0-3 Crown struggling with consistency and quality

PHOTO | TROY HULL

Charlotte FC midfielder Derrick Jones pushes the ball upfield during the Crown’s 3-0 loss to Atlanta United last week at Bank of America Stadium. Charlotte is 0-3.

Charlotte FC has quality issues three matches into the season.

The Crown fell to 0-3 after last week’s 3-0 loss to Atlanta United at Bank of America Stadium that included boos from the mostly partisan crowd. While it may be too early to panic, Charlotte certainly has issues that require adjustments before the season is too far gone.

“I have a big trust in our squad, I have a big trust in our players, but then they have to show it,” coach Christian Lattanzio said. “We all take the responsibility for that. I feel sorry for our fans because it’s a derby and we wanted to give them a result, we wanted to give them a win and I feel sorry for them, so we will take the responsibility for that – me first, but altogether. When they have to make it count, make it count.”

Charlotte hasn’t been able to count on much so far. They’ve been outscored 7-1 with three goals conceded in each of the last two games. A reworked lineup hasn’t bonded on either end of the pitch despite being given the latitude to gel.

“I wanted to give these guys a little bit of continuity,” Lattanzio said. “I don’t think we played that badly against St. Louis. We gave some goals away and I felt a little bit of the same [against Atlanta]. My job is not just looking at results, but what caused results, so when I look at the numbers, [Atlanta] cleared the ball 30 times, we cleared it 11, so we entered the box 30 times, so we expected goals a little more than they had. I think the other team created some plays; unfortunately, the quality they used to finish the chances they had was higher that our quality. These are facts. There’s no getting away from it.”

Opponents have been able to turn small defensive errors and lapses into scoring opportunities. Unlike Charlotte, which possessed the ball for 55.8% of the game compared to Atlanta’s 44.2%, they’ve been able to convert those chances into goals. Three of the Five Stripes’ shots on goal found the back of the net while all three of Charlotte’s went begging.

“I don’t think we were particularly outplayed,” Lattanzio said. “They had moments that they played with the ball but I think we had moments to play, just the final pass, the final third or certain decisions we made didn’t match their quality.”

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