It’s time for a St. Louis marathon, and I’m not speaking about operating 26.2 miles. St. Louis CITY is coming to city, they usually’ll be staying a tad longer than our ordinary visitors (MLS recreation on Saturday, USOC on Wednesday), which means I’m going to should comment about these guys a number of occasions in just some days. Sadly for me, they’ve put collectively a reasonably unremarkable season up to now, however I’ve carried out my finest to sum all of it up for this week’s version of Storylines. Let’s take a fast have a look at what’s been happening down within the Chess Capital of the World.
Trending, However Not in a Good Approach
I wish to preface this part by saying that I’ve a slight private beef with CITY. Of their inaugural season in MLS (2023), I predicted that they’d end final within the league, and I used to be greater than a bit sassy in doing so. They proceeded to complete on high of the Western Convention, and although they fell to SKC within the first spherical of the playoffs, my satisfaction had already taken successful, because the bulletin board materials I had given them was thrown proper again into my face. Touché, St. Louis, touché.
I have to be a DJ, although, as a result of these tables simply carry on turning.
To paraphrase legendary Minnesotan Bob Dylan, writers and critics who prophesy with their pens shouldn’t converse too quickly, for the occasions they’re a-changin’. Of their second season, STL missed out on the playoffs altogether, and this 12 months, they’re going to wish a critical flip in kind in the event that they wish to break that downward pattern. Was I incorrect in 2023? Maybe. Or, maybe we spoke too quickly.
Very like their membership’s total historical past, 2025 began fairly effectively for Head Coach Olof Mellberg and his squad. They didn’t permit a single purpose of their first 4 video games of the season, and whereas two of these have been 0-0 attracts, they seemed like they’d be among the many league’s most defensively astute squads. Since then, the numbers have betrayed them, as they conceded six occasions within the following 4 fixtures and eight within the 4 after that. Throw of their rivalry match towards SKC simply this week, they usually’ve now allowed 16 targets in 13 video games. Whereas that quantity isn’t too far behind the league’s finest (Vancouver is at 10), it’s merely not ok given the pattern on the different finish.
If we use the identical recreation blocks to investigate the targets scored by STL, the image will get more and more bleak. After scoring 4 of their first 4, they managed only a single purpose within the following 4 fixtures. They’ve scored six of their final 5, together with a pair of 2-2 attracts that counsel that the one method for this crew to attain a number of targets in a recreation is by leaving themselves uncovered. They’ve failed to attain in any respect on six events, they’ve solely scored a number of targets in the identical recreation thrice, and their -5 purpose distinction solely appears type of good as a result of it’s sat subsequent to the Galaxy’s astonishing -21 mark on the backside of the desk.
The pattern is clearly downward; can we agree on that? Whereas participant availability on account of accidents and whatnot is a part of the image, that doesn’t change the fact: This crew is in want of a lift. In my analysis, I discovered a couple of fascinating knowledge factors that again up my first part and rub issues in a bit of extra. Take pleasure in these parting bits of proof.
Whereas I used to be on the lookout for developments to level to, I ventured to match STL’s dwelling and away kind, solely to search out that they’ve been precisely the identical. Virtually eerily so, truly. Their seven dwelling matches have ended within the following outcomes:
I do know that’s only a random record, however simply wait. Their six away outcomes are as follows:
Both that’s cool or I have to get exterior extra typically. Don’t inform me you don’t discover that no less than mildly fascinating; they’re mirror pictures of each other! I might by no means wager on sports activities, nor would I counsel anybody else to … But when I did, I’d wager on a draw this weekend, purely due to this anomaly.
Curiously sufficient, although, CITY’s heaviest defeat and their largest victory in 2025 have each come on the highway, which means that they’ve been at their finest and worst away from dwelling. Now, that victory I discussed was a 3-0 win over the Galaxy, so I don’t know that it’s actually all that spectacular, however a win is a win. Their 4-1 loss to Seattle just some weeks in the past felt like a way more correct method to gauge their risk degree.
As CITY prepares for 2 straight highway matches towards a Minnesota United crew that has solely misplaced as soon as at Allianz Subject in 2025, they’ll want to search out one thing actually particular to tug out something of worth from this prolonged journey. That mentioned, I discovered my lesson once I predicted a last-place end in 2023; I gained’t be making any concrete statements till after the match, and I gained’t be counting anybody out.
