Overloaded: Monday Takeaways (6/16/25)

All stats courtesy of FBref unless otherwise noted

On Saturday night, FC Cincinnati got back to winning ways with - what else - a one goal win over the New England Revolution. Hopefully, in a sign of things to come, the Orange and Blue earned all three points and were deserved winners - two things that haven’t coincided in many games across the 2025 season so far. It wasn’t always pretty but FCC followed a simple recipe for success: create a few very good chances, score one of them, and deny the opposition much of anything in the way of opportunities.

1. Absorb Pressure

Pat Noonan’s game plan was in some ways a throw back to earlier in his managerial tenure.

Playing without the ball for large stretches of the game, the Orange and Blue blunted incoming attacks. Though New England dominated possession overall (65%-35%) as well as touches in the attacking third (185 touches to 87), the Revs struggled to create much in the way of dangerous chances.

FCC’s defense was solid centrally, forcing New England to push the ball wide and settle for a flurry of low percentage crosses. FCC’s central defenders were up to the task. Including corners, the Orange and Blue faced 35 crosses on Saturday night and Matt Miazga, Gilberto Flores, and Lukas Engel finished the game with a combined 24 clearances.

Just four of the Revs’ ten shots came from inside FCC’s 18-yard box, and just two of those were in front of goal. According to FBref’s expected goals data, the 0.4 expected goals conceded by the Orange and Blue was the second lowest total on the season, trailing only the team’s 0.2 xGA in its 2-0 home win over Toronto FC in March.

After the game, Noonan said, “You know, despite not being better with the ball tonight, we defended in a really good way against a strong team, and you know, one of the best attacking players in our league with [Carles] Gil and had to defend a lot of crosses, and I thought did that in excellent way.”

There’s a caveat: New England was playing without first choice strikers. However, a team can only beat the opposition in front of them and Noonan’s game plan limited the Revs to very little going forward.

In short, Saturday’s defensive performance was closer to what the Orange and Blue need to be going forward to keep the team in any Silverware conversations. Roman Celentano kept another clean sheet, denying at least one well-struck opportunity.

2. Tilted

Saturday night saw the return of another FCC hallmark under Noonan: an almost singular focus on attacking up the left side of the field.

Luca Orellano’s return to left wingback, combined with Evander’s willingness to drop in on that side of the field in possession, kept FCC largely on that side of the field as the team looked to push forward. Despite playing as a nominal wingback, Orellano’s 20 touches in the attacking third of the field were tied for most on the team and his four touches in the penalty area were second.

Across the field, DeAndre Yedlin sat deeper in possession, doing enough to draw the attention of his opposite number, Peyton Miller, but not looking to push high and wide when FCC had the ball. His five touches in the attacking third were the lowest total in a game in which he played 90 minutes. Lukas Engel’s comfort defending wide provided cover behind Orellano as he pushed up the field. Combined with Yedlin’s conservative positioning, the nominal back five operated more like a back four at times and New England struggled to make much happen.

FCC sacrificed numbers going forward but at the same time was able to get its most dangerous players on the ball in counter attacking situations while maintaining a strong defensive shape. Even with fewer attackers, the Orange and Blue’s prioritization of attacking with the right attackers paid dividends.

3. Unlocking Denkey

A cascading effect of Saturday’s attacking focus was that it put Kévin Denkey in positions to succeed, which was evident on the sequence leading up to his game winning goal on Saturday night.

Playing alongside Kei Kamara, an able option to hold up the ball, freed Denkey to push forward earlier during counter attacking opportunities. In the 26th minute, Kamara picked up a pass on the right side of the field and pushed it forward, holding off multiple Revs defenders before laying the ball off to Pavel Bucha. That time and space allowed Denkey to receive Bucha’s pass in New England’s 18-yard box.

Though he couldn’t control find Evander, the first arriving FCC attacker, Denkey played a ball across the box that wound up at the feet of Orellano, operating with the free rein previously seen from FCC’s left wingbacks, in a prime position to play an incisive cross.

Denkey’s quickness allowed him to beat the defender closest to him towards the near post and find a pocket of space at the near post in a defender’s blind spot. Orellano’s pass was on the money and Denkey put the ball into the roof of the net.

It’s a goal FCC supporters have seen over the years under Noonan though one more closely associated with Brandon Vazquez’s tenure in Orange and Blue. Denkey has shown a canny ability to find space in the box in the same way but service, and opportunities, in those situations has been lacking so far this season. Orellano’s ability on the ball on his the left side in the final third changes that and adds an attacking dimension the Orange and Blue have lacked in 2025.

Denkey’s 0.9 non-penalty expected goals on Saturday marked his highest total of the season, and despite New England’s possession dominance, his six touches in the penalty area were tied for his fourth most of the season.

It’s obvious but finding ways to create clear cut chances for your best striker is a good way to score goals. Denkey has shown that he can create something from almost nothing but making his life easier would give a needed push to FCC’s mediocre attack. With a defense that showed signs of bouncing back on Saturday, that’s a recipe for success in the second half of the season.