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On Saturday, Orlando City SC battled to rescue a 3–3 draw at home to playoff qualification rivals New England Revolution (if you still consider us to be in the hunt), only our fourth point out of the last possible 42.
Over those 14 games the Lions have been outscored 40-15 and with a league-high 2.35 goals conceded per game, Orlando City SC are on pace to end on 80 which would obliterate the previous MLS record of 70 set by a leaky Minnesota United in their 2017 debut season.
Against Revs, James O’Connor fielded the team’s tenth different centre back combination of the season in Amro Tarek and Shane O’Neill, and the 19th unique personnel grouping across the back line in 23 games.
Overall Orlando City SC has seen an average of 2.91 changes to the starting lineup from the previous game, 1.64 of which happen in defence.
Orlando City SC’s only repeated starting XI so far this 2018 MLS season (Credit: Orlando City SC)
With the team having only ever featured the same starting eleven twice across those 23 matches (at Colorado Rapids on April 29 and against Atlanta United on May 13) and never in consecutive games, it’s not too difficult to see how or why the team has lacked any semblance of cohesion or togetherness.
Even during our record breaking six-game winning streak, the performances were close run affairs that leaned heavily on the Lions attack compensating for our defensive struggles – struggles that have produced one solitary clean sheet in Major League Soccer this year.
There’s been plenty of fight but, despite some promising off-season acquisitions, it is fight that has all too often been channeled individually. Rarely has the team looked like being on the same page and the inconsistencies in the team selection can’t have helped.
Top MLS defences
To give you some context, here’s a look at five of the top MLS defences so far this season, all of whom currently occupy playoff spots:
- New York Red Bulls, statistically the league’s tightest defence make an average of 1.05 changes to their back line per game
- On the other side of the Hudson River, New York City FC lead the league in clean sheets with nine having only averaged 1.09 defensive changes per game
- Atlanta United manage an average of 0.96 changes and FC Dallas only 0.62
- Seattle Sounders, meanwhile, despite their poor season have allowed the second least goals per game across the league yet have seen a notably higher average of 1.57 changes to their back line and 2.9 changes across the entire team per game.
MLS defensive comparisons (as of 06.08.2018) (Credit: © Andrew Sharp)
Regular MLS partnerships
A clear statistical anomaly when considering the average number of changes the others have made but those stats can point us to focus on two things. The first is Stefan Frei – one of the league’s most reliable goalkeepers, he currently ranks second for save percentage across the league.
The second is the Sounders’ central partnership of Chad Marshall and Kim Kee-hee who have been paired together 12 times in 2018. In comparison, Orlando City SC’s most used combination of their ten variations is Amro Tarek and Lamine Sané, a duo which has only been fielded six times, half as many as Seattle Sounders.
New York City FC have only used three central iterations the entire season season with the most frequent being Alexander Callens and Maxime Chanot on 12 occasions.
New York Red Bulls’ Aaron Long and Tim Parker have started together 14 times, Atlanta United’s Leandro González Pírez and Michael Parkhurst have started seven together plus another 14 as part of a three, and FC Dallas’ defensive stalwarts Matt Hedges and Reto Ziegler have been partnered together an impressive 18 times.
Crucial foundation
A solid central defensive partnership has long been lauded as a crucial foundation on which to build any team. Some of history’s all-time great duos like Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué, Marcel Desailly and Laurent Blanc, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta, roll off the tongue.
Think of one and you can’t help but think of the other. They started hundreds of games together, building trusted relationships to know when and where the other would move, working in tandem to read danger before it happened and putting a stop to any attack.
World class quality aside it is this lack of symbiosis that has left a gaping hole through the heart of the Orlando City SC defence, a defence that will undoubtedly continue to struggle until they find a duo to rely on and are able to field week in, week out.
Platitude or not, familiar centre back partnerships are an integral part of good defence.
Light at the end of the tunnel?
Perhaps though there is light at the end of the tunnel. On Saturday, James O’Connor made only one change to the starting eleven – Shane O’Neill replaced Chris Schuler on his return from suspension.
In his previous five selections he made five, five, four, three and four changes respectively. If the Irishman is starting to settle on a team it will be interesting to see both how City’s fortunes change but also how those outside of the eleven react.
Club captain and veteran defender Jonathan Spector has been plagued by injury all season, a problem that has more recently faced fellow centre back Lamine Sané, while the left back position looks notably weak now former first choice Mohamed El-Munir is being deployed in a more advanced role and long-term number one Joe Bendik hasn’t started since James O’Connor’s first game in charge.
Meanwhile, Rookie of the Year contender and fan favourite Chris Mueller has gone two games without a start, his joint longest run as a Lion, young Designated Player Josué Colmán featured well as a first-half replacement for the injured Sacha Kljestan but has largely been resigned to a substitute role since joining and Yoshimar Yotún currently faces suspension for his red card.