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Chelis' three-man back line seals his fate
Last Wednesday, news that Chivas USA had fired head coach Jose Luis Sanchez Solá was a surprising one. Of course, Chivas USA had a 3-7-2 record that put them firmly rooted last in the Western Conference with a total of 11 points in 12 games. However, to fire a manager after just one third of the season under his belt, with a poor roster, was a tough and potentially poor decision. Despite the team’s statement, Chelis did not have a competitive team at his disposal, but some of his tactical decisions recently came under scrutiny.
See also: Laba and the role of the modern holding midfielder
José Luis Solá was sticking by his tactical 3-5-2/3-4-3 system and, after a good start to the season, it ended up not working, with opponents seeming to have found the way to solve the problems this formation raises.
Chivas USA have been outscored in their last five matches by a minimum of two goals, and overall holding a poor goal differential that only DC United have surpassed. This all coming after they got the 2013 season off to a quick start winning three of their first five games.
Chelis' 3-5-2 attacking tactics left a lot of space on the outside exploited by their opponents' fast-breaks. Playing the 3-5-2 requires very good defensive chemistry between centre-backs and wing-backs. The continous turmoil the backline suffered under Chelis in terms of who was playing where, with Carlos Borja, Joaquin Velazquez, Bobby Burling, Steve Purdy, and Mario de Luna flipping around, didn’t allow to reach defensive cohesion.
For example, take a look at Velásquez, who has switched from central defender to left defensive back, two very different positions in a three-man backline. Also, the lack of holding midfielders, being Oswaldo Minda the only one of note on the roster, didn’t help with 3-5-2 relying strongly on the defensive work rate of midfielders.
On the paper, a 3-5-2 formation is extremely effective against a two-man forward line, due to the advantage of centre-backs in the middle, but it can also work well against a three-man attack, sliding laterally one of the two outside centre-backs and moving back the opposite wing-back switching to a four-man defence.
However, this requires strong wing-backs both at the offensive and defensive side. Chivas USA lacked this as Jorge Villafana and Eric Avila weren’t good enough on the defensive side of the game, leaving the three-man backline exposed on the counter.
On the offensive end, Chelis was plagued by a lack of required scoring threats, especially after the ownership made the bad decision to trade Juan Agudelo a few weeks back to New England. Without Agudelo, the Goats remained with just one true forward in Tristan Bowen, as neither Julio Morales and Jose Manuel Rivera guarantee the needed attacking support.
Newly appointed head coach José Luis Real has a huge task in front of him. Although poor roster quality sealed José Luis Solá's fate, his firing also signals a huge step back for a 3-5-2 formation that, aside from New England, hasn’t had much success in MLSt leer.
Michele Tossani is a football tactician with a Ph.D. in History. Michele resides in Florence, Italy and is a tactical analyst for Futbol-Tactico.com
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