St. Louis is looking for the full picture.
St. Louis CITY SC lost twice last week, falling further into the basement of the Western Conference, what has to change ahead of trip to Utah?
St. Louis CITY SC could ill afford a slip up when the MLS regular season resumed last week but back to back losses has the squad needing a miracle run to finish the season.
Interim manager David Critchley has to look forward, but what does progress look like in a squad that is continually on the wrong side of crucial injuries?
To that point, CITY SC lost Timo Baumgartl to a knee injury and Alfredo Morales to a potentially broken collarbone following hard crash landings against Orlando and Houston, respectively. Those are big losses for a club that needs depth.
To address those losses, Seth Antwi and Tyson Pearce have been practicing with the squad — a continuation of Critchley’s willingness to turn to the squad’s youth to potentially fill some holes in the lineup.
While Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Houston was a disaster, there’s a silver lining in a back four that featured Joey Zalinsky, Michael Wentzel, Jake Girdwood-Reich and Jay Reid. A backline with an average age of 22.25 compared to a period earlier in the season where no players younger than 24 had featured in Olof Mellberg’s lineup.
“If you train well throughout the week then you’ll get the opportunity.” Critchley said in the aftermath of Wentzel stepping in for Baumgartl over Josh Yaro.
The commitment to youth — with Mykhi Joyner likely to join the first team when the transaction window opens is a good start. Bad results are more palatable when players are given an opportunity to develop, and — in the case of Wentzel, JGR, and Reid over the past week — the youth can have the largest impact in any given match.
Lutz Pfannenstiel has a lot of work to do this month but, see the transfer rumor roundup below, a renewed focus on the club’s youth can at least give fans something to sink their teeth into as the squad tries to find a way forward through an attack that has been able to score in bunches when they can run at defenses.
The needs are clear:
Bolster the youth ranks and reinforce the pathway for Joyner, Tyson Pearce, Lorenzo Cornelius, Emiliano Chavez, Caden Glover, and Miggy Perez.
A dynamic right winger that doesn’t have injury concerns.
Some help in the midfield… CITY SC has yet to win without Edu Löwen in the lineup.
Takeaways from Orlando City:
Orlando jumped out of the gate and quickly scored three goals on St. Louis within the first 22 minutes. It was bad, St. Louis allowed far too much space against the ball, and Orlando exploited the room in front of them with quick shots and defensive mismatches.
The players grew frustrated, and marched into the hydration break knowing they had taken a massive step back from any momentum that they had won over the previous weeks.
The positives came in CITY SC’s response.
Klauss and Becher both grabbed goals ahead of halftime and the swagger that the club picked up over the past few weeks had returned… even if they couldn’t capitalize.
The second half gave way to a mostly eventless affair, foreshadowing the squad’s difficulty creating when they refocus on a compact setup.
“There were too many moments in this game where we were just in dead space and not applying pressure on the ball, and we were not protecting and the space was too big.” Critchley said. “The first goal is a great example where we exceed with just an expansive shape. I told the lads at halftime we have to read these moments better as a team. We have the structure, and we have a game plan, but we have to make good decisions on the field as well. For us defending-wise, it was either we have to put effective pressure on the ball, or we have to protect the space and the goal, and we were kind of caught in between moments way too often.”
Takeaways from Houston
Rotation was needed heading into Houston, but the squad’s injury issues forced a backline of Jay Reid, Michael Wentzel, Jake Girdwood-Reich, and Joey Zalinsky. The back four did as well as could be expected of them, especially JGR and Wentzel, but the lack of proven depth – compounded by Morales's clavicle injury – highlights why St. Louis are in this position in the MLS table.
“We're still hungry.” JGR said afterwards. “We still want to win. I think this is a time where we come together. We can't go off to live in our own little groups. We need to stick together as a team, and it's still the main goal. We still want to win games. You just want to try and make the playoffs; that's simple.”
The defensive performance was ultimately betrayed by the lack of chance creation. St. Louis generated just 0.31 expected goals on seven shots, with just one of those shots equaling an average opportunity.
It wasn’t good, and Critchley will have to show that his squad – as depleted as it is – can find ways to generate opportunities against a struggling Real Salt Lake.
Looking ahead to RSL
The bottom line is that St. Louis has to win a match like this if they are to move out of the basement, and that will require putting together the entire picture. Not only will they need to open up play and create, they need to be aggressive in how they attack the ball while having the composure to retreat in a compact shape when that initial press is defeated.
However, the problems are less about tactics and more about the quality of players in the starting XI… specifically in the midfield.
This week’s availability report won’t ease those concerns but short term callups of Jaziel Orozco, Tyson Pearce, and Mykhi Joyner should insert some talented youth into the equation. Orozco forecasts as a potential MLS regular, Tyson Peace is a MLS NEXT All-Star that played FB in Critchley’s CITY 2 system earlier this season, and Joyner is creating a goal contribution per 56 minutes during his stints at CITY 2 this season.
At this point the conversation is more about the process than individual wins or losses but CITY SC will have to show improvement.
“When we find a complete game, we'll find the three points that we desperately need.” Critchley finished. “We've had many games of creating good attacking moments, scored many goals since I've taken over. Now, it's finding the balance.”
RSL have just one win since May at the expense of DC United, the opportunity is there, especially with Diego Luna carrying the USMNT to the CONCACAF Gold Cup Final.
Transfer Rumor Roundup
Good friend of this newsletter, Matt Baker, posted an interesting chart of rumored U22 CB target Fallou Fall this week and the interest falls in line with one of Lutz Pfannenstiel’s biggest needs this summer.
Pfannenstiel has been linked with multiple U22 defenders ahead of the window opening, and it’s crucial that those slots are filled efficiently. St. Louis have not had much success with their U22 initiative signings so far, but JGR is showing that he can change that narrative.
Looking at Polish Left Back Michael Gurgul, a rumor Manuel Veth described as “having legs”, and it’s easy to see that the quality of MLS improving also means the quality of U22 targets has to improve. Gurgul is a left footed LB and has recently been called into Poland’s U21 setup as a 19 year old after becoming a mainstay in Lech Poznan’s starting XI.
St. Louis will need to bolster across the board, but the rumors so far have painted a very specific picture of what Pfannenstiel is after:
Young left footed defenders, CB or FB, who have recently broken in as first team regulars.
Veteran winger to fill the Rasmus Alm vacancy.
St. Louis will also need to bolster the midfield but that problem could be solved by turning to youth, like JGR or Tyson Pearce, if Pfannenstiel can’t turn over the roster spots ahead of the offseason.
There is still a long way to go to the end of the season, but the club has to be thinking about the future even with injuries to six of the club’s preferred XI… at some point there has to be an exit strategy.