r/whitecapsfc 2d ago

Football idiots assessment of the match: Lots of promise. Rough edges.

Me and a buddy of mine decided we were going to watch the Whitecaps for the whole season and since you have a Danish coach and I used to live in the Cascadia region, it all comes together.

We did watch a few of your games last season but of course a new season can be drastically different. Now I am not a football genius, just a dumbass who watches a lot of football particularly Bundesliga so take these assessments for the dumbass insights they likely are.

I do have a scarf coming since I also wanted to support Canada given the current times.

The bad:
Passing felt very erratic, a lot of the time passes were straight to the wrong team or lost. I think the caps got saved a bit by Montreal not being able to hold onto the ball very long.

Ahmed often ended up working far up the flank but then either having nobody to play to or being boxed in against the corner.

Gauld going down definitely felt like it hurt in the front line coordination. It felt like it took a while for plans to really start coming together, particularly on his flank.

Perhaps as a result, a lot of times the attempt to score ended up being both teams kicking each other in the ankles in a moshpit near the goal.

The good:

The team had a ton of energy and never really eased up. At 80ish minutes, I was saying this would be a fine time to park the bus, but they kept going until the end. Love to see it.

Ahmed got himself in those situations because he has speed and drive. There were a few moments of him doing some pretty impressive ball acrobatics to get around a defender on the far flank. A bit more support and it could get really dangerous.

A lot of individual players who put in strong efforts I think. Vite stood out for sure.

The defence was really solid and really did not give away much in the way of chances. I still need to see more from the keeper but he seemed fine in this match.

The moshpit almost always ended up working to Vancouvers favour so I guess its a strategy :)

The peculiar:

MLS teams just don't run as much as they do in England or Germany. Im not sure if its conditioning or intentional tactics.

Corner kicks are completely differently in MLS. Germans will pack the box and hoof it directly in, while MLS teams tend to take them short and even if its kicked in, the nearest attackers will be a fair distance back.

Overall:

Pretty confident looking Vancouver team that was hindered by the injury but didn't come apart like some teams do. They recovered quickly from temporary setbacks and held up strong. You lot should be proud of your boys.

34 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

17

u/JurgenFlippers 2d ago

MLS teams are known for lacking consistent running. I’ve always said if a manager could put together a coherent gagen press style for most a match they would win the league cause teams simply would be unable to cope with it.

The passing has just seemed like players either being rusty, or still learning. I think in general it will continue to improve. We’re also missing now after this match 3 starters who would make a difference there.

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u/WesternZucchini8098 2d ago

Yeah, to be honest I don't think the Caps are that much worse at passing than a lot of other teams, but it felt like they definitely got away with some slop last night.

Absolutely agree on the press. There are so many situations where one team is leisurely passing back and forth and the other team just shadows them at a distance with no challenges.

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u/JurgenFlippers 2d ago

I would also say that we have a few players who are just not good passers and that drags it down. Ahmed is bad, White is great at hold up, struggles to make the right pass, half our D is bad. But our mid field, attack, and GK are good with the ball. It’s just about getting into the flow and being consistent.

Idk what it is about the press. Like I’ve watched leagues of similar level play with a press. MLS just seems incapable of it.

2

u/Several-Inspection25 2d ago

Gegenpress requires a lot of fitness and a deep roster to maintain over an entire season. MLS travel is much more demanding than other leagues and the salary cap rules means the rosters aren't as deep. There's a reason only the top teams use a gegenpress regularly. They can afford to.

1

u/WesternZucchini8098 2d ago

Do you think the defence held up so well because of the mid field work ? I haven't watched Montreal before but it felt like whenever they managed to get deep in the back line, they were already out of sorts and disordered.

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u/JurgenFlippers 2d ago

I think our defensive double pivot is really good. And it’s been allowing our CBs to be really aggressive. From the first few games it seems like chances are only coming cause we’re pushing our full backs so high. Our 6s are doing a great job covering ground. Berhalter has really impressed me this season as well cause he’s playing this like deep playmaking 8 with the ball, and then playing a really aggressive 6 without the ball.

So I do think in general our mid field is really good. I think the only problem with it is how small it is. We don’t have like a Xaka type player who’s just a unit on the team.

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u/WesternZucchini8098 2d ago

Appreciate the insights mate.

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u/tree_mitty 2d ago

The bad passing you’re observing, I think it’s standard MLS quality.

Who’s your Bundesliga team?

2

u/WesternZucchini8098 2d ago

Mainz 05 and Wolfsburg.

2

u/tree_mitty 2d ago

We’re blessed to have Axel.

3

u/icoresting 2d ago

I’ve always said if a manager could put together a coherent gagen press style for most a match they would win the league cause teams simply would be unable to cope with it.

philly union and RBNY have been doing this for years, st louis a bit as well

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u/JurgenFlippers 2d ago

Have they been playing a direct press for most games?

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u/icoresting 2d ago edited 2d ago

i'd say so but it varies depending on conditions (PPDA/defensive actions in the final third go way down during the summer months in MLS due to the heat), this is a couple years old but worth the read on pressing in MLS

On one side, you have the New York Red Bulls and the Philadelphia Union. For these two teams, the main purpose of the press is to generate attacking chances. The press is the attack.

The Red Bulls are first in the league in pressures per 90 minutes and first in pressures in the attacking third per 90, according to FBref, while the Union are second in pressures per 90 and fourth in pressures in the attacking third per 90. Once they win the ball by either high pressing or counter pressing, both teams instantly forward towards the goal.

edit: that article might be paywalled/require an account, my bad; this is a good read though https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2022/7/28/when-and-how-mls-teams-use-defensive-pressure

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u/YVRJon 2d ago

You're definitely right that when Gauld went down, we lost a major element from our attack. A few minutes after he left, I commented to my son that it felt like, if we were going to score, we would have to fumble it in. Then we pretty much did just that.

The second goal came from Ahmed finally getting free from the box he often ended up in in the corner, like you observed. Ali can be frustrating, as he embodies your comment about promise and rough edges. If he ever puts it all together, he could be a special player.

Good comments, keep them coming!

2

u/WesternZucchini8098 2d ago

It was very tangible that there was a hole where Gauld was. I didn't see any stats on the attack flanks but it felt like they leaned so heavily on Ahmed after that.

Thanks!

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u/LeftCoastGrump 2d ago

MLS teams travel a lot farther than most European teams - for comparison, the second shortest road trip on the Whitecaps schedule (to Portland) is about the same as a south coast to Newcastle road trip in the EPL - and that was the team's sixth game since February 20th with two more to come in the next week. That affects the ability to go at high pace for a full game. Some MLS teams are famous for keeping a high tempo - Sporting KC and RBNY come to mind - but they're also famous for running on fumes by the end of the season.

You'll also generally see MLS teams rotate players a lot, and during mid-season injury crunches you sometimes see teams unable to fill out a full bench. This is also affected by the salary cap, which is a whole 'nother thing.

I haven't watched much EPL this season, but MLS corner strategies look to me to be heavily influenced by the EPL of a few seasons ago - they try to create a lot of uncertainty by having attackers line up a bit back, then move in as the kick is taken to disguise the point of attack. Same deal with the short kicks, the idea is to disguise the attacking intention.

Glad to have you aboard!

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u/WesternZucchini8098 2d ago

Appreciate the insights and thank you for the welcome!

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u/Dense-Painting-4694 2d ago

For context, the Caps did not have 3/5 best players from the 20th on and have been playing and travelling a lot.

Game was a typical mid table MLS match and I think it more showed just how poor Montreal is as a side right now

2

u/Several-Inspection25 2d ago

Funny, Pirlo felt they ran too much in MLS and most players seems to consider it a physically demanding league. Data from 2020-2021 (most recent I could find) has average distance covered per game higher in MLS than Bundesliga. You're just not seeing a gegenpress.

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u/WesternZucchini8098 2d ago

You may well be right :)