Nycfc Film Breakdown: Red Bulls First Goal And Why It Happened

[Andres Emilio Soto]

In this film breakdown, I dissect the first goal the Red Bulls scored against NYCFC on March 10th, 2015. To start this off let me point out that MLSSoccer shows that NYCFC used a 4-4-2 formation yet FOX Sports 1 showed a 4-2-3-1 formation with Andrew Jacobson and Ned Grabavoy as the two defensive midfielders. That said I'll be going with what FOX Sports 1 showed which appears to be the case with the first photo we have.

Shown in the first photo we have NYCFC's three midfielders Pablo Alvarez (22), Mix Diskerud (10) and David Villa (orange cleats) in their roles and Ned Grabavoy pressuring what appears to be Felipe. Lloyd Sam is the Red Bull's player near the upper left corner (nearest to the side line referee) marked by RJ Allen. Sacha Kljestan is standing right below him near Chris Wingert and Andrew Jacobson.

Under pressure by Grabavoy, Felipe passes the ball back to Dax McCarty and Mix moves in to pressure McCarty.

Immediately before Mix can get to him, McCarty passes the ball to an unmarked Kljestan. You'll see Villa and RJ Allen pointing to Kljestan as if their saying (using my own intuition) "why is this man unmarked". Though RJ Allen has to stay put because he can't leave Sam alone at the right wing. In this photo you can tell that by having Felipe (8) dropping down, Andrew Jacobson has to decide who he needs to cover. Either follow Kljestan or stay with Felipe. With Grabavoy (11) now running back it might provide Jacobson with an easier decision. Note: Kljestan is already looking to see who is around him before he receives the ball. Great anticipation.

Well, it's off to the races with Kljestan as he pushes the ball forward with Sam on the right wing, Bradley Wright-Phillips (not seen) up front and Mike Grella (13) at the left wing. The Red Bulls also have Felipe as a possible midfield attacker. Jacobson is seen peaking at Wright-Phillips. He is currently only able to mark Felipe and (I'm assuming) he's hoping Grabavoy can catch up to Kljestan. Note: RJ Allen and David Villa are still pointing

Grabavoy does not have the speed to catch up to Kljestan but credit for trying, though he should not have been out of position to begin with. The plays begins to unfold here. RJ Allen starts to sense the pressure and then drifts towards Kljestan to slow him down but is smart enough to know that once he steps up Kljestan will pass the ball to Sam. Note: Villa still pointing

Here RJ Allen is seen stepping up to Kljestan with Grabavoy closing in.

Kljestan then passes the ball off to Sam and RJ Allen now has to press the turbo button to catch up and pressure Sam. Enter Jason Hernandez (21) into the photo. Chris Wingert (17) is currently marking nobody, he doesn't have to at this point but is also seen looking back to see where his players are.

Sam receives the ball. Jason Hernandez (21) is now giving his back to Wright-Phillips but Josh Williams (13) is also there to apply some help. Note: Mike Grella is left unmarked at the moment. Jacobson currently is pacing along with Kljestan and Felipe is also on his back side.

Similar screen shot as the prior slide but note that Wright-Phillips actually moves closer to Hernandez and now with Grella sneaking in closer Williams has to keep an eye on him and Wright-Phillips. No Bueno.

Sam is now confronted by Allen and starts to shake him off. Wright-Phillips also tries to out maneuver Hernandez. Grella now is getting into the box with ease.

Sam stops and cuts to his left (our right). Wright-Phillips also finds some space in between Hernandez and Williams. Grella is alone in the box and at this point (from my opinion) Williams (13) now is in a spot where if Grella receives the pass he'll just have to be reactive instead of proactive. Note: Grabavoy is in no mans land. Alvarez is the only midfielder coming back to defend.

Sam pumps fakes a shot and is about to move to the end line for a final cross. Wright-Phillips (99) is comfy in between both NYCFC defenders and did I mention Grella is by himself? Wingert now is marking Kljestan. QuestionWhat is Grabavoy doing? The least he could do is help RJ Allen if Sam decides to dribble the ball into the middle of the box.

Sam makes his final move to attempt the cross. Wingert allows Kljestan to pass him and with Hernandez moving up front of the box it leaves Williams (13) marking two men.

Sam (how many times am I going to say this guys name?) takes his final steps and here is where I do not understand why Hernandez decides to leave his area. If Kljestan somehow receives the pass Hernandez would of been there to contest any shot. Also doesn't Hernandez remember Wright-Phillips was near him? By Hernandez leaving his spot he totally screws up Williams. Though at this point I can put some blame on Williams for not covering Hernandez's back as well. Note: I bet Villa is still pointing

Now here we have Hernandez closest to Kljestan and so is Wingert. Wingert did lose defensive coverage on Kljestan but (IMO) not to the effect that Hernandez needed to help. Pablo is covering Felipe and both our defensive midfielders (Jacobson and Grabavoy) are not doing much. Williams still marking two Red Bulls.

Finally Sam gets off his pass (too many screen shots perhaps) and you know what happens from here on out. Williams seems to decide to stick with covering Grella, bad choice....

The ball is floated over to Wright-Phillips...

Who easily taps it in.

Whether the ball went out of bounds or not is not the question. The refs made bad calls on both sides of the pitch. The point I'm trying to bring up is why did Hernandez feel the need to release off his positioning leaving the 2014 MLS Golden Boot winner alone? Was there communication to Wingert (hand pointing or gestures) to tell him to mark Wright-Phillips instead? I mean, if he did I'm pretty sure he would of seen Grella coming down unmarked as well. The goal quickly set the momentum in the Red Bulls favor and is a good example of our defensive line not communicating during man-on-man coverage.

What's your opinion?

I truly hope that our defense steps up and I know there have been injuries and there has not been a consistent lineup. But if I could break down a play this simple imagine what other teams are going to try to do with us! I'll be at the game on Friday cheering on NYCFC and hope you are too!

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Who can I pay to get more of this?! Awesome break down.

Setting the scene, before your breakdown starts, Wingert had made a bad pass to a covered Grabavoy who was not able to win the ball. While Hernandez made the fatal error (maybe he didn't trust Allen, who actually stayed with Sam pretty well, Sam is no slouch) it took a perfectly played cross to get to BWP. I credit the offense on this one, nice goal, and I fault the RSL guys for ANOTHER cheap turnover to start the mess.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Who can I pay to get more of this?! Awesome break down.

Setting the scene, before your breakdown starts, Wingert had made a bad pass to a covered Grabavoy who was not able to win the ball. While Hernandez made the fatal error (maybe he didn't trust Allen, who actually stayed with Sam pretty well, Sam is no slouch) it took a perfectly played cross to get to BWP. I credit the offense on this one, nice goal, and I fault the RSL guys for ANOTHER cheap turnover to start the mess.

Thanks T Tom in Fairfield CT for setting the scene before the first photo and a ton of credit has to go to the Red Bulls. It's something I plan on doing every week for the forums and the podcast I host. It's only my second week in but I plan to break down more NYCFC goals!

 

[AJS]

Thanks for the break-down. Interesting stuff. The second and third pictures are interesting. The three RB midfielders set up a perfect triangle and played 3 on 2 against Grabavoy and Mix. I wonder what Jacobson's assignment is there.

Given that Grabavoy and Mix step up to try to trap Felipe, maybe Jacobson should have slid over to pick up Kljestan? If that happens, Allen doesn't get caught between Kljestan and Sam, which is what resulted in Sam being able to penetrate to the edge of the box before being confronted. Grabavoy could have presumably picked up Felipe and that would have left the two center picks plus Williams to cover BWP and Grella.

Williams's choice at the end seems odd too. Forgetting about the relative skills of BWP and Grella, shouldn't you always challenge the guy closer to the passer? That's a much tougher play for Sam if he has to try to chip all the way across to Grella.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Thanks for the break-down. Interesting stuff. The second and third pictures are interesting. The three RB midfielders set up a perfect triangle and played 3 on 2 against Grabavoy and Mix. I wonder what Jacobson's assignment is there.

Given that Grabavoy and Mix step up to try to trap Felipe, maybe Jacobson should have slid over to pick up Kljestan? If that happens, Allen doesn't get caught between Kljestan and Sam, which is what resulted in Sam being able to penetrate to the edge of the box before being confronted. Grabavoy could have presumably picked up Felipe and that would have left the two center picks plus Williams to cover BWP and Grella.

Williams's choice at the end seems odd too. Forgetting about the relative skills of BWP and Grella, shouldn't you always challenge the guy closer to the passer? That's a much tougher play for Sam if he has to try to chip all the way across to Grella.

My pleasure AJS and you bring up a really good point as well if Grabavoy could have picked up Felipe.

It's really easy to look back and say what "what should of happened" and when I do the film breakdowns I'm screaming to myself "come on!" hahahaa. But more so I think it also shows that our team is no really communicating well defensively.

I'm 100% positive our team management is looking at this film as well to better improve our team.

GO NYCFC!

 

[mgarbowski]

Excelent stuff, and I " I bet Villa is still pointing" made me snort my coffee. I waver over how much blame Villa should get, and he's an easy target, but that was quite good.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Excelent stuff, and I " I bet Villa is still pointing" made me snort my coffee. I waver over how much blame Villa should get, and he's an easy target, but that was quite good.

Thanks mgarbowski for the feedback. The "extra" Villa note was to do that just, add some humor. I'm glad you found it. During my podcast recording I did mention Villa had a poor showing but how that had probably more to do with the poor play around him.

 

[einwindir]

Top quality post. Thanks for taking the time to put this together for us!

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Top quality post. Thanks for taking the time to put this together for us!

My pleasure einwindir After your review, what are your thoughts on that play?

 

[efd628]

great breakdown. Jacobson should have stepped up and covered Sacha after the pass from felipe to dax no?

 

[einwindir]

My pleasure einwindir After your review, what are your thoughts on that play?

After going through your work there's honestly nothing I would be able to add. It's a little confusing why Williams would choose to stick with Grella but in the context of what's going on at that time you can't really blame him. Hernandez maybe should have stayed closer to BWP too but then he would be leaving way too much open space which Klejstan would have certainly used to his advantage. This was one of those plays where the right passes and the right runs were made at the right time. RB definitely deserved this goal.

 

[thesauerchise]

Well done, I could not agree more. I just posted my weekly piece on the overall tactics of the match, including my more general thoughts as to why a 4-4-2 is not the right formation, even though we seem to default to it a lot.

http://www.nycfcblues.com/2015/05/tactical-conundrum/

 

[Vires]

In this film breakdown, I dissect the first goal the Red Bulls scored against NYCFC on March 10th, 2015. To start this off let me point out that MLSSoccer shows that NYCFC used a 4-4-2 formation yet FOX Sports 1 showed a 4-2-3-1 formation with Andrew Jacobson and Ned Grabavoy as the two defensive midfielders. That said I'll be going with what FOX Sports 1 showed which appears to be the case with the first photo we have.

Been said but, I will hand you money to do more of these. Awesome job.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I think a lot of the problems on this team is that they are so tired of starting to move into attack, only to have to turn right around and defend. I have never seen a team so unable to make the first few passes of a possession.

 

[tigerstrom29]

I got all sweaty just looking att this break down..

 

[jaycrewz]

This is why we need a good experienced top central defender...who knows how to direct the back line, as well as have the situational awareness to clean up messes his teammates make.

Not saying we would ever have someone the caliber of Thiago Silva...but hes the perfect example of the kind of backline captain every team needs. PSG and Brazil get man handled when hes not playing. He has great situational awareness and knows his teammates well...thus he knows when someone will be unmarked or when his teammates might get beat. He directs them well and is always yelling and helping the GK keep people in the right spots. And to top it off he has good catch up speed.

Our defenders have none of these things.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Excelent stuff, and I " I bet Villa is still pointing" made me snort my coffee. I waver over how much blame Villa should get, and he's an easy target, but that was quite good.

We can say that now after knowing the result. My thinking was Jacobson thought Wingert would cover him...but...oh well...

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

Been said but, I will hand you money to do more of these. Awesome job.

Hahahah Vires thanks but no money needed! It's something I love to do! Instead you can repay back by listening to the NYCFC Fan Podcast. Links in signature.

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

I think a lot of the problems on this team is that they are so tired of starting to move into attack, only to have to turn right around and defend. I have never seen a team so unable to make the first few passes of a possession.

You're right and teams are noticing that and waiting to counter attack us after we screw up. Things will get better T Tom in Fairfield CT

 

[Andres Emilio Soto]

This is why we need a good experienced top central defender...who knows how to direct the back line, as well as have the situational awareness to clean up messes his teammates make.

Not saying we would ever have someone the caliber of Thiago Silva...but hes the perfect example of the kind of backline captain every team needs. PSG and Brazil get man handled when hes not playing. He has great situational awareness and knows his teammates well...thus who knows when someone will be unmarked or when his teammates might get beat. He directs them well and is always yelling and helping the GK keep people in the right spots. And to top it off he has good catch up speed.

Our defenders have none of these things.

You're right jaycrewz . Would you use a DP for a true central defender?