As suspected, the same Louisville City lineup from last week’s match in Tampa Bay started this game. As not suspected, though, they played quite differently in their return home to play against Ottawa Fury.
Given the switching roles Sean Totsch, Magnus Rasmussen, and Niall McCabe played in this match, it would be foolhardy to try and slap a numerical formation designation on the lineup. Lundt started again in goal, the easiest to figure out. Paco Craig and Taylor Peay were full-time centerbacks. Oscar Jimenez and Shaun Francis (who got the Captain’s armband, interesting) more or less played as wingbacks. Sean Totsch flipped between a third centerback and central midfielder depending on where the ball was and who had it. Magnus Rasmussen would also come back to play extremely deep in the center of midfield when Totsch dropped between the centerbacks. Speedy Williams was kind of everywhere, which is what he does these days. Abdou Thiam, Niall McCabe, and Lucky Mkosana played in a front three, sort of, with Niall mostly featuring as what I’d call a false nine, while Abdou and Lucky spent more of their time far forward.
It was an unusual tactical look for sure, but one that I thought was really interesting and, thankfully, pretty damn effective. Ottawa, for their part, lined up again in a 4-3-3. It’s sometimes difficult to get much of a foothold on the midfield in that formation, but when one of your midfielders is Wal Fall, it’s a little bit easier. He’s the one Fury player that Louisville City really didn’t have an answer for, but in the end it didn’t matter (I’VE. BECOME SOO NUMB). Christiano Francois was Fury’s most dangerous player for most of the match, but Paco Craig did a great job boxing him in most of the time. Ottawa’s best chance of the match came off a free kick where Morados simply fell asleep, and that shot was taken by a centerback. Thus, in terms of game plan, LouCity executed really well and certainly deserved the three points.
The Fury are ostensibly a possession-oriented team, but they lost that battle in a landslide 65-35. There were some periods toward the end of the match where City simply couldn’t wrest the ball away from the white team, but otherwise they did a very good job in possession in spite of kind of having a giant question mark in the center of midfield for a lot of the game. Morados attempted 592 passes in the game, which is a BIG number at Slugger Field. They completed 80% of those, including over 65% in Ottawa’s half. That’s really good, especially, again, in light of not having much of a midfield. The thing was, Ottawa didn’t really have one, either.
In spite of Ottawa’s narrow shape, Morados only put in 15 crosses the whole game, completing 26.7% of them. Frankly, though, most of City’s attacks didn’t come from wide areas, but rather through the middle. Louisville had 19 shots in the game (13 in the first half), six on target. City had 19 touches in Irving’s 18 yard box, forcing the Canadian keeper into five saves in the game. Ottawa had ten shots, three on target, one blocked. Ottawa had 17 touches of their own, but all but two or three were well wide of the goal.
There’s not a lot else that’s very remarkable from a numerical perspective. Frankly, the game was a lot more even than you might expect, though City definitely (and thankfully) produced more offense out of possession, which is the point.
Individually, Taylor Peay had a much better game in his third consecutive start, passing for 85% in the back and nearly 65% in Ottawa’s half. He wasn’t superlative in duels, but Paco was, going 10 for 12 and four of five in the air. Paco’s passing wasn’t as good as it usually is, but holding Francois in the way he did more than made up for it.
Franno and Oscar played mostly mirroring roles on either flank. Francis, continuing a trend, was much more influential in the game than he’s ever been in previous appearances. He didn’t pass the ball great, but was 10 of 17 in duels and four of six in the air, both very good. Oscar passed much better, 81% and 66.7% in attack, had a great rip from distance toward the end of the game, and crossed the ball much better. Both wingbacks created a chance apiece.
Sean Totsch, playing a hybrid CB/CM role all night, was a real workhorse in this game. He didn’t pass the ball as much as one might imagine (49 attempts), but was efficient when he did, going 83.7% in the game and 78.6% in Ottawa’s half. Again, not a lot on offer offensively aside from a skimming shot from about 30 yards out in the first half, but he was sound defensively with a tackle, two clearances, and two interceptions.
The actual midfielders, MAG RAM and Speedy, were also quite good. Rasmussen was the team’s leading passer with 78 attempts, and completed 85.9% of those, 78.9% in Ottawa’s half. No chances created this game, however, but given his role as more of a number eight in this game, that’s okay. Speedy took five shots in the game, all of them good ideas, but only managed one on target. If he could ever get his sights on right, he’d be a very dangerous scorer in my view. The Jamaican midfielder as also busier than usual defensively in this game, with three tackles, two clearances and an interception.
The forward “three” that wasn’t nonetheless played better all around. Niall, the false nine/third central midfielder sort of, completed 88% of his pass attempts, 73.1% in Ottawa’s half, won 4 of 9 duels, 2 of 5 in the air, had an assist on Lucky’s goal and created two chances in the match. While that’s impressive, Abdou had an even more productive game, with five chances created, five shots, three on target, and impressive passing numbers to boot.
Lucky, the goalscorer, also was greatly improved in this game. His passing and 1v1 numbers weren’t as good as the other two attackers, but he definitely made his presence felt in the match. He scored his only shot, and created two other scoring chances, and also put in a couple of good tackles.
I should go back and note how impressed I’ve been with Niall’s play the last several games. He’s taken on a lot more responsibility on the field lately and has been more than up to the challenge. The Irisher has always had a high work rate, but it was really on display in this game, playing as a center forward, central attacker, and box-to-box guy all in the same game, sometimes all at the same time. I thought he combined really well with Lucky and Abdou, which helped them play their roles better, too. Hats of to Niall!
Overall, this was a much improved performance from City since the last home game, even in spite of the weather and injuries. Finishing is still something that could improve, as there were a couple other chances in the match that probably should have gone in but didn’t. That will come with more playing time, though. I think the team has some good things to build on coming out of this match against a very game opponent. We’re off until next Tuesday now, so hopefully some more rest for the injured and training for the not-injured spells even more fun next week.
