After a tumultuous offseason for Real Salt Lake that included the departure of former general manager Garth Lagerway in addition to veteran players Nat Borchers (via trade with Portland), Ned Grabavoy and Chris Wingert (both via MLS Expansion Draft), head coach Jeff Cassar and company will be throwing more change into the mix as RSL attempts to transition from the 4-4-2 “diamond” formation to a 4-3-3 formation.
Is a Change of Formation Good for RSL?
The formation switch comes in the wake of a very transitional couple of years for the club that saw numerous pieces of the 2009 MLS Cup championship team either depart on their own terms or be traded in order to keep financial stability within the front office. Yet, even with all the change, RSL has continually been one of the most consistent and dangerous clubs in the western conference and MLS as a whole, stringing together numerous 15-win seasons and making the playoffs every year since 2008. That continued success can largely be credited to the team’s devotion to the diamond formation and for veteran players like Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales and Alvaro Saborio who have made it one of the league’s most potent offensive attacks.
With the diamond formation last year RSL finished 6th in the league in total goals with 54 goals scored on 441 shots (166 shots on goal) and 163 corner kicks. The vast majority (79%) of those goals came off of assists thanks in large part to the attacking midfielders in the diamond formation. Javier Morales, Luke Mulholland and Ned Grabavoy were all vital to the offensive success of the team and were often the catalysts to the success of forwards Joao Plata, Alvaro Saborio and youngster Olmes Garcia.
Alas, with the departure of Grabavoy and the emergence of young attacking talent in Garcia and new designated player Sebastian Jaime, Cassar felt that it was the appropriate time to switch formations in order to fully utilize the stable of forwards he has to work with. Unfortunately for Cassar and RSL fans, those plans took a major hit on the first day of the preseason when the team’s leading scorer in Plata fractured his fifth metatarsal in his left foot in a non-contact drill. While Plata is out of the lineup for three to four months recovering from surgery, it will be up to Saborio, Garcia, Jaime and other forwards Devon Sandoval and Jordan Allen to determine who will form the top of the trident.
The midfield portion of the 4-3-3 is where things start to get tricky for RSL. In previous years, the midfield depth of RSL was one of the team’s most dangerous attributes with Beckerman manning the back of the diamond and maintaining possession, Grabavoy and Mulholland had a nice pairing last season in maintaining meaningful possession and attacking at times and as usual Morales would be the lead attacker feeding the ball to the forwards and contributing with set piece magic.
Even with all those great midfielders on the field, RSL still had the young and extremely talented Luis Gil on the bench. The US Men’s National Team U-23 stalwart (fresh off of a cap with the senior squad in the panama friendly) would usually make his appearances in relief of Grabavoy or in place of Morales in case of any injury troubles, but with the departure of Grabavoy, it was thought that Gil would finally get his chance to consistently start and make his attacking presence known. With the transition into the trident formation, Gil once again enters positional limbo with RSL.
So where does Gil fit in? There’s no chance that Beckerman will be taken out of the starting lineup, his long-term contract extension shows that RSL is invested in him for the long haul and his possessive, defensive style is severely needed in front of the back four. Gil could start in place of Mulholland, but the young Englishman became a fan favorite last year in his first year in MLS and proved that he can be a viable scoring option as well as a valuable distributor and set piece taker in the absence of Morales.
The most likely scenario is that Gil would either start in place of the aging Morales, or see his minutes increase by coming off of the bench sooner in relief of him. The 35-year-old Morales is entering his 9th MLS season but is coming off of a 2014 season in which he scored a career high nine goals and produced 12 assists for his teammates. Even though Morales is still very shifty in and around the box, his overall speed has decreased over time, his quality in set piece situations having become suspect which might be one reason why RSL has elected to take more short corners in recent years.
Whoever starts in the midfield for RSL, they are going to have to be content with feeding the ball to the three attackers and transitioning quickly in order to help Beckerman and the back four that will feature a 33-year-old Jamison Olave alongside Chris Schuler in the center, Tony Beltran on the left wing and most likely Abdoulie “Kenny” Mansally on the right.
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