Sporting KC tweaked its formation in its last match. Why that change could stick
Sporting KC made a formation change ahead of its last match against the LA Galaxy.
The 4-3-3 formation has been synonymous with Peter Vermes’ tenure in KC. So when Sporting announced a formation that included Willy Agada and Alan Pulido — two typically central-playing forwards — the court of public opinion was mixed on what the club was actually doing.
Following its usual procedure, the club released a numerical lineup first, followed by a formation for reference closer to kickoff. Saturday’s formation reveal was a 4-2-3-1. It worked for some 70 minutes — but the 10 that immediately followed doomed Sporting to its first loss of the young season.
“The game was 99 minutes long,” Sporting manager Peter Vermes said during a news conference on Thursday. “For 89 minutes, we defended and attacked pretty well. We created a lot of really good chances in that game.”
The numbers back that up.
Sporting’s expected goals total — a stat calculated by Opta Analytics — was 2.58. Only one club, LAFC, posted a higher number in an MLS match on Saturday — a staggering 4.88 xG in a 5-0 win over Nashville.
Sporting took 26 shots and put nine on target. The club also earned six corner kicks.
So what was the big difference on Saturday?
The 4-2-3-1 is not too different from Sporting’s usual 4-3-3. The midfield diamond is just inverted.
In the typical 4-3-3, Sporting plays with a defensive midfielder in Nemanja Radoja, who covers the deeper-lying central space between fellow midfielders Remi Walter and Erik Thommy. Walter and Thommy play wider and higher up the pitch.
Saturday’s experiment involved flipping that triangle. Radoja and Walter covered the middle in a more defensive role. Pulido took on the top of the triangle, giving Sporting a second central attacking player while also dropping back to cover the space between the more defensive midfielders and forward Willy Agada.
Thommy moved out to the right wing.
Those changes largely came because of availability. Injuries and international duty forced Sporting to choose between Thommy, Stephen Afrifa (who is much more comfortable on the left than the right) and Marinos Tzionis, who has only made the match-day roster once in five games.
So Thommy moved out wide, while the lineup shifted around him. And the results, for a while, were stellar — through a dominant first half (Sporting led 2-0) and 20 more minutes that Sporting controlled.
Outside of that shaky 10-minute stretch — with goals allowed in the 72nd, 75th and 82nd minutes — the experiment was largely successful. But will it stick?
Vermes was coy with reporters earlier in the week on that question, simply saying, “I don’t know.” Thommy had a different thought when asked about the success of the formation change.
“It’s all about us,” Thommy told reporters on Tuesday. “We can create chances with different formations. It’s (about) the way we play. ... I think we will change a little bit, but I don’t know what we are going to do next week or this week.”
Thommy also noted having another formation as an option to go to can help keep opponents on their toes. Sporting has flipped its midfield in games before, doing so earlier in the year toward the end of the match in Houston.
Sporting even used the 4-2-3-1, albeit quietly and sparingly, last year. The most notable use came in the postseason series against St. Louis City SC.
It may take weeks to know if that formation is sticking around, but Sporting’s next match — against Toronto FC — should provide a possible direction. Sporting will head north and play at BMO Field on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Central.
Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.
