St. Louis CITY SC stumble against Sporting KC, still unbeaten over the last 11.
St. Louis CITY SC ran into a roadblock after a poor performance against Sporting KC left points on the table. They bounce back this weekend at home vs Houston as the transfer market rolls on.
Another night in Kansas City and another winless outing for St. Louis CITY SC, who are now 11 unbeaten in all comps. The streak continues; CITY SC escape without a complete disaster, but it was a bad night at the office, thanks to unforced errors and generally sloppy play in possession, made worse by SKC’s execution in the center of the pitch.
Following the complete performance vs San Jose, dropping points against a historically bad Sporting KC is a tough pill to swallow, compounded by Yoann Damet’s decision to run back Saturday’s Starting XI.
“A game with a lot of challenges for us tonight; we came out flat, not able to control the way we wanted to.” Damet reflected post-match.
CITY SC were, bizarrely, a step behind all night. Maybe that’s a case for a rotated XI, but with not traveling due to illness, and Holse and Mǎțan still working through their “preseason”, the rotation was easier said than done in a match where Raphael Santos, Mbacke, Miggy Perez, and Palmer Ault come with their own problems against an ultra-motivated Sporting Kansas City.
Once CITY SC failed to establish themselves on the ball, they were playing catchup in a way they really haven’t all season outside of the loss at Seattle earlier this season. In fact, this was only the third time this season where St. Louis was outplayed to the tune of over 0.5 xG:
April 11: 1-1 draw @ Dallas - 1.64 to 1.05
April 18: 4-1 loss @ Seattle - 1.76 to 0.82
And tonight, August 19: 1-1 draw @ SKC - 2.07 to 0.95
Out of all of their performances this season, the USOC wins against Chicago and Houston, the wins over LAFC and New England, it was away to a historically bad Sporting Kansas City that produced the most lopsided performance of the Yoann Damet era.
“We just didn't play well enough.” Roman Bürki said, “I don't know why. We had a lot of sloppy moments with the ball, easy mistakes with the ball. We defended pretty well, but because we lost the ball way too early, we couldn't really press them, and it was just overall not a good performance from us.”
The lone bright spot for St. Louis – outside of Edelman’s lob off the crossbar and Sangbin’s own breakaway miss off the crossbar – was Simon Becher’s run to draw a foul at the edge of the box just before halftime. Edu Löwen’s rocket into the SKC wall deflected off Berg Johnsen and past a diving Stefan Cleveland.
St Louis CITY SC
Unfortunately, SKC’s success on the counter led to Calvin Harris’s equalizer in the 56th minute. Similar to the draw vs RSL, St. Louis looked improved when the big-time subs came on, this time Carlo Holse and Alex Mǎțan. The largely dull affair ended with St. Louis losing the duel battle 26 to 22 in the pivotal second half, without putting a single shot on target.
At the end of the day, St. Louis picked up a point on the road following a West Coast trip where they thrived in the first match without Marcel Hartel.
What went wrong:
St. Louis weren’t as effective in their press as they would have liked to be, and that meant failing to establish possession higher up the pitch while SKC did a great job of stuffing progression up the middle.
Löwen’s positioning deeper along the touchline only helped to isolate that connection as Becher had to drop into space while the runners off his shoulder never materialized.
“We lacked a little bit of connection within the group of the timing of the movements, the execution on the ball.” Damet said, “I thought defensively we never really got into our shape because we ended up turning the ball over more in our half or in the middle third. So, you really don't get into moments where you get set higher up. You can be aggressive, you can be on the front foot, because the ball never gets there or not enough. So, I'd say the problem wasn't structural; it was more the moments of the game, the dynamic where we were losing the ball, what we were doing with it. There is a lot of fatigue coming from the West Coast trip. We're all aware of that. We're not going to make it an excuse. It's definitely not the point. That gives a little bit of context. I still think, as a group, these are games where we need to improve, and we can do a lot better.”
Sloppy on the ball, SKC were able to transition through the space behind Totland and Wallem, finally finding their moment to score as St. Louis couldn’t hold the lead.
Looking ahead to Houston:
St. Louis’s lack of rotation might not matter against a Houston side that also didn’t rotate through a 0-1 win at Vancouver. The schedule works in St. Louis’s favor in that way, and they’ll need the assist with the Dynamo riding a 5-match shutout streak into the second of at least three matches between the sides this season.
It’s a slightly different Dynamo side than the one that lost in PKs to St. Louis last May.
Ben Olsen’s side has lined up in more of a 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1 depending on the matchup and has swapped Ezequiel Ponce for Duncan McGuire. The constant: Houston doesn’t allow many chances, and Guilherme has remained fantastic, scoring 4 goals in 6 matches since the break.
While Houston hasn’t allowed any goals against since the 1-1 draw to DC United to kick off the second half of the season, they have both outscored their expected goal differential (9 to 6.10) and stopped 4.56 expected goals from hitting the back of the net. It’s been a spectacular run; St. Louis will need to shake off Wednesday’s performance if they are to bounce back.
Edu Lowen’s contract impasse:
Last bit of business. Monday, Tom Bogert reported that Eduard Löwen has been a name of interest in the transfer market with contract extension talks reaching an impasse.
It’s a difficult situation.
Löwen’s contract ends this season with a club option for 2027, and if St. Louis isn’t confident they can come to terms, then his value will never be higher.
Löwen, despite the goal vs SKC, is in the midst of a down year by his standards. It’s understandable; Löwen’s preseason was interrupted by personal tragedy, but it’s a fact that his fit in Yoann Damet’s system isn’t seamless.
His preferred position is in the double pivot as a deep-lying playmaker, but Damet prefers the defensive engine and utility of a Chris Durkin/Daniel Edelman partnership. So, Löwen, for the most part, has to slot in as a dual ten (on the left since Hartel’s departure) where he can keep up with the defensive ask. In that role, he has been good at linking the attack, but in the attacking 3rd, he isn’t creating enough on the dribble to disorganize opposition defensive blocks.
It’s an awkward fit, and he may end up as a supersub once Mǎțan and Holse are up to speed.
Meaning: Löwen’s value is probably higher in a different system.
For now, all signs point to Löwen wanting to stay in St. Louis; he is a big part of the club as a CITY SC original who has been through the wringer since arriving 4 years ago.
However, it’s hard to see how the two sides can come to a contract number with the 29 year old’s production dropping this season. If that's the case, then St. Louis will need to act quickly in bringing more talent aboard.
All cards are on the table, and Löwen’s spot in the Starting XI likely means that a deal isn’t imminent.
The MLS transfer window closes on September 2nd.
