March 18, 2016
Kevin Kinkead/for PhillyVoice
The Union host the New England Revolution at Talen Energy Stadium Sunday.
If it aint't broke, don't fix it.
That's probably the philosophy to follow when you go on the road and beat a great team for the first time in franchise history.
But last weekend's win was a bit of an aberration, not in the sense that it was undeserved, but it doesn't feel "sustainable" in a tactical sense.
Case in point – the double pivot of Warren Creavalle and Brian Carroll. Creavalle performed admirably when Vince Nogueira went down as a late scratch. Sitting above Carroll, Creavalle was able to push higher up the field and act as a disruptive force to the Crew's deeper-lying midfielders.
The question is whether or not that same pairing can be successful at home, or even against the few MLS teams that stray from the three-man midfield. It was a frenetic performance at times, and does place a burden on your front four to create the bulk of the offense.
1. Is Nogueira good to go?
2. Can Creavalle play the six by himself?
3. Is there a way to fit Roland Alberg, or even Sebastien Le Toux into the formation?
4. Will the weather matter?
Ideally, I think if Nogueira is healthy, it's worth trying Creavalle in the holding midfield role by himself. It gives Carroll a deserved break and gives you a more dynamic look with a ball-moving #8 on the field.
As for the rest of the attack, let's pencil in Chris Pontius at left midfield, Ilsinho at the CAM, and C.J. Sapong up top. Who plays on the right? You could really make a case for starting a number of players in that spot. Leo Fernandes got the nod in both games, but Le Toux has looked good off the bench and we still haven't seen enough of Alberg.
The forecast, go figure, is a wintry mix for Sunday's game. I don't think it plays a huge role in this one, but I could understand starting Carroll and Creavalle again with the strategy of junking up the midfield and trying to keep Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe off their game. New England is a balanced team with home-field turf, so slogging through mushy conditions at Talen Energy Stadium would present a significant change from Gillette Stadium.
Jim Curtin was asked about the performance of Richie Marquez in Saturday's win, and offered up a bit of tactical pragmatism when talking about Kei Kamara's goal.
"I got into (Richie) pretty good in the film with all the guys in the room just because, again, at 2-0, we could have four or five things to prevent the corner kick from happening," Curtin said this week. "But, then it does happen and the message, again - unfortunately it was Richie who was covering Kei in the moment - but, unacceptable for the best header of the ball on the field to get a free header at that time. Yes, part of that was Richie, part of that is somebody else that needs to help him and, in that regard, it was C.J. That should have maybe helped a little bit as Richie got screened. But, as good as Richie played, still the message is, and it’s the life of a center back, that it takes one moment of sleeping and they can punish you, good forwards will."
.@keikamara's 75th @MLS goal. Our #MondayMoment pres. by @GreatClips. RT for a chance to win a free haircut. #CrewSChttps://t.co/rS7MgcJVUk
— Columbus Crew SC (@ColumbusCrewSC) March 14, 2016
Curtin went on to explain that the team was man-marking on the play. Marquez was assigned to Kamara and Carroll and Fabinho were on the near post and far post, respectively.
"We talked (and) I kind of set (Richie) up to ask what happened on the play, and he said, 'I got picked'," Curtin continued. "For me, that’s 'so, what?' Guys get picked. Deal with it, fight through it, that’s Kei Kamara. And the message was can’t give Kei Kamara a free header in the 86th minute. Yes, C.J. could’ve helped him and it could have solved it quicker, but if you look at the tape he jumps free. And that’s unacceptable at that moment. Again, that’s the life of a center back: You play played a great 89 minutes then he had one little lapse, and that’s the crappy part of the position, I guess."
Some teams will use "zonal marking" to cover set pieces, which is exactly what it sounds like. Zone defense leaves any number of players free to attack the ball in flight, instead picking a man and sticking to him.
There are different ways to do it, and there's no right or wrong way. Some coaches leave a free defender in the box to seek the ball. Others put a line of three around the six yard line. The strength of zonal marking is that it's harder to get picked off while following a man, but the weakness of the strategy is that attacking players generate more power and precision while entering the box unimpeded.
Philadelphia's fullbacks were better in week two, and they started to contribute more offensively. There are obvious defensive shortcomings right now, but that should improve as time goes by.
Take a look at how Fabinho (#33) and Keegan Rosenberry (#12) covered their respective flanks last week:
Rosenberry described his performance over the first two games as "good and bad".
"I think overall I'm happy to be out there obviously," said the rookie fullback. "I think it's a vote of confidence from the staff, being able to play in the second game as well. That's encouraging. I think there's always things to work on. I think defensively I've gotten exposed a couple of times. The attacking players are top level. I think that's definitely something I can improve on. That comes with time; I'm still getting used to players and their tendencies. My biggest goal is to continue to stay on the field, so as long as I'm doing that, I think I'm doing the job, to say the least. But there's always stuff to work on, you can always look at film and stuff like that."
