I don’t often like to blame a scoreline on “lack of finishing” but that what I can chalk up Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Nashville to. City came out in their usual 3-4-3 with Kyle Smith playing in the back and Oscar and Cuatro playing on the wings. Luke Spencer played more of a traditional center forward role, which suits him, of course. Cam and Niall played attacking mid, with Lancaster playing underneath Luke. The setup offensively often moved around a bit and eventually became more of a 4-2-3-1, as I saw Cuatro and Niall switch a few times and Kyle would often play fullback on the right, driving toward the goal line. Paolo also played deeper than we’re used to seeing him, probably to help limit Nashville on the counter. It certainly worked, as City picked up just their second clean sheet since June 9. It was all interesting to see, in light of the coaching change.

For Nashville’s part, I don’t think they looked particularly impressive going forward. In defense, their “3-5-2” was more of a 5-3-2. Liam Doyle and company kept City from attacking the flanks as much as they might have liked. Morados obliged them by playing narrower than usual, and that’s a pretty good reason for the result.

Aesthetically, I thought City looked pretty comfortable on the field. There were some tactical differences that I noticed, but nothing that I can immediately put a finger on. Morados won the possession battle and to their credit did a very good job limiting Nashville from putting much offense together. Then again, Nashville’s not exactly an offensive juggernaut themselves, so perhaps that was just par for the course. Morados put together one of their better passing performances in the attacking half at Slugger, going for 66.5% in the match, and limiting NSC to under 60%. Nashville’s offense relied heavily on crosses, and they were limited to 14% or so in that area. It makes sense, given the man-mountain they have at center-forward in Tucker Hume, but he only had six touches in the 18 yard box in 75 minutes and three shots to show for it.

City out-shot Nashville 19-8, and 5-2 on shots on target. That’s not bad. I’m sure they’d like to see more shots on target given the total volume, especially when nine were inside the box, but eight of City’s attempts were blocked.

Individually, Paco had one of his better games defensively. He was 9-14 in duels, and 7-10 in aerials. Totsch passed the ball very well but was a bit more adventurous than I’d like when he doesn’t have a second centerback to cover for him on his occasional jaunts up the field. He also missed a couple plays in the second half that had me terrified a bit but luckily both came to nothing.

Kyle Smith had a great game and certainly deserved some consideration for Man of the Match. He passed for 80% on 70 passes, over 70% in the attacking half, and had two pretty crucial interceptions. Oscar did fine but was more anonymous than usual in this game. I can’t remember the last time OJ went a game without creating a scoring chance, but this was one. He did have a solid game, though.

Paolo and Speedy played well but Paolo had an exceptional game. He completed over 90% of his 55 passes and was over 90% in the attacking half as well. He won nine of thirteen duels and five of eight in the air. Unfortunately neither did much on offense, but I get the feeling that wasn’t on their to-do list.

Of the attackers, Cuatro and Cam had the better performances. Both passed over 80%, and Cuatro was over 85% in Nashville’s half. Niall created six scoring chances and was unlucky not to get a goal. Lancaster had just one shot all night, but it was on frame. He created three scoring chances and Davis had two. Luke didn’t touch the ball very much, and thus didn’t do much on the stat sheet. I was a little surprised he got so many minutes coming off such a long injury period. He didn’t do anything wrong, I just felt like it was asking a lot for a guy who’s played less than 30 minutes in the last eight weeks to go for over 70. It’s good for everyone else that he did, to be fair.

I was disappointed at the result. Nashville is a very solid defensive team. Scoring goals on that defense is no easy feat, even though City’s had some success doing it in Louisville previously. I think City had the better chances and should have gotten at least one goal.

My larger concern is the fact that City has won just one time in their last six tries at Slugger Field after winning their first five home matches. That’s a looooot of points left on the table. Granted, Morados have done pretty well on the road, as they tend to do. But if you’re looking for why first place in the league is getting further and further away, just check out the home record and draws against Penn, Indy, New York, and now Nashville (to say nothing of the loss to Pittsburgh) to figure out why. City’s got four more matches before August is over against some mostly weak opponents, but they’re all scheduled on top of one another. They’ll need to make some hay out of those.

Vamos.