Tata Martino has now shared his opinion on Inter Miami’s shock 6-1 loss to MLS rivals FC Cincinnati this weekend.
The Herons suffered their biggest defeat in franchise history and their most humiliating result of their entire year having conceded six against Supporters’ Shield competitors Cincinnati, who leapfrogged Inter Miami in the standings with their record-breaking win.
Without Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Nicolas Freire, Inter Miami were lacking star players and key figures in Martino’s system, even with the Florida franchise winning their last four MLS games without these names.
And the Argentine coach has now shared his honest verdict on Inter Miami’s loss to Cincinnati.
Inter Miami ‘still not there’ after massive 6-1 Cincinnati loss
Speaking to the press after the result, Martino admitted that Inter Miami are still not at the level they should be after last night’s embarrassing loss to Cincinnati, which could be telling for the remainder of the year.
The race for the Supporters’ Shield is now wide open with the Ohio-based franchise now in the lead, and Martino believes that more needs to be done if Inter Miami are to become the top dog in MLS this season.
Martino said about the loss: “We had a period early in the season where we were vulnerable in back, we started to fix that, the previous five or six games we had done a solid job defending, but this game we reverted defensively to how we played early in the season, our opponent was better than us.
“We must take note of this. Cincinnati is one of the top three teams in the league. We are still not there despite our good results and performances. We have to keep working and hoping in the final part of the season we can improve with our full roster.”
Record-breaking defeat must lead to new defensive signings
Inter Miami’s defense has been a major talking point this year, especially after the season-ending injury to Freire, and last night’s loss to Cincinnati must lead to new additions at the back for the Herons.
The Florida giants were woefully exposed against their Eastern Conference rivals, who with their attacking options made lightwork of a makeshift defense scraped together by Inter Miami.
The summer window is upon us and the time is now for new signings, and this loss to Cincinnati must be what pushes Inter Miami into finally making some moves in the market.