April 24th, 2007 . 3:28 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

They’ll stone ya when you’re at the breakfast table.  They’ll stone ya when you are young and able. – The Jester

What starts as a slightly annoying couple of drops has evolved into a steady notebook quenching drizzle within about 30 minutes of the start of training.  So much of today’s report is from memory.

With the game on Thursday today was a tactics day, and since I was the only reporter other than Ray Canaveri to brave the rain I got all the dirt.

Once again the injury list is unreal, so we’ll start with that.

Injury Report

Marcelo Saragosa – “He’s desperate to get back,” said Morrow, “but it’s too soon for him.”  Saragosa came out to training to watch after doing rehab inside.

Roberto Mina - Bob had another MRI, Morrow says it showed nothing new.  It was mainly for the players peace of mind.  Mina was doing well so they pushed him a bit and he had a little discomfort.  So they double checked the knee with the second MRI and all is well.  Mina came out toward the end of training and did some limited ball stuff.

Alex Yi - Has a tight calf and was held out as a precaution, but can play.  Morrow said it effected him against Colorado and Yi wasn’t as mobile or as aggressive as he usually is.

Carlo Ruiz – Has a sore hammy, he was also held out as a precaution but can play.  Morrow said Ruiz was slightly limited in his movement in the Colorado game as a result.

David Wagenfuhr - Wags is back in training, but is strictly non-contact.  He has a meeting with a neurosurgeon on Friday and a second one with a neurosurgeon on Monday.  That shows you how seriously the club is taking this 3rd concussion.

Shaka Hislop – Has “flu like symptoms” and stayed home.

Adrian Serioux - He came out and walked the field today.  He’s also started some limited balance and ball stuff that is very low impact. 

Dominic Oduro – Dom shows no ill effects from his Steve Morrow’esque celebration accident and trained full speed.

Sandi Gbandi – Sandi is back in training full speed and shows no ill effects from the shoulder separation.

Pablo Ricchetti - Ricchetti is back training with the team and worked with Pitchkolan in the holding spot.  Nice to see Pablo integrated into the team.

News Notes and Observations

- Speaking of Ricchetti, the visa is stalled at the US immigration level.  He needs a P1 visa and they take from 10 days to 2 weeks.  Not counting the Easter holiday’s today is day 10, the holiday is why it seems to be taking so long.  The same person does all the visa’s for the league.  Once US immigration says yes, Ricchetti will fly to Argentina and hopefully be back within a couple of days.  So the only way Ricchetti plays this weekend is if he gets approval today (Tuesday).

- FCD staff working overtime this week with the Thursday/Sunday game turnaround and the Jimmy Buffest show sandwiched in between.

- Arturo Alvarez spent the day working as Núñez’s backup at attacking mid  He doesn’t have a great tactical fit in this 4-3-1-2 shape where there is no left wing.

- The rain today bogged the team down a bit and Morrow had to get a little vocal to get them to pick up the pace.  Pareja did a lot of talking with forwards and mids about movement and sharpness, including some stuff on making feints and diversionary runs.

- Kenny Cooper stayed afterward to work with Tommy Krizanovic on finishing. Tommy’s, not Cooper’s.  I asked Cooper about Hunter Freeman and he just grinned.

- Rafael Rodriguez a 22-year old defender from partner-club Tigres UANL is still around. He’s just the first of two or three players from Tigres Morrow wants to take a look at.

Steve Morrow Speaks

Again I’ll be giving you my reading between the lines translations.  Please remember it’s just a bit, I don’t actually speak for the coach.

On formation change for personnel or opponent:

“A little bit of both.  It depends on what we need in the game, either on defense or when attacking with the ball.  New York will likely come out in a 4-4-2, so as with other times playing that way comes out of opposition or problems we can cause them.  But it’s also personnel.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: Sometimes it’s us, sometimes it’s them.

On switching shape causing his young team problems:

“It’s doesn’t.  It’s a minor adjustment.  It doesn’t effect the guys too much.  We talked about it during the preason and worked on it during the preseason.  The adjustment is easy.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: We’re a frigging machine with devastating tactical nuance.

On the young midfield:

“They are all doing well and playing well.  They are young but ready to play. They’re young but have experience.  Juan has some great experience. Pitch has been in the league a few years. But we still have lots of bodies to get back.  What they are going through will help the squad immensely later in the year.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: Young of age is not young of soccer wisdom.

On lack of FCD calls on latest U20 roster:

“All three were left out.  I speak to Rongen usually before he makes callups from us, but he didn’t call this time.  I’ll be speaking to him in the next day or two to find out what his thoughts are.  He’s got a strange mix this time.  But good for us that we get to keep all of them here.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: Yeah, what the hell?

On Ramon Núñez’s score sheet breakout:

“In the first few games he had lots of possession and lots of shots on goal without an luck.  The first one was a great one, a great goal, very well taken.  I told him one adjustment before the game, I wanted him to be higher up field, particularly with the three midfielders behind him.  I wanted him to let them play and let it come through them to him and not come back to midfield to get the ball as much.  I wanted him to get the ball in more danger areas, then get behind the defense and go at people.  It worked very well.”

Buzz’s coach speak translator: Ramon’s the man.  I told him to play high, he did, and dominated.

Training

Today was work on tactics in the 4-3-1-2. Mainly on the vein of getting service into the box and alternate build out channels, aside form right up the gut.

Training started with a long run and stretching session.  Morrow then put the team quickly into some pattern movement type stuff in the tactical shape while some of the bottom roster contributors worked on crossing and finishing at the other end.  After about 40 minutes of that kind of thing the session ended.  A real short day due to weather/playing schedule this week.

Probable Lineup

With all the injuries, including Yi and Ruiz who are both probable, this one may be hard to predict exactly. At least Morrow talked about the shape.

4-3-1-2

If YI can’t go, Rhine will be in at right back and Moor in the middle.  Ruiz is usually a swap for Thompson when the Fish is injured, although Oduro might factor there.

Thought of the Day

I thought I might quickly discuss why Morrow doesn’t refer to this shape above as a 4-4-2 and why he says it’s a simple adjustment from the other shape FCD uses (4-2-3-1).  Both are essentially versions of the 4-3-3.  Hopefully this won’t get too complicated.

Morrow doesn’t refer to this shape above as a 4-4-2 because of the line of three “holding” midfielders.  There are two central, two-way players (McCarty and Toja) occupying the channels on both sides of a d-mid destroyer (Pitchkolan).  You can see the difference both in how Toja and McCarty will combine in tight with Pitchkolan and Núñez relative to a wide midfielder in a classic 4-4-2.  Núñez plays a high attacking role just behind the two forwards, he’s almost a withdrawn forward instead of a mid, as Morrow mentioned in his quote about Ramon.  Any real width in the FCD shapes will usually come from the attacking outside backs and not from the three central midfielders.  There are no wide mids running the touch line and crossing into the box.

You can also see the difference when the midfield three rotates to cover the second wide attacker when facing a 4-4-2.  Morrow hinted at it in the quote about when he changes shapes.  McCarty or Toja will move wide defensively to double down on the second attacking player (usually the opposition outside back) and the other two mids slide centrally taking up a role similar to the one they would fill in FCD’s other shape.

As for why it’s a simple change, that’s because only one person is really very different.  The McCarty position is removed and an additional ‘tweaner’ comes on.  (A tweaner is like Núñez, a attacking mid/withdrawn forward).  The two remaining central mids shift a little to the side and that’s about it.  Ramon plays the same, Ruiz plays the same, Cooper and the other new attacker may come back slightly, but frankly Morrow doesn’t want them to.

The shape is still compact, it’s still in essence a 4-3-3 (no wide midfielders), it’s just that one of the shapes matches up better against a 4-4-2 than the other one.

Categories: Practice Observations.

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