Montreal and Quebec soccer fans, do you want to see games with goals? Watch CF Montreal games; you will be served as you wish, with good and less good sides for the Montreal training!
Since the start of the season, many observers have highlighted the offensive production of CF Montreal (7-6-2), whose 28 goals in 15 games give them first place in the MLS Eastern Conference, and third throughout the league.
But as we approach the end of the first half of the season, Wilfried Nancy’s troops have been rather generous with their opponents, granting them 27 goals. In the Eastern Conference, only Toronto FC – which CF Montreal will face Wednesday night in the semi-finals of the Canadian Championship – did worse, with 29 goals conceded.
Without neglecting this statistic, Nancy made a point of bringing nuances when he was questioned about it Monday, after the training session of his players at the Center Nutrilait. “The feeling we had as staff and as coaches, it’s that the goals we gave up, we weren’t really in danger each time. We were defending well, in fact,” said the head coach of CF Montreal, who believes that his team conceded goals that were, at times, “hard to stop”.
CF Montreal’s defensive stats so far in 2022 aren’t all negative. For example, the team ranks first half in the league in shots conceded, which is 62.
Moreover, and these are much less favorable statistics, the formation occupies the penultimate level of the Garber circuit with only one shutout and the same rank for the percentage of saves, which rises only at 55.7%. “When we look at the number [27 buts concédés], he panics us. But when you look closely, […] we are always the third best team to defend the counter-attacks, ”analyzed Nancy. “Compared to the number of situations that the opposition can have, we defend very, very well,” he said.
Nancy recognizes that changes are needed in certain aspects of defensive play, especially during one-on-one sequences, although the picture is not all negative. “When we spoke with the players three days ago about the statistics and where we were, we took the time with the staff to make them understand that we are not happy to have conceded so many goals, but in the goals that we have conceded, we have defended well, collectively, on many actions. Now, we have to be more precise to, effectively, avoid taking goals as we took them. »