How New York City FC are becoming Manchester City of the MLS

New York City FC are evolving…

Now, that should be a given considering their status as a City Group owned club.

But their evolution in terms of recruitment and personnel has been timed perfectly with the MLS’ respective tactical rise.

After putting in one of their greatest displays of the season against FC Dallas last time out, the fluidity within this young, promising side is beginning to prevail in ways that we have not seen before.

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The Old Testament

The beginning iteration of the New York City franchise featured the likes of David Villa, Andrea Pirlo, Frank Lampard and Jack Harrison, who - albeit - was a prospect at the time.

But it’s important to note that the signing of the now-Premier League star back in 2016 would set the wheels in motion for an ideology that would promote sustained success.

In 2016, former Palace boss Patrick Vieira was at the helm and brought in a free flowing, press-based system.

Now, this was key and helped birth a formidable strike partnership between David Villa and Jack Harrison, which saw the Cityzens qualify for the playoffs for the first time in the club’s history.

And this is important for two reasons:

1. New York City achieved the second-lowest points tally in the league just the season prior to this and were no where near the play-offs.

2. Vieira achieved success through the implementation of a more fluid attacking approach, which would later set the course for further success under Ronny Deila, who would go on to win the MLS Cup in 2021.

The New Testament

Now we get into the juicy bits of this present day New York City side and their modernised tactical approach.

With former Manchester City Women’s manager Nick Cushing at the helm, New York City have carried on this notion of fluidity within their playing style, but have also prioritised shape, developing a modernised systematical approach in the process.

Their recruitment of young, promising talents in the likes of Talles Magno, Gabriel Pereira and Santiago Rodriguez is helping the side develop the true identity of a City Group club, with this now showing on the pitch through their smart and attractive build-up methods.

Barraza is key

In the Premier League, we’re used to seeing the goalkeeper heavily involved in the build-up, particularly when watching the likes of Brighton, Arsenal and, you guessed it, Manchester City.

Though, in the MLS, whilst there are some notable exceptions, this concept wasn’t as common on the whole last season.

Now, interestingly, New York City were the exception and whilst Sean Johnson did a fine job last season, Luis Barraza has taken the role of sweeper keeper to an even greater level in the States.

Cushing has Barraza heavily involved in the build-up, forming a three-base build-up between centre-back duo Maxime Chanot and Thiago Martins.

This season, the 26-year-old goalkeeper ranks 10th in the squad for most accurate passes per 90, clocking up an astonishing average of around 32 accurate passes per game.

It gets even better than that too.

In the 3-1 win against FC Dallas, Barraza played an integral role in the build-up phase from deep and completed 45 passes with an accuracy of 88%.

For comparison, Manchester City keeper Ederson has averaged a total of around 27 passes this season, in what is an increase from last term.

So, with 45 passes in the game against Dallas, it emphasises Barraza’s importance to the side in the first phase.

Now with that covered, the interesting thing here is the consistency to which this build-up pattern occurs.

The Cityzens are entirely comfortable in working the ball back to the goalkeeper and look to restart the attack in multiple scenarios throughout the 90 minutes, and there’s good reason for this.

Artificial Transitions

Cushing is a big advocate for drawing the opposition out of their defensive shape, and he does this through the method of artificial transition.

Now Roberto De Zerbi’s emergence in the Premier League has highlighted the advantages that this can bring, with his Brighton side possessing a build-up style that has Pep Guardiola waxing lyrical, with the Manchester City boss saying in a recent interview:

“That [Brighton] is the best team in the world in making the build-up, the best team, is Brighton.

“There’s no team better that make[s] the process to bring the keeper, the ball, to the last quarter.

"There’s no team better in modern football right now.”

As you can see here, Cushing has fully invested in this build-up style and instructs his side to play out from deep.

Now this example is from a goal kick. Including the goalkeeper, there are six players in the defensive third and midfield pivot James Sands is on the ball.

We’re two passes into this sequence. It starts with Barazza, who plays the ball to Martins, Martins to Sands, Sands to Ilenic, Ilenic back to Sands who comes short for the ball. And Sands then offloads to Ledezma who works the ball back to Ilenic who’s hugging the touchline. This is where New York City work the angles.

Ilenic works the ball back to Sands, who’s under pressure, with the NYC captain passing first time to Martins who delicately spreads the ball to Braian Cufre out on the left and BOSH. They’re well on their way to the attacking third.

It’s important to note that during this nine pass exchange in the deep areas, five Dallas players get baited into pressing the Cityzens’ backline and are consequently drawn out of position.

Cufre then carries the ball towards the final third as the attack gains immediate momentum.

It goes without saying that it’s a risky manoeuvre, and clearly requires astute ball playing players in the deep areas of the pitch in order to carry out the task effectively.

But, when it works, it gives the team in possession the ability to attack with numerical superiority in a transition-like state.

Conclusion

These aforementioned modernised tactical themes are just a couple of reasons as to why New York City are flexing their muscle as a City Group club, with their principles of play arguably the most attractive in the MLS at this current moment.

Their ability to bait the opposition into pressing them in the first phase of the build-up is akin to that of De Zerbi’s Brighton side.

Though, their fluidity in and around the final third is similar to that of Manchester City, their bigger brothers across the pond.

Nick Cushing has a lot of talent at his disposal, with one of those players becoming a symbol of relationism. If you know, you know (article and video on this out very soon).