Groundhog Day: Oakland 0-0 Sacramento

With a congested fixture list coming up, this match featured a lot of rotation in the squad. Jordan Ferrell decided to experiment with Memo Diaz in the striker role in this one, supported up front by Lindo Mfeka, Chuy Enriquez, and Danny Flores. Fissore and Mbumba played further back, with Takahashi, Klimenta, Kai Greene, and Akeem Ward left to right across the back. To me, it looked like Oakland was playing a 4-2-3-1 in attack, and defending in two banks of four. This was an adjustment from the first Sacramento match, which saw Republic take full advantage of Oakland’s decision to play a narrow midfield.

There were signs of hope in the early going! Oakland were on the front foot for most of the first 8 minutes, generating 2 corners but, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, no shots.

From the 8th minute to halftime, the game settled down. But much like previous contests, although possession was roughly even in this stretch, only one team was creating chances...and it wasn’t Oakland. A few of the “highlights”:

• Attempting to play out of the back in the 18th minute, Klimenta misplaces a pass, and Republic pounce. Roots get back nicely to stifle any opportunity.
• In the 19th minute, a Sacramento forward nearly gets in behind the back line off a free kick.
• In the 24th minute Oakland allow a Sacramento winger to run all the way into the box from the halfway line, but don’t allow a clean look at goal, and are able to block the resulting shot.

It went on and on like this, and only two incredible 1-v-1 saves from Taylor Bailey kept the game scoreless. I’ve clipped the moment before each shot below, which should give you a sense of how magnificent these saves were.

Sacramento has to be wondering how they got no goals from these chances.

At halftime, Oakland subbed on Max Ornstil for Ariel Mbumba, a like-for-like sub. Three minutes later Matias Fissore went down with what appeared to be a muscle injury, and Oakland brought Wal Fall on, prompting a formation change for Oakland. Without Fissore’s defensive presence on the pitch, Danny Flores dropped a bit deeper. Oakland played more like a 4-3-2-1 or 4-3-3 at this point, although the specifics hardly matter because for the most part they just parked the bus. Until about the 78th minute, Sacramento absolutely dominated the match. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a graphic ESPN put up in the 67th minute:

It really was that bad. Oakland could barely get out of their own end. Most counterattacks fizzled just on the other side of the halfway line, one attack got all the way into the other box but, you're not going to believe this, did not result in a shot. To Roots' credit though, the defense stood tall through this entire stretch, swarming the ball any time Sacramento got in to the box. For all of Sacramento's possession, it never really felt like a goal was coming.

Oakland finally gained the initiative in the 78th minute, and were basically on the front foot for the remainder of the match. And what did they get for their efforts? Two really bad offsides calls! Let’s go to the tape!

First, we have Danny Flores about to play Chuy Enriquez in. There’s no one between Enriquez and the goal. Here are the shots from immediately before and after Flores plays the ball:

To use a technical term, the offsides call here is absolute horseshit. Enriquez is not even a little offside.

Next, we have Saalih Muhammad running up the right flank, he centers the ball to Enriquez, who has a step on the defender. Enriquez is again flagged offside:

This is closer, but I am really skeptical. To my eyes, Enriquez was behind the ball when it was played. (And, you'll note, the assistant referee is not in a good position to make this call.) We’re seven games in, and I think every contestable offsides call has gone against Oakland. It would be cool if that changed at some point.

Oakland’s last real opportunity came in the 93rd minute, but dead legs meant the attack was over almost as soon as it began.

We’re going to need to talk about the offense again, aren’t we? I mean, yes? We’re now at 4 full games without a goal, and the attack seems to be getting worse. Some of this is surely tactical, an adjustment to surrendering 8 goals in the season’s first three games. But Roots have put 10 shots on goal in the last 4 games. That is anemic. Last night, they took three shots total: a 35-yard effort from Klimenta in the 72nd minute that was headed wide, a screamer in the 85th minute from the top of the box of the foot of Flores that went, roughly, 50 feet over the cross bar, and a ball in the 93rd minute that bounced harmlessly to the keeper and was only a “shot” because there were no runners to head it on. There were a handful of threatening attacks that did not result in shots, so it isn’t as bad as it appears, but this is not a winning formula. It looks like two things (at least) need to change.

Fissore needs help. It seems that the engine of this team is Matias Fissore, and that opposing teams have really been able to power down Roots’ attack by shutting him down. He was constantly shadowed in this game by at least one Sacramento player.

Someone needs to take the initiative when Fissore is taken out of the game like this. One possibility is Flores, who showed some spark after Fissore was subbed off. Better fullback play would help, but it’s got to be someone in the middle of the park.

A third musketeer. Most of Roots’ best offensive chances this season have involved both Danny Flores and Chuy Enriquez. I think for this offense to really kick on the squad needs a third person to link up with those two in attack. Jordan Ferrell seems to think it needs to be a striker and I am inclined to agree, since neither Flores nor Enriquez seems to have the kind of game that can be the focal point for an attack. Farrell experimented with Memo Diaz up top yesterday, and brought Saalih Muhammad to play on the front line. The latter move kind of worked. After three games with no goals I certainly don’t mind mixing it up like that. Obviously we’ll have to hope Brandon Allen can provide some spark, although he wasn’t even in the matchday squad yesterday, which is troubling given that Oakland play 3 games in the next 9 days. And then, of course, Tyler Blackwood is dealing with long term concussion symptoms. 

Whatever the answer is, let’s hope they find it soon.

Taylor Bailey! Man of the Match, imo.

Taylor Bailey aka The Green Wall #CleanSheet #KnowYourRoots pic.twitter.com/BVvrKwN55y

— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) July 8, 2021