Adrian Heath was left trying to explain a complete collective failure of his outfield players in the wake of Orlando City’s sobering 4-0 reversal at Seattle, which started badly and went steadily downhill for the visitors.
For a team with playoff ambitions, the Lions put in a toothless display, and the head coach admitted things have to improve drastically – and quickly – if they are to save their season.
Turnovers in their own third were again a key component of a third heavy road defeat in a row, as Heath was quick to concede, and the 40th-minute dismissal of teenage full back Tyler Turner for a rash second yellow card doomed the team to a fruitless second half.
“We started by turning the ball over cheaply in our own half [for the first goal], and then getting a guy sent off when we had possession from a free-kick outside our own box,” Heath said. “We haven’t done ourselves any favors today. It was a really poor performance.
“It is one of those things where I can make excuses but I have to get more out of this group.”
Orlando have gone 0-5-1 in their last six road games and conceded a whopping 19 goals in the process, including 13 in the current three-game skid, and Heath confessed it is a major worry.
“Yes, I am concerned by our form away from home at the moment,” he added. “The difference between our home performances and the away games is night and day. Individually and collectively we have to make it better, and I am including the coaching staff in that as well.
“We have to get better because certainly today wasn’t good enough and it was probably unacceptable for the players we had on the field.”
Heath defended the decision to play the 19-year-old Turner in a crucial away game instead of playing more experienced left back Corey Ashe out of position, as they did in last week’s 0-0 home draw with Philadelphia.
“Well that’s his position,” Heath insisted. “He’s a right back. He has to play and he has to learn in places like this if he is to have a future in the game, but today it looked a bit too much for him.
“It culminates in getting sent off and it’s the seventh game we’ve played with 10 men. Not really any of them have been for anything malicious but it’s something else we need to address because football’s hard enough as it is, never mind going away from home and playing with 10.”
The team’s recent defensive collapse – they conceded 21 goals through their first 17 league games but 20 in the last eight – is another concern for the City head coach.
“It certainly doesn’t help when you turn the ball over cheaply near your own goal, especially when you are playing against the quality we were up against today,” Heath pointed out. “Those two [Obafemi Martins and Nelson Valdez] have played together before and you could see they had a good chemistry going, but we didn’t help ourselves.
“If you keep turning the ball over 15 yards outside your own 18-yard box against good attacking players, invariably you are going to concede goals.”
It was an inauspicious debut for new center back David Mateos, who conceded a first-half penalty – brilliantly saved by Tally Hall – and struggled to get to grips with Martins and Valdez.
“It was a difficult afternoon for him against two really good forwards,” Heath admitted. “But we didn’t have a lot of protection in front of him and we put ourselves in really bad situations all afternoon.”
City now face a tough trip to Toronto next Saturday, where they lost 4-1 just two weeks ago, although Heath indicated regular right back Rafael Ramos should be fit again.
“Yes, Rafa will be back next week but we have to regroup first,” the head coach explained. “We have to get the group back together again and go over things and see what we can do. We have to install some confidence and get a better shape than we had today because certainly next week is a huge game for us.”
