The high press of the opposition has been a real thorn in the side of the San Jose Earthquakes. Jamon Moore argues some big changes, while remaining true to Almeyda’s game model, are needed. Photo credit: Aaron Morgan / Quakes Epicenter
Emma Hayes is one of soccer’s most brilliant minds of this generation. After managing Chelsea to the finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League a few weeks back, she recently penned a detailed tactical article for The Athletic as to why England should be playing with two holding midfielders at the European tournament. In this article, she talked about why her heart said England should play one way to get their best players on the field, but her head told her it should be another way because of the principles of play.
The following paragraph very much sounds like something Earthquakes’ head coach Matías Almeyda would say (if you took out the words “pitch geography”).
I am constantly impressing the importance of pitch geography. Drilling on the training ground, so critical to everything, ensures they all know their phases, their roles, the patterns of play and what is expected of them in any context. It’s about playing to your strengths, but your strengths to beat a specific opponent.
Emma Hayes: Why England should play two holding midfielders at Euro 2020, by Emma Hayes in The Athletic, June 12, 2021
But the next part of the article shows why Hayes completely gets why England has been so lackluster in major tournaments over the past…um…decades. Honestly, if Southgate ever proves to not be the answer for England, they should strongly consider bringing in Hayes.
The creative free spirits you hoped would flourish have no foothold in the game without a defensive platform behind them and are starved of possession without ball-winners wrestling back control.
…
The more I coach, the more I realise it all boils down to structure, structure, structure. The more I coach, the more I realise you can never compromise on that front. If you don’t have a proper structure, you’re in trouble.
Emma Hayes: Why England should play two holding midfielders at Euro 2020, by Emma Hayes in The Athletic, June 12, 2021
Recent Struggles
The Earthquakes are struggling to fight a multi-front war here. When the Almeyda man-marking system is at it’s best, we all know what it can do. The Quakes look like world-beaters. But when one thing goes, the whole thing goes, and the losing streak starts and feels like it will never end. That’s where we find ourselves again.
So what is it that causes it to unravel? What is it that causes the well to run dry of goals while simultaneously adding goals to the opponent tally? As Hayes identified, it’s when the structural balance of the team is upset by either factors in their control or outside of their control. In 2020, the factors were in their control — obviously, because they fixed them.
Mostly the bad stretch in 2020 was due to one big offensive failure and one big defensive failure. Offensively, it was a failure in the build-up play that was solved by JT Marcinkowski. The opposition was pressing the center backs and Jackson Yueill, and San Jose struggled to play out and connect passes. Once JT began starting games, the team effectively got a man advantage to adjust to pressure that had previously worked to get the Quakes to turn the ball over early. The previous tape that showed how to press the Quakes no longer worked, and they were free to execute their offense.
Defensively, they were simultaneously giving up too many shots in front of goal (due to structural breakdowns in the man-marking) and allowing set piece goals at record-breaking levels. Both were mostly solved also by JT Marcinkowski (with a bit of help from Tanner Beason if you look closely enough) and his communication with the defensive midfielders and backline that became very clear in empty-stadium games. Not to mention that having the ball on the other side of the pitch more meant fewer opposition opportunities. Judson and Lima were also quite effective in minimizing counter-attacks.
A Numbers Problem
Now we find the Quakes in their first “bad” stretch of 2021. The blueprint of how to beat this version of the San Jose Earthquakes was discovered in week one by Tab Ramos and the Houston Dynamo. If you press the Quakes in a particular way, you can take away the build-up advantages that Marcinkowski helped create in 2020. This was more-or-less replicated in several games by Real Salt Lake, Seattle, Sporting KC, and, to a lesser extent, the LA Galaxy. Our own Asher Kohn detailed this type of “accordion press” (although I’m pretty sure he made up the term) in a recent article. Effectively, it’s a flavor of man press that simultaneously takes away options from JT Marcinkowski both close to goal and away from goal.
This screenshot from Second Spectrum wide-angle tactical cam view (which you’ve no doubt seen featured in articles on MLSsoccer.com this season) from the game against the Seattle Sounders shows it really well.
One of the common pressing triggers happens when the ball is played to the sideline, whether to one of the fullbacks or at the times when the center backs split wide. In the screenshot above, it’s Marcos Lopez, but it could be anyone. The key objective, if not to force a turnover, is to get the ball recycled back to Marcinkowski, give him no options, force him to kick it long, and win it back from a header/second ball. It’s been extremely effective when done right.
Here’s the equivalent overhead (with apologies for the flipped pitch) from Second Spectrum’s 2D Animator.
In this situation, the Quakes make it even easier for the Sounders: Ruidiaz takes away both Jungwirth and Marcinkowski, forcing Lopez to play forward. The outcome here is a turnover to Alex Roldan (A. Roldan – 16), although some quick counter-pressing from Chofis (J. Lopez – 9) ends up winning the ball back. Even then, the Quakes are in a bit of trouble if not for some quick dribbling from Chofis to create space.
Winning at Keep-Away
Because soccer is a big game of keep-away, when you are able to swarm with numbers and get numerical superiority, you tend to win the ground battle if not the war. That’s a big problem for the Quakes right now — one that they solved with JT last year when teams lacked the time to really organize their pressing. Now that numerical superiority has gone away, the familiar refrain of the build-out issues leading to losses is back, if not by huge goal differences so far.
I asked Jackson Yueill in the midweek press conference about how the Quakes can get the numbers back in their favor.
There’s a lot to take away from this video, but let me pull out a couple salient quotes.
“We’ve been working on having…extra people around the ball. It comes from everyone, and it starts with JT and the goalkeepers trying to find the right way of building it up through the midfield, trying to include the width.”
Jackson later continued, “We’ve learned a lot from the recent defeats. Teams have stepped high and sat back, and those are two things that we’ve tried to break down in training. It involves more movement and trying to spread out the defense, if possible, and find the open man. The focus is to find the free player…”
Well said by Captain Jackson. The focus in keep-away is to find the free player. If you keep finding the free player, you keep the ball, unless there is a mistake in the transition of moving the ball between players. If the Quakes can keep finding the open man without making a mistake with the pass, they can maintain possession which is a key principle for Almeyda’s style of play.
Loss of Pressure
Certainly Yueill is more forwardly mobile than Judson, who is more side-to-side, but that seems more suited to their strengths, rather than a system thing. Directionally, Eric Remedi is a bit more naturally vertical, but he has adapted to being more side-to-side as needed, as has Yueill. Although neither can match Judson’s league-leading pressures for CM/DM in 2020 and associated turnover rate, both are league leaders in area covered according to Second Spectrum.
However, no Quakes player is among the 32 players with over 100 pressures this season. That’s a concern. If the Quakes are not winning the ball back quickly, that means they are playing more from deeper in their own end, as Anay Patel’s instant classic pointed out (if you haven’t read it yet, stop reading this and go read that). I’m borrowing the charts below from Anay’s article.
The Quakes have never had high starting positions under Almeyda because of the way they funnel players and win balls from bad progressions, as Anay demonstrated in his article. However, in 2021 they are starting an average of three to four yards deeper than the previous two years, and it’s having a huge difference and giving more opportunity to be pressed. They have to start winning the balls a bit higher.
They’ve Gotta Be Them
There has been a lot of discussion on social media channels as well as on podcasts about various things San Jose could do to turn things around. The problem is that you and I are not the coach. You and I do not get to determine the strategy, game model, philosophy, and style of this team. That rests with Matías Almeyda and, to some extent, Jesse Fioranelli.
We would almost certainly do something very different if it were in our power to do so, so any suggestions of moving away from man-marking or taking wingers off the field aren’t realistic. Almeyda gonna Almeyda, and that’s just fine — the problems are not really in the style, the problems are in how the style is interpreted on the field and how it needs to adjust to the opposition’s tactics to some extent while not losing the game model and philosophy of what makes the Quakes the Quakes — effectively what makes the Bielsa/Almeyda model what it is.
Even Almeyda doesn’t like to adjust to the opposition, because in the Bielsa philosophy, the objective is to impose yourself on the opposition and make them adjust to you. That said, we’ve seen that, although he’s pretty darn stubborn about it, Almeyda can adjust when he decides to at least between games, although much less during them.
So whatever changes we recommend needs to hold to the basic tenants of the Almeyda philosophy and game model. Basically, we can’t stray outside of these areas:
- The man-marking system has to stay intact and not be negatively impacted by any changes.
- The focus of the attack is through winger play and making the pitch wider.
- Making the pitch wider is supported by fullbacks in the attack.
There are other elements, but these are the ones that seem to be immutable. There may be a fourth one that we’re gonna need to play with, though.
Introducing the 3-4-3
It’s in the title, so you knew it was coming. You might be asking, “Why not go with the more popular 3-5-2?”. Since a 3-5-2 would cause problems for #2 and #3 above, we have to rule it out. That’s not to say that Almeyda has never used a 3-5-2 as a coach before, because he has, but it doesn’t seem to have been used more than a couple of times before. It’s also a further departure from what the Quakes are used to playing, and so it would take more work — and probably more losses — to get it to work well.
Since Almeyda has come to the Earthquakes, he has stuck with one formation: the 4-2-1-3. That is not my interpretation of his formation, Matías specifically called this his formation in an interview with an Argentine radio station this offseason. (For all those that don’t think Jackson Yueill plays as part of a double-pivot, Almeyda himself would take issue with that.)
You might have thought before now that Almeyda feels obligated to only use the 4-2-1-3. We’ve never really talked much about formations with him because it never seemed like there was an option for something different. But at all his previous coaching stops he used several formations. Here are the formations Almeyda used pre-Earthquakes and their associated win-loss-draw record according to Transfermarkt data. Likely uses of a 3-4-3 or similar formation are highlighted in yellow.
Transfermarkt is missing some data, but the fact remains that a 3-4-3 is a formation Almeyda has used before, even if it was a few years ago. In fact, it appears he was pretty successful with it.
The 3-4-3 has recently come back in vogue in Europe according to John Muller’s research, probably because it has been successful against other types of formations.
Can the 3-4-3 help the Quakes?
So the interesting thing about using the 3-4-3 formation is the defensive weaknesses of it don’t apply much at all in a man-marking system. As soon as San Jose plays defense, they would just employ their current man-marking strategy. However, the benefit of the 3-4-3 from a defensive perspective is they would be able to more naturally defend central attacks with an extra center back (who may or may not be the “free” defender). Defending centrally, particularly in transition, has been a big problem for the Quakes over the past three seasons.
The Quakes were the worst team in 2020 giving up goals from simple passes in the middle of the pitch called “Basic Pass” goals in my Where Goals Come From articles on American Soccer Analysis. If San Jose already have the middle of the pitch set up with an additional player to help defensively — the central center back — they may give up fewer of these types of goals.
And, yes, I have an idea who that “central center back” could be.
It Really is as Simple as Judson
Many Quakes fans have been asking the question: “How can Almeyda get Judson onto the pitch at the same time as Yueill and Remedi?” Almeyda has already been giving us a key to that answer:
Also, regarding his conditioning, we have to get him into the shape that he was at last year where he was a fundamental player for the team. Judson can play as a center back, fullback and midfielder. Because of those characteristics, these types of players can fulfill any position that we play them. We hope we can get him back to his level as quickly as possible.
Matías Almedya, April 28, 2021 – Midweek press conference before DC United game
This wasn’t the only time that Almeyda has mentioned this season that Judson could play as a center back in a press conference, either. Clearly, he is working on some plan for Judson’s inclusion into the center back corp. The question is whether he’s a potential replacement for Florian Jungwirth (along with the rumored Brazilian center back Nathan Cardoso from FC Zürich) or whether he can fit in the middle.
Sitting deeper is not unusual for Judson. It’s easy to find games in 2020 where he was practically a third back in the passing network charts.
If Judson was already sitting between the center backs, then what’s the point of the 3-4-3? The answer is Eric Remedi. Normally in the 4-2-1-3, either Remedi or Judson would have to step off because there’s no chance Yueill, the team captain, is going to step off.
Someone has to Step Off
We’re back to preseason discussions here. The only way to get Judson, Yueill, and Remedi on the pitch together is to take someone else off. The 3-4-3 gives some options, and you might be jumping to FALSE 9 CHOFIS conclusions right now as happened in the Quakes Epicenter patron Slack, but Emma Hayes (remember her?) would discourage you from that.
This is a group who are well schooled in starting with a back three, one that might see Walker or Luke Shaw tuck in as a third centre-back and ask wing backs to provide the width. That system probably best suits the defenders and midfielders at the manager’s disposal, though not the attackers. England lack a centre-forward who wants to run the channels and stretch the play, a Timo Werner-type. You need that in a 3-4-3, a striker who extends the pitch vertically and provides some depth, opening up areas in which the team can play…You simply can’t make the pitch short, and clogged up, if you want that formation to work.
Emma Hayes: Why England should play two holding midfielders at Euro 2020, by Emma Hayes in The Athletic, June 12, 2021
I’ve got your Timo Werner-type right here: Cade Cowell. The 3-4-3 needs verticality, and Cade has that in spades. So does Cristian Espinoza, but we want to maintain the winger play and keep Espinoza at the Right Wing (or Left Wing, if necessary).
Speaking of winger play, you know who played winger for Almeyda at Chivas? Eduardo “La Chofis” Lopez. He wasn’t playing a bunch of enganche 10 for Matías; he was playing almost exclusively on the wing.
That begins to make it obvious who is the starting casualty in all this: Carlos Fierro. What this means is the Quakes will lose a lot of crosses, and that’s perfectly fine. Winger play is important, but not floating crosses. We want the wingers combining with the striker and full backs and sometimes the center midfielders to create through balls and cutbacks, ala the 2019 and 2020 version of Espinoza. Without a natural 10, Yueill and Remedi can get further forward with Judson behind them to help stop counters once the press has been broken.
I’ve layed out the basic player options above, but really there is a lot more than can be done in this type of rotation. You can give various players rest and not lose a lot in the process. Also, feel free to substitute Nathan? with your preferred CB signing.
The Numbers Game: Beat the Press
This brings us back to the point of the article: consistently beating the press to create more attacking chances. Remember it’s about numerical superiority. Most watchers of the recent games would understand the issue here. The Quakes are getting matched up player-for-player near Marcinkowski and it’s forcing them to hoof it long. Cade is fast, but he’s not getting to most of these balls and neither is Cristian Espinoza, because they are out-manned 4v3.
What is needed is support and numerical overloads. If the Quakes can show their opponents they will consistently play out successfully, teams will move away from these man presses and change tactics. That may allow Almeyda to go back to the 4-2-1-3 or a different configuration may be needed.
Having Judson back to support helps solve the number problem. If teams put another player back to cover Judson, then they are taking a player away from covering Cowell, Espinoza, and Chofis. I don’t know about you, but I like those chances 1v1. I’d kick it long 1v1 to them all day long.
Today teams can ignore Chofis when they press since he’s too high up the pitch to be of any good to the backs. As demonstrated by the graphic above, teams can put four back to handle the Earthquakes’ front three.
The Earthquakes need to flip the script and force teams to either abandon the press because they are risking getting beat in behind by committing too many pressing players forward and not committing enough players to cover the speed and skill up top. This will give San Jose the numerical advantage to successfully play keep-away for as long as they need.
Inspiration from the UEFA Men’s Champions League
Almeyda needn’t look very far for inspiration. Gian Piero Gasperini runs a very similar man-marking style at Atalanta in Serie A but with, you guessed it, a 3-4-3. Gasperini is not from the Bielsa coaching tree, but he employs a quite similar style and approach, one which Almeyda can look to borrow from in this situation. By using the 3-4-3, it provides Gasperini with options like we have discussed in this article for breaking pressure. Like Almeyda and Bielsa, Gasperini plays a very aggressive offensive style.
The Atalanta video below from Carl Carpenter is not specifically about breaking a press, but it can be similarly applied. The important part to watch is the movement of the center backs and the freedom to create overloads and progress the ball through dribbling, support, and off-the-ball movements.
Video credit: Carl Carpenter
Conclusion
With a 3-4-3 Matías Almeyda would have to give up his enganche, but he’s done it before at Chivas, River Plate, and particularly Banfield. When faced with an aggressive man press that is preventing them from executing their game plan in almost every game, the Quakes have to make potentially big adjustments to wrest control back from their opponents.
The numerical advantages to beating the press are too great, and the importance that Judson brings defensively stopping counter-attacks and pressuring players into bad passes is as well. While it could mean sacrificing starting Fierro, the good news is that he can come on with Wondo in the 70th minute when that crossing might be more useful than against fresh center backs tracking Cade Cowell.
As the earlier Emma Hayes quote indicated, the creative free spirits of the Quakes front line can’t do what they need to do if the ball-winners can’t do their roles higher up the pitch. That can’t happen when the Quakes are pinned inside their own end. It’s a vital part of a free-flowing attack to have the right defenders behind them, advancing through the press, winning balls higher, and stopping potential counterattacks. It’s time to add Judson to the mix.
