The Matt Wells Way
Rapids Head Coach Matt Wells has, surprisingly, made good on his promise that the Colorado Rapids would 'dominate'. Here's what that looks like.
I’ll admit it. I was wrong.
When Matt Wells said the Colorado Rapids would endeavor to ‘dominate their opponents’ in a series of press conference appearances, I was beyond skeptical. And could you blame me? Since I started following this team, I’ve heard loads of promises from every Johnny-Come-Lately manager the Colorado Rapids have employed. I remember being abandoned by Oscar Pareja just before the 2014 season. I remember Pablo Mastroeni refusing to use advanced metrics in his game-planning by saying ‘Stats will lose to the human spirit every day of the week,’1 and his ‘defend to the death, let luck take care of the rest’ approach. I remember Anthony Hudson being the chosen coach to deliver Colorado to the promised land of ‘The Rapids Way.’ Which turned out to be a wrong turn.
Of course there was Robin Fraser’s relatively mild-mannered, pragmatic tactical contribution: a very balanced approach that pressed some, defended some, counter-attacked in transition some, and was perfectly adequate for finishing mid-table and getting dog-walked in the first round of the playoffs each year. And lastly, there was the Chris Armas way: an attacking football that could sometimes be fun, but was prone to defensive errors, set piece inadequacy, and a general inability to find their footing after Djordje Mihailovic left.
Matt Wells said his Rapids were going to dominate opponents, which sounded like the boast of a villainous and cartoonish foil to James Bond before threatening to blot out the sun unless he was delivered the contents of Ft. Knox. And yet, here’s the Rapids possession statistics to date:
I did the math. That’s 56.9 % possession through 11 games. That’s insane. That’s the fifth-highest in MLS this year. Since 2015, Colorado has only had a 50% or greater possession season once, in the cursed Covid-shortened 2020 season.
Now, that said, possession doesn’t win games. It would not be a great leap forward for the ‘Pids if Matt Wells were just a younger, more articulate version of Peter Vermes, minus the drill sergeant crew cut. For as much as Vermes experienced success in MLS, he demonstrated that controlling possession match after match does not equal success. The Wells Way is not, however, simply possession. It is also a particular emphasis on pressing and counter-pressing. It is playing out of the back and never launching a goal kick that results in a midfield 50-50 duel. And it is picking out quality opportunities to strike.
It’d be exhausting for me and boring for you if I went all X’s and O’s for 10,000 words on ‘The Wells Way’. And CU-Boulder won’t be handing me a PhD if I went full-dissertation mode anyhow. So here’s three gifs that I think show some interesting aspects of ‘The Wells Way’™. Plus a bonus link to a video I found of him when he was goofy young academy coach. You’re welcome.
Rafa Navarro, Fulcrum False 9
Here’s Rob Holding slicing a ball on the ground through the defense to Rafa Navarro vs. LAFC on April 22, a game that ended 0-0 but was the first non-defeat of the Rapids at BMO Stadium ever.
Navarro is playing very, very deep for a center forward. Sometimes, like in the Kei Kamara and Jack McBean era, the Rapids would loft a long aerial up to the striker just past the center line for him to knock down. But those were more ‘direct’ and low risk attempts to get up field with strikers that were either good in the air, or a chance for that big forward to knock down the ball into the path of a speedy dribbler so they could go on the break and take a shot. That’s not what’s happening here.
Navarro is receiving on the ground, back to goal, deep, and then turning, running, and passing. Those tactics are normally reserved for Attacking Midfielders, but Rafa’s good enough on the dribble and in the pass that he can be that guy. I hate to go back to a cute tactical reference from Ted Lasso, but it’s kind of perfect: Wells isn’t going to Rafa, he’s going through Rafa. Just as Jamie Tartt once suggested – ‘don’t go to meh, go fhru meh.’
This is not an isolated incident. Here’s the last two passing/average position maps for the Rapids.
That’s Rafa (‘CF’) playing as deep as midfielder Paxton Aaronson (‘RCM’) and left back Miguel Navarro against Vancouver in that top map, and in the bottom map, playing !deeper! than Wayne Fredrick (‘LCM’) against LAFC. Rafa’s playing like a fourth midfielder, or a false nine, because Matt Wells has identified that he’s got the skill set to do it and it works. This is a clever way to get fast wingers with good noses for goal, like Darren Yapi and Georgi Minoungou and Dante Sealy,2 to act as if they were strikers, so Rafa can serve less as a target and more as a facilitator. This also allows Wells’ 4-3-3 formation to play like a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1 in buildup in ways that allow for midfield numerical superiority. Which is good if you want to … maintain possession.
It’s creative and clever. And so far it’s working – Rafa’s 10 Goals + Assists is the best in MLS.3
Rob Holding the High Line
Am I JUST SO DAMN excited to use our podcasts’ name as a pun for a thing that actually happened last week? ABSOLUTELY.
That’s Rob Holding … holding a high line along with Lucas Herrington and Kosi Thompson, then stepping into the lane to intercept the ball before giving it to Rafa, who passed to Dante Sealy for a great one-v-one and shot. But notice that Holding follows the play and stays in the attack. Bruv is also WAVING LIKE A MADMAN like ‘Yo I want the rock!’ This is Holding, living every centerback’s dream of momentarily being a striker.
Is this ‘The Wells Way’? Well, it’s not that atypical for a player to ‘follow the attack’ after picking off the pass. But the high line and step is a bit atypical and aggressive - under another coach, the centerbacks might be deeper and would generally be discouraged from jumping the lane, since there’s a bit of risk if Holding misses and an LAFC player like Dennis Bouanga or Son Heung-Min gets loose all alone. So the aggression and the fearlessness feels Wellsian to me.
Sometimes dominating possession is about the shots you DON’T take
Here’s a lovely moment from last week’s game against Inter Miami.
Hamzat Ojediran receives the ball deep from Kosi Thompson. Rather than do the safe thing and recycle back to GK Zack Steffen, Hamzat dribbles out of the press and past Lionel Messi and Rodrigo de Paul, which I imagine is a feeling slightly better than having sex with a supermodel.
He pings a dope slicing ball up the gut to … Rafa Navarro, who plays it wide to Kosi Thompson.
Thompson drives forward, pulls up, plays a 1-2 with Wayne Frederick, then recycles it all the way back to Rob Holding and they start over again.
Rather than push forward and take an ill-conceived shot, Colorado reboots from scratch. That’s how Colorado frustrated Miami for possession all day, ultimately winning that battle 62-38.
I’ll also note that this 1-2 comboing tight down the touch line is another feature of the Matt Wells system. In central midfield, it’s line breaking vertical passes. On the wings, it’s two and three-man overloads that allow for a player to play out of pressure.
Of course I should mention that Colorado didn’t win any of these last three games. There was a 3-1 loss to Vancouver in which they had 55% possession. There was a 0-0 draw against LAFC with 73% possession. And the 3-2 loss to Miami. That said, these are literally the three best teams in MLS, and Colorado matched up well against all of them. They probably left a point on the table against Miami, but I’ll take 1 point from this stretch.
We’re still learning about Matt Wells. But we’re eleven games in, and I like what I see.
(Oh yeah. And, as promised, here’s a 20-something Wells talking in a video about midfield overloads and the importance of winning possession. It’s tactically interesting, and also he’s scruffy and young and adorable.)
Pablo’s quote is apparently so legendary that he’s been cited in a ‘New Yorker’ article about the viewing experience of football. I cite it here mostly because MLSsoccer dot com is so garbage, I can’t trust that that video I linked up above will make it through the end of 2026.
Maybe Sealy has a nose for goal? He has no goals in MLS league play, but had a quick goal against Union Omaha in US Open Cup play. I’m a little underwhelmed so far, but there’s a lot of season left to play.
Tied with Petr Musa and Prince Owusu.