Previewing Houston Dynamo at St. Louis CITY SC with Matt Baker
(image via St. Louis CITY SC)
The Houston Dynamo will visit MLS newcomers St. Louis CITY SC for the first time tomorrow at the brand new CITYPARK. We talked to our friend Matt Baker from Flyover Footy to get some insight on St. Louis ahead of tomorrow’s match.
St. Louis has gotten off to a great start in their first season. What have been some keys to their great play so far?
St. Louis’s head coach Bradley Carnell likes to say that they have to stick to their principles and when they do, they’ll be successful. Those principles tend to be consistent but targeted aggression towards the ball. They like to press (obviously) but they do so in targeted manners. Our center-forward will initiate a high press point and the team follows, playing the ball and cutting off lanes throughout the field. They’re aggressive in tackles and 1v1s, putting pressure on players receiving the pass immediately and trying to interfere with any rhythm the opposition might try and create with their passing networks. Offensively, St. Louis is very direct and very quick in their build ups. They will not spend time switching, passing horizontally or trying to outlast their opponents. They try to get the ball back as quickly as possible and when they do, they find someone high up the field to play the ball to. Lately, without leading goal scorer Joao Klauss, they’ve had success holding up runs for their attacking midfielders like Indiana Vassilev, a lot more.
Former Dynamo Tim Parker is now with City. How has Parker done this year for St Louis?
Parker has been one of the best and most consistent players for St. Louis CITY. He’s our vice captain and in charge of our backline. He’s brought both high level individual skill and a mentorship aspect to our young backline. Kyle Hiebert has excelled alongside Parker and likewise, Lucas Bartlett has shined alongside of him. His individual ability to clear balls, intercept and find the proper place to be that cuts off space and chances in and around the 18 yard box is incredible. The style of play (think Red Bulls) that Bradley Carnell employs really suites Parker and he is thriving in his role.
As a new team, Dynamo fans may not have got to watch a lot of St. Louis. Who are some under the radar type guys that fans should be paying attention to?
Assuming fans are more familiar with guys like Edu Löwen, Roman Bürki & Nicholas Gioacchini, some under the radar players who are likely to see significant minutes this Weekend are Kyle Hiebert, as I mentioned, in our backline, Njabulo Blom in the midfield, Indiana Vassilev in the attacking midfield and Tomas Ostrák, attacking mid/winger. Hiebert was a college grad from Missouri State who went undrafted and was picked up by CITY2 last year in MLS NEXT Pro. He played almost every minute of competition (fun fact, the only time he was subbed out was the day he was offered an MLS contract). Hiebert’s been one of the best 1v1 defenders and among the league leaders in duels, along with quietly earning a place on the Canadian Men’s National Team this spring & named to their preliminary Gold Cup roster too. Njabulo Blom is another young player who comes from. South Africa and Kaiser Chiefs. He is our defensive midfielder & cleaner who is very fast, reads positioning very well and is adept with the ball at his feet. Later in games, you might see him shift to RB if the match calls for it as he played there before moving to CDM & has seen time there for CITY twice late in games this year. Indiana Vassilev has USYNT experience, a former Aston Villa player who saw limited minutes for their first team between loan stints with Inter Miami. We picked him up with the 2nd pick in the expansion draft last year. He’s played out of his natural position a lot for us in the CDM role while Blom was acclimating and recovering for a couple injuries/illnesses this year. With Klauss out, Vassilev has been our answer to creating offense as he’s moved back into his #10 role the last 2 games, scoring a brace and leading our team in shot creating actions last week. Finally, Tomas Ostrák came to us last year from FC Köln’s system (rumor has it they were not happy with him choosing to leave). He can play any attacking mid position, has a good feel for when to break a backline and can create chances out of nothing with the ball at his feet. With Rasmus Alm likely to make his return from injury at RM in limited manner and Jared Stroud being suspended due to yellow card accumulation, Ostrák is likely to see significant minutes.
City implements a press very well. What has made them so effective and what are some potential weaknesses with it that could be exploited?
CITY’s press as I mentioned earlier relies on their center forward to initiate a push point in a smart manner and the players behind him to follow suite in shutting down gaps and swarming a ball carrier with multiple players. It’s how they’ve forced those back pass and own goal errors so many times. They make opposing teams uncomfortable in their own end and lead the league in PPDA. They won’t press 100% of the time, which is by design, but when they choose to press, it’s fast and they send multiple players towards one person. The obvious weakness is good, quick ball movements and counter attacks. With CITY pressuring to recover the ball and moving higher up the field, they’ve shown that high skill level players can beat them deep or break their lines at times. Teams that can create overloads on their backline in a counter attack have had success against CITY. The other way to have success defensively is in a low block. It wasn’t until Indiana Vassilev moved to the #10 that they showed an ability to break low blocks.
How is the health of the roster and do you expect anyone to be unavailable tonight?
Overall the team is healthy. They have been without top CB Joakim Nilsson for the entire season after knee surgery and are without 16 yr old homegrown striker Caden Glover due to a rib injury. Officially, Rasmus Alm and Joao Klauss are questionable, but of the two, Alm is most likely to play. Both returned to team activities recently, Alm from an abdominal injury and Klauss recovering from a quad injury sustained almost 6 weeks ago at Colorado. Carnell has said Klauss is likely still one game away but that Alm will be available for selection.
Predicted lineup and prediction for the match?
We typically run a 4-4-2 or 4-2-2-2. My prediction is Bürki in net, Kyle Hiebert, Tim Parker, Lucas Bartlett and Jake Nerwinski in our backline. Njabulo Blom and Edu Löwen in the midfield. Tomas Ostrák and Indiana Vassilev in the attacking mid with Celio Pompeu and Nicholas Gioacchini as dual strikers. Possibly might see Johnny Nelson return to LB as Kyle Hiebert has only played LB the last 2 games without experience there before, but with CITY riding a two game win streak and only Jared Stroud being unavailable compared to the last 2 weeks, I think we’ll keep as much consistent as we can from SKC & Vancouver. I predicted a 3-0 win from CITY, both due to their current form, the home field advantage and Houston’s travel this week and fixture congestion catching up to them as well as having a US Open Cup match to focus on too.
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We want to thank Matt for his time and wish our friends in St. Louis the best of luck tomorrow night.
