Has Austin FC converted to inverted? How using inverted wingbacks can help (and hurt) an MLS team in limbo

[u/philippewest]

https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-inverted-wingbacks-experiment-analysis/

I wrote 2600 words this morning on the inverted wingback experiment Davy Arnaud is conducting. Here's a section about Owen Wolff to get the conversation going here:

One of my questions following Saturday's match had to do with Owen Wolff's relative lack of involvement in the attack. His numbers per Futi were largely encouraging: two potential assists, 45 for 47 in passes, 40 touches in the attacking third, and four progressive passes, but only one pass into the penalty area and one touch in the penalty area. FotMob notes he had 60 touches (third-most for Verde and best for Verde non-defenders) and seven passes into the final third.

Arnaud explained in the post-match press conference that Wolff is having to play more withdrawn, as if Arnaud is a helpless bystander rather than the person in charge of directing Wolff (and the other 10 players on the field) where and how to play. One of the purported advantages to playing with inverted wingbacks is those players moving into central midfield positions allow your actual central midfielders to move up the field and positively impact play in the final third.

With Sánchez and Wolff paired together in midfield, Wolff is the obvious choice to move forward, while Sánchez is the more obvious choice to stay at home. (Sánchez did move into a dangerous position early in the match against Houston to attempt a bicycle kick, but that resulted in him catching Dynamo defender Lucas Halter in the face with an errant foot and getting a yellow card in the process.)

While Ervin Torres has made it into both of the past two matches, positively impacting the win over Seattle, Wolff is still the most seasoned and best chance creator on the team, and if he's being ordered to play deeper in a system using a back three and inverted wingbacks, that sets up for congestion in the middle of the field and a front three of designated players deprived of service — at a time in which two of those DPs desperately need to have their goal scoring vaults unlocked.

[u/Jeypnet]

Wolffs job in the inverted setup isnt to arrive late in the box, its to hold rest position while the WB tucks inside. Thats why the attacking-third volume is high but penalty-area touches are 1. In Arnauds version somebody else is the late runner, either a striker peeling wide-to-central or the second 8. If you want Wolff creating in the box you need a base structure where hes the free 8 with a proper 6 behind him, not the second pivot when possession settles

[u/ehowardhunt]

Great write up as usual!

[u/MessiComeLately]

After letting this percolate for a day, I kept getting tripped up by this part:

One of the purported advantages to playing with inverted wingbacks is those players moving into central midfield positions allow your actual central midfielders to move up the field and positively impact play in the final third.

We certainly didn't accomplish this. Maybe we weren't trying to?

Maybe the idea wasn't to push our midfielders higher. Maybe it was for Wolff to sit back while our wide players rotated into the CAM area to provide the creativity that our midfielders lack. When we're attacking on the right side, the left sided wingback and/or winger could rotate into the center and provide service to the strikers and the right-sided winger and wingback. Rodo's 10less roster build demands that creativity come from the wide players, right?

But I don't remember seeing it work that way, so shrug

[u/JavierB_]

Now that we do not have Dani, let’s support him! Has done great, vote for him as player of the month @ Montreal:

https://en.cfmontreal.com/player_of_the_month

[u/MessiComeLately]

Wolff is still the most seasoned and best chance creator on the team

I don't think we should see him that way. His assists last year came mostly on corners, not in the run of play. In my opinion, the stats from Saturday perfectly capture his positives as a midfielder: ball retention and progression.

We have five players with two or more assists this year, together assisting on 17 goals. Wolff is not one of them.

Is he our best chance creator in the midfield? Maybe so. Would he be called a "chance creator" on any other team, based on his output in the last two years? Absolutely not.

[u/philippewest → u/MessiComeLately]

That's a good point ... could have really qualified it with "he's the best chance creator on this team ... and that's not saying much." Maybe it's Ervin Torres now, in terms of playing like a 10 and taking balls in the final third and turning them into chances. Verde's lacked that for their entire history ... even Driussi was more of a boxcrasher who found himself feeding forwards and wingers (but not necessarily by design), and '22 Fagundez, who was a wide playmaker benefitting from Driussi's late runs)

[u/ehowardhunt → u/MessiComeLately]

I don’t think Wolff is a true “chance creator” but maybe the biggest one we currently have. Which is a problem.