Charlotte FC’s Stock Up, Stock Down: Charlotte FC bounces back on a quick turnaround to complete the season sweep of New York Red Bulls

By Billy McGee (@iambillymcgee)

Ashley Westwood (Photo Courtesy of CJ Hellner/TopBin90)

After a midweek 2-2 draw against Atlanta United, where Charlotte blew a 2-0 lead, they bounced back on the weekend, going up 2-0 early against New York Red Bulls and holding onto that lead for the remainder of the game to pick up three much-needed points heading into the MLS All-Star game.

Here’s a look at our stock up, stock down for Charlotte FC’s road win against New York Red Bulls.

Stock Up

Kristijan Kahlina - The Croatian goalkeeper had one of his best performances of the season, making six saves on his way to his third clean sheet of the season. Five of his six saves were on shots inside the box with an xGOT faced of 1.07. Kahlina returning to form and playing at a high level will be crucial for Charlotte’s second-half push to finish as a top-four seed for the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Defensive shape - Charlotte’s defense held its shape and played strongly against the Red Bulls under heavy pressure. NYRB had 65% possession in the match with 52 touches in the box and 24 total shots, but the quality of those chances with only six of those shots being on target and totaling 2.38 xG, less than 0.1 xG per shot. On top of limiting the number of quality looks that they had at goal, Charlotte committed just five fouls in the match. The defensive performance helped keep the clean sheet, their third in MLS play and fourth across all competitions this season.

Ashley Westwood - Ashley Westwood’s performance is usually a good indicator of how a game will go for Charlotte FC. If the captain isn’t playing well, the team as a whole often does not play well, but when Westwood is on his game, it is apparent. Even though the team didn’t have much possession, Westwood performed well with the ball. He played a big part in the build-up, going 4/7 on accurate long balls and making seven passes into the final third. Westwood also scored his second goal of the season, converting a low xG chance from outside the box on an assist from Kerwin Vargas. He was also involved out of possession, doing a little bit of everything defensively, recording a tackle, a clearance, an interception, and two recoveries while only being dribbled past once.

Stock Down

Chance creation - Charlotte FC simply did not have enough of the ball to create many chances, holding just 35% possession and taking four shots. They fortunately put three of those four shots on target, and two found the back of the net on their way to the win, but this is not a reliable way to win games. In the game before this one, they had 24 shots, nine on target, but scored the same goal in each game. Charlotte needs to find a good balance between the two: consistently creating good chances and putting them away, not just one or the other.