FC Cincinnati looks to avoid first losing streak since May 2022 at Montreal

FC Cincinnati had to learn how to bounce back from defeat under Pat Noonan. Eventually, the club took up that task with vigor.

FCC lost the first two matches of the Noonan regime in 2022. It had three losing streaks within the first 14 matches of his tenure, but FC Cincinnati has managed to avoid consecutive defeats since then. Now in his third year as Cincinnati's manager, Noonan hasn't seen an FCC losing streak since May 2022.

Overall, FC Cincinnati has 5 wins, 3 losses and 4 ties after a loss since Noonan took over.

We'll soon know how the 2024 roster takes to losing following its April 6 loss to New York Red Bulls at TQL Stadium. FC Cincinnati on Saturday will seek to rebound from the defeat when it travels to play CF Montreal at State Saputo (7:30 p.m.).

The early returns on how FC Cincinnati will respond to just its third home loss in the last two seasons were positive, Noonan and his captain, Luciano Acosta, reported during a Thursday news conference.

Acosta highlighted Wednesday's practice session as being an especially good response while Noonan said the coaches and players had productive, honest dialogues about the Red Bulls loss.

"Yeah, that was probably one of our better discussions of post-game analysis," Noonan said. "Like I said after the game, I wasn't pleased with how we went about the game. We're going to lose games. The discussion revolves around what does it look like in the process of not getting a result, and that just felt different. It didn't look like a good version of our team. So, you can make excuses of a lot of different things, but we've played enough games and we've played together with the group we have enough times, where I think we could be a lot better than we were. Guys had good feedback, because it wasn't just me telling them what I thought. It was them giving their opinions on why we lost rhythm in the game after a really good start. I like the way we talk through the moments of the game that didn't go our way and why the result happened.

"The training, I thought, yesterday in the aftermath of it, maybe there's guys that are still thinking about that video and some of the tough conversations that we had, but it's also some crap weather out there. So, maybe they didn't like that, as we see today. I think we have two more days to see if we got the message as a group of where we needed to improve, but it wasn't all tactical, some of it was just mentality."

Cincinnati's lack of attacking success continues to be an issue. Its seven goals are the eighth-fewest in Major League Soccer so far this season. Injury concerns are also mounting, with goalkeeper Roman Celentano more than likely set to miss a second consecutive match.

Yuya Kubo, a scorer of two goals and the club's most versatile player, will be available against Montreal, Noonan said. Kubo sustained an ankle injury against New York.

The latest on Montreal

Montreal is still learning how to snap out of a funk under first-year head coach Laurent Courtois.

Montreal opened 2024 with a draw and two wins, but has since lost three in a row. The club is scoreless in its last two matches and conceded 10 goals over the last three contests under Courtois, who went to Montreal after finding success in the Columbus Crew organization as its championship-winning MLS Next Pro head coach.

Montreal started 2024 with six straight road matches and might have run out of steam in the sixth of those games. The club dropped a 5-0 result at Seattle Sounders.

"I think they certainly have courage with the ball, you can see different ideas of how they look to set up teams to break pressure and attack the goal with numbers," Noonan said. "I know the results recently, not as good as how the season started, but it's also very difficult to play on the road for the first six games of the season. I'm sure they're going to look forward to be in front of their home fans, but I think Laurent (Courtois) has done a really good job with the early stages of being with that group.

"It's always tough when you have a new coach, new ideas, and while you're trying to figure things out you want to get results and they were able to do that early on. Like I said, doing that on the road is not easy. Some challenges that we've looked at that we'll face just based on some of their build ideas and how we'll look to try to pressure them. But, defensively you see some similarities, just in terms of the shape with some of the stuff that we look to do, but what that structure looks like has been a little different in their games."

Matías Cóccaro leads Montreal with three goals on the year.

Josef Martinez, a former MLS Most Valuable Player (2018) and noted FC Cincinnati killer, now calls Montreal home. Martinez has one goal on the season.

The atmosphere Saturday at Stade Saputo should be festive as the contest mark's Montreal's home opener. That won't make FC Cincinnati's task of avoiding a loss any easier.

"I'm a player who knows every single game is difficult and Montreal is a difficult team with the players they have," Acosta said. "Obviously, they're going to want to win. They're going to want to win in front of their fans, and they're coming off a difficult game, you know, 5-0 in Seattle. So, just like us, we're trying to put what happened against Red Bulls in the past. They're trying to put their game from last week in the past and we know it's going to be a difficult game."

The game

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. | Stade Saputo, Montreal

Broadcast: Apple TV

All-time series: FC Cincinnati leads the all-time series against CF Montreal (formerly the Montreal Impact) with a 4-3-2 record.

Cincinnati.com prediction: CF Montreal 1, FC Cincinnati 1.

FC Cincinnati

Record (MLS): 3-1-3, 12 points; fifth place in Eastern Conference

Goals for: Seven.

Goals against: Five.

Head coach: Pat Noonan, third season as head coach

Projected starting XI: Evan Louro, goalkeeper; Luca Orellano, left wing back; Ian Murphy, center back; Matt Miazga, center back; Miles Robinson, center back; DeAndre Yedlin, right wing back; Obinna Nwobodo, midfielder; Pavel Bucha, midfielder; Luciano Acosta, midfielder; Corey Baird, forward; Aaron Boupendza, forward.

CF Montreal

Regular season record: 2-3-2, seven points; 11th place in east.

Goals for: Eight.

Goals against: 13.

Head coach: Laurent Courtois, first season as Montreal head coach.

Projected starting XI: Jonathan Sirois, goalkeeper; Joaquín Sosa, center back; Joel Waterman, center back; George Campbell, center back; Samuel Piette, defender; Ruan Gregório Teixeira, midfielder; Ariel Lassiter, midfielder; Mathieu Choinière, midfielder; Victor Wanyama, midfielder; Josef Martínez, forward; Matías Cóccaro, forward.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati looks to avoid first losing skid since 2022 at Montreal