Backpass: Three Looks
Pids got three looks. And that's it (not really). Here they are.
We spend untold sums of mental energy on certain offseason questions regarding our favorite sports teams. I’ll be in the shower getting ready for work, with an important class to teach or a potentially stressful meeting1 and instead of previewing that event, I’ll start to think:
‘but what if the Rapids tried a 4-4-2 diamond? Would that maximize the available position players?’
These kinds of rumination are more common in January and February, when the roster is in flux and the games are still off in the distance. And then the season starts and our thinking about the Colorado Rapids becomes more fixed on what happened in a game rather than theoretical possibilities. ‘They played this player but they should have played that player.’ ‘They blew this one play; that guy should have been there, not there.’
For Colorado, there’s actually still a surprising amount of flux. And not in a bad way! We’re just still seeing a team and a coach tinkering and adjusting, both the tactics and the starting XI, with a ‘oh THESE are the new look Rapids’ determination still to emerge.
The Rapids have showed (sort of) three looks in the early season. Which isn’t really a ‘but that’s it!’ kind of thing, because through five games thats a lot. But it fits the meme, so we’re going with it.2
Look 1: 4-2-3-1 Classic
The Rapids’ first regular season match, as well as their two games against LAFC, came in a 4-2-3-1 that looks pretty much the same as over the past two seasons. The twin pivots were Ollie Larraz and Josh Atencio, and in front of them was Cole Bassett, Djordje Mihailovic, and Kevin Cabrál. Rafa Navarro sits up top.
It worked just fine. The standard approach to moving the ball up looked like this.
Awaziem starts with the ball and plays it to Larraz, who, facing backwards, pings it back to Ian Murphy. The defense has shifted enough to give Murphy space to play a ball either into space for Atencio, or to a backwards facing Atencio that can ‘open up’ to the ball and start running faced forward. The Rapids would sometimes variate that with Bassett, Mihailovic, or Cabrál dropping deep to be the first ‘ping’. And sometimes it would take a few ‘pings’ to get going forward.
Atencio or Larraz (or sometimes a more forward midfielder) is on ball. He has three options: 1. play the ball left and into space for Cole Bassett to get into the box; 2. play the ball to Navarro, who, facing backwards, can play it to a forward-facing Mihailovic for a dribble or shot; or 3. loft it long and towards the right corner for Reggie Cannon, who can choose to attack from the corner, combine with Kevin Cabrál in close support, or send in a cross to the front of goal.
In defense Colorado tended to defend deep, but they sprang to life in attack quickly when the chances presented themselves. Here’s a look at that with a gif.
Off a recovery, Keegan Rosenberry plays an aggressive pass to Mihailovic, who opens up to face forward and dribbles 30 yards forward with four Rapids players laid out perfectly, flanking him on each side like so:
X X ← Right
X ←
X X ← Left
It’s Bassett (L) and Atencio (R) to his rear, and Navarro (L) and Cabrál (R) ahead. This was a great fast-transition opportunity, and were it not for Djordje’s pass banging off of Rafa’s back foot, it probably could have been a lot more threatening. Colorado still worked it around a little before STL snuffed it out.
The press doesn’t quite work as well in the 4231 because the wings have to come from deeper; usually it’s Navarro doing most of the work. But this setup works because it gives the Rapids good support to the back line with those twin d-mids sitting deep. Can you tell I’m at heart a 4-2-3-1 guy?
Armas has made the offense work in this setup; something neither Pablo Mastroeni nor Anthony Hudson ever achieved. Colorado played in the 4-2-3-1 similarly under Robin Fraser, and with success. But Fraser was more interesting in deliberate, slow buildup through side-to-side passing which opened small gaps in the defense. Armas mostly wants to attack quickly. More front to back, less side to side.
They could probably do this all season, and it would be reasonably effective. As it happens, it seems like Colorado *isn’t* going to be doing this, or at least, they won’t be doing this exclusively.
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Look 2: The All-Star Isolation Attack
I was blessed enough in 2010 to go see Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. As the half drew near a close, Lebron was dribbling at the top of the key, and the four other attackers intentionally cleared off to the sides, leaving Lebron’s defender in a 1v1. I’d never seen that before in basketball. Heck, I wasn’t even aware that ‘yo let me take this dude solo’ was even an option in high level basketball. Lebron pivoted. He spun. He one-hand open-leg dunked on his poor defender (Ronny Turiaf? Devean George? Stephen Jackson?). It was awesome. They call it ‘going iso,’ as in isolation.
Soccer’s generally not a 1v1 sport. There’s 11 players on the pitch: if you get past your man, odds are someone else is gonna pick you up.
But if you send forward just 2 or 3 players on a burst, you could get into a 1v1 or 2v2 situation in the final third, and that might result in an advantageous situation if your players are talented enough. With one of 2024’s leading goalscorers in Rafa Navarro and one of the league’s leading setup men in Djordje Mihailovic, Colorado can put opponents in MVP isolation and do bad things to them. Observe what they did to Dallas on the second goal of the match.3
Mihailovic, receiving a long diagonal from the center of the pitch from Cole Bassett, puts Dallas’ right back (Shaq Moore) in a 1v1 situation. Djordje gets enough separation on the stutter-step to loft in a great front post cross. There in the middle is Rafa Navarro, between two ferns centerbacks. He rises. He delivers. 2-0, Colorado.
In the Jack Price era, Colorado could rely on devastatingly accurate corner kicks and set pieces to score goals. Colorado lead the league in set piece goals in 2021 with 9; in contrast they were 13th that year in goals from open. Colorado hasn’t been deadly on set pieces since then. They don’t have Jack Price any more.
But they do have Djordje. And Rafa.
Look 3: 4-3-3 With a Press in Austin
Colorado came out with a look they hadn’t shown yet against Austin, which was a 4-3-3 with a press – not so much a high press, mind you. Colorado wasn’t trying to pin Austin back in the corners; or rather, perhaps Austin’s fullbacks didn’t choose to receive the ball deep enough to require Colorado to use a high press. Instead, we got this:
1)
Colorado’s three forwards, Djordje Mihailovic, Rafa Navarro, and Kevin Cabrál (top to bottom in burgundy) set up with Austin’s two center backs in possession. Cabrál is actually arriving a little late - he had dropped back and you can see him looking at Chris Armas, who I imagine is yelling at him ‘Non mon ami, nous sommes pressés en ce moment!’ Which google translate informs me is French for ‘Press now!’ I do not know if Armas speaks French.
2)
Cabrál rushes the CB, he passes sideways. Mihailovic rushes the other CB.
Meeanwhile, in the midfield…
With the two orange brackets you have Atencio (left) and Bassett (right). They’re marking space; keeping Austin from advancing dangerously up the middle.
Which is something Austin would total botch a few minutes later when they conceded the only goal of the match to Colorado; a series of up-the-gut passes from Bassett to Larraz to Mihailovic to Navarro that was a master class in three things: risk assessment, operating in tight spaces, and the value of developing chemistry over time.4
Anyhow, here in our still frame about Larraz is cutting off the Austin wing option. Later in the game, Colorado would be a little flat footed to pinch the wings and Austin would advance more effectively in the wide spaces. To some degree, that’s normal: you can’t have everyone running as fast as they can in defense every possession, and the shift from attack to defense is going to lead to some gaps, unless you orient your entire attack to being ‘in a great position to defend when we lose the ball.’ This was a feature of Pablo Mastroeni’s approach to Rapids soccer. I liked it. But in 2017 it didn’t work and he got fired. Pablo has evolved to be a little more complex now that he’s with RSL. Maybe this digression should be a footnote. Oh well.
Austin’s CB could go wide to their RB, but Mihailovic seems to be poised to jump the lane or press and steal, and so Austin…
3)
… bypasses the midfield with the long switch. Colorado wins the aerial, forces a turnover, and the ATX possession is snuffed out.
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All of this 4-3-3 press stuff was something of a surprise. Colorado played their first four matches of the year (two games against LAFC in the Concacaf Chapions Cup, two MLS games against FC Dallas and St Louis City that ended in a draw) in a 4-2-3-1. The talk preseason was of the Rapids perhaps switching to a 3-4-2-1 with two wingbacks and three Centerbacks. Nobody expected a 4-3-3. But they did it! And they won an away game with it.
Did it work because it’s the best system for the pieces available? Did it work because it was a tactical surprise, custom built for our opponents in Austin? I will be paying close attention to what Colorado does this week against San Jose for clues.
Yesterday in a meeting I was trying to explain something to a congregant who just refused to listen to the words coming out of my mouth and to highlight the point I said ‘For the third time, here’s what happened’ at which point he started wagging his finger at me and saying ‘DON’T condesCEND ME!’ So, no, rabbis are not treated with great deference and an aura of holiness. We have shitty work meetings too.
This meme is stupid and slightly promotes the objectification of women (and if you play the video long enough, men!) for their physical appearance. But it’s a tiktok meme, so it’s meant to give you a dopamine hit when you’re lying in bed too tired to move with a 20 second vid of a pretty girl or a stupid prank. Also the three looks remixes, of which there are many, where basically a person recounts that they only do three things or worry about three things is infinitely more interesting, and those come up on tiktok and insta too. Social media’s mostly garbage but sometimes it’s wonderful, too.
But the meme name works for a Backpass title and that’s the most important thing to me.
You might also want to ignore all the defending they did in the match though, because it was bad.
I really like Josh Atencio. His receiving touch is gorgeous. My sense early on is he has no idea how to play with the other guys on the team; either he’s not involved in a play because he wasn’t in a position to receive from them, or he receives the ball and the attack founders because he’s not aware of where the other players like to go. I sense that’s a ‘I’m new’ thing and not a ‘I’m not that good’ thing, but in five games I may change my tune. I’m old enough to remember being really excited by Lucas Pittinari and Marcelo Sarvas, both of whom probably set the team back due to their various shortcomings.