Round Two Takeaways: the Trager effect, Louisville's counterpress, and Phoenix's wing backs
How flexibility in the center of the pitch defined the Conference Quarterfinals
After each round of the playoffs, I’ll be writing about trends that drove the results. This week, I wanted to focus on how two winning teams - Charleston and Phoenix - adjusted their approaches and another - Louisville - got back to basics to get the job done in the Conference Semifinals.
Charleston produced four chances worth 0.18 expected goals or more in beating Birmingham, and all four came in the second half. Indeed, the Legion ended the first half on a tear and equalized just before the whistle. How did Ben Pirmann re-establish control?
Bringing Tristan Trager on to the right wing did the trick. Replacing Fidel Barajas, Trager took on more of an end-to-end role and was more willing to drop deep to get touches. In doing so, he gave the Battery a fuller-field threat and forced the guests to overextend.
In the screenshot, Trager has dove down the sideline for a touching, drawing the opposing full back with him. This action opens up the channel for Augustine Williams to make a run, and #21 plays a through ball to find him. This is how Charleston found their flow.
Trager and Barajas each played 45 minutes, but the substitute completed 15 passes versus four for Barajas. Three of Barajas’ completions were crosses, but Trager went short on 80% of his attempts and let his team get a stranglehold. Moreover, #21 won five duels versus one for Barajas.
Make no mistake: Trager also gave you the field-stretching, forward-esque movement you’d expect from an attacking midfielder, even earning the game-winning assist while running wide of the entire defense.
You get a taste of the variety in the winger’s game above. He’s bombing up the right channel in the first play, drawing a defender and contesting the long pass to loose Williams in a dangerous area. In the second play, Trager is cutting in to draw the full back and free an overlap from Derekn Dodson.
Trager has been doing this since midseason, serving as a super sub for much of the year before nabbing three goals in eight starts to finish 2023. It’s a luxury to have someone of his caliber on the bench, and Pirmann utilized him perfectly to get a result.
Louisville was dominant from the opening kick against Detroit, and they didn’t concede a shot on net until well after the 60th minute. Their 4-0 win was a defense-first showing driven by excellence on the counterpress. In many ways, it’s a truism that’s defined LouCity for much of their nine-year Conference Final streak.
I defined the approach while writing about Louisville for Backheeled ahead of last year’s title game:
The press really drives Louisville’s success. Out of that base 4-1-4-1 formation, the two No. 8s often push up behind the striker to clog the middle of the pitch against a back three. Other times, the wingers sit higher, denying outlets to the fullbacks…Further back, the system is based on Tyler Gibson’s tremendous intelligence as a lone holding midfielder and the stability of Totsch’s high defensive line.
Take the tenets described there - highly-placed center mids, Gibson as a safety net, etc. - and take a look at this screencap from the win over Le Rouge.
All of those same elements are at play, punctuated by aggressive pressure from the wingers. Brian Ownby is a constant, and he was a tremendous pest in defense; he attempted 21 duels on the night. Still, he’s matched by Jorge Gonzalez on the opposite flank, seen cutting off a switch into Devon Amoo-Mensah in the picture. Gpnzalez played much higher up than Rasmus Thellufsen typically does on the right wing, and it made Louisville that much fiercer against build-up.
I do want to give another shout to Gibson, who won four tackles and did yeoman’s work protecting space in front of the back four. His perfect positioning let the rest of the central midfield cook to the tune of 11 defensive actions, and he also rotated back to cover when Sean Totsch or Kyle Adams stepped up into a challenge.
Detroit got exactly zero touches in the LouCity box in the first half, per FotMob. It was a four-goal lead before the guests even sniffed at goal. If Louisville looks this organized next weekend, they’ll be on their way to silverware.
Less than 10 minutes in to a tough away match at Orange County, Phoenix scored a goal with a lob over the top into Danny Trejo’s quick feet. If you play back the chance, you notice how the home team’s defensive line was rather spread, and that’s because Phoenix’s wing backs had bombed forward.
Rising often use a 3-4-3 shape, but the positioning of Trejo and the wing backs shifted into more of a 3-2-4-1 in practice. Initially, the positional tweaks had the intended effect and allowed Phoenix to bypass the opposing midfield. Eventually, however, Orange County stopped budging, tightening back up when they realized Darnell King and Eddie Munjoma weren’t going to hurt them at the sidelines.
The effect? Phoenix didn’t got one single chance worth more than 0.15 expected goals between the 10th and 110th minutes. After the initial burst, Orange County assured that this was going to be a war of attrition.
Even if an offensive outbreak wasn’t coming, Juan Guerra made the perfect changes to turn the tide and give Phoenix an edge in terms of territory and control. To do so, he narrowed out the positions taken by his wing backs in attack. King played like a wide forward, constantly probing the right channel. On the left, Munjoma and center back Mohamed Traore took turns making similar runs.
Faced by defenders bombing into their box, Orange County deepened out, solidfying themselves but limiting their outlets in transition. The Californians could win the ball back, but they couldn’t find players to carry it into the attacking half.
By contrast, Rising gained flexibility. Darek Formella and Panos Armenakas could drop into the midfield to find touches, knowing their threat was being replaced by the wing backs.
You can see the effect of the systemic shifts by comparing King’s number in the first 70 minutes of the game with Henry Uzochokwu’s as a substitute in the final 50 minutes. Uzochokwu completed 19 passes (with two shots and two crosses) in his stint, while the starter completed only 21 passes with much less threat. Phoenix constantly had the ball, and they usually had it in dangerous areas.
In the play above, you see Formella drop into a central midfield spot with Uzochokwu overlapping upfield. Rising can’t quite link up, but their shape leaves them with a spate of players upfield. Their central midfielders stay tight, and their attacking midfielders engage in the counterpress to stifle Orange County.
Rising have been on the precipice of something excellent all year, and it finally feels like things are coming together in the playoff run. The 4-3 win in San Diego was a showcase of the Phoenix attack, but this past Saturday showed that Guerra knows how to make changes based upon control and defensive surety all the same.
Want some Sacramento talk? Mark Briggs may have had the best weekend of any of the winning manager. I broke it down on the USL Tactics Show on the podcast feed.