Last Saturday’s 4-0 drubbing at home to Miami FC may be the lowest point of the Minnesota United FC season. With injuries mounting and home field advantage having withered away, it’s time we asked, “What the hell is happening with the Loons?”
Before we dig into the mounting pile of #PANIC, everyone should take a deep breath. There are 15 matches left in the season and Minnesota are still in the top four of the combined standings. Plenty of time remains for the ship to be righted. But if corrective action is needed, what needs to happen?
Personnel
Let’s begin with some of the obvious problems with the club. The Loons’ physiotherapy room has longer lines than a Hamilton matinee. Bernardo Añor and Greg Jordan have season-ending injuries; Ben Speas, Ibson, and Juliano Vicentini have seen sporadic minutes due to injuries; Kevin Venegas remains injured; Stefano Pinho may now miss significant time (no word yet on extent of his injuries, but it looked bad); and Damion Lowe left the Miami match injured as well. Oh and Jeb(!) Brovsky posted on Twitter today that he’s sick with bronchitis.
UPDATE: Monday afternoon, announced that Pinho’s injury was minor, so it looks like he will not need to visit the Guelph physiotherapy services as urgently and will not miss too much time on the field).
Depending on the extent of Lowe’s injury, Minnesota may currently have one full back and two center backs (with Aaron Pitchkolan available as a fill-in third). Without Lowe filling in for Venegas, either Danny Cruz or Jeb Brovsky would likely be pulled out of position to play right back. Both players have been two of the most consistent on the team in their midfield roles.
This is where sporting director Manny Lagos needs to take some blame. The decision to cut Brian Kallman before the season now looks an increasingly myopic decision. Only one new player (Lowe) came in to shore up the already thin backline. Without Pinho, the Loons will also be left with one true striker, Christian Ramirez.
The Loons also have four goalkeepers, none of whom apparently have the confidence of the defenders or head coach Carl Craig. Kristian Nicht’s signing remains a mystery if he can’t be trusted to deputize Sammy Ndjock, and Steward Ceus is a significant step down from Ndjock (even with Ndjock’s propensity for howlers). Here’s an idea: Zac McMath is unhappy on the bench in Colorado and Manny Lagos would be crazy if he didn’t have a call in to the Rapids to ask about a loan.
Tactical Questions
Carl Craig will also need to be answering some important questions after the Miami blowout. Most notably, Ibson was mistakenly employed as the number 10. As we had seen previously in the season, when tasked with the advanced playmaker role, Ibson continues to drop deep to connect play in the midfield. While Ibson’s talent on the ball is undeniable, this creates a crowded center of the pitch and strands Christian Ramirez on a deserted island.
Ibson’s invasion of the center of the pitch exacerbated the problem of Jack Blake’s lack of positional discipline. When you look at the three passing charts for the central midfielders, only Jeb Brovsky sticks to his position on the left side of the midfield.
Craig’s 4-2-3-1 formation, like Lagos’ before him, relies heavily upon the attacking swagger of the rampaging full backs. However, Kevin Venegas’ injury forced a young center back into the right slot and Lowe often stayed at home. Throughout much of the season, Justin Davis has looked a shadow of his Best XI 2015 self. He isn’t having an effect on the match as much as he used to, and this is certainly exacerbated by the lack of consistency in the left wing role ahead of him, but that’s not a new thing for Minnesota.
The Players
All four of Miami’s goals were infuriating for their simplicity. The first goal took a heavy deflection, but the deflection came at the top of the box and slowed the shot down. Ceus had plenty of time to react, but didn’t play the bounce properly, and the ball went over his hands.
On the second goal, Tiago Calvano gets caught between two players in space, Jeb doesn’t track his runner, and Ceus commits far too early. This goal should rightly be played in the Loons video room accompanied by Carl Craig giving these players the full Downfall-treatment.
The third goal is just a lazier version of the second. In this goal, the Loons’ press crumbles completely and then Lowe and Tiago do not expect the pass to burst through the crowd of players, and are caught flat-footed while Poku takes advantage. Yet again, Ceus commits too early and he gets easily rounded.
Finally, Brent Kallman gets nutmegged and Ceus lets in a goal at his near post. The level of defeat in the players’ body language is telling. This was a deathblow.
So… what the hell?
The Miami defeat was a conflagration of tactical errors and players on the pitch making lazy mistakes. Much of this, thankfully, can be fixed. Someone can give the defense some electro-therapy (or Carl can break out the old hairdryer); Sammy can return to minding the net; players will slowly become healed up; Lance Laing can return from his exile of complete apathy; Carl can shift his plan around better and get his players on the same page; and the rest of the players can tuck their heads down, move on, and redouble their efforts.
The players themselves can respond in two different ways. At times, they’ve turned their frustration inward and you could see some of that on the pitch. The way the Loons can possess the ball and play brilliant soccer can give them an air of superiority that we have seen time and time again deflated by an effective counter-attack. But against Miami, even the crisp passing and sharp running broke down on attack. In two games at home this past week, Minnesota’s lone goal was scored by the opposition. There’s work to be done all over the field. It’s time for Minnesota to take their opponents seriously , to take themselves seriously, and to be ready to grind out results.
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