5 takeaways from LAFC’s 2-2 draw with NYCFC

It might have been a draw, but it was a draw against one of the best teams in MLS. Los Angeles Football Club had many opportunities to put this game away late with a nice pressing offensive style but were unable to connect.

With that, here are our five takeaways from LAFC’s 2-2 draw with NYCFC which helped the Black-and-Gold stay unbeaten in six straight games:

Finishing

One of the bad things for LAFC would be the inability to finish in front of goal. There were numerous chances for LAFC to take control of the game. Diego Rossi, Eduard Atuesta, Latif Blessing, Laurent Ciman and Mark-Anthony Kaye each had opportunities to score, but either found the post or sailed their deliveries out of bounds. In order to establish a more dominant attack, the Black-and-Gold will need to work on their finishing in front of the net.

Cross-field passing

A good thing from the game was LAFC’s ability to keep NYCFC’s defense moving with nice, cross-field passing. Midfielders were able to find wingers nearly wide open by moving the ball at will across the field. Using faster pace, the Black and Gold kept the defense constantly moving and unable to really establish position.

Mark-Anthony Kaye

The Canadian international is playing as if he wants to keep his spot in the midfield. Over the last two games, Kaye has shown a prowess for creating space and opportunities. He has started to become a more dominant mainstay in the middle for the Black-and-Gold.

Get Lee Nguyen more involved

By all accounts, the former New England Revolution midfielder is working nicely with Carlos Vela, Rossi and the rest of the LAFC front corps in practice. His brief performances thus far indicate the same thing. It would be paramount for Bob Bradley to find ways to keep Nguyen more in the mix as an attacking midfielder.

Set piece execution

Here is an area where the Black-and-Gold have shown they can be very dangerous. However, Sunday that was not the case. LAFC had 14 corner kicks and was unable to convert directly on any of them (the own goal was set up by a corner kick). On close free kicks, only Laurent Ciman came close to finding the back of the net, only to have his attempt ricochet off the post. There has to be better execution with these set pieces to produce scoring opportunities.

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