Here's How Inter Miami Did In Their Closed Door Scrimmage vs. St Louis CITY | The Heron Outlet
With 27 days till their season opener against CF Montreal, Inter Miami continue their pre-season grind.
photo credit: The Heron Outlet
In their 3rd game of pre-season, Inter Miami fell 4-0 to expansion club St. Louis CITY SC.
IMCF’s squad was split into groups as they played four 30-minute halves.
The starters went first, with Negri, Mota, Martinez, Duke, and Sailor unable to participate due to fitness/injuries; the substitutes went next, then the rest of the game was a combination of IMCFII players and more subs.
The most prominent narrative from this match will be the scoreline.
Perception means everything, and losing 4-0 isn’t a good look.
There’s some criticism to be had here, but when you peel back the layers and put it into context (i.e., it’s pre-season…), there are some interesting tactical tidbits to take away from the match.
Here are three things we learned from Miami’s scrimmage vs. St. Louis.
Playing Out Of The Back
Inter Miami wants to be a possession-based team.
Throughout Phil Neville’s tenure as IMCF manager, he’s never quite had the personnel to implement this style.
At the end of 2022, however, he started experimenting with a 4-3-1-2 and a 4-2-2-2.
He’s continued this trend in 2023.
Against St. Louis, Miami lined up in a 4-3-1-2, with Ariel Lassiter and Leonardo Campana leading the line.
As previously stated, Miami is determined to play out from their center backs.
In the buildup, Callender would use his feet to avoid the St. Louis press and either slip the ball through to McVey or Mabika.
Once they secure possesion, the full-backs (Allen and Yedlin) will hug the touchline to provide the width and passing options on the flanks. McVey specifically excelled at hitting these passes:
Once the full-backs receive possesion of the ball, in a 4-3-1-2, there are natural triangles all over the field, which make it easy for the players to find their teammates in open pockets of space.
Looking at the board below, when set up in the opposition middle/final third, the 4-3-1-2 gives Miami endless passing options:
Unfortunately, while there were glimpses of this triangulation vs. St. Louis, there needs to be more chemistry and repetition to pull this off consistently.
Luckily for Inter Miami, they will have several more weeks of training and games to get their passing patterns down.
It’s not quite there, but they have an excellent foundation to build on.
Noah Allen Impresses!
Other than the tactical observations that were made, Noah Allen thoroughly impressed during his 40-minute cameo.
The 18-year-old looked dangerous, defended well, and was responsible for most of Miami’s chances in the first 25 minutes of the game:
With the addition of Franco Negri, consistent playing time may be hard to come by this season, but if his performance against St. Louis is anything to go by, then Allen made a perfect case to get more game time heading into 2023.
From Spain to…Argentina?
Lastly, here’s your weekly Alejandro Pozuelo update.
Phil Neville spoke to the media this week and gave us an update on the signing of Pozuelo:
It won’t be easy.
While the club is working hard to bring the Spaniard back, cap restraints will make it difficult.
There’s always a chance that they could find a way to fit him under the cap, but as of yesterday, it’s a 50-50 chance.
Chris Henderson knows what he’s doing, and if Pozuelo doesn’t re-sign, another player could step into the role he left behind.
Nicolas Stefanelli may only be 5’6”, but he plays above his stature.
The Argentine spoke to the media after the scrimmage about how he likes to play “in the pocket” and how he reads the game:
Watching him play against St. Louis, he does look comfortable playing as that withdrawn forward in a 4-3-1-2.
As pre-season progress, expect Stefanelli as the #10 with the starters as Miami inches closer to their season opener.
- nice use of tactical videos.
- Is there disagreement between you and Ian as to where Pizarro would play? I think Ian said he sees him as a 10.
- I know Duke was ruled out, but he has to be on the field (please!) if fit. (Side-eye to Pizarro)
- who backs up Gregore if injured? (I suggest Mota as he’s a competent defender, distributor and less likely to waste shots from the 30 yards out).
-what are Mabika’s weaknesses? He’s quite good on the ball (considering his size) & feels like he still has lots of untapped potential. He certainly won’t be starting, but improvement would certainly help the team in non-MLS games.
- was Azcona injured in the game?