For Nashville SC, the 2024 season has been a roller-coaster ride.
Nashville (6-5-8, 26 points) competed in the CONCACAF Champions Cup for the first time. Almost all of the club's top players have missed time due to injuries. It has had standout individual performances. It has suffered a club-record loss. And perhaps dwarfing all of these, it fired coach Gary Smith, who had led NSC since its beginnings as a USL franchise in 2018.
Here's how we graded Nashville's season with four months gone by:
Offense: D+
Through 19 MLS games, Nashville has scored 23 goals. That would put it on pace for 41 — a two-goal improvement from 2023. But like last season, the overall product hasn't been good enough to win NSC games by itself.
With Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge, Jacob Shaffelburg and Tyler Boyd, Nashville has in theory some of the most attacking talent it has ever had. But Mukhtar's scoring output (five goals, nine assists across all competitions) has dipped drastically from his 2022 MVP pace. Surridge has found the net nine times in 18 games in all competitions but hasn't always gotten consistent service.
As in seasons past, Nashville has looked most threatening on the counterattack and on set pieces, while it has struggled to build attacks through its midfield. Its field tilt — a measure of possession in the final third — is just 39.76%, indicating that NSC has spent more time repelling opposing attacks than getting into scoring positions on offense.
Defense: B+
Nashville has given up 23 goals this season. That's a drop-off from last season's 32, which was the fewest in the league. Still, it's hard to complain about that figure, as just three teams in MLS have allowed fewer goals on a per-game basis.
Walker Zimmerman isn't always healthy nowadays, but when he is, he's still one of the very best center backs in MLS. The numbers bear that out. With Zimmerman on the field in league play, Nashville has allowed a minuscule 0.72 goals per 90 minutes.
While Zimmerman has been healthy for the past two months, Nashville's performance in his absence — and that of fullbacks Shaq Moore and Dan Lovitz for stretches — drops the unit's grade. NSC had never given up more than four goals in a game before the 5-0 loss at Los Angeles FC on March 23, which was part of a record stretch of 10 games without a shutout.
Goalkeeping: A-
Joe Willis remains as steady as they come in net. He has six shutouts in 16 MLS starts and leads the league in save percentage (79.8%). Per xvalue, he is seventh out of 55 MLS keepers with 1.90 goals prevented, meaning he has given up nearly two fewer goals than the average goalie would be expected to concede had they faced the shots Willis did.
Elliot Panicco started three games in March and April, but there hasn't been a competition for the No. 1 spot since Panicco was subbed out at halftime after a poor performance against Inter Miami.
Coaching: C
Smith deserves tremendous credit for building Nashville into a consistent playoff contender, and he dealt with plenty of factors beyond his control in 2024. But the first three months of the season continued to expose stale offensive tactics and proved Smith had taken the club as far as he could. Fair or not, it wouldn't make sense for his grade to be anything higher than a D.
Interim coach Rumba Munthali hasn't reinvented the wheel, but he has shown tactical flexibility and most importantly, held the team together after Smith's firing, with Nashville going 3-1-3. Munthali has made the most of the situation he was placed in, and on his own, deserves a grade in the A range.
MORE:How Nashville SC compares to other MLS teams that fired their coaches early in season
Overall: C-
Nashville entered 2024 looking to break through into MLS' elite after four straight playoff berths but two straight first-round exits. Smith talked about it. His players talked about it. And despite a string of positive results under Munthali, Nashville is seventh in the Eastern Conference — exactly where it finished last season.
While a playoff appearance would be a creditable effort after a midseason coaching change, Nashville's first 19 MLS games have been an overall disappointment relative to those expectations. There's too much talent on the roster to be content with seventh place. But parity rules in MLS, and it wouldn't take much in the season's final four months for Nashville to keep rising in the standings.
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
