Memphis 901 FC falls in first match back since pandemic
Birmingham in control during 3-0 victory as USL restarts
Memphis 901 FC had a rough restart to the season, falling 3-0 to Birmingham Legion in Birmingham Wednesday night. The Legion were in control the majority of the match, slicing through a Memphis midfield and defense that often looked disjointed and groggy.
Even without striker Neco Brett, who, due to injury, was not introduced into the game until after the 80th minute, Birmingham dominated offensively, exploiting gaps in Memphis’ back line and making them pay for multiple midfield turnovers.
Memphis 901 FC coach Tim Mulqueen
said after the season-opening 4-2 loss to Indy Eleven in March that his squad had made mistakes and Indy capitalized on them. The same was true Wednesday.
Mulqueen said the night was disappointing, but that Birmingham played exactly the way he expected them to play. He said he thought the initial start to the match was good, but that Memphis didn’t take advantage of the possession it had in the first half.
“We just didn’t do enough with it and when we turned it over our reactions were poor,” he said. “To be a top team like we want to be that just can’t happen. We have to be much more sharp about how we make decisions under pressure.”
Bruno Lapa shone for Birmingham on his professional debut, opening the scoring 22 minutes in, after which Memphis never seemed to regain its defensive shape. Lapa assisted Birmingham’s second goal sliding a neat pass across the box for Brian Wright to send into the back of the net and scored the third a few minutes before the half.
Poor passing in the midfield and defensive miscommunication played a hand in all three goals. Memphis fans looking for a bright spot could point to the fact that 901 FC didn’t concede in the second half, even after a Zach Carroll red card left the team a man down for the final half-hour.
However, poor communication was not limited to the back line.
Memphis got off seven shots all game, but only one was on target and they struggled to find a rhythm in the attacking third even before Birmingham took the lead. Memphis looked sluggish on the ball and didn’t probe the Birmingham defense, which kept its shape well. Some of 901 FC’S more promising possessions fizzled out with passes into open space and no one else in a Memphis shirt making a run into the area to make anything of it.
Defender Rece Buckmaster and forward Cal Jennings, both new signings, saw action Wednesday night, with Buckmaster starting and Jennings replacing Brandon Allen in the second half and both earned high praise from Mulqueen after the match. Jennings worked to inject some energy into the Memphis offense but by the point he joined the game, the rest of the squad seemed tired and was struggling to show signs of life in the attacking half.
Memphis 901 FC will travel to Atlanta next to take on Atlanta United 2 on Saturday.
“Even though this is obviously a very disappointing result ... there’s still 14 games left for us to grab a lot of points,” Mulqueen said.
“We’ll be mad tonight but we’ll make the adjustments and we’ll work even harder and we’ll be better Saturday night, for sure.”
Mulqueen and his squad will be hoping for a different outcome. Mulqueen said he wanted to see better adherence to the club’s high-pressing system this weekend and less “going off script,” as well as more movement off the ball in the attacking third.
“With the ball, we have to get braver, we have to get guys willing to run behind the ball and stretch the defense,” he said.