IT'S ALL ABOUT TACTICS
"I think the coaching staff takes full responsibility for us sitting back, perhaps we should have pressed them from minute one." -> James Edward's Blog
A REALSLFAN OPINION: We saw tactical errors work in our favor when DC came to town. I believe they worked against us as has been reported in Toronto. If you break the elements of soccer into three elements: skill, effort and tactics - I believe that we have shown that we may have 2 out of 3 on our side this season. At least 2 out of 3 elements are up to playoff level of quality. This team has made an upgrade in the starting lineup. For the most part, all of the starters are now of MLS quality. In addition, there is some depth there so that we can now have some confidence in players brought in off of the bench. We have also shown that we are giving pretty consistent effort on the pitch. There have not yet been any significant letdowns where the team has appeared to give up.
The real question is whether or not we will have the tactics element that will allow us to compete for an MLS playoff spot this season. This is Kreis' big test this season, and will be the measuring stick against which he is judged as a coach. He won the battle against Soehn a week ago at home. This past weekend was unfortunately a big knock against him. Can he/we rebound this week and fight a good tactical battle against DC?
To go along with this question is one of formation: Is the 4-4-2 the right formation for us? We looked pretty good playing the 3-5-2 in the second half against Toronto. Can that work consistently? Will we see it in spots late in games going forward?
In addition, there is a question of style. What is our playing style? What kind of team are we? Are we a counter-attacking team like Chivas who pounces on opportunities and mistakes quickly? Are we a team like the Galaxy that uses well-placed long balls to Beckham to coincide with well-timed runs by Donovon? Are we a team that uses Deuchar as a gather and distribute type of target forward to get the ball to the other attacking players? Will we see the fluid, tight passing (Latin style) that was promised in the offseason? So far this season, we have yet to see a style fully emerged. I believe as Garth said, this is typically "established by your midfield", and we have been fairly erratic in the midfield to this point. Javier Morales has not yet established himself as our creative leader on the pitch. Hopefully this will change on Saturday.
