FC Cincinnati joined the MLS in 2019 and took quite a while to settle down. The club, who were founded in 2015, were handed the wooden spoon three seasons in a row from 2019-2021 before seeing a massive improvement during the 2022 campaign, finishing fifth but eventually losing out to the Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The instigator for the club’s success was the arrival of Pat Noonan, the former USMNT and Union assistant coach. In his first season as a professional head coach in 2022, Noonan took the Orange and Blue from being the whipping boys in the East to a handful for any side.
Fast forward to this season, Cincinnati are top of the Eastern Conference, on course to win the Supporters’ Shield. In fact, just five teams in MLS history have ever picked up 33 points after 14 games. Noonan’s men were one. All the rest went on to win the Supporters’ Shield. No pressure.
The improvement under Noonan has been wonderful, but perhaps nobody expected it to be this impressive. But what makes Cincinnati’s feat more intriguing is that they have averaged less than 50 percent possession which has become increasingly uncommon in the modern game.
So, let’s take a look at why Noonan’s Cincinnati are killing it this season. This tactical analysis piece will analyse Cincinnati’s tactics this season, looking at why pragmatism still has a part to play in this possession-oriented sport.
Noonan’s preferred shape
For the most part, you need possession to score goals but in theory, a team can have one percent of the ball and still win a game one nil. There is no guarantee that dominating the ball leads to more success on the pitch.
Since Pep Guardiola’s positional play revolution at Barcelona all those years ago, umpteen coaches have attempted to replicate this style, using their own vision to bring it to life. This has been particularly apparent in the aftermath of Pep’s arrival in English football.
Teams at the elite level may win games of football with less possession than their opponents but it’s becoming increasingly uncommon for this to translate to winning titles anymore. The days of Rafa Benítez and José Mourinho’s pragmatistic methods seem long gone.
However, Cincinnati are proving to be contrarian to this current trend. Pat Noonan’s side are averaging 46.5 percent of the ball per game, the seventh-lowest average across both MLS Conferences. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Garys are a defensive, counterattacking side – just that Noonan is content with allowing the opposition to have the ball for the majority of the game.
Firstly, to understand how Cincinnati play, it’s important to note the side’s structure in matches. Noonan has preferred to deploy a 3-4-1-2 in games, although the 5-3-2 and 3-4-3 have also been seen. Nonetheless, Cincinnati are yet to attempt a back-four formation this season, and understandably so. The team have lost just once this season so it would be senseless for the head coach to change it up.
The 3-5-2/5-3-2 is primarily used when the Orange and Blue are leading in games and need to see the result out, offering an extra man in midfield to protect the backline.
