All the small things
To control a match as thoroughly as Philly did on Wednesday, you must do a lot of little things right. Let’s see one more example of spacing and movement on point then look at how playing quickly off restarts, winger defensive positioning, and passing out of the back can be small things that make a big difference.
Spacing and movement. Spacing and movement are key aspects of controlling the shape and pace of a game, but they are greatly enhanced by timing. On the play below, watch the movements of Keegan Rosenberry and Ale Bedoya on the right as the ball moves to their side. Rosenberry drops to create a numerical advantage on the right, and when the fullback doesn’t follow, Bedoya sees that there is now space open further up field and advances into it. Accam then moves across the formation to the right channel to facilitate combination play and keep the fullback honest. But when the central midfielder sticks tight to Accam, a lane opens in the center to Cory Burke in a dangerous zone. Note that if Burke is able to control the ball and turn, Dockal can stride forward and he will have a 2v1 with Fafa Picault through which to attack. The keys here are Rosenberry’s early recognition that he could create difficult decisions for defenders by moving deeper even though the eventual goal was to progress further up the pitch and Accam pinning a fullback while drawing in a central midfielder, occupying two defenders and opening a wonderful lane to the center.
Restart speed. Throughout the season, the Union’s coaching staff have emphasized quick restarts from set pieces and throw-ins. Recall that the breakthrough in Philly’s home win over Chicago Fire came when Keegan Rosenberry sprinted to get to a throw-in and quickly found Dockal so the Czech man could hit Ilsinho before Chicago’s man-to-man defense was prepared. A quick free kick from Haris Medunjanin nearly led to a goal the first time the Union and Columbus met this year as well. On Wednesday night, Medunjanin stepped to a free kick far from goal with his head up. Seeing David Accam rolling off a defender in the box, he played the winger in. Accam’s shot is not too wide of the mark, but even if he holds the ball, this creates a chance for the Ghanaian to take on a defender who risks a penalty if he dives in. In other words, the Union created a very dangerous chance from a deep free kick.
Winger defensive positioning. The Union don’t play with a dedicated destroyer, so they must protect the middle of the pitch using the entire team’s shape. One of the issues the club struggled with early in the year was figuring out what the wingers should prioritize in defense. The answer is the middle, and as the team’s overall defensive structure has improved, so has the wingers’ positioning without the ball.
A great example of strong off-the-ball positioning comes from Fafa Picault, who, in the clip below, denies a direct pass to Sacha Kljestan, forcing Orlando to play wide. This keeps the ball off the feet of one of the opponent’s best defenders and it makes a route to the middle of the pitch more difficult. As you see later in the play, Orlando was desperate to involve Kljestan in the final third because they lacked creativity in their deeper midfield players. Without Yoshi Yotun, the Lions had few ideas going forward.
Passing out of the back. Leave aside the benefits of getting MLS minutes, the philosophy that emphasizes homegrown talent, and the fact that the Union coaches know Mark McKenzie and Auston Trusty so well. The clearest benefits of playing with McTrusty in the back are that a) the U can play a high line and limit the space Haris Medunjanin needs to cover in the center, and b) now you can play out of the back consistently.
Past game reviews have highlighted McKenzie’s passing, but let’s do it one more time. In the clip below, he plays a raking ball that splits lines and finds Cory Burke with a defender held off behind him. The beauty of this pass is in both the number of players it takes out of the play and the way it functions like a long aerial ball but with far less uncertainty. If McKenzie played a long aerial, Burke could challenge for it. If he won it, he’d still need to play it successfully to a second runner — in stride — in order to create a quick attack on an exposed back line. Instead, all Burke needs to do is control the ball and lay it off and the Union can fly at Orlando’s back four.
Auston Trusty’s passing has been less consistent than McKenzie’s this season, but that is partially due to the nature of the passes the left center back attempts. The Union want Trusty to look for longer diagonals to the right because this is where they can quickly create overloads with Bedoya and Rosenberry. That long pass? It ain’t easy, and teams pay a lot for players that can pull it off reliably (a la Laurent Ciman and Matt Besler). Trusty will continue to improve, and one signal that he’s already on the right track is the wonderful touch he showed to put Ray Gaddis behind the defense on Wednesday.
That’s perfect weighting, and it came after Trusty patiently forced the defense to make the first move before he made his decision.
Although the Galaxy will pose a different challenge this weekend, if the Union can play with the composure and belief they showed against Orlando City, they will create enough chances to go toe-to-toe with Zlatan and his merry men.
