Okay....the reality is that if you adjust for games in hand, MLS is most pretty bunched up. Which means that a team that hits a slump at the end or gets hot at the end could determine almost any team's participation in the playoffs (RSL and perhaps LAG or Colorado are the only exceptions--they each need to get hot and stay hot if they're going to the playoffs). And even the front-runners (Houston, FCD, NE) aren't that far removed from the rest of the pack (though FCD benefits from a lot of home cooking the rest of the season). Anyway, that is just pre-amble to this: a smart team has to be looking to get it's act together and put on a good run now. B/c if you're still in the middle of the pack come the last month, 1 bad injury or a run of bad form (2 bad games and an unlucky one when you get Abbie O. as a ref or the ball just won't go in the net no matter how many forwards you play) and you could be staying home. So....teams (smart teams anyway) should especially be looking at how to get their act together tactically. Teams have had over half the season to evaluate their talent, figure out what they do well (or don't for that matter). With the exceptions of RSL and LAG, every team (even Colorado and Chicago) have had impressive runs where people were either talking about them for MLS Cup or most-improved. And every team (with the possible exception of NE) has had periods where people were saying "what is wrong with ______". So, what does each team need to do tactically to get it's act together--that is the question to concern ourselves with in this thread. What is off-limits for this thread are: --firing the coach (it's pretty evident that should have happened a long time ago with Clavijo). --cut particular personnel (or go get a DP) b/c if there is anything that soccer proves, it's that tactics and team chemistry and form trump individual talent. --start or bench a particular player (while that might be a valid point--as in Conor Casey needs more minutes, Kirovski needs less--this isn't a thread to argue over personnel and who you like). The focus of this thread is what each team in MLS needs to do more of or do better in a tactical sense in order to play better and be a force in the remaining part of the season. And let me anticipate a few SAI (smart-a**-individuals) who'll say "score more goals and stop more goals": scoring more goals or getting more shutouts is a reflection of playing better. So this thread is about what each team can do, especially tactically, in order to get a run going. I'll start it off with my take on a few teams: 1. NYRB: it's all about midfield productivity and service. The defense isn't good enough if the midfield is conceding possession. The strike force is outstanding but Altidore, Wolyniec and JPA especially are finishers--they need service. As much as Arena loves to play a 442 (or at least 4 in the back), I think he needs to either look at a 352 on a consistent basis or really push the 451. I know there's talk of a 433 and initially it's tempting but RB doesn't have the depth on the frontline to make this work and the midfield isn't getting it done so ultimately the scheme will fail. Reyna isn't going to outwork anyone (you don't want him trying to outwork everyone) but can still lay some sublime balls thru to running forwards. So there need to be more bodies in midfield to carry his water. That's why the Kovalenko car accident is negative for this team--Dema needs to be healthy and in fine form b/c he'll do a better job than anyone else at the kind of support that Reyna needs. Additionally, I suspect (given the form of Van Den Bergh, Schoop and Richards) that Altidore needs to play outside midfield. It's a lousy use of his ability (although he's not bad out there) but he might be the best outside mid NYRB has right now. 2. DC United: the key here is a combination of quick ball movement and wide play. If this happens, Emilio gets service and when he gets service he gets goals. When DCU has lagged this year, it's mostly been b/c of slow transitions into the attack and a tendency to play too centrally. Marc Burch seems to have helped a lot (with his service out of the back). Moving Gros to outside midfield may be a permanent answer as well (b/c his workrate insures Gomez gets support yet there is a wide presence to spread the field with). The NE game is a great example of what happens when DCU plays the ball quickly and uses the width of the field. Anyone else want to talk about other teams?
Nice analysis. However, I think that the chances of LA making the playoffs are higher than one would expect. Remember that they've only played 13 games, whereas all other MLS teams have played a minimum of 17 games. The downside to LA's chances are that most of their remaining games are on the road. In addition, LA is 10th in the league in points per game with 14 pts. in 13 games so far. However, their performance has improved of late. Newcomers Pavon, Klein and Xavier have developed a decent chemistry with their teammates and Alan Gordon is looking to be in decent form. This team is improving at the just the right time and will only get better once Beckham steps into the fold. I wouldn't count this team out quite yet, as they could become dangerous in the very near future. I can easily see them sneak into the playoffs ahead of the 5th place team in the East.
But other than assuming that they've upgraded talent and will therefore start winning, tactically, what do you see LAG as needing to do differently?
You might beg to differ, but I believe that their distribution in midfield is horrible. Their wingers can whip in a decent cross, but only if they've beaten their man...and most of the time when they beat their man, it's one-on one and not on a soccer style pick and roll. You might say, "but they had an improved midfield distribution in the Superliga." Well, not really. Mexican teams will always give you more time on the ball than MLS teams. And Dallas just had a horrible defensive performance in that 6-5 game. Once Beckham steps into the fold, their midfield distribution will improve, but they still need a savvy d-mid to win a championship this year. Does that answer the question???
Here's how I see LA. This is a team built around two stars, so the first order of business is to figure out how to get the most out of them. Since one of the stars has only played 12 minutes this is a difficult task. In some ways, LA is still in it's preseason, which I believe is their fundamental challenge. The defense is actually starting to get it together. The difficulty is that it is so fragile. Our centerbacks are a 34-year old space alien and a 23-year old rookie. They're actually not doing too badly, but their backups, who have less than an MLS season between them, are both injured and we have to play two games a week for the next month and a half. And we are now playing right-back-by-committee with a trio of midfielders. Tactically, on defense, it's mostly about not getting hurt. The midfield is a mess. We've played one holding midfielder with Landon at AM, two holding midfielders with Landon at withdrawn forward, and three holding midfielders with Landon at left mid. We need to figure out who lines up where. And it would help if Cobi and Martino could get healthy. For the forwards, the question is who will be the winner of the competition between Gordon, Pavon and Buddle (who needs to get healthy too). It won't be the nuances of tactics that matter. The Galaxy still have to figure out the big picture. What we need is to get healthy so we can run the same lineup for a couple of games in row. We need to figure out where best to play Donovan and Beckham. And we need luck; lots and lots of luck. The odd thing is, if we do manage to sneak our way into the playoffs, we will be the number eight seed that no one wants to face. In the playoffs everything is more intense. Chances are fewer. Everyone's sphincter tightens up. And the winning moment could just come down to a Donovan breakaway or a Beckham free kick.
I'm pretty sure that the Galaxy won't make the playoffs this season. Yes, they've got a lot of games in hand to make up the gap, but on the other hand, they'll be playing an absolutely brutal schedule, with two and three games a week for most of the rest of the season, while other teams will only be playing one or maybe two.
This is how I see DC United. First of all discussing team tactics can be difficult because there is a lot of variety on rosters, and the tactics will change game to game depending on who is available any given game. Tactics also change and adapt to the opposition. There is no one set way to approach every opponent. And lastly one has to keep in mind factors like playing surface and weather in relation to tactics. But anyways ... it's pretty well known that DC's achilles heel has been lack of service from the wings, poor play at defensive midfield and poor organization in the back. I think the last few games Tommy Soehn has finally figured out his wide players. Benny Olsen has been good wide right, especially with the return of Namoff. Namoff stays back alot, allowing Benny to really push into attack and conserve some energy by not having to track back. On the other side Burch has turned into a blessing. Just what we needed. We finally have service from the left side when he's in the game. Of course he's a bit raw in defense, but he has an ideal partner in Gros on that side. Gros is mister stamina, and he'll have no trouble tracking back to help Burch. And Gros in the midfield is 10 times more effective than Gros in defense, because Gros has a tendency to push into the box and play the short passing game which really plays to the strengths of Moreno, Gomez, Emilio and Fred. Our problems in D mid are easily solved by playing Simms instead of Carroll. And lastly our problems in the back still worry me. The 4 man line of Burch-Boswell-McTavish-Namoff still has issues IMO. Their weakness is anticipating attackers, organizing the offsides line and marking up inside the box. The things they have improved on recently have been ball control. I think this D is finally moving beyond the point where regularly lose balls to pressure. This type of defense is very well suited to the kind of soccer DC plays, where the mantra has usually been "the best defense is a good offense". The idea is that the defenders have a responsibility to keep posession, therefore cutting the amount of chances given to the opponent. And that ties into what I think the key to this team is. DC needs to focus on what they do well ... and that is the short passing game. DC is loaded with technical players that like to keep the ball on the ground to frustrate the other team. Of course I'm not suggesting that Soehn create a one dimensional team, but if the guys on the field have specific strengths, I think those strengths need to be used. Luckily it seems like Soehn is finally realizing this. He's starting to put players back into their natural positions instead of forcing these players into unfamiliar roles. I'm happy to see Dyachenko in attacking midfield, Olsen wide right, Gros wide left, McTavish in center back and Simms at D mid instead of all the strange positions these guys played earlier in the year.
Good thread. Here are the current standings (not including tonights LA/DC game), taking games-in-hand into account. Code: Single table - ranked by points per game Includes games played through 8/5 TEAM GP PTS PTS/GM CHANGE SINCE LAST WK 1. NE 19 33 1.74 +1 (GD: +9) 2. FCD 19 33 1.74 +1 (GD: +1) 3. HOU 20 34 1.70 -2 4. DCU 17 27 1.59 +2 (GD: +7) 5. CHV 17 27 1.59 NC (GD: +5) 6. KC 19 29 1.53 -2 7. NY 18 27 1.50 NC 8. CLB 19 26 1.37 NC 9. CHI 18 20 1.11 NC 10. LA 13 14 1.08 NC 11. TOR 19 20 1.05 NC 12. COL 19 18 0.95 NC 13. RSL 17 12 0.72 NC Columbus actually has a pretty good lead on the rest for that 8th spot. Those same 8 teams have been holding the playoff spots for I think six weeks now. Chicago is really the only team I see making a run at it unless Beckham gets really healthy, really fast, and he and Landon start working some magic.