Indy Eleven is hosting a Murder Mystery on Saturday night before its rivalry clash with Louisville City FC at Michael A. Carroll Stadium.

It’s likely to be far more fun than the postmortem for the club’s current campaign.

As they welcome their Louisville-Indianapolis Proximity Association Football Contest foe for the first meeting between the sides this season, the Boys in Blue are battling for their postseason lives, sitting in the No. 8 seed with 10 games to play in the season.

So, what’s been missing for a team that was a top-four side in the Eastern Conference and a Semifinalist in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup just 12 months ago?

• MIDDLE OF THE PACK: According to Opta’s underlying numbers, Indy should be in better shape. The side narrowly has a positive Expected Goal Differential (+0.68xGD) and ranks just above average in the league when it comes to both Expected Goals (25.87xG) and Expected Goals Against (25.19xGA).

• MIND THE GAP: When looked at from that perspective, Indy’s attacking numbers are flying high. The Boys in Blue rank sixth in the league with 32 goals in 20 games, well above their expected mark. The problem is their defensive numbers have an even greater divide, conceding 37 goals for a -11.81GA/xGA differential. At present, that’s the widest differential in the league, with only Las Vegas Lights FC (-10.7GA/xGA) in the same stratosphere.

• FAILING TO CLOSE: Indy defensive woes have mainly manifested themselves after the halftime break. The Boys in Blue have allowed 23 goals in second halves in the regular season, and 10 goals from the 76th minute on, both league-highs. As a result, Indy has also dropped 17 points from winning positions this season, also a league-high.

That inability to close out games proved costly in the club’s recent USL Jägermeister Cup Quarterfinal against Greenville Triumph SC. Having taken the lead, Indy conceded a 90th-minute equalizer to Triumph – via an own goal – to give their visitors a lifeline they used in the ensuing penalty shootout to advance.

For Indy Head Coach Sean McAuley, the night wasn’t a pretty one.

“I thought the reaction to playing probably the worst we’ve ever played since I’ve been here in the first half was quite positive in the second half, and we got after them a little bit more, but overall, I’m very disappointed,” said McAuley. “If you don’t compete and you don’t tackle anybody, you’ve got no chance of winning a football match.”

There is no shortage of experience on Indy’s roster. This season, it has been one of the veteran-heavy squads in the USL Championship, with 7,478 minutes – or 37.9 percent of its squad minutes – going to players aged at least 30 years old.

As John Morrissey points out in this excellent breakdown on USLTactics.com, that’s a potential cause for the problems Indy has had leaking goals. Six of the league-high 31 goals Indy has conceded from open play have derived from fast breaks by their opponents, reflecting the challenges in transition defense Morrissey notes. 

With an arduous remaining schedule, starting with the LIPAFC on Saturday, Indy must find solutions to its problems if it’s to salvage this season.

If they can’t, it won’t be a mystery why they’re home in November.