Talking tactics ... something we struggled with before
by Steve Davis on Sep 21, 2010 4:29 PM EDT
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I’ll never forget a conversation I had with former L.A. Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit. We were discussing David Beckham’s role on the field, which had been altered for the evening – and to devastating effect. It was a temporary tactical tweak that worked exactly as it was supposed to, unbalancing a defense that didn’t know how to deal with Beckham in the positions where he was popping up.
So Gullit was in a good mood. For once, a tactical shift had been fruitful for the Dutch coach. But as we talked, something more revealing came tumbling out.
He essentially said that Major League Soccer was this wildly unpredictable beast. Tactical planning at a higher level was a crapshoot because games were so predictably unpredictable. Subpar or small fields, physical play, inconsistent refereeing, players who could vary wildly in form and travel that wore down the troops …it all added up to games that were difficult to get your arms around from tactical standpoint.
He didn’t say all that, exactly. Mostly, he made a funny face, threw his arms out wide and kind of laughed while he said something like, “In this league, who knows? Who can tell what’s going to happen? Nobody can!”
And he had a point. Gullit never really wanted to be here, and that’s why his tenure was so epically failed at
That was just three years ago. Even this year, Hans Backe took the New York Red Bulls’ helm and soon assessed that MLS matches tended to be “chaotic.” His word, not mine. But a very astute observation.
I have a theory, however, that it’s changing. As the collective quality gets better and better, you can actually engage in conversations about what’s likely to transpire. You can look back at certain tactical arrangements and sort out why this one worked or why that one didn’t.
Previously, you could break down individual matchups, of course. And you could certainly compare styles of play. But going much deeper into the little tactical conundrums was tricky at best, and sometimes just plain impossible.
I write a weekly column for Major League Soccer’s web site on tactics. I’ll let you in on a little insider secret: the brains behind the MLS web site have tried through the years to include a weekly column of this sort. But it never really stuck, eve though some pretty smart patootties were in charge of it.
For a couple of years I wrote something of a tactical piece. But it was really more about individuals and lineup choices. You could always sort that out; who was better when partnered with whom, what basic formation people where playing, which roles best suited which players, tactical substitutions, etc.
But what you couldn’t do was a deeper tactical analysis, the kind Jonathan Wilson does so well. Or the sophisticated material that the terrific site Zonal Marking does so well. Reason – it’s simple: The product just wasn’t reliably consistent.
How could you write about certain players’ movements relative to one another when the players often weren’t good enough to control the ball reliably, where the game too quickly spun into the chaotic series of turnovers as Backe talked about?
The latest tactical columns I’ve done for the MLS site includes a breakdown of this Friday’s biggie: The New York Red Bulls at
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What is going on ...
… with my “n” key? If that bothers you as much as it does me … accept my humblest apologies
I thought there was a puzzle for a second. . .
and that was some sort of clue.
'Gentlemen' he said,
'I don't need your organization,
I've shined your shoes,
moved your mountains and marked your cards,
but Eden is burning.
Either get ready for elimination,
or else your heart must have the courage,
for the changing of the guards.'
I love that MLS is maturing to the point where conversations are about tactics
but maybe that’s because its where I tend to focus…
One of my big goals, probably forever unrealized, will be to compare the performances of varying formations and strategies success rate in MLS.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
I had always thought it was mostly the fans evolving
But I do see Steve’s point here. Slight positional adjustments (ie playing the same general ‘position’ but adjusted a few yards) and changes of direction as far as which passing channels to use and runs to make, might be worth talking about more as we’re getting to the point where teams aren’t regularly trading 3, 4, 5 give-aways in a row in the mid-field.
'Gentlemen' he said,
'I don't need your organization,
I've shined your shoes,
moved your mountains and marked your cards,
but Eden is burning.
Either get ready for elimination,
or else your heart must have the courage,
for the changing of the guards.'
My Take
1. Yeah, your interpretation of Ruud’s point (MLS is so inconsistent for many reasons) complicates tactics. But only to a point. If you don’t scout the opposition much, then you’re easy to exploit because you don’t know what to anticipate.
2. Part of the reason we don’t see a lot on tactics is too many MLS journalists (and I don’t mean you Steve) can’t talk intelligently about tactics. Too much TV chatter is about personalities or individual traits, not what one team is trying to do or exploit (except on the most basic level).
3. One of the things I’d love to see (hint, hint) would be a very general, high-level analysis of the basic tactical approach of each MLS team. I know, it varies from home to away. Or if your top players are away on NT duty. But it’s not as if RSL or Chicago or NE change their approach every game. There are still certain things most teams tend to do or fall back on regardless of the field, opponent or home/away factor
Please keep up the good work. Your analysis is outstanding and you’re so prolific as a writer I’m convinced that you had a twin brother you keep locked up in your basement, letting him out only to post copy and grab a burrito. Can you deny this with a straight face?.
my response
i have just one thing to say to this scandalous accusation:
“mmmm. burrito!”
by Steve Davis on Sep 22, 2010 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions
Interesting PoV
But what has really changed in MLS? I would argue that none of the variables you mentioned has considerably advance – refs are still too lenient and inconsistent, overall technical ability is too low, physical play dominates over teams who are actually trying to play attacking soccer.
I would agree, however, that we have made some very small strides in overall quality of play even with the barriers listed above. It may be enough to talk tactics, but I wouldn’t expect a material improvement. Kudos to you for the attempt though. I’ll be there reading along the way!
No way man
The reffing may be roughly the same, but the unforced-turnover-in-the-middle-third-followed-immedately-by-the-other-team-turning-it-back-over-to-you quotient is definitely down.
'Gentlemen' he said,
'I don't need your organization,
I've shined your shoes,
moved your mountains and marked your cards,
but Eden is burning.
Either get ready for elimination,
or else your heart must have the courage,
for the changing of the guards.'
After Sleeping on it....
After a night’s rest I woke up with an additional perspective on this issue (besides my wife’s comment on ‘I should get a life’)…..
The unevenness and unpredictability within the league does make tactical planning BEFORE games difficult. But it just makes it more important to be a tactical wizard IN games then—b/c you’re having to adapt to stuff you didn’t expect.
For my money, the Revs Nicol is the best in the league at doing this with maybe Hans Becke being close behind or even with him. One of the things I’ve always admired about Nicol was his ability to make a change in a match which wasn’t necessarily that big but it forced the other coach to adapt and by adapting, removed an option. Classic case: DC United is playing the Revs in the Eastern Finals. Revs go up a goal. Nicol subs in Khano Smith who isn’t much of a player but will push forward, has some speed and a powerful shot (that usually threatened the pidgeons—but I digress). Peter Nowak now has to match up against Smith and must take out Freddy Adu (who has no workrate and gets the concepts of tracking back and defending, he just doesn’t think they apply to him) so Khano Smith isn’t running rampant in open space. So out goes Adu and in comes Matias Donnet. This pays double dividends for Nicol and the Revs when Gomez comes up lame and DCU lacks the subs to be able to replace him. I’m convinced that Nicol’s sub with Smith was less about wanting what Smith had to offer and more about anticipating that with a goal down, Nowak would push Adu up to a quasi-third forward and instead this was a way of taking Adu off the field.
Oh--and the Worst
Juan Carlos Osorio is a classic case of someone attempting to be tactical but failing miserably. He constructed a RBNY team with a tactical vision of creating speed matchup issues all over the field, took players like Hall and Kandji and played them in various positions not to find what fits them best but to create tactical matchup issues and instead produced a mess of pottage.
that's a great example
Osorio was definitely a smart guy. (and a good egg, too, in my opinion. but whereas Nicol essetially plays the same way every match, with a situational tweak here and there, Osorio wanted different roles and responsibilities every week. it was too much for the players, who never found a comfort zone.
by Steve Davis on Sep 22, 2010 10:10 AM EDT up reply actions
I’m reminded of comments Hyndman made a few weeks back that I think were mentioned on 3rd Degree.
He said that up to that point in the season (and in his 2 previous seasons) he had concentrated almost exclusively on establishing his system with the players. It was only recently that he felt they understood their roles well enough to gameplan with the opposition in mind.
He was probably simplifying (I’m sure he made some small adjustments before that), but it speaks to your point, Steve.
The other thing I've seen in the past
Is a difference between playoffs and regular season. DC United suffered some gut-punch losses in the playoffs to Chicago in the mid-2000s, and I always felt like the thing we weren’t prepared for was%n game plan against them.
'Gentlemen' he said,
'I don't need your organization,
I've shined your shoes,
moved your mountains and marked your cards,
but Eden is burning.
Either get ready for elimination,
or else your heart must have the courage,
for the changing of the guards.'
