(Montreal) CF Montreal has already obtained as many points abroad in eight games in 2024 as in the last season, but there is still a lot of work to do to refine its game.
The Blue-white-black had something he could build on. His visit to Columbus last week ended in a convincing 0-0 draw against the Crew, the reigning MLS champions.
On an intimidating pitch, where the Crew has not lost in MLS for over a year, Laurent Courtois’ squad provided a great defensive effort and even had several good scoring opportunities. Seven days later, she was no longer recognized.
Against Nashville SC, at Geodis Park, CF Montreal (3-4-3) found very few answers in attack and was physically dominated in defense, which led to a 4-1 defeat . After the meeting, Courtois had already noted things to correct.
“There wasn’t enough certainty in the transmissions during the first minutes of play. We were hesitant. If we decide to play this way and we are approximate, it will be complicated against such a strong team in transition. There were too many failures during set pieces and on certain elements in transition that we knew,” he said.
In such a difficult league for teams abroad, Montrealers are looking for consistency, but also a little more tightness in their third of the field.
A month ago, they arrived in Seattle with a lot of confidence, against the Sounders who had still not won in their first five games of the season. The result ? A bitter 5-0 setback.
Courtois made sure his men didn’t make the same mistake against Nashville SC, a team that hadn’t tasted victory in their last five outings, but he will likely have to prepare them even better for what comes next.
“It’s not possible for us to concede so many goals just because we’re not having a good day. Mentally, collectively, we still have work to do not approach matches in a naive way. I’m the one responsible. We had clarity on what we are doing well and what we can improve on,” said the head coach.
Against the Sounders and Nashville SC, the Bleu-blanc-noir trailed 2-0 after the first half. He could have gotten back on track by scoring the next goal, but each time he was caught early in the second half.
For the CF Montreal players, the important thing is to find a way to avoid the rout and stay in the match as long as possible.
“The main thing for me is how to stop the bleeding,” said midfielder Raheem Edwards. We need to correct that and not be too naive. When we lag behind, we want to push, but we have to do it intelligently. It’s a little worrying, but our next step is to stop the bleeding if we give up a goal early in the game. »
Despite this roller coaster, Captain Samuel Piette prefers to watch the entire work. He also took the time to mention that the process was only just beginning and that the season was only 10 games old.
” I’m not worried. We have had some good results abroad, and some extremely bad ones. This is a good awareness. Afterwards, you go to Orlando and Columbus, you are going to get big points. You go to Dallas and you win. You have to find the balance. It wasn’t perfect against Nashville, but we have to continue,” he said.
And to continue, CF Montreal will have to do it regularly during the month of May. This loss against Nashville SC began a streak of nine games in 29 days, including the Canadian Championship.
The least we can say is that depth and fitness will be put to the test, while Montreal is dealing with several injuries, including attackers Josef Martinez and Matias Coccaro.