Analyzing Inter Miami: Disregarded game plan, wrong starting lineup, and more
Three takeaways from Inter Miami's 2-0 loss vs. New York City FC
It is not how you start, but how you finish.
Just ask Inter Miami.
A franchise-record unbeaten run of four games came to an end on Saturday night for Inter Miami, which suffered a 2-0 road loss to New York City FC. The defeat was disappointing not only because it dropped the South Florida side to a 4-9-4 record at the halfway point of the MLS season, but also because of the manner in which it came.
Inter Miami began the match at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, on the front foot, dictating the tempo and looking the more dangerous side via some direct play that saw long balls regularly hit into space to test NYCFC’s high defensive line. That helped the Herons control the match for the first 20 minutes, but then NYCFC struck on the first real sequence in which it penetrated Inter Miami’s defensive third.
Things started to unravel soon after.
“The disappointment after that is we lost our composure and we started doing our own individual bits that we thought would help the team,” said Inter Miami head coach Phil Neville. “But obviously if we had stuck to the plan like we did in the first 25 minutes, we would have continued to dominate. That is my frustration, that when you have a little bit of a setback like the first goal you have just got to keep believing in what you are doing.
“That was what gave us a really good foundation in the game.”
It is eyebrow-raising at a minimum and concerning at a maximum if players, albeit with good intentions, disregarded the game plan Neville had devised and started doing their own things. Especially at this advanced point in the campaign.
Not only does it raise the question yet again as to whether players are truly bought into what Neville is selling and how he is selling it, but also whether this team truly has what it takes to push for a playoff spot during a second half of the season in which games come quicker and faster.
“It is there for us if we really, really want it,” said Neville. “We really need to put the hard yards in. If we do, we will be successful. If we do not, then we will continue to be inconsistent and we will continue to suffer like we have done in the first half of the season.”
Neville got the initial tactics right but starting lineup wrong
Inter Miami may have gotten off to a good start in this one, but that had more to do with Neville’s smart game plan than the starting lineup he trotted out to execute it.
Neville deployed his team in the 5-3-2 formation that was seen in the second half of the come-from-behind win vs. CF Montreal on July 31, opting to have more bodies in the center of the park to combat NYCFC’s numbers there and not have a numerical disadvantage. Inter Miami’s inverted midfield triangle consisted of Gregore as the No. 6 with Victor Ulloa and Blaise Matuidi just ahead of him in central spots, while the back five limited spaces in behind.
It made sense and worked for the most part in the first half, but Neville’s gamble in going with Kelvin Leerdam over Christian Makoun as the third of three centerbacks did not pay off. Leerdam was partially to directly at fault for both goals, the first for losing his mark and the second for an inexplicable handball that was as blatant as the guitar-shaped edifice at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.
Hindsight is 20-20, of course, but Makoun is more familiar with the centerback position than Leerdam, a natural fullback, is. What’s more, Makoun was fresh off a strong showing in last week’s win vs. Nashville SC in which he quietly but confidently showed well on both sides of the ball as one of three central defenders. It was thus no surprise that he came in and was the lone Inter Miami substitute to play well against NYCFC by delivering good play at the back.
Neville also banked on Rodolfo Pizarro providing some more good attacking play after a respectable showing last weekend, but the Mexican was rendered almost useless given how Inter Miami planned to get forward. The emphasis to try and challenge NYCFC’s high back line with Route 1 play on the whole was a good tactical idea given that the spaces to exploit were in behind, but Pizarro is not the type of player to stretch a defense or win aerial balls that can be flicked onto darting teammates.
He prefers checking to the ball so it can be played to his feet, something Neville should have more closely considered given the drawn-up game plan. One such play in the first half illustrated this perfectly, as Neville shouted at Pizarro to make a run in behind while left wingback Kieran Gibbs had the ball.
A player like Indiana Vassilev who boasts more speed would have been a better fit to partner Gonzalo Higuain with in this one in that two-man front line, and would have allowed Inter Miami to have more of an attacking presence down the left than it did with an ineffective Pizarro who was not used in a way that plays to his strengths.
Good ball movement was on display in the first half
One positive Inter Miami can take away from this one is that it played well, albeit briefly, against one of the top teams in the league. Not just that, but the Herons dictated the tempo with some effective ball movement.
A lot of times Inter Miami played long as right wingback Lewis Morgan bombed forward into the open space in the attacking half, but on a few occasions the team also knitted together some good passing sequences that moved the ball up the field. One in the first half in which Pizarro dropped deep into a central area in the defensive third to help with the build out was especially impressive, with Blaise Matuidi also involved.
“We were totally in control of the game and I thought totally on top, dominating, creating chances, causing them problems,” said Neville.
The South Florida side has begun to show more of that good build-up in recent weeks, a sign that the team is beginning to grow into Neville’s vision and philosophy. Still, sustaining that type of improved play for longer spells is a challenge. So too is translating it into more scoring opportunities.
For all the good play Inter Miami had in those opening 20-30 minutes, the team still did not really test NYCFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson. Inter Miami was neither overly dangerous in the attacking third nor efficient, failing to put away any of the only four shots it put on target.
“We are starting to feel more comfortable when in possession,” said centerback Leandro Gonzalez Pirez in Spanish. “We are now a team that dictates play with the ball. Perhaps we need to finish a little better than we are right now, but that final third is the most difficult in soccer.”