The Orlando Pride decided to try something new on Saturday in their match against the Boston Breakers.
At first glance, it may have seemed a bit odd. The Pride put out a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Steph Catley, Toni Pressley, Ali Krieger, and Kristen Edmonds in the back, Alanna Kennedy and Monica in the defensive midfield, Marta, Camila, and Rachel Hill in the offensive midfield, and Jasmyne Spencer as a lone striker. Krieger moved to the center back role, Kennedy moved up to the midfield, and Edmonds played as a right back.
But, the formation wasn’t random. Head Coach Tom Sermanni developed the formation based on the skills and strengths of the Boston Breakers. Boston has a lot of strong midfielders, including the #1 overall pick in the 2017 NWSL Draft, Rose Lavelle. Sermanni wanted to be sure to shut down Lavelle and her fellow midfielders.
“They have the center forward and then the four midfielders behind that center forward are all attacking players, particularly the two inside players are quite dangerous,” Sermanni said after the match. “So, that’s the reason we set up four in the middle-- to make sure we nullified that threat, which I thought we did very well to be honest. And then we knew our fullbacks could contain their wide midfield players. So, that was one of the reasons behind the changes we made for this game. And I think it worked quite effectively.”
The formation worked. The Pride were able to keep a clean sheet against the Breakers, their first clean sheet of the season. They did so without starting goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, who will be out for eight weeks due to injury.
The Pride offense found early success against the Breakers. In the 9th minute, Marta drew a penalty in the box and successfully converted the PK. Spencer followed up with another goal just four minutes later.
“At times, you do need to make changes to try and make a difference,” Sermanni said. “What we did tonight was we wanted to keep the center of the field really tight. So, with Alanna Kennedy and Monica in midfield, we basically had four center backs on the field to keep that are tight because we knew with Marta up front and her pace, the players we had up front-- if we could keep it tight there, we could cause problems.”
Sermanni won’t say whether or not this will be his primary formation for the rest of the season. He will take it game by game, looking at the next opponent and determining what is appropriate and what are the most important areas of focus. But one thing is sure: Sermanni has the depth and skill on his squad necessary to move players around. Versatility is critical to the Pride’s success, and could be helpful as the season goes on.
“I think what we’re seeing now is that we’re beginning to assemble a squad that has that flexibility,” Sermanni said. “A squad that has depth, a squad where we can look at the bench and know that we have people that can do a job or change a game for us.”
