The Impact of new in a bad position in view of the series

Photo: Paul Chiasson, The canadian Press
The captain of the montreal Impact, Patrice Bernier

While the Impact believed to have begun its march toward the series in August, now that the club is once again at the edge of the abyss after two losses in a row.

In a season punctuated by more low than high, the Impact will now need to tap into the good feelings of August, when the team had chained four wins.

“We were a little more bland in the last two games and the result was two losses, recognized the captain Patrice Bernier after practice, Wednesday. You have to play with more pace, alertness. It is necessary to have the same will as much with the ball when we need to recover it. “

According to Bernier, the Impact has perhaps not played the full 90 minutes in the setback against the Toronto FC and the Fire of Chicago over the past two weeks.

“Against good teams like Toronto or even Chicago, which has a good structure, if you lower the guard for 10 minutes, they will take the opportunity to gain self-confidence and it is you who will run after the ball. […] We need to be more enterprising to retrieve the ball. And it doesn’t mean to apply pressure higher up the field, but simply to win his duels one-on-one. “

“I think that we need to up the intensity at the right time in matches,” said assistant coach Jason Di Tullio. We have not played badly in those two games, but perhaps we have lacked a bit of concentration in the attacking third, on the last pass or the last action, or the defensive side of the ball […]. “

“We have discussed with the players and we have been reminded of the importance of being focused during the 90 minutes. And if we don’t have the ball for two or three minutes, it may be more smart to be patient when we get it back, instead of starting immediately toward the opposition’s net and risking the give back quickly. “

Bernier said after the setback against the Fire last Saturday, as the last eight matches of the team in the regular season will have the same importance as the eight finals. The Impact (10-10-6) is still stuck in the seventh spot in the East, with as many points as the Atlanta United (10-8-6). United still has two games in hand and a better ratio of goals.

“It is an adage of the end of the season, but we can’t say that there are still other opportunities to get the three points, as was the case in the beginning of the year, recalled Bernier. There are fewer opportunities and we are going to face many teams of our association, which means that we may also be depriving them of three points. […] We must treat each and every [period of] 90 minutes as if there was no tomorrow. “

Mancosu injured

In addition, the Impact announced Wednesday that striker Matteo Mancosu has suffered a slight fracture to his left hand in training. The Italian 32-year-old was injured in gym Tuesday, when he banged his hand on a piece of equipment by performing a jump.

Mancosu will have to wear a plaster during the healing, but Di Tullio has indicated that this should not affect his availability Saturday, when the Impact will make a visit to the the Revolution in New-England (9-12-5).

In 21 games this season, Mancosu has scored only four goals, including two in his last 17 outings. Last season, he had scored three goals in 15 games after his arrival in the Bologna FC in July and added four goals in five matches during the playoffs.