What’s wrong with NYCFC?

It was not supposed to be this difficult. Buy an expansion franchise, add in a couple of big name players, and win a few titles. That seemed to be the overarching theme when New York City FC entered Major League Soccer in 2010. It was not a matter of if NYCFC would rule the league but a matter of when.

Oh, things have changed.

After seven weeks of win-less results, coupled with just one win in their last ten matches, the disappointment with NYCFC seems to be reaching an all-time high. After dropping points late against the Montreal Impact on Wednesday the big question in the Big Apple is: just what is wrong with NYCFC?

For most clubs entering their second professional season that answer would normally be simple: they are an expansion side. With expansion sides teams are essentially starting off at square one, the ground level. Teams bring in a bunch of players, see which ones stick, bring in more players, and keep trying things until something that works. Especially for sides like NYCFC that are not brought up from the lower divisions. It is absolutely ridiculous to expect players and coaches to create an identity within a year, let alone two years.

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Now normally this would be the expectations of an expansion side. But NYCFC is no expansion side. This is the team of Andrea Pirlo, Frank Lampard, and David Villa. It is the team that fired coach Jason Kreis after just one season. NYCFC is the frankenstein monster created by City Football Group, the New York Yankees, and Major League Soccer’s desire to have a team in downtown New York. This was supposed to be a winner.

The problem with this line of thinking is that by every measure of performance NYCFC have not lived up to their own expectations. After perceiving the problem as Kreis, NYCFC management installed Patrick Vieira as their coach. On paper it looked like a slam dunk deal. Vieira has experience coaching in the Manchester City youth system and obviously has an international pedigree from his playing days with France and Arsenal.

Vieira is not necessarily the problem. He appears to be more than qualified to coach an MLS side and a willingness to learn to about the league. His work with R.J. Allen in particular as a defender shows that he is not just here to collect a paycheck. Vieira, like Kreis, can certainly coach this team in this difficult market.

The problem with NYCFC is the same problem that NYCFC has had since the team started: just what is it? What is their identity?

If the goal of City Football Group is to create a team in the same mold as their Manchester side then they have gone about it all the wrong way. If the team chose to use the first 3-4 years of their existence to play just young players and stink then there might be a better idea of who this team is. The team could have also taken a page out of Orlando City SC’s playbook by playing a USL side two to three years prior to start bleeding in some younger players to the City Football Group model.

Instead management has spent the past year and a half waffling on their identity. Oh, this is certainly a team based off of the City Football Group model. But whether or not it is a team that is built around younger players or retirement players is still to be determined. While it was apparent from Wednesday’s match that David Villa truly cares about this club the same cannot be said for Pirlo or Lampard.

The blame should not be completely given to Pirlo or Lampard. These are after all just two hired guns, who were given large sums of money and were asked to promote the NYCFC product. Given the amount of Pirlo and Lampard shirts that are being sold their tenures should be viewed as a success.

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Still, it would have been a bit nice if the club put the same amount of effort into playing and promoting Kwadwo Poku. After having a phenomenal 2015 campaign (4 goals, 7 assists) the Ghanaian international now finds himself at the end of the bench.

The good news for NYCFC supporters is that there is still plenty of time to turn this around. The forgiving MLS playoff structure allows flawed sides such as NYCFC to make the leap into the second season. NYCFC also have enough talent to beat a very weak Eastern Conference.

But the question was never if NYCFC can make the playoffs. The question was if NYCFC could win titles. When one looks at clubs like the Portland Timbers, the Seattle Sounders, Los Angeles Galaxy, Sporting Kansas City, Columbus Crew SC and heck even the New York Red Bulls one sees teams with a clear youth academy plan, a clear direction in what type of players they can acquire from abroad, and good communication from the head coaching staff up to upper management. The lack of communication and failure to identify a plan will make it very difficult for NYCFC to contend with the heavyweights in the league.