For Minnesota United, speed kills any chance of an offense built on possession

MINNESOTA UNITED | ANALYSIS

Everyone knows what Minnesota United is capable of on the counterattack. The Loons have three players — Sang Bin Jeong, Joseph Rosales and Tani Oluwaseyi — among the 20 fastest players in the league this season, and so much of Minnesota’s offense is based simply on letting those players kick things into high gear.

San Jose comes to town Saturday, having lost three-quarters of its games this season (4-18-2). Minnesota might display that higher gear again, but the Loons are still struggling to find a lower gear to balance their attack. It’s rare to see them stringing together a bunch of passes to move down the field, slowly building up through possession, keeping the ball moving and making the other team chase.

Minnesota simply doesn’t like passing the ball that much. According to FBRef.com, the Loons have attempted fewer passes this season than any team but St. Louis City. Sports data provider Opta breaks down passing into sequences; according to Opta’s numbers, Minnesota has the third-fewest sequences of 10 or more passes of any MLS team and averages the third-fewest passes per sequence — just under three passes per possession.

This was never so obvious as on Wednesday night, at home against D.C. United. D.C. is the other team, besides St. Louis City, that ranks behind Minnesota in the passing numbers. Given that it’s generally expected the home team is more likely to control the ball, it seemed likely Wednesday might be one of the few games in which the Loons had the bulk of possession.

Instead, D.C. had more touches and completed more of every type of pass than Minnesota.

“We recognized before the game that there would be a lot of space in behind, and if we can win the ball high up in the field, playing it first time in behind would be on,” Oluwaseyi said after the game.

This worked, once, when D.C.’s offside trap stepped up at the wrong time, leaving Oluwaseyi one-on-one with the D.C. keeper. Every other time, though, those attempts to get the Loons’ speedy attackers in behind the defense just led to turnovers. Minnesota managed only two shot attempts in the second half, and only one on target.

Minnesota manager Eric Ramsay has repeatedly said he’s not concerned with possession numbers and that it’s possible to control a game while not being in possession of the ball. And it’s definitely true there’s more than one way to win a soccer game; not every team should try to pass the opposition to death, or is even capable of doing so. But teams have to be able to balance their offense, and right now the Loons are struggling.

In Minnesota’s current nine-game winless streak, the Loons have scored 11 goals. Only one of them involved the team completing more than three passes that led directly to the goal.

Ramsay acknowledged it’s a hard balance for his team to strike between using the athleticism of the forwards to run in behind and maintaining possession to build directly.

“I do feel like when we were at our best, we could certainly have our spell with the ball and find a good rhythm in switching play and attacking the sides with real aggression and precision,” he said. “And we have lost a little bit of that, to an extent.”

There aren’t many better chances to find that balance than playing the league’s worst team at home, and Ramsay knows it — especially since it’s the Loons’ last league game until Aug. 24, with the MLS/Liga MX Leagues Cup taking center stage next week.

Asked if this was a must-win game, he said: “It’s got that feeling. … [Saturday] is a huge opportunity to right the wrong of Wednesday and put ourselves in the position that, post-Leagues Cup, we can really attack [the league] with a solid enough base.”

Samuel Shashoua, Minnesota’s first official signing of the summer transfer window, isn’t exactly a fresh face around the team. He’s been training with Minnesota for a good six weeks, after the team announced his signing at the beginning of June. Until Thursday, he wasn’t allowed to officially appear for the team in a game.

Asked to describe himself, he said, “Dynamic, a dribbler, an entertainer — someone that’s always trying to make things happen.”

Shashoua said he’s most comfortable playing on the wing or playing in the No. 10 role, but that attacking midfielder spot — personified by the now-departed Emanuel Reynoso — isn’t a role the Loons usually include in their tactical setup this season. What he gives the Loons is another player who’s comfortable holding the ball, more like Teemu Pukki or Franco Fragapane, in contrast to forwards looking to run in behind the defense.

And despite not being able to play, the forward has already found ways to make himself useful to the Loons — especially with rookie defender Hugo Bacharach, who lives in the same building. “I drive him to training, because he’s useless,” Shashoua said with a smile.