Analysis: Minnesota United’s struggles at home continue

You can’t blame the Allianz Field faithful for being frustrated at this point of the season. They keep turning up in St. Paul and going home without much to show for it.

Last year, Minnesota United went through the entire year with just four home wins, drawing an astonishing nine games. The Loons have already exceeded that home win total this season, but they’ve done something else that’s hard to do in MLS: After Wednesday night’s 2-1 loss to FC Cincinnati, they have a losing record at Allianz Field (5-6-4).

Since June 8, the first day that the Loons started dealing with players absent for international matches, they have one win, one draw and five losses at home. To give you context, in Minnesota’s first three seasons at Allianz Field, 2019 through 2021, they lost only six home games – combined.

The only other Western Conference team with a losing record at home this season is the godawful San Jose Earthquakes, and the Quakes have been terrible everywhere, not just in the Bay Area.

Manager Eric Ramsay has gone out of his way to stay positive this season, to try to keep from letting the lows become too low. Even so, it was something of a surprise to see him claim positives from another home loss — even against FC Cincinnati, which is one of the best five teams in MLS this year.

“We’ve gone toe to toe, and then some, with for sure one of the top three, top two sides across the two divisions, and that largely for me is really positive,” Ramsay said. “The message I’ve given players is that has to be taken a positive. We have to use that as a step forward, as a bounce, as continuation of the momentum that we’ve built so far and certainly not something that in any way dents what we’re trying to do.”

He doubled down on the positivity, even as he agreed that his team had missed a chance to measure up against one of the league’s best. “Yeah, opportunity missed, and one that we’ll wake up frustrated on,” he said. “But also I know that’s a big step forward, and I know that’s a much closer version to the version that we really want to be, particularly at home.”

Three of Minnesota’s five games remaining on the schedule are against teams that are currently above the Loons in the conference standings, including one of the team’s two home games. The Loons will need to do more than just show positive signs if they’re going to hold on to the last spot in the playoff race.

Said midfielder Wil Trapp: “The intensity, the pressure, the bravery and consistency of trying to win the game and pushing forward — if you start the games that way and play the 90 minutes with subs coming off the bench, we have a great chance of winning the next five games.”

Now that Minnesota has both a full squad and a healthy squad, as well as some new reinforcements, Ramsay has a new problem: trying to keep everyone happy.

“When I name the team today, I know that there are players looking at me really disappointed and probably borderline angry not to be in the squad this weekend, and also not to be starting the game,” he said Tuesday. “That’s exactly the position that we want to be in. It means that I can say to the players that you have to be bang at it every week in order to stay on the pitch, and in order to feel like you’re going to keep your place in the team. And I think we will only benefit from that as a club.”

Ramsay, though, has also spoken about wanting to convince his players that finishing the match is just as important as starting the match — something that was on full display Wednesday. The manager used all five of his subs, including changing three players at halftime — taking off Joaquín Pereyra, Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Carlos Harvey, while inserting Tani Oluwaseyi, Sang Bin Jeong and Trapp.

It gave the Loons a chance to change from the 4-4-2 formation that they started the game with back to the 5-2-3 that had become comfortable and familiar over the middle part of the season.

“Obviously, Cincinnati causes you some real problems on the ball with how they build with that very wide back three, so it’s almost impossible to not defend with a front three of some form,” Ramsay said. “So Tani ends up defending from the right-hand side and playing much more centrally when we get the ball — and largely it worked.”

The “finishers” in this game included Teemu Pukki, who entered only in the 86th minute of the match but had perhaps the best two scoring efforts that didn’t involve a half-field breakaway from Pereyra. Pukki hit the crossbar with a curling left-footed shot from the right side of the penalty area and then almost beat goalkeeper Roman Celentano with a right-footed volley from almost the same spot.

The end group also included Franco Fragapane, who hadn’t played since the Leagues Cup in July but replaced Robin Lod and gave the team some energy while Lod was flagging.

“I have made it quite clear across the group that we have a genuine sense of starters and finishers,” Ramsay said. “…Those two [Fragapane and Pukki] are a couple of guys that are good examples of a couple of players that, in a particular situation such as that, can make a real mark for us.”