Danke Schön
5/31/25 - STL 2 - 1 SJ
Hello everyone. It’s great to be back for #MLSMondays. I don’t know if you heard, but St. Louis CITY won a game. That means CITY scored more goals than their opponent.
And that means we can return. The purpose of these discussions is to shed light on individual and tactical performances worth discussing. In the past couple of weeks, there hasn’t been much to talk about, and I don’t enjoy writing miseryjust as you don’t enjoy reading it.
But misery is no more. Let’s dig into #STLvSJ and enjoy ourselves, as much as I can allow, with the small sample size of just 90 minutes in the sunshine.
Team Selection:
The “Best XI” theory is in a bit of flux with a new HC and a new system, but by my count, Saturday afternoon saw a 9 out of 11 (with Horn's exit likely).
And if you’ve been paying attention, you know what that means. CITY have now played 4 games with 8+ starters in the Best XI. CITY has 10 points in those four games (3-1-0), averages 2.5 PPG, has a GD of +1.25/90, and has an xGD of 0.18/90.
Is it a coincidence that the first game CITY have won since March is also the first game CITY have had 8+ Best XI starters? You decide.
The Attack and Midfield unit groups made sense. But we’ve got to talk about that defense.
It was a shocking lineup when it was announced. A young LB, Reid, is returning to fitness; Timo, the best of the depth CBs; Durkin, a DM dealing with a persistent knee injury; and everybody’s favorite, Joey Zalinsky. What you may notice is that Hiebert, Watts, and Yaro, whose combination represents our favorite geometric shape, all missed out on the XI. These players are 2, 4, and 5 in CITY minutes played and have all participated in every MLS game up until Saturday, with Hiebert starting all of them.
But let’s talk about the players that did play. Critch played two ball-playing Dogs at CB. (A dog is a brutish defender. They love defending, they’re aggressive and physical. They like headers and big challenges. A cat is more of an elegant, technical player, less aggressive and enjoys possession.)
We’ve seen Olof utilize Timo like a dog, pressing high into midfield, being overtly aggressive trying to win the ball, and Durkin is one of the most canine-like players I’ve watched. He foams at the mouth thinking about winning the ball, I’m sure of it.
A Dog/Dog is not ideal, but it sets the tone for Critch’s regime. Aggression. There is no passivity here; CITY is going to see the ball, attack the ball, and win the ball back. CITY averaged 1.5 tackles in the attacking third under Olof. Under Critch on Saturday? A season high 5.
But it wasn’t just the aggression that this CB pairing brought to CITY. They also provided a significant improvement on the ball. If you look at the bottom of Ben Griffis’ visualization below, it indicates Home Main Pass Flows. Basically, where is the home team, CITY, passing the ball from/to. The bolder the color, the more frequently the passing flow occurred. You’ll notice that the majority of the bold pass flows are coming from the CB area, and they are pointing FORWARD.
That second-half pairing of Timo/Kessler is most likely the Best XI CB partnership under Critch (The perpetual Nilsson question mark), and it provides two ball-playing CBs, a Dog/Cat duo, and a CB comfortable playing forward and direct with his left foot on the left. The significance of this cannot be overstated. Baumgartl led the team with a +2.87 passing score, which measures passes completed over or under expected. Kessler finished third in passing score. Second? Our guy, Joey Zalinsky.
Let’s talk about the fullbacks, too. Why was playing a 23-year-old and a 22-year-old important? Because it gave us something we’ve been screaming for: balance. Let’s examine the pass map. The back four is nearly symmetrical.
You can revisit the Griffis viz. xT Starting zone down the RIGHT?! Passes in the final third on both sides of the pitch? Both were made possible because this team had balance. Zalinsky led the team with six progressive passes, while Reid contributed three of his own. Neither player made much of an effort to carry the ball forward, which will be an interesting detail to note moving forward. FB carries can help overload the defensive width, but they also create significant gaps in CITY’s defense that can be exploited since the CBs aren’t the quickest, and CITY lacks a defensive midfielder who can shut down opposition movements. Is that a Critch decision? Was that SJ dependent? A limitation of those players? Something to watch. Now, it would be misleading to say they performed exceptionally well, with a combined 0.09 g+ between them, but they helped CITY experiment with the ball, which isn’t something we’ve witnessed in recent times.
Final Thoughts
Klauss delivered an incredible performance with 0.42 g+, 0.6 xG, and converted a 0.49 xG GREAT chance. Say what you will about his finishing, but he has scored 8 goals from 13 GREAT xG chances in his STL career, easily surpassing the 53% conversion rate for GREAT chances. His holdup play was as expected, and he went 8/12 in duels. A DP’s performance.
Becher has had a pretty terrible 2025, in my view. As we’ve discussed previously, he’s 0/4 on GREAT chances this year. His holdup play has been poor compared to the player he often replaces.. His g+ has been good, and he’s gained significant value by receiving the ball in dangerous positions, but negative metrics per 96 minutes for passing and dribbling have been a major issue. Couple that with his inability to score, and he’s been wasteful in every aspect of having the ball.
On Saturday, it was much of the same. He’s almost exclusively looking to run behind the defense, and those low-percentage passes lead to CITY turning the ball over too often. However, a low percentage is not the same as zero percentage, and he made an excellent play by holding off the defender, getting on the end of that Wallem ball, despite having a poor angle to shoot, and baiting the goalkeeper into conceding an easy penalty.
However, thanks to Becher, this city got the chance to celebrate the man this fanbase, team, and city truly need.
The deliverer of 3 points. We don’t need to discuss his qualities or his stats on the day. He’s the heartbeat.
It was wonderful to see you, Edu.
You make us proud.
You make Ilona proud.
#AllForCITY, forever and always.