Reading the Early Season Tea Leaves

Oakland came into the season with an almost completely revamped roster, and made a coaching change in the preseason. What have we found out about this new incarnation of the Roots after three games? I explore that below, with the help of the Voice Inside My Head.

So what do we know?

Well let me start by saying everything here is very preliminary. First, it’s only 3 games. Second, they were all on the road, so we’re limited by what ESPN+ can give us. Phoenix and Sacramento play in soccer-specific stadiums but they’re on the smaller side, so TV angles are not optimal. And technical difficulties prevented the first 16 minutes of the LA Galaxy II match from streaming. 

Can we tell anything about what Jordan Ferrell is trying to do with the team?

TBD. The play-by-play commentator for the Galaxy II fixture said that Ferrell told him that he’s looking for formational flexibility. That caught my attention because we haven’t really seen that so far. For the most part Roots have played with 4 at the back, looking like a 4-4-2 in defense, and 4-3-3 in offense, with just a couple wrinkles: For the last quarter of the Galaxy II match Roots switched to 3 at the back, and the midfield played a little more narrowly against Sacramento than in the first two matches. But the base formation has been pretty consistent.

You're not buying that as "formational flexibility"?

Maybe it is! A game plan where you start with a 4-3-3 and then adjust to what the opponent is doing would be pretty sensible. It’s also possible what Farrell is looking for is individual players who can operate in different places on the pitch within that formation, something we do have a little evidence of. For instance, in the first half against Los Dos, Yohannes Harish had a lot of success going forward and receiving balls over the top. In the second half, and then against Sacramento, Harish played much deeper. Danny Flores seems to occupy an attacking mid role most of the time, but also spent time against Los Dos pressing high with Blackwood. And Akeem O’Connor-Ward has played both fullback roles. The decision to start Jeremy Bokila (an out and out center forward, in the mold of, say, Olivier Giroud) on the bench, allowing for a more fluid group of attacking players, may also be evidence of this.

But it's hard to know how much of what we're seeing is Farrell looking for positional flexibility and how much is him just trying to figure out what he has. This team is almost entirely different than the one he coached last year, and was built for a different coach. They’ve played 3 competitive matches together. Some unknowns are to be expected.

So we don’t know anything? Why are you even writing this post?

Hold on, Voice. No need to get short. There are a few things that seem settled. The center back pairing of Morad and Ornstil appears set. Fissore has consistently played the #6 role. O’Connor-Ward will be one of the fullbacks. And it looks like Blackwood will be a consistent fixture on the front line.

Who looks like they’ll be the most important players this year?

Jeremy Bokila - Bokila is huge, standing 6-4, consistently draws multiple defenders, and always has his shooting boots on. His teammates look to feed him the ball when he’s on the field, and he really hasn’t disappointed. He’s plenty valuable as a super sub, but if Farrell ever finds a starting XI he likes that includes Bokila, it will be fun to watch. In a brakes-off, Big 12 football kind of way. The Blog's early assessment is that Bokila provides Roots' most dangerous threat up front, and the more he is on the field, the better.

Luis Barraza - Zeus de la Paz has one of the greatest names the Blog has ever seen. Unfortunately, his command of the box was decidedly un-God like. His performance during the first two games was...uneven. Kepa-like, if you will. Barraza was a clear step up. He doesn’t need to be spectacular, he just needs to avoid the big errors. That said, Zeus has international experience, and I have no doubt he’ll eventually come up big for Roots at some point. Game-to-game, though, I think Roots will benefit from having Barraza in goal.

Danny Flores - The 19-year-old Half Moon Bay native has been involved in a lot of Roots’ combination play so far. He was an important part of the buildup in both the Los Dos and Sacramento fixtures. Flores looks like he’ll be key to making the offense click this year.

Akeem Ward - Ward’s ability to go forward has provided Roots with some noteworthy offensive chances in the early going. One of his runs led to the Bokila winner against Galaxy II, for instance. Farrell has played him on both sides of the backline, but he seems more comfortable on the left, and his movement looks like it will play a key role in the offense. Teams will be able to exploit the space he leaves behind on occasion, but Ward's ability to unbalance a defense with his marauding runs more than makes up for that.

Nothing about the defense?

I’m going to take a wait-and-see approach. The center back partnership looks settled, as does Fissore in the defensive mid role. Oakland have surrendered 8 goals through three games which is...a lot. But the crew at American Soccer Analysis seem to think they’ve gotten a little unlucky, as the xGA is all the way down at 3.11. I’ll wait for more info before we figure out where this team is defensively.

How are you feeling about the team?

Pretty good! It’s only been three games, so some growing pains are to be expected. But the players seem to be finding their roles and they haven’t looked completely outmatched in any of the three games (though they may be lucky to have 4 points). There’s definitely something to build on here. At the moment, I think they are going to at least compete for the last playoff spot out of the Pacific.