Analysis: Minnesota United follows through on Eric Ramsay’s plan, pushing wingbacks further up the field

For all the talk about formations in soccer, they tend to change and flow throughout a game. Minnesota United lines up in a 5-2-3 formation, sure, but that’s mostly visible when the team is defending. The nature of that 5-2-3 means that when the Loons have the ball, it tends to look more like a 3-4-3, or a 4-4-2, or even sometimes a 3-3-4.

Whatever the case in Saturday night’s 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City, one thing was clear: the wingbacks, and the right wingback especially, were positioned much further up the field than might have been expected.

In part, this was due to the planned personnel. Caden Clark, an attacking midfielder before this season, was scheduled to start on the right side of the defense, meaning that it was only natural for him to push up and play more as a traditional winger, instead of a fullback. But before the game, the team decided that it didn’t want to risk him because of a minor toe injury.

Instead, the role was filled by DJ Taylor, who for all his development as a wingback, is maybe not the person you’d expect to see repeatedly pushing that far up the field.

For coach Eric Ramsay, it was something the Loons have been trying to do that finally came to fruition in this game.

“We were disappointed with how we were able to execute that at both Colorado and LA,” Ramsay said of the Loons’ previous two games over the past week. “I think to an extent, you need a certain amount of control. You need a certain number of passes. You need to be able to be connected well enough as a team, in order to get the wingbacks where you want them. Today, we were … I think generally we were able to really hurt them on the switch of play, which is a big part of what we trying to do.”

Taylor, who had already played 170 minutes over those two road games, had to leave the game in the first half after he appeared to start cramping up. Which left the Loons to see something that they haven’t seen much of this year: Sang Bin Jeong, usually a wide forward, playing at wingback.

“He was very, very good in the first half, a real threat,” Ramsay said of Jeong. “I had no hesitation putting him there, because he’s a proper team player. I think rarely did he find himself wanting in terms of position, which is a testament to how versatile and how willing he is.”

On the other side of the field, it was Devin Padelford, who stepped into the spot that’s usually occupied by Joseph Rosales. “This is the first time I played left wing back this year,” Padelford said. “It was fun to, like, put the cuffs off and be able to go attack, because I think there was times when I was a center back that I got forward and Eric would be like ‘Stay back, stay back!’ ”

Apart from the offensive efforts, the move also improved the Loons defense. When Minnesota United beat Sporting KC on April 27, the Loons consistently had problems with defending on their flanks. The visitors would push the ball wide, then swing in a long pass in behind Minnesota’s center backs.

Saturday night, it wasn’t a problem, because defending that player was clearly a focus for the Minnesota wingbacks. When the ball would go wide to one of the SKC fullbacks, instead of depending on a midfielder or forward to chase the width of the pitch, Taylor or Padelford or Jeong would pop out of the Minnesota back line and pressure the ball — neutralizing Sporting’s main area of attack from that earlier meeting.

As corner kicks have become a major offensive weapon for the Loons, they have also clearly tried to use another way of creating similar set-piece actions: long throw-ins in attacking positions. They had failed to create much in the way of chances before Saturday, but on their second goal, Padelford picked up a second assist in a rare way: by using his hands.

“Tonight [the long throw-ins] weren’t the best before the one we scored on, but we’ll count that one,” Padelford said.

According to Padelford, the team held a competition between him and Michael Boxall to determine who would be the one to take the long throws — and while Padelford won the role, he claims it wasn’t because he actually won the competition. “We usually need Boxy’s frame to win [a header], so they decided on me,” he said.

Minnesota United plays at home again next Saturday against FC Dallas, but the team will be without a full squad. The Loons are one of eight MLS teams playing in the middle of the first international break of the summer, and so they will be missing eight players, all of whom will be with their respective national teams. Midfielder Alejandro Bran (Costa Rica) is already gone. They will also lose goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair (Canada); defenders Joseph Rosales (Honduras), Zarek Valentin (Puerto Rico) and Kervin Arriaga (Honduras); attackers Teemu Pukki and Robin Lod (both Finland); and midfielder Carlos Harvey (Panama).

“We’ve said the same thing from the beginning of the season, next-man-up mentality,” said Tani Oluwaseyi, one of the players who will be left behind. “So whatever the XI may be, whatever the 16 or the 22 is and whoever we train with the whole week, they’re going to have a point to prove, they’re going to be trying to win game time as well. So everyone who plays is going to put their best foot forward.”

In addition, center back Miguel Tapias is also planning to go back to Mexico to get his green card, in the hopes of freeing up another international roster spot before the league’s summer transfer window — meaning he will likely miss the Dallas game as well.

In other words, of the 19 players in next week’s match-day squad, eight might be completely unavailable next weekend. On the bright side, the team does not anticipate any delays in Tapias returning to Minnesota ... unlike with past green card appointments.