ST. PETERSBURG — From flying high and dominating opponents the Tampa Bay Rowdies have fallen with strings of losses separated by only one win at a time. So what’s changed? Looking at the data we can see a few key differences that may explain things, but ultimately it may be that the teams have been figured out the Rowdies who are getting too predictable.
There’s been a big decrease in shooting accuracy. In the last three losses that statistic didn’t get above 30 percent while that was fairly common in the early season wins. It was most stark in this weekend’s loss where the Rowdies only managed a 7.7 percent shooting accuracy, which obviously makes winning very difficult.
That largely comes from the choices being made from the Rowdies attack, early in the season most of the shots being taken were inside the box. That now is not the case, most shots are coming from outside of the box. This shows one of two things, either the decision-making is poor or the opposing defenses have figured something out about Tampa Bay.
That thing might be how the Rowdies play. In the most recent three matches, the heat maps show a worrying trend. The green and gold are being bogged down to using the wings in midfield. That has made them predictable and easy for opponents to prevent the ball from getting forward, thus forcing the Rowdies to shoot from distance.
Another issue has been what the Rowdies do with the ball. In the latest loss, the Rowdies gave away 18 interceptions which isn’t much more than they had early in the year. But what is different is that they’re not getting that ball back like they used to so they’re not recovering from those errors.
The biggest difference is coming on when play starts. On duels, the Rowdies have gone from dominating contests to now barely winning half of them, and in most recent matches not even getting that many. The knock-on effect of this is that the Rowdies then can’t control the play early and set the tempo, something the team thrives on.
None of this is something that can’t be changed, yes the shape may need a fundamental change to fix that predictability but it’s all fixable. It’s also not time to hit the panic button despite the sensationalist headline. The “bad situation” the Rowdies are in now is merely that they’re second in the division, the club will almost certainly make the Playoffs and that is exactly when things need to be working.
Photo courtesy Tampa Bay Rowdies
Florida Soccer Report 