Southern Harmony: the offensive tweaks Memphis and Birmingham need
Southern Harmony: the offensive tweaks Memphis and Birmingham need
How should the rival clubs adapt ahead of the end-of-year stretch?
In the next ten days, rivals Memphis 901 and the Birmingham Legion will square off twice in a set of games that’ll help determine home-field advantage in the East. It’s been an up-and-down season for both clubs, with flashes of potential offset by genuinely poor runs of form. How can Memphis and Birmingham get back to their best ahead of the playoffs?
901 peaked early, going 12 matches unbeaten from April to June. They’ve only won four matches since then, falling from top-seed contention to fifth place in the conference. A thin squad has been a constant problem, making injury issues for players like Rece Buckmaster and Leston Paul all the more troubling. Still, things have picked up lately, as Memphis has two wins in their last three games.
The Legion, meanwhile, reached the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals, falling to pre-Messi Inter Miami in a match in which they dominated and were felled by shoddy refereeing. It’s been a season of decisive results in Alabama: Birmingham has only drawn three times in 29 USL games.
Amidst the hot and cold runs, a few key themes and tactics have stood out. Both of these clubs have the talent to go the distance, but how can they unlock the potential?
Turci Time
A funny thing happened in the second half of Memphis’ recent win against the Tampa Bay Rowdies: Stephen Glass overloaded the midfield with creators, and 901 suddenly gained the firepower to break down one of the USL’s best defenses.
In action, Glass made a handful of tweaks that made Memphis’ basic 4-2-4 offense more dangerous. Rashawn Dally entered the forward line to provide a physical hold-up presence, and he even earned an assist. Deeper, midfielder Samuel Careaga entered the pivot next to Aaron Molloy. Replacing a destroying No. 6, Careaga - an excellent passer - forced the Rowdies to deal with a more diverse look in build.
Still, what put Memphis over the top was the freedom afforded to Lucas Turci. Comfortable as high up as the No. 10 spot, Turci is most often employed as an initiating center back next to Graham Smith. Before the end of July, the Brazilian had started just two matches all season. He’s been in 11 straight starting units since then.
In the Tampa Bay game, Turci was allowed to step into the midfield in possession, creating a three-headed monster alongside Molloy and Careaga. As you see below, that overwhelmingly incisive trio gave the guests fits.
Turci and Careaga trade passes in the half space to initiate the sequence, goading the defense ever further towards Memphis’ left. When the moment arises, Turci hits a clever switch back the other way.
In the second play, the midfield trio each camps in a distinct lane. Turci occupies the left half space, Careaga is central, and Molloy parks in the right half space. To address their threat, the Rowdies midfield is forced to spread out, opening a window between defenders into a forward. A goal ensues because the defense isn’t allowed to stay compact.
On a per-90-minute basis compared to all center backs and central midfielders, Turci ranks in the:
84th percentile for pass completions
80th percentile for forward pass share
71st percentile for defensive actions
The Brazilian combines incision in responsibility to a valuable degree, and it can win games for Memphis. You saw it in the 4-2 win against Hartford this past Saturday. 901 started slow, but this time, they adopted a back three shape midway through the match.
Turci was allowed to carry the ball, and the extra padding in the back line also let the wing backs - namely Aiden McFadden - to bomb forward on the right. You see the results below.
In the clip, McFadden and winger-forward Luiz Fernando eat opposing Hartford’s lunch in tandem, giving 901 the punch they needed to earn a comeback win. Still, the momentum began with Turci’s role in build.
That Memphis doesn’t give their Brazilian center back full freedom on the ball from the opening whistle is their fatal flaw more often than not. Teams are too able to focus on Molloy and snuff out offense. Against Birmingham and heading into the playoffs, this team must rely on #8 to drive their offensive from the back, adding diversity and spark to start moves.
Need for Speed
Tommy Soehn has been more flexible than he gets credit for this season, switching up his midfield approach with a fair amount of regularity as matchups and injuries have dictated. Still, a recent run featuring six losses in 10 games have highlighted the Legion’s limitations. Without Tyler Pasher and Anderson Asiedu, lost to injury or otherwise, this team is slow.
Pasher, a superstar winger, is one of the fastest players in the USL, capable of driving a full-field counterattack without making a pass. While you can accuse the Canadian of being ball-dominant in the final third, he’s an undeniable net-positive for a Legion team that can be plodding.
Asiedu is a different sort of player, but he also can forge fast-paced chances. The diminutive No. 6 is Birmingham’s best ball-winner, having attempted more tackles than any other player on the roster and won 69% of his attempts. Still, the Ghanaian is especially good because of how he wins the ball; Asiedu takes it from you and immediately drives forward with it.
Having lost two generators of transition chances, the Legion have hit a creative wall. By looking at passes completed per shot on target, you can see that Birmingham have been below the USL average in five of their last six games. Essentially, that number signals that this club is circling the ball quite a bit without every breaking a foe down.
When you can’t penetrate, you’re liable to attempt shots from a further distance against a packed-in defense. The Legion’s shot accuracy - the percent of attempts that end up on target - is an indicator of that fact. Again, the Legion have been more inaccurate than the USL average in five of their last six games.
Chasing the game against Rio Grande Valley last Sunday night, the failures of the Legion to penetrate with tempo were laid bare. Soehn made bright changes, bringing Diba Nwegbo and Preston Tabortetaka onto the wings to capture some of that Pasher-esque speed. However, as seen in four separate instances in the clip, Birmingham was simply unable to find the feet of those sparkplugs.
Context matters: no defense is going to leave acres of space available with a late lead. Still, Birmingham spent more than 60 minutes playing slow before they let Nwegbo and Preston onto the field.
Liberating those two players is crucial. Combined, they have four assists across about 500 minutes in Birmingham’s last six matches. That’s a setup for a goal almost once per match.
How to get there? The recent win against FC Tulsa was instructive. There, Soehn let his side sit back and counter. The Legion only possessed the ball for 30.7% of the match, but they scored three times in the first half and leaned into the rookie Nwegbo to do so.
The Legion are deep in their defensive block, but they’re aggressive in the tackle. There’s no Asiedu here, but by choosing the right moments to intervene, Birmingham forces a turnover and lets #7 rip up the left flank. The third, sealing goal follows.
This is the blueprint: Birmingham must be willing to play with more drive and risk, and they need to let their most electric midfielders play freely to get there.
Neither Memphis 901 or the Birmingham Legion are perfectly constructed teams. Both are star-studded in attack and incredibly thin, if talented, in defense. Still, both clubs know how to win, and they’ve shown the ability to make the changes to get there.
Whoever of Stephen Glass and Tommy Soehn makes those bold calls will likely walk away the better of the upcoming Southern Harm matchups, setting their club up for success in the quickly-approaching playoffs to boot.