It’s pretty incredible how well Indy match up against Morados. Three games, a win apiece and a draw. Both wins decided by penalties. Four penalties awarded over the course of three games. At least Kyle didn’t require a head bandage in this particular edition of the LIPAFC.
Indy set up in what USL is calling a 3-5-2, but it looked a lot like a very flat 4-4-2 to me. They held two blocks of four through most of the game in an effort to force play outside, and it was effective. That tactic also lends itself to springing counter attacks, but the City defense was up to the task for the most part in this match, a few professional fouls from Alexis and Paco juuuuust outside the box notwithstanding.
The game overall was pretty even. LouCity sent out what was mostly a first-choice lineup, with the added wrinkle of a midfield that essentially only featured Paolo delPiccolo, while his ostensible partner Niall played much further forward, generally. That contributed, largely, though not completely, to why City almost never got anything going in the middle of the field, and instead opted to try and initiate offense through the wings. It wasn’t super effective, as it didn’t produce any run-of-play goals, but Eleven keeper Fon Williams also had a pretty good day, too – eight saves.
To that point, City had 27 shots on the game to Indy’s 16, and nine were on goal. The shots/shots on-target ratio isn’t great, but nine shots on target is still…a lot. Indy had just four. Those are the only real appreciable differences in the statistics for this match, as possession was largely even, and neither team passed the ball very well in the opposition half (though City was better, just not impressive) which is mostly normal at Slugger.
Individually, Alexis played a near-flawless match, only missing three passes all game, all of which were in Indy’s half of the field. He won five of eight duels, and five of six in the air. Paco had identical numbers in duels but didn’t pass the ball quite as well. Still, no real complaints for what I’d call the vice-captain.
Paolo, as kind of a lone holding mid, had a pretty great game, too. Over 80% passing overall and in the attacking half, six of eight on duels, two chances created, an interception and two tackles. My MOTM, TBH.
The attacking four had a solid, if kind of unspectacular, day. Ownby’s work rate was sky high as usual, and led the team in chances created with five. He and Cam both had three shots on target in the match.
In the end, it was a pretty exciting, back-and-forth game between two teams that match up pretty well against one another. This time, City got on the good end. We’ll get to clash with the Eleven again this coming weekend, so let’s hope we learned a thing or two and continue our playoff winning streak!
