Real Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni saw a familiar problem as he watched tape in preparation for his team’s weekend match against New England.
The Revolution just played their best game of the season, a 5-0 win over Montreal.
“What gave them a lot of success against Montreal was pressing from the front,” Mastroeni said. “And Montreal kept trying to play through the jaws of the crocodile and it just kept getting worse and worse.”
RSL doesn’t want to get eaten up the same way — especially after giveaways have led to early goals in the team’s last two matches.
Mastroeni has asked his team to play through its pivots in the center of the field and the approach has helped push RSL to a top-three spot in the table. But back-to-back defeats, by a combined 5-0 tally, has Mastroeni rethinking some things.
“We want to penetrate centrally and it’s such a theme, but now teams are scouting us,” he said. “[They’re] going to put five guys in the middle of the field and if we keep looking in there, chances are we’re going to concede early goals like we have the last two games.”
Salt Lake has spent the week altering its approach, giving its back line more freedom to play long balls if need be.
“Not to change something philosophically, not to change something structurally, I think would be negligent on our part,” Mastroeni said. “That’s really the focus this week. … If we’re force-feeding balls that aren’t there, we’re bringing that on ourselves.”
Will Chicho play?
Striker Chicho Arango sits just one goal away from setting a new RSL single-season record.
But will he be sitting out Saturday’s game after leaving last week with an apparent hamstring injury?
“The scans came out negative and so we’re working on him day to day,” Mastroeni said, “and there’s a possibility he’ll be available for the weekend.”
Dominik’s debut
Expect Polish winger Dominik Marczuk to get his first Major League Soccer minutes on Saturday. Mastroeni said he expects the 20-year-old to make his debut after spending the last week getting acclimated to his new team — and his new home’s altitude.