St. Louis CITY SC players did not mince words after their loss in Seattle and for the second straight week, they’re facing an uphill battle as they prepare for their next opponent. Coming away from Seattle with a result was always going to be a challenge.
The Sounders are clearly on a collision course for LAFC atop the Western Conference and have made Lumen Field a fortress this season, drawing results from their first four home matches. So, when Bradley Carnell’s men started the match in a new 5-3-2 formation, it was understood that this was in response to how dangerous Seattle’s attack has been this season.
“They’re gonna punish you, they’re quick, they’re fast, and if you make mistakes they are going to punish you. They’re real good” John Nelson would say after the match and it’s that danger that CITY tried to game plan against.
Formational Flexibility
The 5-3-2 was the third formation Carnell has used this season and it worked well enough through sixty minutes because John Nelson and Jake Nerwinski have been so solid as fullbacks this season. Carnell would swing them further up the field as wingbacks for the first time this season, allowing a back three of Tim Parker, Lucas Bartlett, and Kyle Hiebert to better stifle the Sounders attack down the middle.
It somewhat worked too, with Jordan Morris failing to find the back of the net after scoring five goals in the previous two matches. However, it was clear that the initial defensive strength brought on by the formation sacrificed some of CITY’s explosiveness bounding forward.
After an initial flurry that found Klauss with a shot in the box against Stephen Frei, St. Louis would only generate 0.36 expected goals from their attempts at goal.
A big problem comes from attacking the wide areas, where Jared Stroud leads the club in generating g+, he does not have a place in the 5-3-2 formation, and neither Nelson nor Nerwinski was particularly goal dangerous throughout the match.
Coupled with the general lack of pressing intensity, it became unclear as to where the attack would come from. The press was such an important piece of their early attacking output, allowing CITY to start their attack further up the pitch against an opponent that would suddenly find themselves out of position.
Straying from those principles throughout the match made it possible for Seattle to find an opening. Then, Joshua Atencio scores a screamer from the midfield and it throws a wrench in the game plan.
“The last 25-30 minutes we strayed away from our principles, there were some good things to look at and some poor things to look at, but we have to get better and move on. It was a decent performance through 60 minutes, and I leave with 2 different emotions here, I learned that we can be adaptable when the game plan is derailed, I leave this game with mixed emotions.” – Bradley Carnell would say after the match.
“Once they scored, we kind of put our heads down a bit” – John Nelson reiterated Carnell’s points during his availability. “This is a team that is versatile, we can adapt quick, I thought we were on them a bit – especially – in the first half, but their goal definitely changes things”
It only cascaded from there. The second goal comes from Roman Bürki making an uncharacteristic mistake on the ball minutes after Atencio’s breakthrough.
I went with a risky save and it didn’t work out this time, and you just can’t go down 2-0 in Seattle”, Bürki would state after the match, continuing to remark, “We used a system that we hadn’t used before, people were thinking too much instead of pressing. We need to work on that again, to press all out and put the opponents under pressure. We are professionals, I don’t want to hear that we’re a team that goes out and loses to “good” teams, we need to step up, we need to bring the energy back, be a little more humble, need to look at what we can better every day in training”
The MLS season is long and it’s tempting to overreact to straight losses, especially after such a hot start to life in the league. The players know what they’re in for though, and next week against the league-leading FC Cincinnati won’t be any easier.
Carnell and co have some work to do this week if they are to right the ship in their return to CITYPARK.
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