We’re back with the first edition of Little Things in a while. 

Included this week: How the Galaxy frustrated LAFC just enough, Bofo Saucedo, the new and improved Revolution, and a fascinating new look out of Columbus.

The Galaxy’s unsung heroes

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will hoard the attention, but 26-year-old midfielder Favio Alvarez deserves some credit for the LA Galaxy’s 3-2 dismantling of LAFC in a tense El Trafico. Alvarez was a destroyer and connector at the top of the Galaxy’s formation, restricting LAFC’s midfield with relentless pressing.

The Galaxy focused their defensive attention on swarming Eduard Atuesta, Latif Blessing, and Mark-Anthony Kaye — Atuesta in particular. Zlatan, who plays about as much defense as Pity Martinez, could sit and wait for the ball while Alvarez, Joe Corona, and Jonathan dos Santos confounded LAFC’s trio. 

Aside from Vela’s early goal, when the Black and Gold forced a turnover, the Galaxy’s midfield afforded little time and space to LAFC’s distributors, which in turn shuttered Vela and Diego Rossi from the game for stretches. Vela rarely had the ball in space and sometimes had to drop deeper in the formation to find possession.

Here is a fairly representative sample of the Galaxy’s defensive shape and midfield pressing:

Here's a pretty telling sample of how the Galaxy frustrated LAFC in the midfield, with Alvarez's pressing and JdS/Corona's diligent defensive work: pic.twitter.com/Rbp3m0Wgzb

— Harrison Hamm (@harrisonhamm21) July 22, 2019

It wasn’t perfect from the Galaxy — they gave Blessing too much room at the center circle, and the possession only ended with a Vela and Adama Diomande miscommunication. But Alvarez sprints all over the field, masking Zlatan’s Zlatanness at the top of the formation, and shows up in the passing lanes. Dos Santos forces Blessing to turn and pass sideways. By the time Vela ranges back and finds the ball, the Galaxy have returned to a disciplined, flexible defensive shape.

LAFC made them bend, but the Galaxy worked hard enough to avoid breaking. With a motivated Zlatan up front, all the hosts had to do with the ball was find their superstar.

Sebastian Saucedo & RSL: not quite enough

This is the kind of aggressiveness RSL need from Saucedo, but he has not been able to put the entire package together at one time:

via GIPHY

Saucedo does well to drop deep and receive the ball with a defender on his shoulder, smoothly turning upfield and creating space for himself. But when tasked with actually doing something with that space, he badly misses a pass intended for Jefferson Savarino. 

His recognition of a potential Savarino run through the lines is to be commended — not too many players even consider that pass as an option. Saucedo, though, was out-thinking Savarino here. The pass was rushed, and Saucedo executed it poorly anyway.

RSL have often struggled to put it all together this season. They drew 1-1 with Minnesota United at home on Saturday, barely creating chances from open play in a sluggish and largely uneventful game. Both goals came from set pieces. Real needed the win in a tight race at the Western Conference red line. 

Savarino has been rumored to be a transfer candidate this summer. If they receive a suitable offer, RSL should be willing to sell immediately. They don’t seem to have enough in attack to make much of a dent regardless.

The new-look Revolution

Bruce Arena has firmly entered New England Revolution into the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Revs crossed the red line for the first time all season with a 2-0 win against FC Cincinnati, their 10th result in their last 10 games. Since Brad Friedel was fired after a 5-0 loss to Chicago on May 8, New England have six wins and four draws. 

This feels like more than the usual new-coach bump. The Revs have established a sustainable, versatile group of core players and have alternated between multiple tactical shapes. Arena’s tactical flexibility combats individual teams’ gameplans while maintaining a practical, simplified approach, a welcome change from Friedel’s more complex ethos. 

The attack — featuring newly signed attacker Gustavo Bou, the product of new investment from the Revs’ previously apathetic ownership group — hums with a new sense of purpose. Star DP Carles Gil has popped up in multiple places in the front four, displaying his magical left foot and clever style. Cristian Penilla is an elite auxiliary attacker, and in Gil and Bou, he finally has game-driving stars to surround him. Teal Bunbury, the streakiest striker in the league, has picked up his form of late.

They don’t do anything overly complicated:

via GIPHY

Bunbury drags FCC’s center backs and Gil pops up in the vacated space. Cincy are overwhelmed and concede a quality shot to Gil. 

New England can pour numbers forward when they want to, and they do a good job of infiltrating the right areas. Bou and Gil’s interchanges have looked promising.

Their success is ahead of schedule. But the Revs could steal a playoff spot — which no one could have predicted three months ago — and take their chances in a one-off playoff game. With ownership’s support, New England should build on this.

Columbus’s unique defensive shape

The Crew are a lost cause, but they picked up a nice home win against free-falling Montreal on Saturday, a week after scoring a last-ditch equalizer in Chicago. If nothing else, it’s a nice break from losing.

Caleb Porter is trying everything to figure out what might work for this team. He displayed an intriguing defensive look against the Impact, dropping his wide players deep and setting up in something like a midfield box:

Interesting defensive shape in Columbus, with a box-ish look at the top of the formation and the wingers dropped deep: pic.twitter.com/THWswAa3pY

— Harrison Hamm (@harrisonhamm21) July 22, 2019

Most teams, regardless of their base formation, use 4-4-2 defensive shapes, but this is an unusual variation. The nominal forwards here (Gyasi Zardes and Pedro Santos) combine with the deeper-lying midfielders (Wil Trapp and Artur) to trap Montreal’s midfielders and distributors. Wingers Luis Argudo and David Accam drop wide, almost like wingbacks, with the ability to step forward if the ball comes near them. 

The Impact struggled to generate much of anything with the ball, so it’s fair to say that this setup was effective. The concept of dropping the wingers deeper is especially interesting — it creates almost a six-across look on the backline, which allows any member of the four at the back to step out more freely. Porter simplifies rotations and makes players’ jobs easier with this look.

It’s possible that the wingers could have a difficult time releasing in transition by taking positions so far back, potentially rendering the press useless. But Accam and Argudo range forward as possession nears them, joining two members of the box in closing down passing lanes. They likely will have already advanced by the time an opportunity to run on the counter arises.

Joao Moutinho’s 1v1 defense

I mentioned Moutinho as a member of Orlando City SC’s core in a story last week. He has been solid at left back this season. But he has to be better in these situations:

via GIPHY

(That was one of my favorite uniform matchups of the season, by the way.)

Moutinho never decides whether he’s going to force Michael Murillo to the right or left, and he ends up fatally unbalancing himself. By the time Murillo makes a move, Moutinho has no recourse but to stick a measly foot in. Murillo speeds right by him.

Part of the cause for the weak defending might have been fatigue — it was the 74th-minute, and Moutinho was playing his first game back after a month-long injury absence. But there’s no excuse for letting a fullback dust you as easily as Murillo did there.

Harrison Hamm is a sportswriter who covers American soccer and MLS for FloFC. He also covers sports for FanSided and The Comeback, and has freelanced for the Washington Post.