New York City FC head coach Nick Cushing insisted that his side must play with an attacking intensity if they are to return to winning ways against Orlando City on Saturday.  

The Pigeons are winless in their last three games following their 1-0 defeat to Nashville last time out having lost once in their previous 11 MLS fixtures, dating back to March.

NYCFC’s subsequent slump has seen them drop to sixth in the Eastern Conference standings, a point behind Columbus Crew who have two games in hand.

Cushing is keen to see his side climb back up the table and believes a return to their attacking mentality is the key to achieving success.

“We have to brush it off,” Cushing said of the recent defeats. “I think it's been a really good opportunity.

"We’re frustrated with the results and 100% not content, but it's been a good opportunity to really feel and see when we're good and when we win, and also when we're not so good and why we don't win.

“I think ultimately, the two things we've been good at has been the intensity that we play at and the amount of attacking football and chances that we've created.

“The intensity comes from our ability to attack games. That’s a really quick fix for us. We've got to work hard, we've got to apply ourselves properly, and we've got to play with ambition and a real attacking mentality."

Meanwhile, Orlando earned their first triumph in six matches as they edged a six-goal thriller against Chicago Fire at the Inter&Co Stadium, despite leading 3-0 at the break.

The result saw them go level on points with Atlanta United and head into the encounter in 10th place in the table, hoping to produce back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

Head coach Oscar Pareja is hopeful the result will instil confidence into his players in their quest to climb up the Eastern Conference table.

“Winning at home in front of our fans, despite these difficult moments, they came and supported us, and I want to express our gratitude to them and that energy they brought to us in a game that we needed an extra push from us after a difficult week.

“But we had a lot of positive things: we scored four goals, we started seeing the individuals improve their performances, the collective obviously looks much better.

“Hopefully we can continue (winning) because we need to find our way to turn things around.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

NYCFC – Maximiliano Moralez

Despite missing much of the season through injury, Moralez returned to the side earlier this month and has two assists in his last four matches.

The Argentine will be hopeful of continuing his excellent record against the Lions, having scored five of his 26 career regular-season goals against Saturday’s opponents. He hasn’t scored more than three against any other MLS opposition.

Orlando – Facundo Torres

Torres scored twice in Orlando’s win over Chicago and has notched three goals and one assist in his last two MLS games.

The Uruguyan has recorded multiple goal contributions 10 times with Orlando, equalling Kaká for the most such performances in the club’s history.

MATCH PREDICTION: NYCFC WIN

New York City FC are unbeaten in their last six home matches against Orlando (W5 D1) including winning the last three in a row. Orlando’s last win at NYCFC was a 2-1 victory back in April 2017.

But NYCFC come into the game off the back of three consecutive losses, having lost one of their previous MLS fixtures (W8 D2). The Pigeons have not lost four games in a row since the start of the 2020 season.

Orlando City will be hopeful of prolonging Cushing’s side’s troubles, having ended a winless run of their own against Chicago Fire last time out. They had been five games without a victory (D2 L3) and will be hoping to win consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time this season.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

NYCFC – 44.3%

Draw – 26.8%

Orlando  – 28.8%