As season winds down, consistency still a critical need

Orlando City coach James O’Connor is still looking for consistency from his players.

He knows what his players are capable of, for the most part. Now he’s just looking for them to execute.

With two matches left in the season — both of them against playoffbound teams — Orlando City is trying to bounce back from a 2-1 loss to the Seattle Sounders during which the Lions allowed goals No. 71 and No. 72 to break the MLS record for goals conceded in a season.

After the loss, O’Connor said the team was failing to use basic defending principles when it comes to denying space.

“You try to reinforce everything that you’ve been speaking about,” O’Connor said on Friday before training. “Through video analysis. Through, I would say, tactical sessions. But again, when you get so many games in such a short period, the ability to train for long periods becomes null and void. You need to try to find a way to get a better understanding of denying space.

“It’s stuff we’ve worked on a lot. Again, it’s just making sure that when we go through it, people have a better understanding of what we’re speaking about.”

Orlando City (7-21-4, 25 points) is in last place in the Eastern Conference and won’t be going to the playoffs, so the Lions’ season is over Oct. 28. With O’Connor building toward 2019, he’s been mum on plans for the offseason, though he did recently say Orlando City’s roster lacks balance.

Whether that means the Lions’ roster is in for another rebuild remains to be seen. There was a massive roster overhaul before the 2018 season.

“I think pieces are added every year to every team,” O’Connor said. “I think you look at most teams, I would say statistically if you look at every MLS team throughout the start, I would say there’s been a lot of changes. Even speaking to [assistant coach] Sean [McAuley], I mean, there’s been changes from the team that won the championship in Portland.

“There’s changes in every team every year. I think, when you get a situation like this, people want to magnify everything and want to say, ‘OK, well how many changes will there be? There were a lot of changes last year.’

“For us, again, like I said from the onset, we’ve got a clear pathway of what we’re trying to do. Of what we’re looking for. We’ve broken it down on an individual basis. Is there individuals here that we feel are able to that? Of course there is. Is there a few more that we think can add to it? Yeah, there is, too. It’s all about balance.”

Season tickets: Orlando City SC is not expecting much of a dropoff in terms of season ticket renewals.

The club has a season ticket base of roughly 19,000, a club spokesperson told Pro Soccer USA.

“This process isn’t finalized yet, but we historically have an average of 92 percent of renews and we are expecting to stay around this number again and higher than the league average of 87 percent,” club officials told Pro Soccer USA.

Some fans on social media have taken issue with the club’s announced attendance, though it’s a common practice among leagues in North America to announce attendance in terms of tickets distributed, not actual people in seats.

Orlando City is 5-7-4 (19 points) at home this season.

Pride in the offseason: Several Orlando Pride players have joined clubs on other continents for the NWSL offseason.

Seven are going to the Australian W-League. Forward Rachel Hill will go to Perth Glory FC. Australian midfielders Alanna Kennedy and Emily van Egmond are going to Sydney FC and Newcastle Jets FC, respectively. Left back Caron Pickett and forward Chioma Ubogagu are going to Brisbane Roar FC. Midfielders Christine Nairn and Dani Weatherholt are going to Melbourne Victory FC.

Brazilian midfielder Camila signed a deal with Brazilian club Esporte Clube Iranduba da Amazônia, which runs through the end of the calendar year.

City player updates: Peruvian midfielder Yoshimar Yotún, Libyan left back/winger Mohamed El-Munir and Egyptian centerback Amro Tarek all have returned from international duty and were present for Friday’s training session.

Midfielder Richie Laryea, who has played in each of the last three games, is going through concussion protocol, a club spokesperson confirmed.

Captain and centerback Jonathan Spector is still dealing with back issues and was not present for Friday’s training session. Left back PC (hamstring) and striker Stéfano Pinho (quad) were jogging to the side during Friday’s training session.