The result was expected: Minnesota United FC breezed through a routine 2-0 victory over the Jacksonville Armada. Despite the routine nature of the victory, though, the match provided us an opportunity to see Stefano Pinho and Bernardo Añor get significant minutes having previously played bit roles because of injuries.
Huddleball
Average positions
Fellow Northern Pitch writer, Alex Schieferdecker, has been conducting an OPTA-fueled crusade against the scourge of tactical disorder amongst the Floridian teams. Jacksonville, on Saturday, only added fuel to the fire.
What strikes me as most interesting in the average positions chart is the effect of the Loons midfield trio. Carl Craig decided to invert the triangle of his central midfield, replacing holding midfielder Juliano with Añor, who played further up the pitch (Carl describes the swap as using an “eight” rather than a “six”). To compensate, Jacksonville collapsed inward and tried to defend their box.
Jacksonville touch map
Average position charts are not really the most reliable metric to judge a team. This particular chart comes into a different context when we compare it to the Jacksonville touch map. What this tells us is that in possession, the Armada pushed out to the wings, only to tuck in narrowly to deal with the Minnesota midfield.
It worked, kind of
MNUFC passing
The Loons completed 69.9% of their passes and a paltry 58.8% of passes in the opposition’s half (compare this to 80% and 67% on Ottawa’s lumpy trampoline last week). And so, in one sense, you could say that Jacksonville’s game plan worked by disrupting Minnesota’s attempts to dictate the match.
And they would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids named Justin Davis and Kevin Venegas. Minnesota boasts the two best fullbacks in the NASL. And by abandoning the flanks, the Armada allowed Venegas in particular to roam through the space like David Carradine. Sure enough, Viva Kung-Fu-ed the ball into the back of the net after repeatedly tying defenders in knots.
This Cruz is not the Zodiac Killer
Danny Cruz’s passing
An additional side effect of Jacksonvile’s narrow shape was that Danny Cruz was able to be far more involved in the attack. In Ottawa, he took 29 touches and went 12/18 in passing. Over the weekend, he had 44 touches and went 22/31 in passing. Much of the work Danny does is off the ball and pressing, but it’s an encouraging sign to see him aid the attack.
Speaking of Pressure
The unrelenting high press from the Loons led to Kevin Venegas’ goal and it is very much by design. Carl Craig is an avid devotee of the high press and he wanted to retool his line-up for this specific reason.
Recoveries/Interceptions against Ottawa (top) and Jacksonville (bottom)
The team did not do a poor job of the high press in Ottawa, but just look at that chart on the bottom. There is a veritable Maginot Line (except, um, this one held up) in the Loons’ half. And higher up the pitch the team was able to force turnovers.
New Kids
Stefano Pinho’s passing
Pinho got his first start of the season and his first goal. The rest of his performance was satisfactory, but not yet an improvement over Laing. Pinho’s charts looked mostly like Laing’s, except for the byline crosses that Laing tries to put in. It’s still early days, but fans can probably be very encouraged by the fact that the team’s offense is not clicking and yet they have scored almost two goals per match.
Bernardo Añor’s passing
Bernie was never meant to be a like-for-like replacement for Juliano. The latter plays as the deep-lying play-maker, launching diagonal balls and distributing throughout the midfield. Añor is there to connect the midfield and offense more as well as provide another turn of the high-press screw.
His pass chart shows him with perhaps a bit too much license in this role. Ben Speas didn’t seem to benefit much from having a co-pilot higher up the pitch. But then again, if we return to the original observation, they did succeed in forcing the Armada to collapse from the wings. I’ll be very curious to see this game-plan in action against a better team or on the road. I wonder if it will lead to more incisive passing into the box.
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