Y’all are getting a two-fer-one today because I didn’t have time to write a MMCB (which would have been a TMCB piled on top of one of Duncan’s loquacious recaps) after the Charlotte game last week. While that might make you sad, it might also give us a look at some possible trends in City’s play with some new players and the new manager. Let’s dive in.
One thing I’ve noticed is the differences in shape between the two games. For a good chunk of the Charlotte tie, City was in a 4-3-3 with Oscar, Paco, Totsch, and Kyle Smith in a back four, James Sands playing in a destroyer role in front of them, Paolo and Speedy playing a little further upfield, and Niall and Davis playing attacking midfield behind Lancaster up top. Occasionally the midfield would flatten out and City would be in a 4-1-4-1 or 4-5-1, mostly on defense, but otherwise it was a classic 4-3-3. These things don’t really matter; it’s more to do with what roles players are assigned, but the numbers do help to kind of figure out what the plan was. Sands did a masterful job in the number six role in this game and basically owned the midfield, making Totsch and Paco’s jobs much easier in defense. Sands’s defensive chops also allowed Paolo and Speedy to get further up field to either break up play or help get service to the attackers or fullbacks when they pressed up.
Adding the extra guy in the center of midfield meant Morados got more of the ball against a team that likes to keep it, too, in Charlotte. City also attempted and completed a lot more passes than we’ve seen from them in a while, going 589 for 668. That’s nearly 90%, which is very, very good, and 77.1% accuracy in Charlotte’s half is pretty good, too. The Indies passed for a pretty good percentage as well, but since they had the ball less, they passed less by about 130 passes or so. That adds up. Louisville City outshot Charlotte 18-8 and 8-3 on frame. That’s also good. The Indies only had nine touches in City’s 18.
Individually, everyone played really well. I was particularly impressed with Sands, who led the team in passing and got it right nearly 90% of the time. Speedy, freed from having to be a metronome in the middle, was able to do a bit more but was also his steady self, with nearly identical passing numbers to Sands. The newcomer also created three scoring chances on the night, the most notable being the seeing-eye ball that Luke Spencer got on the end of to ice the game completely. He’s real good, y’all.
Sands would get another 90 minutes on Saturday against Richmond in a game that ended up being a laugher. Morados set up a bit differently in this one, playing more of the 4-2-3-1 we know with Alexis and Paco at center half, Francis and McMahon playing fullback, Sands and Jose Carranza playing in the defensive midfield, Paulo as a number 10 flanked by Cuatro and Niall behind Cam. We’ve never seen this lineup before. Granted, part of that was due to two new players being in it. Either way, it worked quite well. Yes, the other team on the field was Richmond, and they’re quite bad. However, throwing out a completely new setup with two new guys as the central cogs in midfield and Paolo playing a role he’s never played for City before could have gone super wrong, and it didn’t. At all.
Richmond, who are hapless, only had five touches in the City 18 all match. They only had 37% of the ball. They only completed 263 passes the entire match. City doubled that, and completed almost 80% of their passes in the Richmond half. 50% of City’s 18 shots were on target, and only three of those didn’t go in. This was as utterly dominant a performance as we’ve seen from Morados when not playing a pub team from Pittsburgh. This was really good.
Alexis played really, really well in his first game off suspension with 87% of his 87 passes completed, eight clearances, and three of four duels won. Franno and McMahon were good at fullback, though they have seemingly opposite strengths. McMahon is super-reliable with the ball but didn’t have a good game in 1v1s. Franno won four of five duels but didn’t have a great passing day, just over 50% in the attacking half. They both did pretty well defensively, though.
Everyone in the midfield did great. Nearly all of them completed at least 90% of their passes. Sands led the team in passing again with 91. He didn’t do much offensively this time around, but everyone around him more than made up for it. Paolo created two scoring chances and had two assists. Jose Carranza got a goal in his first ever appearance and created two other chances of his own. Niall also had two chances and hit the score sheet, to boot. Cam barely touched the ball but scored anyway because that’s just what he does now. Ilija was on the field for like five minutes and got an assist, too. Luke is a freight train, and has scored three goals in his last four matches. Crazy.
Carranza was interesting to watch. I think he’s definitely got potential but I’m unsure exactly where he fits on this team yet. He is decidedly a creative attacker; I loved some of his chipped crosses to the back post out of nowhere. He’s not afraid of a tackle, either.
More exciting to me, and many, though, was the return of Richard Ballard to the field for the first time since preseason. He didn’t have the opportunity to do much, which would have been pouring on at that point. I’m just glad he’s playing again, and it couldn’t have come at a better stretch of the season.
The Hackworth era may have stalled at the gate but it’s roared to life since then. Let’s keep it up and see if we can put double digits on Tworonto tomorrow. Don’t act like that’s ludicrous.
