The logic of Los Angeles FC is simple: Experience through the center, individual skill on the wings, and a coach that garners respect from everyone running the show. Add in a few Designated Players with uberhigh ceilings and you’ve got about the best alternative to the Atlanta expansion model one could create.
If there is a big difference between how the two big spending clubs approached their inaugural seasons, it is that LAFC looks to have a core that could develop for a longer window than Atlanta. The Five Stripes are almost certain to lose some top-end talent soon, and they expected that. In contrast, winger Diego Rossi and soon-to-arrive box-to-boxer Andre Horta could last 3-4 years before they hit their primes and, accordingly, hit the big time stage in Europe. Carlos Vela, in contrast, is on the tail end of what would be his European prime but looks ready to wipe MLS defenders off his boots for the next 4-5 seasons.
Who are they?
LAFC wants to play an open game. They don’t know how to bunker, and they have no interest in letting you fool around with the ball. The more the ball moves, the more Bob Bradley’s team feel they can use their aggressive pressure and individual talent to rip away control of the match. This is a team, after all, that has won three of the seven matches in which they give up the first goal. So they don’t mind giving one up since they think you can’t possess well enough to keep them from battering down your door.
And that approach fits quite well with the personnel at Bradley’s disposal. In back, rising US star Walker Zimmerman has slowly built a repertoire of long passes through the center and improved his defensive positioning so he can play a more aggressive posture on strikers that drop into midfield. Laurent Ciman, meanwhile, continues to be one of the best diagonal passers in MLS but struggles mightily to hold a high back line. The aging Belgian is quite susceptible to early dropping when opponents transition, and the Union will need to find ways to take advantage of this by using the runs of their striker to force Ciman to drop early.
Rookie Joao Moutinho and vet Steven Beitashour often man the fullback roles, and while both are capable of getting forward, they have the difficult job of figuring out how to balance defensive solidity and aggression. When LA have the ball, they want to move forward quickly and find their tricky wingers early. This often means the fullbacks don’t push forward and overlap, but instead take up narrow positions a few yards ahead of the centerbacks, like lions monitoring the gazelles they’ll soon chase, but not yet ready to start the hunt. The gazelles are the opposition midfield and wingers. Since the LA wings stay so high, opponents are often forced to mark them with fullbacks, leaving the wingers — in the Union’s case, likely some combo of Fafa Picault, Marcus Epps, and Ilsinho — to move inside to cut off passing lanes. This makes those wingers easier for the narrow fullbacks to pick up in transition, and you will often see Moutinho and Beitashour sprinting forward after the ball is lost to prevent counterattacks from starting.
In midfield, LA is likely to use the same trio that brushed aside Columbus Crew last weekend. Benny Feilhaber and Lee Nguyen, ye olde playmakers of yore, form an advanced double pivot and both look to form triangles with the wingers and striker and draw defenders central to create space on the wings. Both will aggressively help press the defensive line when LA loses the ball, though their pressure can be more energetic than thoughtful at times.
Behind them, young holding midfielder Eduard Atuesta is a model of youthful aggression in transition, quickly stepping to anybody that slips behind the initial wave of pressure put on by the five in front of him. Atuesta’s athleticism means he usually makes these plays, but he can also leave his defense stranded if the Union can combine quickly during transitions through midfield. The battle between Borek Dockal and Atuesta will likely be one of the defining matchups of this game.
Up front, LA uses their wings — with Carlos Vela gone, a mix of Nguyen, Latif Blessing, and Rossi — to attack on the dribble, with the striker staying central and attacking midfielders either pulling players away from space or pushing into the half-spaces near the box to create combinations.
A huge key for LAFC’s success is beating the first man on the wing to create a waterfall effect that draws more help defense and opens up the middle. With Nguyen, Feilhaber, and new striker Adama Diomande central, LA is betting that if they get even numbers in that area they will have a qualitative advantage and create some good looks.
Beating the first man also means the opponent is less likely to be organized and spaced well enough to effectively counterattack, and LAFC’s counterpress is designed to force long clearances that will allow Ciman time to collect the ball and switch fields in a hurry.
Breaking them down
Nobody has beaten LAFC at home, and the numbers behind their 3-0-3 record are pretty intriguing. The Union and LA both average exactly 18.8 shots per game at home this season, but since this is only a home game for one team, Philly will need to try and reach the over on their away shots per game which is currently in the bottom five in the league at just under 10.
The wild part of LA’s home form is that their Expected Goals number — the amount of goals you’d expect them to score given the types of shots they take — is around two per game, they only score 1.33 goals per game at home. A similar pattern emerges for their goals against: Expected Goals Against is at 1.12 but actual goals against is only 0.67 per game. So the numbers suggest LAFC is playing open games at home, but the ball just isn’t finding the net that often.
The Union have two clear attacking tactics that can be used to get at Bradley’s team. First, they can play around the pressure by adding an extra man to the first line of buildup play to draw LA out. When Los Angeles presses high, their defense doesn’t love to keep a line as far up the field as the Union do, so the defensive shape gets stretched out and gaps open up.
Atuesta’s speed helps, but the result is a lot of long defensive sprints for the fullbacks, and if Philly can play the first pass into midfield, the LA wingers will tend to get narrow and combinations with the Union fullbacks can quickly lead to chances for Keegan Rosenberry to find Dockal in between the LA lines.
Second, Philly can draw LA forward then play and challenge for longer passes up the pitch while looking to crowd the areas they expect to fight for second balls. This is an approach that worked well for San Jose against LAFC, though the Quakes’ holding midfielders are so positionally undisciplined that they never looked capable of slowing down Los Angeles’ attack enough to hold a lead.
Overall, the big individual battle will be between Dockal and Atuesta, while the more strategic showdown will be LA’s pressing of the Union defensive line against Philly’s desire to retain the ball. When Bradley’s men cause a turnover in the attacking half, they quickly become an swift, agile monster, and Philly will struggle to contain them.
However, if the Union can patiently move the ball around that pressure, they will find acres of space in front of the LA back four, and then it’s all about finishing.
