Brad Evans - Club Midfielder and National Back
by Dave Clark on Jan 3, 2010 8:21 PM PST
in Major League Soccer
12 comments
Brad Evans offers an enigma. He may be more valuable to the US National Team than he is to his club. Certainly, the young midfielder has value to the club, particularly once he settled back to a box-to-box midfield role inside Sigi's Arrow, but for long stretches his role was unknown. While with the US MNT Evans has settled into a Right Back role, but that isn't where his strength lies, nor his chances of being the one or two selected from the January camp to travel to South Africa this Summer.
His strong tactical knowledge is complimented by at least MLS average passing, shooting and defensive skills at the MLS level this means that he is a capable starter that can fill in at many positions and roles. It means that his ability to act like a coach on the field, knowing his own coaches tactics and philosophy so well. For the National Team though, he is a man without a specialty on a team of specialists. How does a generalist make the roster?
Because of its holes. He allows Bradley to mix and match things and knows that there will be someone available to cover any role in any formation. It is why Brad Evans has played Right Back so far, but it is why he's likely to make the roster. Because if only 23 make the roster, they can't all be specialists and the generalist has to be someone who has strong tactical knowledge and not just the typically strong physical attributes of American soccer players.
Offense: Evans' strongest offensive skill lies in his ability to execute the short pass well. His tactical awareness gets him into great spaces of opportunity, and he used that to score some solid goals. He lacks the ability to beat an opponent with the dribble, but sees other ways to move the ball forward.
Defense: Without the ball Brad does a great job in the more forward defensive band in a four band system. His tactical vision helps him occupy space to shut down channels, and he can read up-coming long passes well. Not the strongest on ball defender this puts him at a slight weakness as a Right Back against a highly technical player.
Set-Plays: Evans will not be the primary target nor defender on a corner, but his awareness helps capitalize on the offense and prevents the opposition from getting the unfortunate rebound. He has the opportunity to get an assist from a corner when he's the target so that he can than hit an open man when the defense reacts.
Defining Moment: How can you forget a classic goal celebration of 5-Hole? It takes a certain confidence for a player to not shoot around the keeper but instead to go right through them. And in celebration he just holds up a single hand with all five fingers out.
Statistics
Plus/Minus - 12 | 10
Plus/Minus Per 90 - 0.47 | 0.45
Productivity in League Play - 0.31
Productivity in All Competitions- 0.31
Ratings from Prost Amerika
Second +/- listed uses Climbing the Ladder's data. Of note a Plus/Minus system should capture exactly the type of player that Brad Evans is.
Short Term Peak - Evans might be the constant Rotational player in that he won't start in the same role every match. He can and has played the CM, CAM, RM, RDM, CDM, RB and RWB for the Sounders and even has some time at Forward. He would be an excellent stabilizing force in non-League competitions when most of the players have less experience.
Past Recaps
Thoughts on Brad Evans chances with the National Team or his future role with the Sounders?
Updated with Sigi's Arrow
A version of 4-2-4 or 2-3-3-2
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Sounders best "linking" midfielder
In your “Sigi’s arrow” formation — which seems as good an explanation of the Sounders formation as any — there is a back 4, a nominal left and right midfield/winger, and then a line of four middle players, starting with a holding midfield, then a box-to-box or “linking” midfielder, then the withdrawn/supporting striker/“playmaker”, and up top the classic “center forward” type player.
It just seems to me Brad Evans was the team’s best option at the “linking” midfield spot. The problem was, after a strong start, Evans — and the team and coaching staff as a whole — seemed to spend much of the summer groping around trying to figure out what to do. By September it was clear to many that the pre-USA callup, linking midfielder Brad Evans needed to return. Of course, it was never entirely clear exactly how Jacqua, Montero, and Ljungberg were supposed to fit together, and Ljungberg’s summer-long health concerns didn’t help. By Semptember, it became clear how the pieces were going to fit together, with Ljungberg as the nominal “playmaker” and either he, Montero, Jacqua, or even Levesque/Le Toux rotating through the right side position (the presence of Zakuani on the left avoided such shuffling over there) Evans was finally set back into the “link” role. By October it clicked and Ljunberg was player of the month, but it was also clear Evans was back.
Back in April the Guardian’s Jonathan Wilson asked if the box-to-box midfielder is dead.http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/apr/22/where-have-box-to-box-midfielders-gone(
Essentially, the role has disappeared because generalization is trending out, and the current tactical/formation norm is to split into two midfield banks. If Evans is, indeed, a true “generalist” then the box-to-box midfielder is the perfect role, but ultimately doomed because of his very flexibility.
If you wanted to fit the Sounders into the 4-2-3-1 box, you would say Evans is the more advanced of the holding midfield pair along with Alonso. But that’s a cop-out, to me. It may be hindsight, but I feel like Evans position became the key to putting the Sounders puzzle together, as he provided the “link” in the middle that allowed Ljungberg to set his mind to creating goals. I never thought it worked with Evans on the nominal right, and he simply wasn’t needed in the back, which cost him playing time and rhythm during the “dog days” of summer. When it all got summed up, however, it certainly seemed the Sounder’s best soccer was played with Evans at the “link.”
...that's MISTER Keller to you!!!
thanks!
No brilliant retort (not that I ever provided any), but a thank you for the link to the Guardian! Going there, I found that article is part of a series of articles on tactics (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/series/the-question). Wish this came to my attention during the holidays when I had some time to burn, but it will make interesting reading (much like this blog and the replies).
Jonathan Wilson is the best soccer writer on the planet
Read all of them. Read his book. He is a beautiful person
must give credit where credit is due...
I discovered the J. W. Guardian blog thanks to the author of this blog, and a “holiday links” post a couple weeks ago, and found myself addicted to it for the better part of the post X-mas, pre New Years doldrums week myself.
So credit to Dave Clark for turning me on to it…
...that's MISTER Keller to you!!!
Added the old arrow image
Its simple, but jake got it right
I am not a Supporter
I am not a Fan
I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
I could see that
with the four being in a diamond, it could apply.
Differing from the 4-1-4-1 of Dallas because their four were more like a flat four.
I am not a Supporter
I am not a Fan
I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
the diamond fits
I’m racking my brain trying to remember all 1,000,000 hours of Sounders I watched, especially live at Qwest, where sitting behind the goal I can be especially mindful of width, and I’m just not remembering them being much of a “huck it up the wing and cross it” team. I just don’t think they were particularly concerned with width, beyond what their fullbacks could provide.
Go ahead and prove me wrong… I may be “mis-remembering” - but if my recollection is correct, the 4-1(diamond 4)-1 certainly fits. Especially when considering Zakuani was far from a classic “wide” player (see below)
...that's MISTER Keller to you!!!
by malcontentjake on Jan 6, 2010 1:57 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
width...
where does the width come from up front? From the wingbacks coming forward or the “LM” or “RM” floating outside? And, in this system, does only one WB at a time go forward?
Sorry if this has been hashed out, I am relatively new to any soccer tactics outside of a flat 4-4-2.
width...
…on the attack often came from Ljungberg, who operated where he need to because of the aforementioned freedom provided by Evans. The winning goals against both K.C. and Dallas came when Ljungberg created from a wide position — on the right against K.C. and the left against Dallas.
if you read Jonathan Wilson, you will learn two things: Formations are neutral, and 2) symmetry isn’t important. In the case of the Sounders, they never really had an equivalent to Zakuani on the right (thus my assertion that the nominal right-sided attacker position was filled by a committee that rotated through even within matches.) Zakuani wasn’t even a real left winger, in the classic sense, but really more of a Christiano Ronaldo type who would start from wide — ostensibly because that’s where there is more space — but definitely direct his activity towards the goal.
So, yeah, it comes from the fullbacks, to some extent, but it also came from whoever happened to be there at the time. Which doesn’t really answer your question…
...that's MISTER Keller to you!!!
by malcontentjake on Jan 6, 2010 1:48 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
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