MLS Little Things: Diamonds, Midfields & Johnny Russell

MLS Little Things: Diamonds, Midfields & Johnny Russell

Let’s take a look at some MLS things, including the Timbers heading back home, LAFC versus Montreal, and Johnny Russell’s superstar performance.

May 27, 2019
MLS Little Things: Diamonds, Midfields & Johnny Russell

With Week 13 in the rearview, let’s take a look at some MLS things, including the Timbers heading back home, LAFC versus Montreal, and Johnny Russell’s superstar performance.

The battle of the diamonds

The Portland Timbers gave us our first look at extended Brian Fernandez-Jeremy Ebobisse minutes on Saturday, with the new DP Fernandez starting alongside Ebobisse in what often looked like a 4-4-2 diamond. It had been an open question as to how they would integrate Fernandez. If their 3-1 win against the Union on Saturday is any indication, Giovanni Savarese wants to play the two strikers up top.

It worked in the 60 minutes Savarese gave it. Beating the Union in Philly is no small feat. By playing Ebobisse and Fernandez together ahead of Diego Valeri, Portland crowded central areas, overwhelming the Union’s own diamond. The Timbers want to play direct on the ball, and with three central attackers interchanging, they were able to give themselves options when they won it.

Ebobisse is a smart decoy runner who knows how to drag defenders. Fernandez never stops pressing and probing. We know all about Valeri’s skillset. The three played off each other expertly:


That was Fernandez’s first goal (of two) and it originated from a Diego Chara takeaway deeper in midfield. Portland’s identity can be summed up in that play: win the ball via Chara, counter at speed, and combine around the box to create a shot for Fernandez, Valeri, or Ebobisse. When Sebastian Blanco starts (he came off the bench on Saturday), Portland add another attacking creator.

Few MLS teams attack so quickly and ruthlessly on the counter. Chara is amazing when he gets the ball in space, rampaging forward with an eye on the players around him and always making the right play despite dribbling at an all-out sprint. Valeri is a cerebral counter-attacking presence. By starting two channel-running strikers ahead of the midfield, Portland place more emphasis on their transition play and offset Ebobisse’s weakness holding up play.

One lingering concern after 60 minutes of the diamond: The defensive shape, which sometimes resembles a 4-3-2-1, inverts Andy Polo to the point that Polo is essentially a third central midfielder alongside Chara and Andres Flores. Setting up like that reduces Valeri’s defensive load, but it also restricts the speedy Polo from counter-attacking. The same thing could happen when Blanco plays instead of Polo.

Polo did manage an assist and a fairly active attacking game, so that may not worry Savarese too much. He might also have to overlook Ebobisse’s miniscule influence  — Ebobisse touched the ball exactly twice in the final third over his entire 60 minutes of action.

Some of his influence comes as a runner and occupier of space, but he has to be more involved than that.

These concerns didn’t hurt too badly in the win on Saturday, which came on the road against the team ranked first in the Eastern Conference for points per game. The Timbers’ counter-attack was the driving force behind their MLS Cup run last year, and it has helped them survive their 12-game road trip to start the season. Savarese designed this diamond to create more opportunities for it. 

They return home next week.

A tale of two midfields 

Samuel Piette is one of the more under-the-radar above-average starters in MLS. He plays defensive midfield for the Montreal Impact, who need his presence to offset lackluster attacking personnel. The Impact have little in the way of goalscoring when Ignacio Piatti does not play, which until recently he hadn’t. Piette is disciplined and rarely makes mistakes.

With the Canadian No. 6 suspended on yellow card accumulation, Montreal had to go without him on Friday night against LAFC. Playing in LA without your starting d-mid is a recipe for disaster:


Carlos Vela has torn up plenty of MLS teams this season, but he had an especially easy job against the midfield of Saphir Taider, Shamit Shome, and Michael Azira. Taider is solid, but he is not a d-mid, and neither is Shome. Azira generally shouldn’t be a weekly starter unless he has a reasonable amount of defensive protection, which he did not have against LA. Vela, exquisite cutting in on his left foot, had a goal and two assists as the Black and Gold won 4-2.

For Montreal, there aren’t actually a huge amount of takeaways here: If there’s any game you’re going to lose, it’s the one you have to play on a cross-country trip against the best team in the league without a pair of important starters (Piette and Omar Browne). Early in the game, when LA went up 3-0 in the first half-hour, it had the makings of another 7-1 affair, so at least the Impact avoided that blow to their goal differential.

Let’s also take a minute to recognize the efforts of LA’s Mark-Anthony Kaye, who continues to be very good and important. Kaye is the kind of player who knows exactly what play to make that maximizes the abilities of the skill players. He knows he isn’t the one potting goals, so he maneuvers the ball in ways that subtly open space for his superstar teammates.

In addition to being LA’s windshield wiper in midfield, he makes good decisions on the ball and has the wherewithal to carry it forward when it makes sense:

The Kaye/Eduard Atuesta/Latif Blessing midfield has been by far MLS’s best this season. It is LAFC’s backbone. All three players have very real arguments for being All-Stars, especially Atuesta, who picked up yet another assist on a Vela goal. Kaye is the engine.

Johnny Russell, a bona fide superstar

One could argue that Russell is the most underrated superstar in MLS. On Sunday, he carried Sporting KC to their first win since March:


That is one of the more impressive hat-tricks you can find. It was the ultimate “put the team on your back” performance.

Russell’s hat-trick was perhaps the best individual output in MLS this season, both for the ridiculous goals (that second one is outrageous) and for the importance of them — those goals came when SKC needed them, and were the primary reason Sporting eked out a 3-2 home victory. 

If SKC rise from the dead and make the playoffs (bet on it), Russell will be a primary reason. With injuries to Matt Besler, who exited the Sounders game with another hamstring flare-up, and various forwards, Sporting need Russell to carry the load more than ever. Out-of-position false nine Yohan Croizet won’t produce much in attack (although he did earn a nice assist on the first Russell goal), and the longer-term injury to Roger Espinoza hurts badly in midfield.

To maximize Russell’s abilities, SKC have to find ways to free him into space. They have to break up their patient possession with quicker switches of play and aggressive passing, generating 1-v-1s for their dribbling god and jumbling opposing backlines. Russell’s second goal, with the smooth, vertical build-up, is a perfect example. They have to let their superstar feast.