Real Salt Lake: A change in formation helped RSL in victory

SANDY — Coming off back-to-back losses in Texas and knowing a playoff berth was only attainable with three straight victories to end the season, Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis knew the same old approach probably wasn't going to cut it.

He believed going back to the basics was just what the team needed.

Since early June Real Salt Lake has almost exclusively utilized a 4-3-3 formation, which also allowed for the flexibility of a more defensive 4-5-1 formation.

It was a very effective formation at times, but not lately according to Kreis.

"Over the past several weeks in our 4-3-3 we've become a bit stagnant, I don't think that we were playing as dynamically as we liked, I felt like our wide forwards were hanging out on the touch line and were becoming ineffective players," said Kreis.

His solution was reverting back to a 4-4-2 formation against New York.

"We looked at it and said that in order for our forwards to be a bit more effective we probably need to go back to a 4-4-2," said Kreis. "For me I like to see the game played dynamically. I like to see changing in positions and a passing, possession-oriented game and for me it had just got a little stagnant in the 4-3-3."

Against a New York team content to defend for 90 minutes on Wednesday, regardless of the formation Real Salt Lake was probably going to look like a dynamic attacking team. More specifically though, Kreis was pleased with the number of players getting involved in the attack.

"We've been talking a lot about getting more midfielders and more numbers in the box to finish off plays," said Kreis. "For (Andy Williams) to get in there, a midfielder, it shows that occasionally we know what we're talking about."

Midfielder Kyle Beckerman was mostly indifferent about the effect of the formation change, insisting the team has fared well with the 4-3-3 formation as well. More then anything though, he believes the proven flexibility with different formations should help RSL in the final two matches of the season.

With such a quick turnaround for this Saturday's must-win match at Toronto, it's unclear what formation Real Salt Lake will use this weekend. Kreis' personnel decisions might impact his decisions as much as anything.

"We are considering already some possible changes just to get fresh legs out there," said Kreis just minutes after Wednesday's critical 2-0 win over New York.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com