Tag: Tori Huster

Route Two Soccer – Let’s Talk About Tori Huster

Posted on by RJ Allen

In this game, we focus a great deal on the players who do things. And for good reason. Most of the time, the action is…well, where the action is. But there is always a lot more going on than just what’s happening near the ball. And there is no player in the league who better illustrates this point than Tori Huster.

Watching her reminds me of Vicente del Bosque’s praise of Sergio Busquets: “If you watch the whole game, you won’t see Busquets—but watch Busquets, and you will see the whole game.” Huster is a similar player. Watch her and you’ll see the whole game.

Washington 1 – 0 Portland

After spending six weeks out with a quad strain, Huster made her return this week. It was a big ask—coming straight back in for a full 90 without a chance to build back up her match fitness and form. And against Portland, no less. But Huster looked as comfortable as if she’d never left, helping to lock down many of the improvements that the team had made in her absence.

Generally, teams have found success against the Thorns this year primarily through a high pressing game: harass them high up the pitch, break up their rhythm, force them into dumb mistakes, and generally just keep them from playing their game. North Carolina provided the template early in the season, but others have found some good results using the same techniques, including Sky Blue last week.

The problem with that approach is that it needs a lot of pace. In order to keep the channels clogged as you press high, you need to play a high line and do a lot of running. Even more, to play this way you desperately need a midfield who can hold possession under pressure, to capitalize on turnovers and spring attacks in transition.

And while Washington has certainly looked better recently, those improvements haven’t solved those fundamental weaknesses in the team. Unlike their 2016 iteration, which really did have the personnel and speed to play that way, the 2017 squad can’t afford to fully commit to a full field press.

Now, that may change over the coming weeks. After all, the Spirit should soon be getting Mallory Pugh back from injury, Estefania Banini back from Europe, not to mention an increasingly fit Caprice Dydasco (who made a big difference pushing higher up the pitch in her half-hour this week). Combine those additions with some increasingly confident and active players like Francisca Ordega and Meggie Dougherty Howard, and you’ve got the core of a truly solid unit. By the end of the year, the Spirit may well be playing a lot like they were at the end of 2016. But for now, lack of team speed and midfield control will doom them if they try to play too expansively.

High pressing with a low backline: Wait, what?

Their solution is as simple as it is effective: focus your play on the attacking thirds, and don’t worry too much about what’s in between. In effect: keep your defense as deep as possible—to avoid the backline getting turned and their limited pace exposed—while still pushing as high possible in the attacking end.

Your front players should press aggressively and look to quickly close down on the ball high up the pitch. Your defenders, however, should drop off the ball as much as possible. Don’t step up to challenge, and risk getting beat. Just drop, and drop quickly. Keep the other team in front of you and build a wall in front of your goal.

At times, this could be mistaken for ‘bunkering,’ since it involves setting a deep backline and soaking up pressure rather than trying to play through the midfield. But it’s different in the important respect that you’re really only playing with six players behind the ball. The attacking four will drop when necessary, but their focus is upfield, not down. That’s what makes it possible for them to exert effective high pressure, and what keeps them available for good looks on goal.

Now, there are two clear problems with this approach:

First and most obvious: it requires conceding dominance over a (pretty important) part of the field. Games are won and lost in the midfield, and this setup is a recipe for losing a lot of midfield battles. However, there is an important element of expedience here. Because the fact is: given the available personnel, Washington is probably going to get beat in the midfield a lot anyways. So the question is how to structure those defeats. More on that in a moment.

Second, this approach is bad for possession. Creating such a wide gap between the front and back lines makes it difficult to link them together when you do get the ball. It’s a recipe for a lot of long balls over the top and speculative crossing runs, most of which will go astray. This is a real problem since it’s hard to win the game without the ball. But again, this is a matter of facing realities. Even if they wanted to, Washington simply isn’t going to get a ton of joy from keeping the ball on the ground and playing tiki-taka through the middle. So it’s quite reasonable to think about this not in terms of how much possession you get, but rather how useful you’re able to make your limited chances.

Tactical judo: turning your weaknesses into strengths

In both of these cases, the underlying logic owes as much to the martial arts as anything else. Because the key is to use your opponent’s strength against them by carefully managing how that strength can be expressed.

By accepting a disadvantage in the midfield, you draw your opposition out. If they manage to unlock the high pressure, they’ll move quickly through that vacant midfield space, hoping to pounce on the retreating backline. But if you can hold the line, they’ll often find themselves spinning their wheels—far more stretched than they expect. Like the dog who catches the car, you may end up with an attacker who sprang forward anticipating a devastating counter only to find herself 30 yards ahead of any help.

Alternatively, if they do manage to get forward in numbers, that creates the space that you want for your counterattacks. Stay resolute, break up play, and then quickly turn and look for the long crossing ball that will give your forwards room to run.

Everything depends on the holding midfielders

Making this setup work is no simple thing. It requires a lot of organization and needs defenders who are solid with their back to goal. It needs a keeper who is comfortable dealing with shots from distance, and who can handle crosses well. And it needs attackers who can thrive without much support from the midfield—players who can make their own chances, by beating a couple defenders, or by racing down low-percentages balls and making something out of nothing. But more than anything else: you need dependable holding midfielders. And that’s where Tori Huster comes in.

Because while there are plenty of great holding midfielders these days, some with more creative attacking flair, some who are better goal scorers, and some who are better tacklers. But I’m not sure there’s anyone in the league who is more dependable. And this weekend’s game was as clear an example as you could ever hope for.

Washington managed only 38% possession and were consistently overrun in the midfield. But for all that, Portland looked fairly toothless all game—only managing three shots on goals. Certainly, some of the blame can be placed on the Thorns themselves, but a lot of credit needs to go to Dougherty Howard and (especially) Huster—the holding midfielders who held the rock on which Portland crashed for most of the evening.

While the high press gave the Thorns some trouble, it was by no means able to coop them up entirely. But every time they broke through and tried to come in numbers, Huster was there—tracking along and slowing their attack, giving the defense time to drop and set before they were overrun, tracking the front runners and closing down passing angles. And once the defense set, Huster and Dougherty Howard were a constantly-moving shield at the top of the 18-yard box, forcing play to go wide, interfering and disrupting.

One of the hardest things about defending well is the discipline it takes to judge when to step and when to drop. And it’s often even harder to assess that quality from afar. We focus on the perfectly executed tackles, the last-ditch efforts that save a goal, the narrow inches between winning the ball and conceding a penalty. But often the most successful defenders are the ones who keep the dangerous play from developing in the first place. By holding their position, they delay the attack long enough for support to arrive. By dropping, they fill the space where the through-ball might have gone. By being patient, they maintain control.

This is an important quality for anyone, but it’s especially important for the holding player in Washington’s setup. Defense is a team problem, and a defense is only as good as its weakest link. But ‘weakest’ isn’t a static concept. Good players don’t just do good things individually; they also help build an infrastructure that helps everyone do better.

When the Spirit have played well this year, it’s been driven by good performances in those central midfield roles–protecting the defense in transition, preserving the ball long enough to launch attacks, marshaling the troops to keep everyone in line. Dougherty Howard has grown into the role and looks a very useful player. Havana Solaun was deputized there with some success but is far better utilized in a more attacking role where her creativity can shine. And Line Sigvardsen Jensen has filled in where necessary. But Huster’s return is a game-changer.

Watch Huster, and you’ll see the whole game

Think about the quote I mentioned at the start: watch the game and you won’t see her; watch her and you’ll see the whole game. That’s because so much of what she’s doing never shows up in plays that go into the box score. She’ll win her share of tackles and make her share of passes, sure, but more than anything she’s a shepherd. Her job is to make sure everything stays on course, not necessarily to do it herself.

And it takes incredible discipline to successfully play this way. You need someone who will run endlessly just to make sure that the passing channels stay clogged. Who can see play in motion and anticipate where someone will need to be. Who can cover for her teammates when they’re dragged out of position. Who can understand the team’s shape as it ebbs and flows and keep everyone working together.

It’s a cliché when talking about a ‘weak’ team who is tough to score against to say “they’re just really well organized,” but we don’t spend nearly enough time thinking about where that organization comes from. Obviously, coaching is immensely important here, but it also takes a lot of work from the players on the pitch to actually execute the plan. And it depends in particular on the field general who can keep everyone marching to the same tune.

That’s Huster.

Watch Washington play with her on the pitch and notice how often she’s pointing—drop into this space, protect that flank, watch your blind side, pass into that channel, and so on. Watch to see how often she’s moving ahead of the play—protecting space that’s not threatened yet, but which is about to be attacked. Watch to see how assiduously she manages breakaway attacks—not looking to make a spectacular (but risky) tackle; trusting that her defense will be able to stifle the attack if she can just give them the time to reset.

But more than anything, watch to see how often the opponent seems strangely quiet on the night—unable to find those penetrating runs, unable to successfully isolate and turn defenders, unable to do much of anything with all the possession that they seem to have.

There are plenty of flashy players in the league, and we rightly give them a lot of credit for the incredible things they can do. But I’m not sure there was any player more crucial to their team’s success this week than Tori Huster. That her contributions were so quiet only makes them that much more impressive.

Route Two Soccer – Washington Keeps It Simple, Get Results

Posted on by RJ Allen

Washington squared off against Houston this weekend in a matchup between the two bottom teams in the table, and in many ways that’s precisely what the game felt like. Neither team looked particularly confident in possession, both suffered awkward defensive breakdowns, and the play was often more than a little sloppy. However, there were also some important signs of life, particularly from the Washington side.

Dueling 4-3-3s, but very different approaches

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Washington came out in a fairly standard 4-3-3, with the only twist being the lack of a true central player in the forward line. Arielle Ship was nominally deployed as the central striker but drifted back and to the wings as much as she stayed in the middle. To the extent that the Spirit had anyone consistently in that central attacking zone, it was due to Kristie Mewis pushing forward.

The result was a very contained approach, with all eleven players taking on meaningful defensive responsibilities, and generally looking to strike on the counter more than to build out of the back.

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On the other side, Houston also employed a 4-3-3, as they have used most of this season. However, with new interim coach Morales at the helm, there were some changes. Once again, they experienced a major shuffle in the backline, with Amber Brooks being dropped from the holding midfield role to serve as center back, paired with Cari Roccaro, and flanked by Levin and Daly.

Presumably, these moves were designed to bolster Houston’s midfield, allowing Brian to play the holding role, creating space for both Andressa and O’Sullivan to join her. It’s an idea that makes some sense in theory—bring in more skillful attacking players to link play with the forward line and maintain possession—but which did very little to address their underlying problems.

Washington in 2017: defensive woes

The Spirit’s game plan was quite simple, but also fairly effective. Stay behind the ball in numbers, apply aggressive pressure once the opponent enters your half, and let your forwards break with pace when the chance comes. There have been teams playing like this for almost as long as there has been a game of soccer, and there’s a reason why it’s never truly gone out of style: it’s devilishly effective.

Going into the season, Washington’s strength looked like its backline, which had been quite stingy in their run to the final last year and which was returning with most of its key players. However, the defense has been anything but solid, conceding sixteen goals so far (most in the league).

The real question is whether those failures are primarily the fault of the backline, or whether responsibility needs to be shared more widely. And here the answer is clear: the blame needs to be spread around. The key to Washington’s team defense last year was the way it began from the front. They swarmed high up the pitch, closing tight on the ball to limit time for decision-making, closing down passing lanes, and generally making it difficult to play. And that is where Washington has really suffered this year. Losing the likes of Crystal Dunn, Joanna Lohman, Christine Nairn, and Diana Matheson—all two-way players with the intelligence and experience to work in combination—has made it extremely difficult for them to recover that defensive solidity. And in potentially the biggest blow, they’ve been forced to go without Tori Huster—one of the best defensive midfielders in the game today—since early May.

Coach Jim Gabarra has tried a number of different approaches to compensate, some more effective than others. At times, their deep-defending 3-5-2 has looked effective, but it’s not clear that they have enough quality in central midfield to take advantage of the numbers that it offers there. There is potential there, but so far it’s been a mixed bag at best.

A simple approach: defend in numbers, and let Pugh hit them on the break

But against Houston this weekend, the team finally looked a bit more like their 2016 selves. Not on the attacking side, where smooth passing, confident possession, and creative interplay continues to remain a distant memory. But defensively, this was a far more coherent team performance. From a team that has looked disjointed and more than a little frustrated at times this year, it was a breath of fresh air to see them defending as a unit. Havana Solaun and Meggie Dougherty Howard deserve special acclaim. Neither really fits the mold of a true holding player, but they worked together to close down Houston’s midfield—taking advantage of some relatively lax refereeing to establish a disruptive physical presence.

Meanwhile, the team’s discipline—keeping plenty of numbers back consistently—gave the center backs a bit more freedom to push forward without as much fear of leaving holes behind them. All of this allowed Washington to create a reasonably condensed field—packing the defensive third and stepping out to pressure the ball once it got close. That left Houston with plenty of possession, but also plenty of turnovers from their unsuccessful attempts to pick the lock. And those turnovers were deadly.

This was Mallory Pugh’s third game with the team, but the first time when they took full advantage of her presence. Her blistering pace and skill on the ball was enough to rip Houston apart on the counter and was the clear difference-maker in the game. Washington has other talented attackers, ones who can play the same role on occasion (Ordega, in particular, showed her ability against Sky Blue earlier this year), but none have the consistency or skill of Pugh. Without Pugh, Washington’s approach would be effective but all-too-predictable. With her, even when you know what’s coming, it’s difficult to avoid getting caught out.

It worked against Houston, but …

However, it’s important not to overstate the case. Washington earned a deserved victory on Saturday. They had a clear game plan and executed it well. And it’s certainly a replicable model. After all, a well-organized defense and lightning counters can beat any team in the league on its day.

But it was particularly well-suited for Houston. As mentioned, this was a team with a new (and agonizingly slow) center back pairing, which was hoping to control the midfield with relatively small numbers. And in order to make that plan work, they needed to ask quite a bit of Morgan Brian—who was tasked with occupying the holding midfield role and with pressing forward in the attack. It’s not that Brian can’t do both (indeed, she had her best game of the season), it’s simply that without a second skilled defender in the central midfield, there was no one left to shield the backline from the inevitable counters.

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Given that setup, this Washington approach was perfectly suited. And even with that being the case, it’s hardly like they shut Houston down entirely. Brian and Andressa both picked out some excellent passes, and both Ohai and Beckie found themselves with plenty of solid chances. And while Washington was quite successful at holding a rigid backline and relying on the offside trap to aggressively compress the field, they were only a few inches from getting caught on several occasions.

Against a better team—with an offense more in-sync and a backline with more pace and skill—Washington might have been in trouble.

So it would be a mistake for them to simply rest on their laurels here. Still, this was an incredibly important proof-of-concept game. It showed that they have a good sense of what Mallory Pugh brings to the team, and the ability to capitalize on it. It gave the team a win and lifted them off the bottom of the table going into the international break—which should also do wonders for team confidence and cohesion.

And with the likely return of Huster once the season starts back up in two weeks, there’s every reason to think that Washington can improve on the general model exhibited here. A bona fide defensive all-star guarding the backline should give everyone else a bit more space to press higher, and allow the Spirit to build back toward the sort of all-encompassing defensive unit that they were last year.

Washington still seems like an extreme longshot to make the playoffs—there are just too many unseasoned players in key positions here to achieve the kind of consistency that would require—but this is a respectable team and a far cry from the disaster that many were predicting a few months ago.