Austin FC sees return of offensive woes in MLS road loss to St. Louis City SC

Austin FC’s early-season offensive struggles returned Sunday.

Producing only two shots, neither of which were on goal, the Verde & Black lost 1-0 to St. Louis City SC in an MLS road match at CityPark. João Klauss’ goal in the 57th minute marked the difference in the contest.

Here are some thoughts from the game as Austin FC (2-3-3, 9 points) has yet to score on the road this season as it heads to Houston for a Copa Tejas contest Saturday.

Lots of possession, little threat

Both Austin FC coach Josh Wolff and midfielder Alex Ring were extremely blunt in their assessment of the performance of the offense in their postgame meeting with the media. Though the Verde & Black showed flashes and created a couple of chances late in the first half and early in the second, the team finished with an expected goals stat of 0.04 — which is breathtakingly poor.

Wolff noted the team has to be “better” and “execute in the box.” Ring called the team’s time with the ball “not up to standard” and that it “lacked punch in the final third” of the field.

Though Austin FC wasn’t terrible in a broad sense — it had more than 60% of possession and its performance in the first half was fine — it didn’t exactly make life miserable for St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Bürki.

Tired legs after halftime

Austin FC seemed to run out of gas in the second half. That’s likely a product of the fact St. Louis likes to push the pace as much as possible, but by the 70th minute the Verde & Black didn’t have remotely the same the energy they displayed prior to halftime.

And while there’s obviously going to be some drop-off after players have run multiple miles over an hour timespan, it was more apparent in this contest. One never got the sense — unlike a week ago vs. San Jose — that they would tie the game down the stretch or in stoppage time.

Whether that’s from playing on the road or in the afternoon as opposed to night isn’t clear, but with a full week off, Austin FC should have made the game’s final moments more interesting.

Counter points

St. Louis’ goal came off a counterattack, something that continues to hamper Austin FC defensively after San Jose burned the Verde & Black defense a couple of times last week.

This goal wasn’t a pure transition score, though, with Austin FC getting players back in the box prior to Rasmus Alm’s cross. But Klauss had too much space and was able to direct the ball just inside the far post. Wolff called the goal a “mistake on our part” with that many defenders in the area, while Ring noted that “when you have five against one in the box, you shouldn’t concede.”

Otherwise, Austin FC was solid defensively with both center back Brendan Hines-Ike and outside back Jon Gallagher playing extremely well.

Defensive help

In a bit of good news for the Verde & Black, the game saw the return of left back Zan Kolmanic. He entered in the 78th minute for his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in the season opener.

While Kolmanic is probably a month away from being able to play 90 minutes, the fact he can provide 20 minutes of play going forward is a huge positive for a team still thin on defense. And his return comes at a good time, as the club will play six times from May 4-June 1.

Man of the match: Brendan Hines-Ike

Hines-Ike bounced back from a subpar performance a week ago vs. San Jose with a very solid showing. He was strong on the backline playing the entire match and even moved out to right back for the final 20 minutes after Wolff switched formations to try and be more aggressive offensively.

With center back Julio Cascante missing Saturday’s game at Houston due to yellow card accumulation, Austin FC will again need another strong performance from Hines-Ike to have a chance at a result.

Bottom line

As noted in our match preview, this wasn’t a contest Austin FC was expected to win when the MLS schedule came out in December.

The Verde & Black could have been better in the second half and certainly could have created more chances offensively, but a road loss to the team that garnered the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs a year ago isn’t anything to panic over.

A Copa Tejas road match at Houston Saturday without Cascante will be another difficult task for Austin FC, but the aim should be for a draw ... and to certainly take more shots.