One positive that I can think of is the fact that you are able to keep position allowing the ball to find its way forward to create attacking opportunities instead of lofting a 50/50 ball towards the half line. This can work if you have the proper players on the field that can make this work. The key is having that CAM that can collect the ball from the defense and turn and create some space in order to link up with the attacking players, be it with the forwards or the other midfielders. Unfortunately for the Fire this worked a small percentage of the time especially when Grazzini was shipped out and when Pardo missed time due to injury. Another positive for short goal kicks is if the elements are not in favor of taking long kicks. This is important especially on windy days. I know that growing up and playing soccer the coaches always said that if it is windy always try to keep the ball on the ground.
The major negative to playing this way is the fact that the opposing teams would play a high pressure defense. Towards the end of the season when Frank was playing the short goal kick all the time the opposing teams would play a high pressure defense effectively taking the space away from the defenders and the midfielders. If the defenders were able to receive the ball from the goalie deep in their own half the high pressure would force them to boot the ball down field. If you look at the last game of the regular season against DC you can see that the high pressure forced more turnovers from the Fire than anything else. With the high pressure also forced Sean into taking long goal kicks after wasting valuable time trying to go short. I'll point out the DC game as an example again, if you watch the second half where Sean was forced to take the long kicks, he kicked them towards Anibaba who looked like he was not ready for them. And most the time, since the Fire had no CAM, the ball was almost always played out to our wings. This forces our team to be more one dimensional and gives a tactical advantage to opposing teams. If Frank continues to use this tactic during the 2013 season the rest of the league will just play a high pressure system to effectively kill any momentum that the Fire will try to create.
I will say that with the proper players on the pitch the Fire can use this effectively but they have to do a couple things first. They will have to get Sean to practice long distribution so they can randomly use it during games in order to keep the opposing team guessing what they will do. Frank and company will have to find that CAM that can create space and attacks after receiving the ball from the defense of d-mids. I know some of you will say that our CAM is Rolfe but I disagree. Rolfe is a STRIKER and should be used as such. He is much better making runs off of Macdonald and also putting himself into a position to receive crosses from either wing.
Random thoughts about Garber's "State of the League":
- Yeah there was conversation of the MLS Cup being Beckham's last game in the MLS. Personally I just give it a "meh". I don't want to go into how he helped the sport here and blah, blah, blah. But I can guarantee you that you will be able to play the Beckham drinking game during the MLS Cup on ESPN.
- Garber discussed the investment that has gone in to development of young American players and the reserve league. I hope the investment continues but the reserve league needs an over haul. The 2012 reserve league only consisted of playing 10 games. I'm sorry but that is not nearly enough to develop any of the young talent that is coming into this league. My opinion is that the league should work on an agreement with the NASL in order to field "B" teams. I know this seems far fetched but they do it in Europe. Imagine the Fire's reserve team playing a competitive game against a lower division side week in and week out. You will see a vast improvement in the depth of talent on the squads of every MLS team. Who knows what Don Garber has planned, but he have better do something so the younger players can develop.
- Now on to his beloved brain child of NYC2. He mentioned that since 1996 it has always been said there should be 2 teams in LA and 2 teams in NY. I still don't get the reason for this when there are plenty of other cities that would love to have a franchise. There is the owner of the Atlanta Falcons that has expressed interest but needs to build a stadium. San Antonio sounds like a good option since they just expanded their stadium to almost 20K. Orlando City FC seems to be getting a good following but like Atlanta they also need to build a stadium. How about this report out of Tampa Bay. They already have a proposal into the city and it seems that the financial backers seem to be very legit. I wouldn't mind seeing another team in Florida. I do have to say that Don did leave the option open that if the NYC2 project falters that he will look at other sites. The other problem I have with NYC2 is that since it will be centrally located in Flushing Meadows that this will take some of the attendance away from the Red Bulls. That team in NJ is having a tough time as it is trying to fill the stadium. I have watched games where they said that the announced attendance was around 20K but there must have been about 8K in the stadium. If they are having a tough time now imagine what will happen when you give an option to fans to stay closer to New York City proper.
