Football Season Guide

St. Louis City made history in their maiden season in MLS by becoming the first expansion team to finish top of their conference, setting other records along the way. The newcomers instantly sent out a message to the rest of the league that they hadn't just come to make up the numbers by becoming the first team to win the opening five matches in their inaugural MLS campaign. Bradley Carnell, taking his first permanent job as a Head Coach, did a tremendous job of creating unity and team spirit within a brand new squad of players. That was no more evidenced by the fact that he was able to keep his side in and around the top of the Western Conference despite the absence of main striker Joao Klauss for almost four months of the season due to injury. The coach's ethos of "Next man up" saw the likes of Nico Gioacchini and Sam Adenerin step up to take on the the goal burden. City have quality running through the team. Roman Burki showed his pedigree with some outstanding performances which earned him the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award. German midfielder Eduard Löwen conducted the team from midfield, bagging 6 goals and 9 assists in the league. Even youngsters like Aziel Jackson stepped up to the plate and had a breakout season. The club have addressed some weaknesses in the transfer market in the full-back positions with Nikolas Dyhr & Tomas Totland arriving. Gioacchini and Jared Stroud are the biggest losses, having contributed a lot in terms of goals & assists last term. St. Louis ultimately ran out of steam after winning the Western Conference and their biggest issue going into 2024 is that they no longer possess the element of surprise. Teams already appeared to be figuring them out. The biggest example came in their first ever play-off match against rivals Sporting Kansas City, who they had blitzed twice at home in the Regular Season using their high intensity off-the-ball pressing style. SKC changed tack for the play-offs, allowing St. Louis to have more possession where they proved less effective and were ultimately beaten at their own game in the transitions. The question remains if Carnell can make the team more adaptable.