By Harrison Crow (@harrison_crow)

The last 24 months for Real Salt Lake have been quite the saga. A solid CCL run in early 2016 ended in the semifinals against Tigres, which was followed by a disappointing 2016 season. That was followed by terrible start the 2017 season, but then led to an inprobable late run at the playoffs.

Gone are the years of peak Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando with a magnificent Javier Moralez leading a jewel of an attack. But here again are the days of a potent Real Salt Lake built upon a staunch defense force and skilled playmakers. Much of the cast has changed, but the style has been reborn.

2017 in review

The Jeff Cassar era is an odd one. Setting aside that first season, I don’t know there was a year I was sure he would endure the season. Still, his team averaged 1.37 points per game in 104 games, made the playoffs in two out of three seasons (2014 and 2016), and he was still rather well thought of among the fan base.

But looking at his coaching era (from 2014 to and including his first three games of the 2017 season) RSL had the worst expected goal differential in all of MLS, despite only having a negative one goal differential. This all leads to back my suspicions that during Cassar’s tenure they were a poorly executed side, and what success they had were not as great as the results led us to believe at the time.

The terrible start to 2017 only compounded an already prevalent issue. Cassar’s team gained only one point from the first three games and he was fired before the fourth game. The decision was, as pointed out by Graham Parker, either one of the least thought about firings of a coach or, the theory I subscribe to, something Craig Waibel and owner Dell Loy Hansen had prepared for prior to the season

While I’m sure it was disappointing start to the season for claret and cobalt fans, it was nice to see there was a backup plan in place when 2017 started off poorly. That plan was Mike Petke, who had been hired to coach RSL's USL team, the Royal Monarchs.

The Petke era can be viewed in two parts. The first half of the season where things continued to go poorly, and then the second part where he made some important changes. During the first 14 games in the Petke era RSL had a minus six expected goal differential, only earned 1.14 points per game, and there seemed to be internal disarray in the locker room. The second half of the season was much more promising, as the team spiked to a plus seven expected goal differential (fourth best in MLS in the second half) and increased their points per game up to 1.65, 3rd best in MLS.

One of the more defining traits of the second half was that the team became more efficient in the high press. We can see the passes per defensive actions (PPDA) inside 40 yards, dug up by ASA alum Cris Pannullo, show their consistent pressing numbers over the years.