Doug Starnes will be popping in this season for a weekly tactical discussion of the weekend’s match. You may recognize him from his previous work at Eleventh Heaven. Doug is an assistant coach with DePauw Women’s Soccer, Goalkeeper Coordinator for the Indiana Olympic Development Program, and volunteered his time scouting NASL opposition for the Indy Eleven coaching staff last season. You can follow Doug on Twitter at @GrassInTheSky1. Welcome, Doug!

New look Indy Eleven now have a match in the books under Tim Hankinson, and while the 0-0 draw may not have set the world on fire, it does give us a very good look at how this side will be set up and where Hankinson will likely be focusing his efforts to further develop what the team did well Saturday night while also improving in areas that fell a bit flat.

The 4-2-3-1

Hankinson made no secret of the fact that he wanted to play in a 4-2-3-1 system as soon as he arrived in Indianapolis and he proved true to his word when Indy took the field against Tampa Bay Saturday night. Brad Ring and Nicki Paterson were named to the two holding midfield berths (or double pivot or double six…semantics) with Duke Lacroix playing left midfield, Sinša Ubiparivović filling the number ten role underneath Éamon Zayed, and Justin Braun set up as a right-sided midfielder.

What you need to know about this system if you’re not terribly familiar with it is that it provides lots of protection for the back four and, ideally, makes it difficult for the opposition to find space centrally in attack. The two sixes provide a shield in front of the back four that limits penetrating passes and space between the midfield and back line. It can, however, be exploited by teams with pacey and creative wide players (coincidentally, not unlike Tampa Bay) and it can sputter a touch in transition moments from defense to attack as the two holding midfielders are often unable to join the attack quickly enough.

Interestingly, Tampa Bay countered Indy’s 4-2-3-1 with nearly the same system. Kalif Alhassan and Eric Avila , left and right midfielders respectively, were forced to take up positions significantly narrower than perhaps they – or at least Alhassan- would have liked. With Avila narrow, Darnell King had space to run in to, but he also had to worry about Lacroix’s pace behind him and the two somewhat canceled one another out. The end result of all of this was a match with limited opportunities for both sides and a very crowded midfield third.

A Blunt Spear

As the match developed, it became increasingly clear that both teams were going to have issues transitioning to meaningful attacking moments. For much of the first half, Indy possessed the ball in the back, built forward, stalled, and then won the ball back immediately after Tampa Bay cleared their lines. The positive to take from this is that the Eleven looked more composed, organized, and confident across the back line than they have since the club became a club. The acquisition of veteran leaders like Colin Falvey and Jon Busch undoubtedly has much to do with this. As Chris Anderson and David Sally point out in their book The Numbers Game, when it comes down to it – at least statistically speaking – the goals you don’t concede are worth much more at the end of the season than the goals you score. But no one’s heart bursts for 0-0 draws either, and building meaningful attacks is something Hankinson will likely be working on in the coming weeks.

The real issue Saturday is that the two sides’ systems of play mostly canceled one another out and the crowded midfield made it difficult for Indy to find passes to their attacking players. As the match wore on, this situation was exacerbated by Braun moving centrally and Ubiparipović dropping deeper to get on the ball. There were moments in the match when Ubiparipović was picking up the ball from the back four behind both Ring and Paterson. You can’t blame your number ten for wanting to get on the ball, but once he was on it, his options forward were too far away and too isolated to create much of substance. Even Zayed started to drop further to get on the ball as he became more and more isolated.

Consider this, for the whole match Ubiparipović combined with Zayed, ostensibly the focal point of the Eleven attack, only four times. Of those four times, only one started and was completed in the Tampa Bay half. Braun combined with Zayed only once and Lacroix didn’t combine with him at all. To show how isolated Zayed was during the match, he had only 20 touches on the ball in 90 minutes. The next lowest total belongs to Duke Lacroix, but he was subbed in the 74th minute for Jair Reinoso. Indy mustered only one shot on target on six total shots.

Conversely, Indy’s top passing combinations were Falvey to Palmer, Falvey to Janicki, Vukovic to Janicki, and Janicki to Vukovic. Notice anything?

The sky isn’t falling. Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in the game, especially when only three of the starters on the field Saturday night were returning players, but Hankinson will be disappointed the team didn’t create more chances and maybe a little uneasy knowing that the lack of goal scoring has carried over from the preseason.

Round Plugs, Square Holes

It may have slipped under the radar for some Eleven supporters considering he never played an official match for the team, but the release of Stephen DeRoux was a pretty big deal. DeRoux played last season for San Antonio Scorpions as a very useful attacking left back. He was no Justin Davis, but he would have provided Indy with a legitimate attacking threat from the left side. As it is now, Nemanja Vukovic has been enlisted to fill the void, but one gets the sense that he’s really a center back playing on the left side with a defense first and last approach. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it certainly limits the number of potential opportunities going forward.

Another player seemingly playing out of his preferred position Saturday night was Justin Braun. His natural inclination was to move inside to find the ball and he clearly still has the pace to run the channels. He seemed less comfortable trying to find space wide and then attack inside or make runs down the flank to provide service. It would have been interesting to see what Don Smart could have done toward the end of the match if Zayed had made way and Braun had been moved centrally.

Takeaway

Firstly, this was the first match of a long, hard season. Rarely does a team look at this stage how they will look at the end of the season.

Secondly, Indy’s composure defensively and ability to limit Tampa Bay’s chances was actually pretty awesome to watch. Tampa Bay spent big in the offseason and acquired three of the best attacking players in the league in Tom Heinemann, Junior Burgos, and Kalif Alhassan. All three of those guys gave Indy fits last season when they were with their old teams, so limiting their chances when they were playing together at home is something to put in the bank.

Lastly, the veteran leadership Indy acquired in the offseason was much needed and will pay dividends as the season unfolds. It may have seemed like a little thing, or perhaps went totally unnoticed by many supporters watching the match, but late in the second half Colin Falvey absolutely lit in to Tom Heinemann when he dribbled the ball out of bounds rather than passing it back to Jon Busch after Indy had been in possession and played the ball out in order for a player to receive treatment for an injury. It was a suspect thing for Heinemann to do, although not strictly wrong. These guys were teammates just a few months ago, but Falvey didn’t hesitate to let him know exactly what he thought of the play. There weren’t a lot of guys on the team last season who had the professional confidence and/or willingness to make demands and give direction to their teammates let alone players wearing a different shirt. The thing about that kind of leadership is that it empowers younger pros to do the same things and creates a clear standard. You can build on that.