St. Louis CITY SC aims to be a principled team, listen to any Bradley Carnell press conference and you’ll hear him hammer home those principles. One of those principles, intensity, was the subject of practice throughout the week after last weekend’s loss to Portland.
Losing at home to Portland clearly hurt; it hurt to lose at home, and it hurt to lose in such an uncharacteristic matter.
“The players have taken a personal step this week“, Carnell mentioned in this week’s pre-match press conference, “We wanted to correct a few things this week, nothing having to do with tactics.”
The intensity was a definite talking point in the immediate aftermath last weekend when Portland was able to march back down the pitch after CITY had worked so hard for the equalizer… it wasn’t anywhere close to how this team sees their identity.
Moving The Play
St. Louis’ early success came from having a high line of engagement, routinely winning the ball in the opponent’s third made for a quick and deadly attack.
However, last weekend saw them lose the midfield battle, and Klauss’ absence, left Gioacchini as the lead attacker starting his runs from deeper in the midfield.
John Nelson specifically mentioned St. Louis’ “forward defending” in his comments this week, saying, “What we saw on tape, we just gave them too much space. We weren’t good enough with our forward defending, gave them too much space going forward, and one of our strengths has been that forward defending as we like to call it.”
That forward defending forced opposing defenders to make quick decisions, resulting in crucial turnovers. The last two matches in MLS play – a draw in Colorado, and a loss to Portland – only saw CITY averaging five tackles through the middle and attacking thirds.
Advancing that line of engagement, and “forward defending” has to be improved upon if they are to leave Frisco with three points.
Dallas won’t be an easy team to force your style of play upon, but a successful outing will go a long way toward quieting the “this team has been figured out” narrative.
Dallas is coming into this match in the midst of a purple patch of their own, also earning four points from their last three matches.
Those results, a 0-0 draw in Minnesota, and a 3-1 loss in New York – offer St. Louis a good look at how to stifle Dallas’ attacking trio of Jesus Ferreira, Paul Arriola, and Jader Obrian.
That front three has been quiet recently but Ferreira’s five goals this season still make him one of the league’s most dangerous attackers.
Returning Stars
It may not be this weekend but Bradley Carnell mentioned today that Rasmus Alm and João Klauss are day-to-day at this point. Njabulo Blom is doubtful for Dallas but close to returning, and Center Back Joakim Nilsson is “very close” to returning to training.
The success of the CITY backline in Nilsson’s absence has been incredible, and his return potentially frees up the possibility of a trade for help up the pitch.
Could Lucas Bartlett potentially be on the move? It wouldn’t be the worst idea.
As the Summer Transfer Window approaches, I expect quite a few moves to be mentioned in the rumor mill.
It’s important that the squad finds its way this weekend, but reinforcements are coming, and seeing Chicago twice in the next week will surely help amp up the intensity.
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