Photo Credit: Real Salt Lake Video Still
by Kali Korbis
If nothing else, Real Salt Lake’s 3-3 draw with the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night was entertaining.
On the other hand, it raised a lot of questions as well, particularly about RSL’s ability to score from the run of play and defensive consistency. While the attack was vastly improved from last week’s outing in Portland, all three of Real’s goals came from set pieces, despite a bevy of chances created. Meanwhile, the defense looked much shakier, giving up own goals and struggling to track runs through the middle.
A few key points based on Saturday’s match:
- Jeff Cassar does a good job at getting his team ready to play at home — the energy and effort were there from the opening whistle, just as they were in 2014. However, about 20-25 minutes in, that energy starts to drop off. The resulting decline in pace of play was devastating for RSL on Saturday, as it allowed the Union to get its bearings and find more possession, especially since Real hadn’t capitalized on the many chances created early on.
- That first 20 minutes or so demonstrated the potential of the 4-3-3. RSL was moving the ball much more quickly than in iterations past, finding more width, and switching fields much more efficiently. The strength of the formation is its natural creation of triangles, and Real executed that very well at the beginning — that was evident in the fact that players rarely had to pass the ball backward to find an open teammate.
- However, when Philadelphia found its footing, things went downhill pretty quickly. RSL’s first touches were increasingly poor, and although Real did a good job at pressuring and creating 50-50 balls, the players weren’t winning the second and third balls often enough. That, combined with the frequent giveaways in the middle and attacking thirds, gave the Union plenty of opportunities to force the ball down the center and put the RSL defense under siege quickly.
- RSL was far more dangerous on set pieces than in recent memory. Javier Morales’ free kick was superlative, and the delivery on corner kicks was consistently troubling the Union defense as well.
- The less said about the game-tying penalty decision, the better. Because Allen Chapman.
- Ultimately, the effort and work rate was there for RSL — but the execution still needs a lot of improvement.
With next week off, Cassar will have two weeks to work on some of the problems that ultimately doomed his side against a very beatable Union team. RSL will need to be at its best defensively on the 29th when Toronto FC comes to Rio Tinto Stadium, as Jozy Altidore seems to be finding his stride and Michael Bradley will be looking to exploit any weaknesses in Real’s transition game.
