Tampa Bay Rowdies slow start - no need to panic

Two away loses to start the campaign may not mean much down the road .

The Tampa Bay Rowdies have lost both of the opening two matches of their 50th Anniversary season by identical 1-0 scorelines. But, the two losses at Las Vegas and Tulsa looked entirely different. The side, which is thinner from a depth standpoint than any time in the last few years, is already being stretched.

In the last 13 months Tampa Bay has sold Conner Antlety, Zach Herivaux, Charlie Dennis. Jordan Farr and Jordan Doherty. This is in addition to losing Cal Jennings, Josh Perez and Freddie Kleeman on top of suffering through two major Hurricanes last season, one of which badly damaged their home field at Al Lang Stadium. This has forced the club to play on the road for the first month of the season.

So expectations for Tampa Bay have been lowered this season, but nonetheless, two losses to start the campaign can be disheartening. Still, Tampa Bay has shown some positive signs in both matches.

In the opener last Saturday at Cashman Field in Las Vegas, it really felt like Tampa Bay had control of the match while the Lights were unable to generate anything resembling control in midfield, let alone scoring chances. In particular, the Rowdies left side, anchored by Blake Bodily as a hybrid wingback/winger, began to assert itself. New signing Ollie Bassett looked the part, showing us why he’s been an elite player north of the border in the Canadian Premier League the last few seasons.

Meanwhile in central midfield Danny Crisostomo was schooling his former team and recent acquisition Cameron MacPherson, who was given the start ahead of Lewis Hilton, began to look more comfortable. It felt the Tampa Bay winning goal was inevitable until an unspeakable goalkeeper error by debutant Dante Campisi, a 28-year old Argentine, handed Las Vegas the three points.

Campisi was already shaky with his distribution out of the back, and having failed to connect on multiple attempts to play long balls to spring counter-attacks, Campisi in minute 74’ failed to clear a ball that he need not have charged out to claim (Farr, who was sold to MLS’ DC United in the offseason had a habit of doing this as well, though generally got the job done when he charged off his line) and unfortunately the ball deflected off the back of a Rowdies defender and fell to Christian Pinzon who had an easy tap-in to claim the winning goal.

This Saturday in Tulsa, the Rowdies looked on the whole less focused and organized than in Las Vegas a week earlier. Similar to the previous week, Tampa Bay’s central midfield combination of Cammy MacPherson and Danny Crisostomo were outstanding. But wide play from Blake Bodily and Pacifique Niyongabire was inconsistent and even when the wide play was solid, the front three struggled. In the offseason, I have been high on the signing of Woobens Pacius, a Canadian that has played well in the CanPL, but he has looked totally lost in both matches.

The right-sided insertion of Nick Moon in both matches has given the Rowdies a brief spark, but one that ultimately flickered and amounted to little tangibly.

After standing out in his USL Championship debut a week ago, Ollie Bassett looked off the pace while Manu Arteaga was starved for service from the wide areas. Meanwhile, for the second successive week, new signing Woobens Pacius appeared to be a passenger. This lack of cutting edge up front helped lead directly to Tampa Bay’s second 1-0 loss in as many weeks.

Uneven play has to be anticipated given the Rowdies loss of so many key pieces the last 13 months, in addition to the unsettled situation around its home ground. But nonetheless, combination play even among returnees has appeared inconsistent to this point.

But one thing that has been really positive is the influence of MacPherson who is on loan from St Johnstone in Scotland. McPherson’s presence has given perhaps the Rowdies’ most important player Lewis Hilton a breather. Hilton is now 31, but not only had to play virtually every minute last season but also had to cover an incredible amount of ground in midfield.

While the Rowdies start has not been ideal, it’s far from time to panic. This roster gelling is a work in progress and one that might be benefiting from being thrown into the deep end of a month-long road trip to start the campaign. In fact these two results might mean little come October especially given they were both against Western Conference opposition.