Caps need more from defence, Montero
With two big games in the next 10 days facing the Whitecaps, let’s take another look at Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Minnesota United.
The Caps have rediscovered respectability this season through tight defensive work and some opportunistic attacking. They’re in the playoff mix because of both.
They don’t bleed shots against from quality spots like they did last year, and while they’re playing more without the ball than with it, they’ve been creating plenty of chances with what possession they’ve had.
MLS analyst Matt Doyle made a pair of vital Whitecaps observations this weekend that are important to keep in mind about playoff chatter while the schedule gets tougher over the next two months:
They’ll need to sort themselves out defensively, and also figure out how best to get Fredy Montero cooking. The Colombian DP has just five goals and a single assist through 1,138 minutes, which makes this solidly his least productive MLS season on a per-90 basis.
Compared to last season, the defensive play is much improved, but the two goals they conceded on Saturday showed a defensive frailty a much less mediocre team — like say the Fire or NYC FC — could have exploited far more.
That’s a looming nightmare which must absolutely be averted; without key defenders Kendall Waston and Sheanon Williams, the
Whitecaps’ backline will need to be tighter on the road against the Chicago Fire this Saturday and back at home against NYC FC in July 5.
Against Minnesota, the Whitecaps conceded a ton of possession, but actually did a decent enough job limiting quality chances. Even so, they were caught out loitering a couple times and Minnesota didn’t let the chances go by.
Minnesota’s possession number on the weekend, 77 per cent, is insane. A better team will create more. Francisco Calvo’s goal, which pulled his side within one, was about two things: a great first pass from Calvo, which threaded its way past several Caps to find Kevin Molino out on the wing, and then Calvo finding himself wide open in a glorious scoring spot, waiting for Molino to get him the ball back.
The Caps’ defensive structure got totally flummoxed by an extra guy pushing forward out of nowhere like Calvo did; Calvo attacked as if he were actually a sweeper and not just a modern centre back. The sweeper’s job in an older era of soccer was to clean up defensive situations and then find attacking chances when he could.
The second goal against was similar to struggles seen early in the year: the opponent surging towards the Whitecaps’ goal and the defensive line caught too deep to deal with a second wave of attackers.
The Whitecaps’ defensive approach this season has been about taking away inside attacking chances while waiting for the other team to make mistakes on the outside, with a counterattack to follow. They then play for quick chances in the middle or look to draw chances for set pieces.
But against a team like Chicago, one of the league’s best passing teams, they will need to disrupt more. Case in point: Chicago scored a marvellous goal on Saturday against Orlando that came on the end of an 18-pass sequence.
Minnesota had a boatload of long passing sequences on Saturday.
Nearly as vital a fix is finding a way to get Montero involved more. The striker, as Doyle notes, is behind his previous MLS scoring pace. Much of that is because the Whitecaps have been mostly deploying him as a lone striker, though there’s a team approach to attacking which had been finding success.
They’ve been one of the most balanced teams in the league in terms of attacking zones, a statement about the strength of their wide players. In this team-based approach, the Colombian was getting scoring chances and was probably unlucky to have not bagged another goal or two.
That approach has stalled some, because with Waston out the last two games, Andrew Jacobson has been forced to drop into central defence. That’s made for less distribution through the middle.
Add in Christian Bolanos’s absence through injury and the Caps’ wide attacking focus has fallen on Cristian Techera. The Bug has done very, very well, but like his team, how long can he keep it up?