent defensive performance: A keeper like Freese can help preserve a result and earn a point. But you need to score in order to win.