Sacramento vs Monterey Bay: Tactical Analysis - In The Trenches
06/06: Sacramento’s line up, the good, the bad, and what stood out
The Lineup:
A 1-1 draw with Monterey, and then the extra point for winning the PK’s, gave Republic the 2 points they needed to keep their destiny in their own hands for advancing out of their USL Cup group. But those 2 points did not come easy. A 30’ red card to Jared Timmer completely wrecked Republic’s tactics, as they quickly made subs and shifted the squad around to compensate. That shift was almost exclusively defensive—in the 30 minutes before the red card, Republic had managed 5 shots. After the red card? Just 2, one of them a penalty.
Republic came out in their now familiar 4-2-3-1, but had a host of changes to the starting side compared to the lackadaisical side that we saw in Phoenix. Collins made 4 changes to the starting XI, switching out Essel for Timmer, Malango for Wanner, Arturo Rodriguez for Memo Rodriguez, and Edwards for Ajago. And after 30 minutes, Republic looked good! They even had that all-so-elusive goal from a corner that’s been missing for a year now, even if it was disallowed due to a (very soft) foul in the box.
But we never really got to see this set of players get going. In the 30’, Timmer committed a DOGSO foul, or a “denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.” We’ll get into that foul later, but it changed the course of the game. Edwards, making his first start since April 11th, was the unfortunate substitution casualty who came off for Chibi Ukaegbu, who was brought in to replace Timmer on the backline. Other than one breakthrough by Wolff, this left Republic completely without an attacking threat up top until Malango came on in the 67’. I mean, look at Republic’s average positioning after the subs came on:
Malango (#7) is the highest positioned player, and Republic didn’t even have him until the final ~23 minutes of the match. And this isn’t a critique of the substitutions at all—this is just what happens when you go down a man. At half, Willey came on for Memo and Republic was able to apply a little bit more of a press. Willey played as sort of a roaming 10, completely given the freedom to press and move where he wanted to. After Monterey go up a goal, he’s the only one pressing up:
Ultimately, Republic equalized despite dreadful possession (27.6%, a season low) because they sat back and absorbed pressure, forcing Monterey to commit numbers forward, before Republic quickly countered over the top. They had a few chances to break in the second half, but ultimately had zero shots from open play. But sometimes, just creating a few chances is enough, especially when you’re down a man. Just put the ball in the box and see what happens. And sure enough, a handball call in the 60’ off a cross gave Republic a lifeline.
I’m going to be honest here—I just don’t see the handball. This is the moment of the supposed handball here:
Blurry picture, but that’s the best shot we have. Adam Moffat on the Republic broadcast likewise agreed, saying “That is nowhere near a handball.” I guess in the grand scheme of things, Republic should have been up a goal already but for the “foul” called on the corner in the first half, so it washes out. But for the umpteenth time this season… USL needs VAR if it wants to be a serious product.
Either way, a PK call was given, Benítez knocked home his 5th goal of the year, and Republic spent the entire last 30 minutes absorbing pressure while only allowing 3 shots—none on target.
The Good:
New Roles, Shifting Positions
Due to the red card, the positions of many of the Republic players shifted dramatically over the course of the game. Most notable was Benítez, who moved from his usual left wing back role up to center defensive mid around the 67’. This was part of a larger series of changes; Spaulding came in for Wanner and took over the left wing back role and Malango subbed in for Crisostomo but took over the left wing role, moving Benitez to Crisostomo’s position in the midfield. And we already talked about Willey’s press.
Most of these positional adjustments required some pretty on the fly changes. The biggest risk when this happens is not that the offense doesn’t work, it’s that the defense falls apart as assignments get lost on the fly. But that didn’t happen, and nearly every sub had an above average player rating. We even got a debut from Reedy, who came into the right wing role with 10 minutes left in the match and played as well as you can ask on a 10-minute debut.
I do want to look in at Benítez again too; look at his heat chart:
He’s literally all over the pitch. Every week that goes by, the more convinced I am that this is Benítez’s team. Over and over, he’s the most important player on the pitch; Republic’s poor performance in Phoenix was largely because Benítez had a rough game, one of his first rough games in Old Glory Red. But Benítez is so regularly consistent, that relying on him in this way is hardly ever a risk. Collins acknowledged his importance post-match, saying:
“He's so important. I think he'll be the first to say that last week, by his standards, was not his best, but we know that he's always going to come back stronger and better for it.”
“Fight and Character”
Republic is going through a rough stretch. It’s not a secret. The fans know it, the players know it, and I’ve seen far too many “Collins out!” posts over the past 2-3 weeks. But tonight showed that the club still has some fight in it, the first we’ve seen in several matches. Going down to 10 men, then down a goal, and crawling back to win on penalty kicks is a hell of a shot in the arm. Captain Lee Desmond acknowledges it hasn’t been good enough… but the fight and character are there:
“Look, we’re just going through a spell at the minute where we’re not playing particularly well… It happens, we’re making life a little bit difficult for ourselves, but we showed so much fight and character tonight, which maybe we didn’t in the last couple of weeks, and so I’m proud to see us show that side of the game again.”
The 2 points tonight were nice, and borderline mandatory to advance past the group stage, but the bigger story here is that Republic didn’t show the quit they showed the last few weeks. Here’s to hoping we won’t see that quit again.
The Bad:
Defensive Instability
Republic defensive woes over the past 5 matches have not been fun to watch. They’ve allowed 8 goals in those 5 matches, and a large reason is the back and forth switching of center backs. While Lee Desmond has played in all 5 of those matches, averaging a 6.94 player rating, he’s been paired off and on with Essel, Timmer, and occasionally Chibi, who are combined averaging a 6.26 player rating in games that they start. Republic is sorely missing an injured Freddy Kleemann.
Part of the problem with filling Kleemann’s role while he’s out is that Essel is a different sort of defender and Timmer is still returning from injury. Essel’s defensive style is much more mobile than Kleemann’s is—realistically, he’s more of a center defensive mid who can fill in at center back when needed.
And Timmer is quite clearly not fully up to speed yet. He has yet to play more than a single half in a match, and last week I questioned if he would even be playing at all if Kleemann wasn’t injured. Now, I think he will get there—he is coming off of post-season surgery after all. But for the time being, he consistently is just a step behind where he should be. That step behind ultimately led to a red card in this match, when he grabbed and clearly fouled a Monterey player who was through on goal. If you haven’t listened to the Quail Call yet, we broke down the foul and explained why it’s a red card:
Everything being said, this was a solid defensive performance from the boys while down a man. But playing solid defensively against a bottom of the table team should be the expectation.
What Stood Out:
Even within a tournament with weird rules, saying “2 points” still sounds odd. But it was a good 2 points. Republic are certainly going through a rough patch, but they are by no means down for the count. Their USL Cup fate is in their hands, needing simply a point in Boise to advance, and while they are out of playoff position in the USL table, they’re only 6 points out of 2nd with a game or 2 in hand over most of the opposition. There is still time to turn things around as the dog days of summer roll in.
Coming up are some very winnable games—starting with a weekend match up in Colorado, against a beatable Colorado Springs team. I know some folks are on the “Collins out” train already but I think he’s earned just a little more time, especially given all the injuries to start the year.
Side note, speaking of the Switchbacks, they will be missing former Republic player Duke Lacroix, who was called up to the Haitian national team for the World Cup—best of luck to Duke!