Both Ronny Deila and Jaap Stam have been frustrated by their teams' failure to find the net ahead of New York City's meeting with FC Cincinnati on Saturday.
Deila's NYCFC lost 1-0 to Toronto in midweek after drawing 0-0 against New England Revolution the previous weekend.
The coach is pleased with his side's performances but knows it counts for little as long as they do not turn spells of dominance into goals.
"Win, lose, draw, we have to learn from our experiences," Deila said. "There were 70 minutes we can be proud of [against Toronto], 20 minutes we have to do something with.
"I'm a coach that demands a lot of everybody. We have to be on board on that, everybody, and use our time to get better. We are so close to being a really, really, really good football team. We just need to score some more goals. Put the ball in the net and kill teams off."
Meanwhile, Cincinnati's defence has been largely solid, yet they have been held to four goalless draws since the restart just over a month ago.
"We defend with heart and we give everything. We don't want to concede," Stam said. "I'm proud in the process that we're at and I'm proud of the team. We've been close for several games already that we should have won and we're not doing that. That gives us a bit of frustration because then the table looks a lot different when you do."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York City – Alex Ring
NYCFC have drawn a blank in three of their past four games, the exception being the previous meeting with Cincinnati in which Ring opened the scoring. Previously deployed as a holding midfielder, the captain is now Deila's key attacker, netting three in his past seven.
FC Cincinnati – Jurgen Locadia
Cincinnati simply must get more from their attacking Designated Players. Stam has persevered with Locadia, who has started eight straight games – playing 90 minutes in seven of them – without scoring. It is time he repaid his coach's faith.
KEY OPTA FACTS
- New York City have won all three of their matches against Cincinnati in MLS, including a 2-1 home victory earlier this month, outscoring their opponents 11-4 in those games. Cincinnati has scored in all three matches against NYCFC, the only opponent they have played at least three times and scored against on each occasion.
- NYCFC's six-match unbeaten run came to an end with a 1-0 home loss to Toronto on Wednesday. Alejandro Pozuelo's 90th-minute penalty represented the third time NYCFC have conceded in the final 10 minutes of a match this season, including two 1-0 defeats to TFC.
- All 13 of Cincinnati's points this season have come in the seven matches in which they have kept a clean sheet (3-0-4). They have lost all six matches in which they have conceded at least one goal (17 total).
- Cincinnati have scored only two goals in their eight matches since the regular season restarted in August, with both coming at Red Bull Arena (one against New York Red Bulls, one against NYCFC).
- Heber, who left with an injury against Toronto on Wednesday, has scored four goals in three career matches against Cincinnati, recording a brace in each of the two meetings in the 2019 season. Only Gyasi Zardes (seven goals) has scored more against Cincinnati since they joined the league in 2019.
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