MONTREAL -- Struggling to win games, the Montreal Impact pressed to regain the lead at home against Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday, only to give up a turnover that led to their first loss at Stade Saputo.
Montreal is 1-1-1 at home, including their only win in eight games, 2-1 against Atlanta United on April 15; the Impact also tied the Seattle Sounders 2-2 at Olympic Stadium on March 11.
On Saturday, the Impact took a 1-0 lead for the first time in six games, despite losing striker Matteo Mancosu to an early injury, when Marco Donadel scored nine minutes in. Vancouver tied it on Andrew Jacobson's goal in the 29th minute, and the Whitecaps held on for a 2-1 win after Cristian Techera scored 79 minutes in to drop Montreal's record to 1-3-4.
"I'm concerned, I'm very concerned," Impact coach Mauro Biello said. "It's my job to be concerned. It's my job to find solutions. Right now certain things are not working and I find that we still need to be able to do a better job of not giving up easy goals, as far as I'm concerned. And at the end of the day we did create, so there is that positive. I think their goalie makes some big saves in the second half and we could have took the lead. But at the end of the day we need to find that consistency in our game that is not there right now and it's my job to figure that out and get the team on the right track."
Impact midfielder Patrice Bernier thought Montreal created enough offensive opportunities in the second half after Vancouver tied it at 1-1. But not only did the Impact lack finish Saturday, they weren't careful enough moving the ball forward and left themselves vulnerable on the counterattack.
"I don't know how many corners we had, how many crosses, how many chances we had four or five guys in the box," Bernier said. "Sometimes it's maybe the final pass, maybe a little bit more savviness to not panic, put it to your teammate who is maybe freer and has a better open shot. The second half, maybe it was the chances of efficiency because they went up once, twice, three times, scored; we went up I could say maybe 10 times and we didn't score."
Montreal, which lost the Eastern Conference Championship against Toronto FC in the 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs, has scored 11 goals in eight games.
"Yeah, I think eight games and one win is a little concerning," Impact right back Chris Duvall said. "But I think we have the right pieces, it's just the mentality; we need to be more ruthless, and when we have our foot on someone's throat, we need to put them away."
