Diego Alonso and Inter Miami outplayed Ben Olsen and D.C. United, but the latter’s second half tactical changes made the difference in putting D.C. in a position to win three points.
MLS expansion side, Inter Miami CF, caught D.C. United off guard on Saturday afternoon, and as a result played the superior soccer, and even posed a threat after receiving a red card and playing with 10 men.
D.C. for the second time lined up in a 4-3-3. The defense in this formation spreads wide on the ball, with the fullbacks pushing up the field and leaving the center backs isolated in the back.
The teamsheet had D.C. United in a 4-2-3-1, but in reality, the listed attacking center midfielder, Julian Gressel, actually lined up on the right side of the three-man midfield, with Felipe on the left and Junior Moreno in the middle. Gressel often drifted into the half space on the right side while Felipe and Moreno stayed centrally.
Yamil Asad positioned himself wide on the left like a natural winger while designated player Edison Flores moved inside to the halfspace in an attempt to link up with the forward, Ola Kamara and later Erik Sorga.
Miami played a 4-2-3-1 in it’s first MLS match against LAFC, and in this match played a completely different system in a 3-4-3.
“We thought it [preparing for Miami]was going to be easy, but they showed up and played a completely different formation so then it was hard,” D.C. coach Ben Olsen said. “”We prepped for a four back, they came in with a three and it caused us trouble in that area. ”
Miami’s press actually caused this shape to look more like a 3-2-4-1, with a box in midfield. When pushing up the field, this left a 3v3 for the Miami defense and United front three, but D.C. struggled to break the press and hold up possession when Miami was pushed up the field.
When in possession in deeper positions, Miami didn’t rely on passing out and getting pressed, but hit long balls for Robbie Robinson to fight for. The front three did an exceptional job of staying in the same area, which put them in a better position to win second balls. Even if Inter didn’t regain the ball, it was now in the United defensive third, and the chance to counter press was on.
“It was more us not being able to keep the ball as much as we’d like,” D.C. midfielder Julian Gressel said of his team’s lack of possession in the attack. “Every time they got the ball they got numbers forward and hit it long and had numbers around for the second ball and it pinned us in in that way.”
When Miami won the ball high up the pitch, the positioning of the front three became vital.
Because D.C. spread the defensive players – the fullbacks pushed onto the touchline – Miami could initiate a three vs. two.
Robbie Robinson positioned himself straight up the middle, splitting the two center backs, with Rodolfo Pizarro in the half space on the left, between center back Frederic Brillant and right back Russell Canouse, and Lewis Morgan in the other half space between Steven Birnbaum and Joseph Mora.
Miami did a fantastic job of running across defenders and making the most of these 3 vs. 2 situations, including the build up to the first goal.
D.C. United’s penchant to spread the field when in possession meant that when a turnover occurred, there was a massive gap between the midfield and defense. The midfield three didn’t include the usual pivot, as seen with Eduard Atuesta for LAFC, or most teams that play a three-man midfield.
The result was a one dimensional midfield, and a lot of freedom for Pizarro and Morgan to run at the exposed defense.
The flat, three-man midfield not only isolated the defense, but also the forwards. There wasn’t an impetus for the midfielders to bombard froward and as a result, Kamara and Sorga were isolated against the Miami defense.
Flores was the one player who did tuck inside on that front line and try to get close to Kamara, but it seemed that Miami had left-center back, Nicolas Figal, was tasked to follow Flores and stay touch-tight to the winger. Flores was often unable to get any forward momentum as Figal was always at his back.
It wasn’t uncommon to see Figal higher up the pitch than the rest of the back three. Other than his duty on Flores, when the two midfielders were pushed into a corner to press, Figal stepped up to act as a defensive midfielder. Between his aggression to win the ball and confidence with it at his feet, he has the traits to act as that midfielder even if it isn’t his strongest role.
With Kamara isolated in the middle and midfielders not getting forward enough, the attacking play came almost exclusively from the wing, often the right with Gressel drifting wide.
Right back, Russell Canouse was often the man to overlap and get around the Miami defense. Figal stepped up hard on Flores, and even in the attacking third would follow Flores up the field, and at times when Miami pushed to press in the corner, stepped up to play as a defensive midfielder. Along with left wing-back Ben Sweat often pushing up to press, there was space for Canouse or Gressel to get down the wing and provide service when the two left-sided defenders moved up field.
Unfortunately for D.C. it was more often Canouse who was crossing the ball. The natural center midfielder is more of use as a target than a provider, and already has one goal this year from a corner kick.
Miami did a good job to force D.C., even in counter attacking situations, to play wide. The Miami defense stayed so compact at times, that the five-man defense was playing within the width of the six yard box.
The first half had D.C. stifled, and Inter Miami, despite just 34 percent of the possession, was the stronger team.
D.C. coach Ben Olsen noticed his team’s poor play in the first half, and make a shape change in the second half that helped propel United to its first victory.
“At half time we sorted some things out and I think we had a better spell,” Olsen said.
The big change was actually moving to a 4-2-3-1. Gressel tucked into midfield from the half space. When he was drifting wide, he didn’t seem to be on the same page as Canouse and Flores, and led to a confusion of who should be where to create passing angles.
“We needed to ask some questions of the back line in terms of playing into our forward’s feet,” United midfielder Julian Gressel said. “Then, as soon as he releases the ball, turn and go onto goal”
The problem wasn’t just playing into the forward, but actually getting support to the forward, which is why moving a midfielder to a more attacking position fixed some of the attacking problems.
Felipe was the one who usually pushed forward into attacking midfield, and there was an immediate impact as he suddenly challenged the Miami midfield. It allowed D.C. to have support around the outlet in substitute Sorga, which led to D.C. beating the press on more occasions.
It should be said, D.C. United didn’t immediately become the better of the two teams, and was especially still exposed on defense. Miami still caused problems on the attack and D.C. still struggled to handle Morgan and Pizarro’s occupation of the half space.
A prime example is Miami’s disallowed goal.
Gressel had this time made the advanced run and was with Sorga up top. It’s Victor Ulloa who now occupies the halfspace, and Frederic Brillant is forced wide to defend him, leaving a potential gap.
D.C. should have found a different way to prevent this space from occurring in the half space. Flores could have tucked inside, or Junior Moreno could have moved out to protect his center back. Instead. Moreno tracks the run. Had Morgan continued into the channel, pulling Moreno with him, this likely would have been a better chance for the late run of Pizarro, but he ends up getting his shot off and earning the deflection.
Defensively, D.C. didn’t get this right, but the change in the attacking strategy ended up saving them.
Gressel had just gotten up the field, supporting Sorga, and ended up in a duel with Roman Torres, which in the end resulted in a handball that VAR reviewed. Torres was sent of for denial of a goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO).
Playing with a midfielder higher up the pitch allowed D.C. to clear its lines, or even hit long balls, and have a hope of keeping possession as another player was involved to win the second ball.
This is essentially how D.C. earned the penalty for the equalizer.
It’s a simple diagonal, and the fullback Russell Canouse gets a chance to show his aerial ability to head the ball in the box. Flores catches Andres Reyes napping, swipes the ball and earns the penalty.
It isn’t pretty, but it worked.
D.C. tried possession in the first half, but couldn’t work it to an outlet player. The times when D.C. did get forward in the first half, the best attacking instances came when a midfielder was willing to make a run beyond a forward.
Felipe did it on occasion, and while this clip shows that he isn’t exactly the man you want making the final shot, he can challenge defenses to not just step up and swarm attackers with no regard for late runs.
It’s then another instance of a midfielder in an advanced area that leads to some good D.C. fortune. Felipe gets behind the Miami midfield and is brought down for a free kick.
This leads to the winner, as Flores hits the post and Brillant finished the opportunity.
Again, this isn’t the type of play that D.C. fans should expect to lead to a lot of goals in 2020, but it did lead to two in this match.
Defensively, even up a man, D.C. struggled to contain Inter Miami. Diego Alonso saw that his strategy was still working, and instead of subbing another defender on, he kept his shape, just minus a defender.
Inter continued to get freedom in the halfspace, the box of Morgan, Pizarro, Ulloa and Trapp allowed Miami to outnumber D.C. in the midfield.
D.C. could have upped the aggression, and forced Miami into mistakes.
Second Half substitute Chris Odoi-Atsem brought some intensity and willingness to win the ball to D.C.
In this clip, two D.C. players look afraid to try and win the ball off Pizarro, but Odoi-Atsem flies in and actually makes a really good challenge. It isn’t wise to give up a free kick – a chance for Inter to serve the ball into the box – but this call is debatable, and it’s nice to see some desire to make an outnumbered opponent uncomfortable on the ball.
No doubt there was good fortune in the red card also overturning Miami’s goal, and no doubt there was some help in Flores picking Reyes’ pocket for the penalty as well as the rebound for Brillant.
I can’t tell which old cliche fits the most for D.C. United in this match. Is it the frustrating – and mostly statistically inaccurate – “you make your own luck” or the potential cop out “fortune favors the bold”.
Either you want to put on it, it worked in this instance for Ben Olsen.
Olsen has a lot of non-believers in the D.C. United fan base, to the point that “Olsen out” is a rather common phrase heard among the fans. However, fans need to give a lot of credit to Olsen for this win.
There could be criticism that he didn’t prepare properly for the match, but those would be unfair given how little film there is on what Diego Alonso was scheming in Miami.
Olsen saw his team getting out-played but not out-possessed, made a tactical change and it paid off.
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