The Canadian Premier League continues to entertain, with 15 goals scored across the 4 matches in Week 3, Pacific continuing their unbeaten run, Forge ending Edmonton's late equalizing steak, and Valour running riot over the previously undefeated Ottawa. Here is our tactical review of the Canadian Premier League's third round of fixtures.
After a couple of disappointing results to start the season, Forge found their flow in Week 3, achieving a comfortable 3-0 win over FC Edmonton's stern defense. Not only did Forge live up to expectation from a performance perspective, but also from a tactical one. Bobby Smyrniotis changed shape away from the 3-4-1-2 / 3-4-3 formation utilized against Cavalry back to his favoured 4-3-3, only to reconstruct their ideologies in the second half to better take advantage of the wide areas. Here is our analysis of Forge's commanding 3-0 victory over FC Edmonton.
Atletico Ottawa have caught the eye at the start of this season, as the most tactically intriguing team in the league. Carlos Gonzalez's team achieved two back to back wins to start the campaign, playing different formations in and out of possession. Valour have a mammoth task as a result, and need to hit top gear in finding Moses Dyer early on in moves. Here is our tactical analysis.
No team in the Canadian Premier League has enjoyed a stronger start to the season than Pacific FC. James Merriman's team have been a well-oiled machine through and through, with a front four firing on all cylinders, and a cast and crew working behind the scenes to best support their fluidity up front. Not only have Pacific had a successful start from a team perspective, but as individuals working to serve one another within Merriman's 4-1-4-1. Here is our tactical preview of Pacific's match against HFX Wanderers FC.
Saturday's match promises to be an exhilarating encounter, with the team accumulating the most possession in the league so far (62%), going up against the team with the least amount of possession so far (38%). Is it fate that those numbers balance each other out perfectly? Perhaps.
York United's start to the season has failed to be as fruitful as the Nine Stripes would have liked, but Martin Nash's team showed marked improvements against FC Edmonton in providing more attacking thrust than the opening day against HFX. Developing a sense of identity with fullbacks pushing high up the pitch and attacking rotations between their striker and attacking midfielder, York's identity should contain two crucial elements required for breaking Cavalry down.
After a bit of a new year slump, Brighton are back on track, beating the fiercest of North London rivals in successive weeks. Graham Potter's ability to tweak his shape and personnel has been a hallmark of his time at Brighton, seemingly always finding a way to get the balance right in his team. But the former Swansea manager made several big calls in the past two weeks, handing a debut to Moises Caicedo against Arsenal, and operating without a recognized number nine against Spurs. Despite those big calls, Potter's men came out on top in back to back weeks against two sides battling it out for a place in this season's top four, whilst using an intriguing 3-5-1-1 shape.
At the beginning of January, I, alongside many members of the footballing community, began to mentally prepare for Liverpool's life without Sadio Mane. In 'Finding the next Sadio Mane – Tactical Analysis', I selected Leipzig's Christopher Nkunku as the perfect man to replace the Liverpool legend, amidst a crowd of Luis Diaz, Emmanuel Dennis and Rafael … Continue reading Why Sadio Mane’s killer instinct makes him a perfect striker
TheMastermindSite 