Pat Noonan And FC Cincinnati Look And Sound Stuck

‘We Can’t Get Out of Our Way’

The lopsided result left Cincinnati with a 1W-6L-5D away record, but could be forgiven in isolation. Cincinnati played the hefty majority of the match a man down following Obinna Nwobodo’s 16th-minute dismissal. And Philadelphia’s high-pressing game model is exactly the kind that can exploit a man advantage once it gets a lead and forces its opponent to emerge from a low block.

The problem is what would be an exceptionally unlucky night for most clubs has begun to feel repetitive for Noonan’s bunch.

Nwobodo’s red card – upgraded from a yellow by referee Joe Dickerson following a video review – was the club’s seventh of the season, ranking it second in MLS behind only San Diego.

The penalty that provided Philadelphia’s match-opening tally and the proverbial opening of the floodgates, conceded by team-leading scorer and assist man Evander, tied an MLS high as the seventh given away by the Southwestern Ohioans.

“We had another instance where we can’t get out of our way with discipline and how the game looks,” Noonan said bluntly. “So bad night, and we’ll see how we respond from this.”

Even the five goals conceded were nothing new, marking the fourth time in all competitions Cincy has allowed at least that many and yielded an astonishing 2.2 per contest during league play. This despite investing more financial resources than most MLS clubs in the back half of the formation, on center backs Miles Robinson and Matt Miazga, and holding midfielders Nwobodo and Pavel Bucha.

‘A Collective Concern’

Hope was lost so decisively that Noonan made the pragmatic but utterly depressing halftime choice to remove both his leading scorers, Evander and Kevin Denkey. Noonan was likely correct to rest the duo for another match in three days, given the likelihood that Wednesday was already a lost cause. It was nonetheless a damning indictment of the vibes at the club right now, which feel a heck of a lot worse than the current seventh-place position in the Eastern Conference table.

“The mentality can be a lot better,” admitted Noonan, whose team also lost 4-0 at Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville in its previous outing. “Our last two performances show that. I don’t put it on just players. This is a collective concern.”

When you consider everything that hasn’t lived up to expectations for Cincy this season, it’s almost astonishing that the club remains firmly in contention and not in the East basement.

But there’s an eerie similarity to the recent history of the club both Noonan and Albright arrived from, the Philadelphia Union.

Similarly, Union manager Jim Curtin toiled for years, improving the club gradually into a Supporters’ Shield winner and MLS Cup finalist. But there was a ceiling the club failed to smash through to join the likes of true MLS elite over the last decade: the LAFCs, Inter Miamis, Seattle Sounders and Columbus Crews of the world.

The dam finally broke in 2024, beginning on a woeful night in Central Mexico. Curtin was done in Philadelphia by the end of a bewilderingly poor season that seemed to carry many of the same issues Noonan is combating now.

Noonan and his players aren’t quite there yet. But they are teetering.