RSL VS ATL April 22nd 7:30 MT

With Cassar I had this down as a definite loss.

Now with Pete I'm not so sure. Wouldn't be all that surprised if they lose but I'm genuinely interested in what's going to occur on Saturday.

Kool-aid.

 

What's rather interesting about this game is that our records are almost identical. Atlanta has one more draw than we do. We have one more loss than they do. Literally one point separates us. You wouldn't think that from the narrative surrounding each team, but it's true.

Having said that, I was looking through whoscored.com to see if anything interesting could be pulled from each team, statistically, to give us an idea of what we'll see. Here is the RSL page and here is the ATL page. Some things quickly jump out.

• Atlanta has eight players with an average score over 7.0 while RSL only has five. Of the eight for ATL, six are regular starters, one is injured (Martinez), and one logged his first minutes against Montreal last week. For RSL, three of the five are consistent starters (Rusnak, Lennon, and Luke), one is our backup GK, and our top player in the rankings, after just two performances, is Acosta.
• RSL has strengths of (a) creating chances and (b) defending set pieces.
• ATL has strengths of (a) finishing scoring chances, (b) attacking down the wings, (c) creating chances using through balls, (d) counter attacks, and (e) stealing the ball from the opposition.
• RSL has weaknesses of (a) keeping possession of the ball, (b) finishing scoring chances, (c) aerial duels, (d) avoiding individual errors.
• ATL has weaknesses of (a) avoiding offside, (b) avoiding fouling in dangerous areas, (c) defending against long shots, (d) protecting the lead, (e) defending set pieces, and (f) stopping opponents from creating chances
• RSL's style of play is summed up as playing wide (especially to the right), with lots of crosses and a desire to keep the ball in the opposition's half via long ball or pressure.
• ATL's style of play is summed up as looking for short passes to create through balls from the wings. They are good on both wings and look for long shots in a possession oriented style.

This, to me, looks like it should be one hell of a chess match. Each team has an idea of style that both compliments and completely contradicts the other sides. I'm not overly confident with our chances. Too much of what ATL is good at is exactly what we're bad at handling. The part that especially concerns me is our inability to handle aerial balls well. Schuler is decent enough in the air, but Kenwyne Jones made an EPL career out of being a damn good target forward (huh, wonder what that is...)

I predict an open game that finishes 2-3 for one team. I'm leaning towards ATL right now

 

correction on my post: We have the exact same amount of points at ATL, we've just played (and lost) one more game than they have

 

RSL's style of "lots of crosses" seriously needs to adjust. Crosses with these players would be fine if 1) we were any good at sending in crosses to begin with, 2) we did them as part of a more balanced attack strategy. As it seems the only way we try to get the ball into the box, we aren't at dangerous as we should be.

It also highlights our unwillingness to use the center midfield. Is this due to feeling our midfield is weak? Is it just Cassar tactics that hasn't been cleaned out yet? I'd really like to see Rusnak and Beckerman get more involved putting in through balls from the middle up to Movsisyan or a late arriving Mullholland once in a while. Or even some angled balls to our wingers who cut in between the fullback and center back setting up shots or creating more dangerous short crosses.

 

Against the cRapids we bypassed the midfield just as much, if not more, than we did ever under Cassar. Petke came out and said the gameplan was completely wrong and has long said he doesn't want to use Yura as a target 9.

So... I dunno, man. I said before, we won't really get an idea of what Petke wants to do until the Manchester United game, at best. Even then, he's dealing with pieces that have played a previous "system" for so long that getting it out of them (like in a preseason... jesus we ********ed that up) will take time. It's frustrating but time has to be given.

Still, I want to see something indicating that change is happening in our tactics. Last week, despite the win, felt like it undid everything the Vancouver game offered. It's gonna be a mixed bag, but god show me progress or something.

 

It's hard to judge anything Petke has done so far, the Vancouver game was just a ridiculous weather mess (even with the first half, it was a cold heavy rain coming down) and the cRapids play the most anti-soccer you will ever see out of a team (how do you even prepare for something like that?). Atlanta will be a true test, they play an open game, they won't just park the bus and do nothing by try and disrupt flow of the game, plus the weather is supposed to be great (and I'm going down to southern Utah and will miss the game) so there won't be those excuses. It's been 3 weeks now so we should see a movement away from Cassar-ball start to happen over the next few weeks.

 

The first half of the Vancouver game, even with the rain, was better soccer from us though. That's how bad we've been at soccer this year and last.

The cRapids game was a perfect opportunity to show that we actually do value the midfield. What did we do? We skipped the midfield. More specifically, the center of the pitch. Yes, I agree, the cRapids setup with anti-football and that can make it hard to play. But, we still saw 25 clearances, we lost possession 24 times, and committed 15 fouls. There was a positive of more touches and passes than we typically see, 439 short passes compared to 70 long feels like a good ratio, too. However, we still tried 21 crosses.

This is a big game for Petke. Each game, honestly is, but this one is the third one in charge and there should be something there that is his.

 

If only we had some dribblers. Best way to break a bunker is having a player or two that can consistently beat their man and cause other players to have to shift over to cover, which leaves space to exploit.

This game looks like it can go either way, and will likely come down to who executes their strengths better. If there was ever a time for 'one chance' Yura to come through, it would be this game. I have a feeling we might not get many quality chances, so we'll need to make each one count.

 

I wouldn't get too carried away with putting an end to the crosses. Most of those are from Lennon and has been our only consistent method of getting the ball into the box. Now, once the ball gets into the box is another story. But at the moment, the opposition has to respect Lennon's ability to cross the ball. Because of that respect he has been pulling defenders out to him, opening up a bit of space for our other attackers in front of the goal.

 

You still have to be smart about it though. Lennon has been fine crossing, but players like Wingert and Beltran are rarely accurate with their crosses, which usually leads to a loss of possession. The bigger crosses we need to almost entirely cut out are the ones from the CB's when they try and cross it downfield to one of the wingers.

 

Any word on Plata? In the Petke doghouse, injured, or all just rumor and innuendo?

 

We are on the same page.

 

Whats the innuendo?

 

One of ATL's weaknesses is that they give up a lot of chances. So Mr One Chance might have more than one, but I still think you make a valid point. RSL has a strength of creating chances but is god awful at putting them away. Something has to give here

 

Weather doesn't look like it could be much better for this one. Projections have us in the low 60's at kick and dipping into the high 50's through the game. That's soccer weather, right there. No bullshit rain and snow storm this time around.

My guess on our XI:
Yura
Bofo - Albert - Lennon
KB - Luke
Phillips - Schu - Wing - Acosta
Nicky

 

I was thinking of the "Plata didn't travel with the team to Colorado....I wonder why?" speculation.

There was also some reference to Plata rumors flying around.

 

Balboa on the Rapids broadcast said as much.

 

Heading up from Baja to watch this one, really hope we get all 3 points. Also interested in what's up with Plata, and who Andy is tweeting about.

 

Never saw that followed up by any print sources, though. Unless I overlooked it...

I was looking for it, just so I could use the word "Platatude" in a post.

In related news: Yes, my life is pathetic.

 

Perhaps Plata is in a better mood this week after another week of Petke-cillin treatment?

855530380975259648 is not a valid tweet id

 

Caption: Plata after being informed by teammates that he's now the only major malcontent left on the RSL roster AND being told he needs to show he has learned the error of his ways signals that he is now solidly on board the Petkov train.

 

Rusnak: Where's your other hand?

Joao: Between two pillows!

 

We seem to get teams when they're not playing how they normally do. I'd love to get multiple chances, but I get the feeling we won't. It might just be that our defense is bad, so if we're constantly defending, it means less chances going forward. I really hope I'm wrong.

As far as the weather goes, it's nice to have something normal, but I absolutely loved finally attending a snow game. I'm not sure I'd want to have one every year, but I could live with it once every few seasons.

 

I've got 2 tickets available for this game if anyone wants them. I'm borrowing Progressive's Name Your Own Price Tool for the occasion.