Tactical Analysis: Atlanta vs. Fort Lauderdale

May 5, 2015 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
Atlanta Silverbacks News Release

Atlanta Silverbacks vs. Fort Lauderdale Strikers
(Atlanta Silverbacks)

The answer? Apparently,a nil-nil draw. There are positives and negatives to this, though. Here are some observations from Saturday's match against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

Filtering out the Strikers

The big question going into the game against Fort Lauderdale was how Atlanta would deal with the attack-happy Strikers. Leo Moura, Victor 'PC' Giro and Marlon Freitas have created a strong midfield down in Florida. The team's rotation of Dani Sanchez, Jose Angulo and Stephano Pinho has only added to an already impressive attack.

So, a week after holding the league-leading New York Cosmos scoreless, the Silverbacks were able to once again scrape up a clean sheet against one of the most threatening teams in the league. A large part of this achievement is due to the fact that the team successfully kept wingers Moura and PC on the outside. PC and, especially, Moura like to push into the middle during their games. Against the Silverbacks, that really wasn't an option. If they did, a brutal, four-man defense of Dominic Oppong, Michael Reed, Rauwshan McKenzie and Simon Mensing awaited.

Instead, the Strikers chose (and were forced) to heap crosses into the box. With 6-foot-6 goalkeeper Steward Ceus, Atlanta was perfectly fine with this. Midfielders Kyle Porter and Jonathan Okafor again pinched into the midfield repeatedly. At times, Porter even had his back to Reed instead of toward the net. Essentially, he cut off any passing lane that could even be considered heading into the middle of the park.

Once Porter and Okafor blocked these lanes, Moura and PC were forced to send in their aerial assault. Like almost every game so far this season, that didn't work out. The physicality and strength of Atlanta's central defenders simply eliminated the majority of those chances.

If the Strikers attacked down the middle, they were forced to do so in fairly deep positions. Reed and Oppong stopped the forward movement of Freitas regularly. With the forwards and rest of the midfield marked, Strikers' midfielder Manny Gonzalez found himself in open space a couple times. This is what happened when he did, though.

By keeping Moura and PC out wide and forcing Freitas and Gonzalez to stay deep, the Silverbacks kept any contact with forwards Sanchez and Angulo to a minimum.

Connection Speed

It's true that the Silverbacks displayed a wonderfully defensive presentation against the highest goal-scoring team in the league. As they did though, the attack suffered. By getting so many people behind the ball defensively, the team was forced to counter as quickly as possible. While this plan may have worked slightly in the beginning, it seemed to teeter out toward the end of the game.

Jaime Chavez did well up top. But, with his game, he needs someone to get him the ball. Therefore, Shaka Bangura, if the ball is moving through the middle. is the man to connect Reed and Oppong with Chavez. It the ball is moving wide, Porter and Okafor are able to do this.

The Silverbacks sat deep, though.

So, as the game went on, these players wore themselves out. At one point, Bangura got the ball almost to the end-line. At that time, Chavez is fighting his way through the 18-yard-box. The rest of the team was still making their way from the other end of the field, though. Without anyone to drop the ball back to, Bangura decides to send a cross into the box himself. Unfortunately, it doesn't connect and the ball is turned over.

Herein lies the beauty of Hans Denissen. He is later subbed in for Chavez to help this situation. The team was almost too defensive and needed someone to help get the ball up the field. In the end, it just wasn't enough and the team stole a point on the road.

Holding the Line

Sometimes, it takes everything you've got to keep the ball out of the net. It gets gritty and difficult, but opponents can't win if they can't score.

While it may not technically be considered tactical analysis, here are two last-ditch, goal-saving displays from the game:

The first comes to you via McKenzie. It looks like the Silverbacks may have an emergency goalkeeper should the need arise.

Last but not least is Ceus' assault on a Fort Lauderdale post. The Strikers are still awaiting confirmation of the severity of the goalpost's injuries.

Atlanta Silverbacks vs. Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Atlanta Silverbacks vs. Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Atlanta Silverbacks vs. Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Atlanta Silverbacks vs. Fort Lauderdale Strikers

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