Match Thread: July 1, 2019 - Valour FC v York9 FC

[ironcub14]

On 7/1/2019 at 4:05 PM, Lofty said:

Neither did the players. Mitter was getting hung out to dry by the left wingback, which appeared to be Arguiñarena. For the first half hour, York had the freedom of IGF on Valour's left flank.

Yep, this is what I saw as well, not only the first half, but the second half as well. Good observation.

The other thing I didn't understand about Valour's back 4 this game was, why a left-footed player who I thought was a CB, your captain Murrell, was playing at RB this game for the first 60 minutes until Gutierrez came in. I'm assuming it's because of injuries or something? You could tell Murrell was good on the ball, but a lefty playing RB will do very little damage offensively, as they can't cross on the overlap.

Edited July 5, 2019 by ironcub14

[jonovision]

3 hours ago, ironcub14 said:

Rewatched the game closely last night. This was my first time watching Valour FC, as I mainly stick to Y9 matches. I read this thread, so I had your comments in mind, but for me, I saw nothing wrong with Mitter at all, I saw one bad turnover and that was it.

If anything, I thought by far the weakest point of Winnipeg this game was your LB, Arguinarena. His positioning was absolutely horrid. The three best chances Y9 had all game all came from him being completely out of position and leaving your left flank completely exposed. The goals we actually scored was a Doner rocket out of nowhere, a deflected Aparicio FK, and a last minute counter, but our three best chances all came from a sweeping pass to your left flank with Arguinarena nowhere to be found. Just wanted to pass that on.

I thought Valour's offense wasn't bad either, good players who got lots of good shots on Ingham in the 2nd half. You should have seen Y9's offense in the first 3-4 games of the season when Brennan tried to impose a 5-3-2, I was genuinely worried.

Mitter usually looks fine, but his foot speed is that of someone approaching 40. He also does a lot of yelling at his teammates, a distinction that is usually earned by age or experience, but not in his case.

The issue with the left side of Valour's defense seemed largely down to the fact that they were playing some sort of 3-5-2/4-4-2 hybrid. For much of the year they've been playing a back 3 (Mitter, Murrell and Thomas when all 3 have been available) with Arguinarena and usually Gutierrez pushed up as wingbacks. In this match they clearly started in this formation, but eventually seemed to rotate into something approaching a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, which has not typically been their formation. I think Gale and this transition have much to do with the positioning issues, and Mitter playing far too narrow (he had previously been the central CB of the back 3 with Murrell and Thomas). As you mention, the left-footed Murrell playing on the right makes no sense, but it makes slightly more sense as the right most of a back 3 than it does as a traditional right back. The game plan was clearly 3 at the back, and this was adjusted later in the first half.

It was probably Arguinarena's worst game of the season, but think Gale and Mitter also have to share the blame for those openings on the left side. 

Edited July 5, 2019 by jonovision

[jonovision]

As for the Valour offense "looking good", did the York keeper have a single difficult save to make after the goal?

[ironcub14]

I might watch the beginning of the game quickly one more time. I swore I thought I saw Valour with a 4-2-3-1, but I'll keep what you said in mind. But for sure, if the shape is being shifted mid-game, or drastically from one game to the next, then for sure players will find their positioning inconsistent for sure.

And yep, Ingham did make a couple difficult saves off the top of my head in the 2nd half. There were a lot of pretty well-hit shots at Ingham, but lots went directly to him. Still, I didn't see too many obvious offensive breakdowns from Winnipeg or anything.

[ironcub14]

55 minutes ago, Lofty said:

The problem Galey is having, so far as I can see, is that both Arguiñarena and Mitter are too good to leave on the bench while Murrell and Thomas are his blue-eyed boys so he refuses to leave them on the bench. But it is hard to get all four on the pitch in a sensible way.

Left footed Murrell is probably best suited to be a left back but Arguiñarena is better. Which means he is a centre back but Mitter and Thomas are better. Which means he is a left footed right back!

Or you put Murrell on the left of a back three (with Thomas and Mitter) and play your best DEFENDER, Arguiñarena, as a left wing back, where he is not nearly as effective because he is required to do less defending and more attacking.

Any way you look at it, Murrell is the odd man out when all are healthy but Galey stubbornly refuses to see it. Murrell needs to be used as a depth player, not an automatic starter. And until Galey accepts this, Valour will continue to under perform.

I'm saying this literally off the one game I saw, but couldn't you put Thomas at RB, Mitter and Murrell as RCB and LCB, and Arguinarena as LB?

[ironcub14]

4 minutes ago, Lofty said:

Yes, but you have then weakened your central defence (vs. Thomas/Mitter who are a much more imposing duo) and have your tallest player at full back. Definitely not optimal. And the only reason for doing it would be to get Murrell on the pitch. The simple fact is that Valour's best line up does not include Murrell -- in any formation.

Damn. Respect to that, thanks for all the good analysis. Cheers dude.

[ironcub14]

2 minutes ago, Lofty said:

To be fair I was very impressed with your analysis of Valour. There is no way I could put up such accurate and insightful thoughts about York! (Or any other CPL team for that matter.)

Ah you flatter me, I didn't have that much from my viewing about Valour except for Arguinarena, and it was only because it became so apparent throughout the game. Anything else, I picked it up from this thread, you and Jono.

I do add a bit of analysis about Y9 time to time in the team thread, just added a small thing earlier today, feel free to give it a quick look. Cheers! Here's to a better Fall season for both teams.

[jonovision]

Thomas is also too slow to play RB.