MLS Week 10 review: TFC’s new wrinkle, Hudson River Derby

Breaking down the 10th week of MLS play, including Toronto FC, the Hudson River Derby and Seattle’s continued struggle.

MLS Week 10 featured 11 games, with every team except for D.C. United playing. The goalscoring output was not quite as substantial as it has been of late, but it was a nonetheless eventful slate of matches. Some takeaways:

TFC and tactical flexibility

Toronto FC came into this week in last place, thanks almost entirely to their shift of focus to the CONCACAF Champions League. In a competitive Eastern Conference, they needed to start getting results back; lingering near the bottom of the standings at the same time NYCFC and Atlanta racked up points could extinguish their chances at favorable playoff positioning.

Even with a heap of injuries to starting talent, they had no trouble dispatching the Philadelphia Union at home on Friday night. Left wing-back Justin Morrow is still out with an injury suffered in the CCL, Jozy Altidore missed another game and every center-back on the roster is hurt, but TFC won 3-0 in clinical fashion.

They played an asymmetrical 4-2-3-1 with Sebastian Giovinco up top as a false nine in a similar role to his usual second striker function, only without a number 9 to play off of. To fill the space vacated by Giovinco when he floated elsewhere, Victor Vazquez often stepped forward from midfield and winger Nicolas Hasler spent a lot of time inverted off the right flank on the back shoulder of center-back Auston Trusty.

In possession, they built through Jonathan Osorio on the left. Osorio was nominally a wide player, but he spent more time stepping into midfield and aiding Michael Bradley, Marky Delgado and Ager Aketxe in build-up, creating an overload of TFC players in that area — Bradley was stepping forward from central defense and Osorio pulled Illsinho in by being so involved in possession:

This setup also served to create space on the opposite flank for Hasler and Brazilian right-back Auro on diagonal switches. Those two were active all night hugging the right touchline and playing off each other. Getting them on the ball in space was the primary method by which TFC set themselves up with numbers in the attacking third.

Philadelphia were punchless in attack — they badly need another connecting player alongside Borek Dockal — and individually weak against Toronto’s skilled attacking players.

NYCFC and Red Wedding pt. 2

It wasn’t quite the 7-0 of 2016, but Saturday’s Hudson River Derby was another iconic domination of NYCFC by the New York Red Bulls. They scored twice in the first five minutes and went on to a 4-0 win at Red Bull Arena, blowing the previously-first-place Light Blues out of the water.

Every Jesse Marsch and Patrick Vieira duel is a clash of opposite tactical styles: The Red Bulls’ pressing and chance-creation via turnovers high up the field vs. NYCFC’s patient building out of the back and passing. That battle has made for some great games.

But on this day, NYC were slow on and off the ball and looked utterly lackadaisical, like they had forgotten to get off the bus. It wasn’t United States in Trinidad levels of bad, but it wasn’t far off. The Red Bulls ruthlessly swarmed the ball and attacked directly and with purpose. Once they’d scored their first couple of goals, fans were chanting “we want seven!”

NYC are a good team and will be fine. But as we saw again this week, Vieira’s one major flaw as a coach in MLS has been managing individual games against savvy coaches.

He’s constantly struggled against Toronto FC and Greg Vanney, most notably in their 7-0 aggregate loss in the 2016 playoffs, and Gregg Berhalter’s Columbus Crew outsmarted him tactically in last year’s postseason. Vieira is like his City colleague Pep Guardiola in how he often overthinks big games, getting obliterated by equal or inferior teams as a result.

Fixing this flaw is the next step in his journey to becoming a world-class manager. Given how much he has improved since that first Red Wedding, it’s a good bet he’ll take that next step.

Seattle’s offensive stagnation

The Seattle Sounders spent 75 minutes of their home game against the Columbus Crew up a man after VAR sent off Pedro Santos for karate kicking Alex Roldan. Nevertheless, they put just one of their 17 shots on target and walked away with a massively disappointing 0-0 draw. It’s not that they couldn’t finish chances; it’s that they couldn’t create them:

That’s their shot map. Their one shot on target was a quality one, with Clint Dempsey forcing Zack Steffen to make a nice save, but they rarely threatened the 10-man Crew outside of that opportunity.

The same problems from the first few weeks of the season are haunting them. They’re slow and congested in the attacking third without a player to add width and make runs in behind. They are lackadaisical when transitioning from defense to offense, struggling to mount counter-attacks and allowing the opposing team to set themselves up before the Sounders can make any incisions.

Nicolas Lodeiro’s absence clearly hurt, but that doesn’t excuse the problems facing them at the moment. They desperately need another difference-maker to draw attention and force the Seattle to be more direct in the attacking third. With the likes of Chicharito Hernandez and Fernando Torres on the market, expect Garth Lagerwey and co. to splash some money on a DP this summer.

Awards

The best team in the league

That would be Atlanta United, who picked up a nice road win in Chicago. Ezequiel Barco got on the scoresheet for the first time in his MLS career, scoring Atlanta’s first goal in the 53rd minute. The Five Stripes are 7-1-1 and haven’t lost since Week 1. With TFC off the pace, they’re the decisive favorites for the Supporters’ Shield.

What’s interesting is their 3-5-2 formation stuck around for another week despite the return of Hector Villalba, who was left on the bench in favor of keeping the current group together. It appears that Julian Gressel — continuing to star as a right wing-back — has Tito stuck on the pine. Villalba had 13 goals and 11 assists last season. Beating him to a starting spot is no small accomplishment.

How Tata Martino manages his surplus of crazily talented youngsters will be one of the most interesting things to watch in the entire league.

The worst team in the league

Never change, Colorado Rapids.

Colorado lost 1-0 to Sporting KC and it should have been worse. They’ve looked fairly organized and capable under Anthony Hudson, but the Rapids’ criminal aversion to dynamic attackers will forever doom them to mediocrity.

Unheralded player of the week

Houston’s Andrew Wenger, a rare utility soccer player brand, deserves recognition.

Wenger, who can run all day and pretty much do whatever you need him to, has been filling in at right-back for the Dynamo as they bide their time until AJ DeLaGarza returns from an ACL tear. He’s excelled in that role, most recently handling Ola Kamara and the LA Galaxy in Houston’s last-gasp 3-2 home win. There will always be places for players with skillsets like Wenger’s.

Random result of the week

It’s impossible to pick anything other than NYRB’s domination of NYCFC. No one expected that.

It was an impressive display of the Red Bulls’ devotion to pressing, something MLSsoccer.com writer and former MLS forward Charlie Davies detailed. Their offseason goal of getting younger and committing themselves fully to those tactics has paid off so far. But they couldn’t get it done in their first big game of the year, their brutally-close CCL loss to Chivas. As Davies said, now we’ll see if the press can take them all the way.

Predictable result of the week

TFC’s win was strongly considered here. But another FC Dallas 1-1 draw gets the call. Four of Dallas’s eight games this season have now ended with that scoreline after LAFC were held at home. FCD aren’t exciting, but they’re getting results.

Also of note: Mauro Diaz was on the bench again in this game. Teams should be inquiring about that leading up to the summer transfer window.

Goalkeeper howler of the week

Andre Blake will want this one back:

It’s difficult to point out a front runner for Goalkeeper of the Year so far. The race is wide open. Some early front runners: Brad Guzan, Matt Turner and Joe Bendik. If the season ended today, Guzan would take it.