Steve Long – 31 July 2015 – As more and more MLS teams bring in quality DPs, DC United’s Ben Olsen has opted to cherry pick from within MLS to slowly build an effective team. His latest move, bringing in Alvaro Saborio from Real Salt Lake may have put in place the key to an offensive resurgence for DC United.
The versatile striker’s presence provides a finishing touch to a team that has grown in soccer IQ with each addition. Sunday’s comeback win immediately demonstrated Saborio’s value to the team while validating the value of fully using both width and depth in the attack.
It’s been a slow maturation which became clearer recently when United showed its usual lack of attacking style during the first half against the New England Revolution on 21 June only to come out for the second half to erase a one goal effort with two of their own. The difference came down to coach Ben Olsen’s instructions during the intermission.
D.C. United’s Davy Arnaud, Alvaro Saborio, Fabian Espindola, Perry Kitchen, and Chris Korb form a wall on a Philadelphia Union free kick (Photo Credit: Jennifer Jordan-Harrell Photography)
Davy Arnaud explains, “To be honest with you, we did that a little too much in the first half, but Benny said something at half time that we looked like four guys high at times . . . but you have to balance that with guys coming underneath to give you possession. ”
The forwards and wings adjusted, “We stayed high, but we did a better job of keeping the ball, not just in our middle and defensive third, but also in the final third.” That better job was the product of the triangles created by reading and playing off a teammate’s runs.
Heretofore a great deal of that depth has been provided by Chris Rolfe when he is played on the wing. Still, there has been a lack of byplay up front to open things up. Arnaud explains Rolfe’s contribution, “When Rolfie plays there, he finds really good spots underneath and in between the lines. He plays almost as a withdrawn guy, he gives us another option to keep the ball in the midfield.”
D.C. United’s Taylor Kemp attempts to catch up to a surging Eric Ayuk Mbu of the Philadelphia Union (Photo Credit: Jennifer Jordan-Harrell Photography)
Against Philadelphia on Sunday, the new striking duo of Fabian Espindola and Saborio, came out flat while the Union scored two quick goals. The need to play from behind completely changed the dynamic of the game as the Union went into protection mode. Arnaud pointed out that, “When they dropped deep, they had their wide midfielders tucked way in and they were almost conceding the wide area.
“What happened in the first couple of minutes dictated the way the game was gonna go.” Philadelphia’s adjustment was to prove their undoing. For the first fifteen minutes after the Union’s goals both Saborio and Espindola frequently sought the same space and tried to combine with short passes.
Coming up against a compact defense that approach clearly didn’t work. The experienced pair picked up on that and Espindola assumed the role of a “libero”, playing variously as a withdrawn forward or an occasional wing, as space allowed. As Arnaud noted, “When Fabi’s on his game and moving around you see that he makes plays.”
The best teams create and use space by attacking with width and depth while defending compactly. Most average teams can only execute one style at a time, playing compactly on the road and openly at home. DC United will be at home tomorrow against Saborio’s former team, Real Salt Lake.
RSL will know that Saborio’s movement requires respect and their coverage will allow Espindola to continue to find the space that he needs to create. We can expect to see a strong United attack at this home game.
However, it remains to be seen whether Olsen has matured his team sufficiently to play an open game on the road. Arnaud spoke the conventional wisdom when he said, “We haven’t scored as much as we wanted to as of late. We’ve been on the road, that’s a part of it.”
The early goals last Sunday forced Olsen’s hand as the Union gave him the space to create. “Being two goals down, maybe it was bit of a blessing in disguise. It forced us to go out and find goals”, said Arnaud.
Coach Olsen is well aware of his team’s tendency to start slowly, “It takes men to play from the start of the game, and we didn’t have that from the go.” Arnaud agreed on the approach for the future, “Let’s apply it when it’s zero-zero, that might be a better option.”
While we can look for a good open style from United on Saturday, the real test will come during the string of away games to follow when the overall value of Saborio’s presence will be revealed.
