Photo: Daniel Studio

Who: Philadelphia Union vs. New York City FC
What: 2016 regular season game
Where: Talen Energy Stadium
When: Saturday, April 23 at 4 pm
Watch: 6abc, MLS Live, Direct Kick
Whistle: Jose Carlos Rivero; Brian Dunn and Jose Da Silva; Mathieu Bourdeau

Note: New league-wide security procedures for entrance into Talen Energy Stadium — including the use of search wands and and new bag restrictions — go into effect for Saturday’s game so arrive earlier than usual to enter the stadium to make sure you don’t miss the kickoff.

Let’s get this out of the way: I cannot tell you what New York City FC’s tactics will look like this weekend. I can barely even guess.

With a midfield assembled based on hair length, a defense put together based on vowel count, and an attacking line featuring two sprinters and maybe the most complete striker in MLS, NYCFC is a strange team doing some strange things on the field. Watching Patrick Viera’s team play is like going to a wildlife preserve or a national park: You will probably see something you’ve never seen before, like a grizzly bear, a breathtaking longball, or a Spaniard wriggling through four defenders with relative ease. However, you are more likely to see bear poop, or Mix Diskerud actively forgetting how to play soccer, or whatever it was the fullbacks were doing against Columbus last weekend.

I wish there was just one play for the NYC/Crew match that summed up everything about how crazy Viera’s tactics were, but that would be asking too much… right?

NOPE!

The two sequences below are actually part of one continuous run of play. And they are, let’s say, revealing.

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First, Ronald Matarrita, a talented young left back, collects the ball from Diskerud in the center. Let’s just pause and stew on that: NYC is playing a 4-3-3 with a compact three-man midfield featuring Andrea Pirlo supporting Diskerud and Tommy McNamara. Yet, somehow, Matarrita, like William Shatner zapping onto some unknown planet, has found himself between the latter two in the center of the pitch. Does he receive a pass and think: “What am I doing here? I should give the ball square to McNamara and overlap wide”? No way. He takes off on a Rambo-like mission toward the opposition goal, firing a fine strike that Steve Clark smothers.

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It’s a bit strange to see fullbacks exploding through holes in the middle of the field like NFL running backs, but what is even stranger is that nobody even pretends to cover for Matarrita. McNamara and Diskerud go about their normal business of applying passive pressure in the center, leaving Kei flippin’ Kamara with an entire half of the field to himself.

And this was not a bug in the system: This was the system. Throughout the first half and well into the second, Viera was applying a fascinating, if warped, take on the tactics Juventus and Italy have used to build around The Most Interesting Soccer Man In The World, aka Pirlo.

Is there a method to the madbadness?

The Italian twist was to play with three central defenders and release wingbacks to zip up and down the flanks, providing both width and depth for Pirlo’s near-limitless passing range. Since Pirlo is a subpar defender, the center backs would play a fairly high line but stretch a bit to cover the wings when a fullback was caught too high. If you have three world class defenders, this works pretty well.

NYC does not have world class defenders, nor is Viera willing to sacrifice an attacker to play with three deep. Instead, the fullbacks push extremely high with almost no cover, leaving Justin Meram, Ethan Finlay, and Kei Kamara switching off in the Simba role, with all the space that the light touches belonging to them.

In the video below, Columbus easily passes the first line of defense and finds that the right side of NYC’s defense is torn between stepping up to Higuain or holding the line. This allows a single, long, straight pass to unlock the entire defense. Seriously.

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In the next video, NYC pushes both fullbacks high and then leaves them upfield when Brillant dribbles to the edge of the opposition box. This means there is zero help for Jason Hernandez on the counter, and he only has one of the best strikers in MLS to defend. Good times, good times.

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It is brutal to watch, and the fact that Columbus didn’t score nine is down to poor finishing. Just look at that shot chart!

NYC man-marks too high, meaning that Kamara has a huge hole to check into to bypass the midfield.

The man who knew too much

One of Viera’s biggest issues this season has been that he tries to do too much at once, and ends up with a muddled set of tactics that devolve into uncoordinated chasing. On Saturday, for example, he wanted the fullbacks to run the entire flank, with all three central midfielders tightly bound in the center going forward. However, he also thought it would be pretty groovy to knock Columbus out of their patient build-up game, so Tony Taylor, Steven Mendoza, and Mix Diskerud stretched the defensive shape to press Tyson Wahl and the Crew fullbacks.

Without any support, the NYC press was easily bypassed with short balls to Wil Trapp, who found Federico Higuain or just floated crossfield passes into the massive holes NYC left on the wings (see video below). One is left imagining that Viera was like a kid at a soda fountain who thinks he can get all the flavors he wants by combining every soda in one cup (don’t believe the nostalgia, it’s gross).

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Now, there is an important caveat here: At home, these wildly odd tactics don’t leave the light blues very exposed because there just isn’t that much space to exploit on the tiny rec league pitch at Yankee Stadium. However, it all falls apart when NYC travels, and they have six goals conceded in two road matches to prove it (against two teams who have not exactly been offensive powerhouses this season, though Columbus will inevitably come around).

How can they hurt you?

There is also this: If New York City can get the ball to David Villa early on the counterattack, as in the video below, they can be dangerous every time. Villa is a samurai of space, and when he finds it between the lines — be it 20 yards from goal or 40 — he can cause immediate havoc. In the few instances NYC got the ball on his feet in front of the Crew defense, they were able to release their wide attackers (who are essentially sprinters in shinguards) to make Columbus retreat. If either Diskerud or McNamara joins that attack, things start to get interesting. Additionally, the NYC fullbacks, for all their positional wanderings, are excellent crossers. Iraola and Matarrita are dynamic attackers, which is why pushing them forward aggressively is not an inherently bad idea.

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This speaks once more to how it is not the shape of the team that has been problematic for NYC so much as how that shape changes and moves in response to developments in the match. The back line wants to stay high and close to the midfield because there is nothing close to a defensive mid to protect them. Yet the fullbacks push forward without considering numbers or controlling the ball or… well, or anything else.

Diskerud’s ill-advised pressure with no support means Higuain can turn and run at the defense.

What does this mean for the Union?

To boil it down: Right now, Viera is trying to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to play a distinctive attacking style while also taking the opposing team out of their preferred method of play. This rarely works because it means offense and defense are not built off each other; each is borne from a different philosophy, so transitioning from attack to defense is problematic and vice versa.

If Viera sticks with his mad scientist methods this weekend, he will likely look to man mark Vincent Nogueira when the Union are in possession and press the fullbacks early and often. In response, Philly has to quickly figure out where NYC’s pressure is coming from and play the ball behind it. In other words, if New York City presses with the wingers, Philly has to provide easy options in midfield for their fullbacks so quick one-twos can develop. Rosenberry and Fabinho can push into space and start attacks if they have someone to play off of when pressured, because NYC does not support their high press well.

NYC tries to press high, but can’t support it, so they are unable to pressure the ball in the middle and end up vulnerable to longer balls over the top of their high line.

If, instead, NYC persists in pushing Diskerud into the high press, Philly needs to position a winger and midfielder in the channels to either side of Pirlo. The Italian rarely strays from between his central defenders, meaning Hernandez and Brillant need to either step high or drop deep when the ball is played behind McNamara and Diskerud. Getting the ball into those areas puts a ton of pressure on a defense that, frankly, is terrible when it turns and runs.

A desire to stick the ball behind the NYC midfield is the type of thing that can make Jim Curtin think hard about leaving Joshua Yaro in the lineup this weekend. The rookie shows little fear playing the ball into tight areas, and he would make a unique tool for unlocking the fragile visiting defense. 

Below, you can see that once the ball is between the lines, Philly can play it wide and flood the box because the NYC midfield can’t be bothered to track runners in there.

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In the center, Curtin will have to decide whether to continue with Warren Creavalle over the rested Brian Carroll. The vice captain may be preferred this weekend since cutting off service to David Villa should take priority over pushing another midfielder into attack. Creavalle’s passing radar was running into some intermittent interference on Saturday, and Curtin may look to save his energy to protect a late lead.

In place of the suspended Roland Alberg, Curtin will be deciding between the mostly-recovered Tranquillo Barnetta and the recovering Ilsinho. Ideally, the Union would be able to give Sebastien Le Toux a well-earned break against a weaker opponent and work Ilsinho back with a 55-60 minute shift on Barnetta’s wing. This would give two of Philly’s more technical players a chance to get in rhythm against a defense likely to give them space to operate.

But a best guess sees Le Toux remain on the wing with Ilsinho grabbing some late minutes. Barnetta should start in the center and look to play balls behind the opposing fullbacks in a way that Alberg has struggled to do this season (though, to be fair, he’s flashed the ability at times). Philly should be all about drawing NYC in then playing behind their high line. This suggests an extended run for Fabian Herbers, who loves to curl through the middle of a defense and look for balls through the channels.

Rooks on the right

As noted above, there is a reasonable chance Joshua Yaro will remain in the first eleven this weekend. Starting Ken Tribbett on a tender ankle against one of the slipperiest strikers in the league seems risky, and — though far from perfect — Yaro showed that he can keep the game simple under the big lights last weekend.

Using Yaro against NYC leads to to big questions. First, can Yaro defend crosses against a very intelligent opponent? For all their defensive shenanigans, the NYC fullbacks are both excellent crossers. And David Villa doesn’t score with his head because of his size or athleticism, but because he has an elven cloak and can disappear, sneaking off into space in the box like a fancy, Spanish hobbit.

Second, can Yaro get his spacing right with Villa? One of the rookie’s bigger issues against Seattle was getting too close to strikers and engaging physically when he didn’t need to. If a defender is too close, Villa has an uncanny ability to put the ball around them into space for a teammate. If the defender stays back to defend against this, the striker simply whips off a curling shot toward the corners.

Yaro was tested by Seattle’s attempts to stretch the field last Saturday, but this weekend his awareness in tight spaces will be front and center. NYC’s offense runs through Villa’s ability to collect the ball in the left half-space. Yaro’s decision making in those moments will be hugely tested if he plays.

Prediction: Union 3-1 NYCFC

New York City has given up three goals in both road matches this season, so I’m going to stick with that trend. I’m also going to bet that David Villa, operating like a gravitational force out of that left channel, will be able to score or create at least one goal against the Union’s young back line.

Philly is looking to get back on track after struggling to impose their game on Seattle. And they could not have asked for a better opponent at home.