Latest news with #EricRamsay
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
The most aggressive set-piece team in the world plays in Minnesota
Not many soccer players are as passionate about dead balls as Anthony Markanich. Then again Minnesota United, under the 33-year-old first-time head coach Eric Ramsay, don't play soccer like most teams. 'All the guys get really excited about set pieces, especially myself,' Markanich gushed last Friday after scoring a goal off a long throw-in by the center back Michael Boxall for the second time in a week. 'I told Boxy I love when he has the ball for throw-ins and stuff – I get so excited about that.' The wingback's match-winner against FC Dallas marked the third straight game Minnesota have scored from a long throw into the penalty area. It was their sixth throw-in goal before the MLS All-Star break – which falls about two-thirds of the way through the season. That's as many as Brentford's famous long throws produced all last season in the Premier League. Even though they're chucking more balls into the box than any Major League Soccer side in at least a decade, long throws might not be the Loons' most distinctive set piece routine. They've also borrowed a page from Sean Dyche's playbook by bringing their goalkeeper up to wallop free kicks into the opposition's box from around the halfway line, where almost any other team would tap the ball sideways to resume ordinary midfield possession. Minnesota's oddball tactics aren't just outliers in MLS. According to an analysis by Soccerment, a soccer data company, they take more long throws and deep free kicks than any other club in 30 of the world's top leagues, from the Bundesliga to the Brasileirão. The low-budget overachievers sitting third in the MLS Western Conference just might be the most aggressive set piece team on the planet. Ramsay's commitment to putting any possible dead ball into the mixer may look strange, even old-fashioned, but there's evidence to support continuing to do it. Across leagues, seasons and playing styles, long throws into the box are twice as likely to lead to a goal in the next 30 seconds as other throw-ins in the final quarter of the pitch. The same goes for deep free kicks into the 'Dyche Zone' at the top of the opponent's box, which are twice as valuable as other free kicks taken between the edge of a team's defensive third and the halfway line. Like the Moneyball-era Oakland A's, Minnesota found an analytical edge out of financial necessity. Ramsay's squad ranks 26th out of 30 MLS teams for player compensation, which has put an expensive passing game all but out of reach. 'It's not that we're a club that is unwilling to spend, but since I've been here, there's been a real efficiency drive,' he said. 'Ultimately where we use set plays, it comes from wanting to squeeze every advantage that we possibly can from the group of players that we've got.' Ramsay joined the MLS side last year from an assistant role at Manchester United, where he studied how teams like Brentford, Newcastle and Dyche's Burnley used direct set pieces to punch above their weight in the Premier League. 'Obviously it's not escaped my attention that teams with smaller budgets can out-compete teams right at the top end through set plays,' he said. 'It was one of the things I looked at from afar and thought prior to coming in that we could find an advantage.' In the Twin Cities, he found a squad well suited for long set pieces. Their strengths are a sturdy defensive line and a pair of tall strikers who excel on fast breaks, so there hasn't been much downside to bypassing midfield possession for booming free kicks from the goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair or throw-ins from the New Zealand international Boxall, who can hurl the ball 30 yards from a near-standstill. 'I think particularly when it comes to how we use throw-ins and deep free kicks, we probably give away between five and 10% what would be very easy possession in order to be high value in those situations,' Ramsay explained. 'If we wanted to have 47% of the ball consistently, we could do it like that. We would just choose to use set plays in a different way.' Their unstoppable long throw-ins can look hilariously easy. Markanich's two goals last week came from near-mirror image throws to a trio of Minnesota players jostling for position at the near corner of the six-yard box while he waited behind them in the center of goal and the striker Kelvin Yeboah peeled off from the penalty spot to help hunt for a flick-on header. 'Everyone's just wanting to flick the ball on,' Markanich said. 'I think everyone knows their roles, especially on set pieces.' Deep free kicks have more tactical variety depending on where they're taken, but every set piece starts from principles that Ramsay rattles off like a pop quiz: 'Do you have the right number of players in the contact area? Is the thrower or the set piece taker able to, with a real degree of accuracy, put the ball into a certain spot? Are you really well set for the second contact, and are the players on the move for the second contact? 'How is it that when the ball breaks to the edge of the box for a second, third or fourth phase, you can recycle the ball in order to get a second or third chance and continually upgrade the quality of your opportunity as you go?' Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer after newsletter promotion This is the big idea behind Ramsay's set pieces: not that they'll score every time from a perfect routine, but that by using each stoppage to cram a bunch of bodies and the ball into a small area around the opponent's goal, his side can force errors, win second balls and string together chance after chance, set piece after set piece, always ratcheting up the pressure. New phase-of-play data from the livescore app Futi supports this line of thought. (I co-founded Futi with the data scientist Mike Imburgio, who consults on Minnesota's recruitment but isn't involved with set pieces.) Though only 14% of Minnesota's throw-ins into the box produce a shot, they lead to another set piece 20% of the time. Similarly, 45% of the team's deep free kicks reach a second phase where the ball bounces around the box while the defense is still disorganized. The Loons haven't managed a single shot in the first phase of a Dyche Zone free kick but they've scored three goals during those dangerous second phases, plus another from a subsequent corner kick. Add it all up and the value of Minnesota's aggressive set pieces is astonishing: their 10 goals within 45 seconds of a long throw or deep free kick represent nearly a third of the team's season total. Though their entire squad earns about half of Lionel Messi's salary at Inter Miami, Minnesota are perched above Miami in the Supporters Shield standings and doing a pretty good job of recreating Messi in the aggregate just by lobbing dead balls into the box. Fans have bought into a style that might have been a tough sell if it weren't so hard to argue with results. 'There's a bit of an aura around us in set plays, particularly at home,' Ramsay said. 'Our crowd are wild for set plays. At corners, every single member of the crowd is swinging the scarf around.' After years of decline, long throws into the box are on the upswing in MLS and the Premier League. A new generation of managers such as Eddie Howe and Graham Potter are reconsidering deep free kicks, which like Dyche himself had fallen out of fashion as too 'pragmatic.' What looks exotic now may one day be as normal as putting kickoffs out of bounds near the corner flag or building out of the back from a short goal kick. 'I don't think anything we do is rocket science. I don't think it will take the opposition long to work out what sits behind our success,' Ramsay said of his team's extraordinary set piece record after the win in Dallas. 'But stopping it is very different.'
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
The most aggressive set piece team in the world plays in Minnesota
Not many soccer players are as passionate about dead balls as Anthony Markanich. Then again Minnesota United, under the 33-year-old first-time head coach Eric Ramsay, don't play soccer like most teams. 'All the guys get really excited about set pieces, especially myself,' Markanich gushed last Friday after scoring a goal off a long throw-in by the center back Michael Boxall for the second time in a week. 'I told Boxy I love when he has the ball for throw-ins and stuff – I get so excited about that.' The wingback's match-winner against FC Dallas marked the third straight game Minnesota have scored from a long throw into the penalty area. It was their sixth throw-in goal before the MLS All-Star break – which falls about two-thirds of the way through the season. That's as many as Brentford's famous long throws produced all last season in the Premier League. Even though they're chucking more balls into the box than any Major League Soccer side in at least a decade, long throws might not be the Loons' most distinctive set piece routine. They've also borrowed a page from Sean Dyche's playbook by bringing their goalkeeper up to wallop free kicks into the opposition's box from around the halfway line, where almost any other team would tap the ball sideways to resume ordinary midfield possession. Minnesota's oddball tactics aren't just outliers in MLS. According to an analysis by Soccerment, a soccer data company, they take more long throws and deep free kicks than any other club in 30 of the world's top leagues, from the Bundesliga to the Brasileirão. The low-budget overachievers sitting third in the MLS Western Conference just might be the most aggressive set piece team on the planet. Ramsay's commitment to putting any possible dead ball into the mixer may look strange, even old-fashioned, but there's evidence to support continuing to do it. Across leagues, seasons and playing styles, long throws into the box are twice as likely to lead to a goal in the next 30 seconds as other throw-ins in the final quarter of the pitch. The same goes for deep free kicks into the 'Dyche Zone' at the top of the opponent's box, which are twice as valuable as other free kicks taken between the edge of a team's defensive third and the halfway line. Like the Moneyball-era Oakland A's, Minnesota found an analytical edge out of financial necessity. Ramsay's squad ranks 26th out of 30 MLS teams for player compensation, which has put an expensive passing game all but out of reach. 'It's not that we're a club that is unwilling to spend, but since I've been here, there's been a real efficiency drive,' he said. 'Ultimately where we use set plays, it comes from wanting to squeeze every advantage that we possibly can from the group of players that we've got.' Ramsay joined the MLS side last year from an assistant role at Manchester United, where he studied how teams like Brentford, Newcastle and Dyche's Burnley used direct set pieces to punch above their weight in the Premier League. 'Obviously it's not escaped my attention that teams with smaller budgets can out-compete teams right at the top end through set plays,' he said. 'It was one of the things I looked at from afar and thought prior to coming in that we could find an advantage.' In the Twin Cities, he found a squad well suited for long set pieces. Their strengths are a sturdy defensive line and a pair of tall strikers who excel on fast breaks, so there hasn't been much downside to bypassing midfield possession for booming free kicks from the goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair or throw-ins from the New Zealand international Boxall, who can hurl the ball 30 yards from a near-standstill. 'I think particularly when it comes to how we use throw-ins and deep free kicks, we probably give away between five and 10% what would be very easy possession in order to be high value in those situations,' Ramsay explained. 'If we wanted to have 47% of the ball consistently, we could do it like that. We would just choose to use set plays in a different way.' Their unstoppable long throw-ins can look hilariously easy. Markanich's two goals last week came from near-mirror image throws to a trio of Minnesota players jostling for position at the near corner of the six-yard box while he waited behind them in the center of goal and the striker Kelvin Yeboah peeled off from the penalty spot to help hunt for a flick-on header. 'Everyone's just wanting to flick the ball on,' Markanich said. 'I think everyone knows their roles, especially on set pieces.' Deep free kicks have more tactical variety depending on where they're taken, but every set piece starts from principles that Ramsay rattles off like a pop quiz: 'Do you have the right number of players in the contact area? Is the thrower or the set piece taker able to, with a real degree of accuracy, put the ball into a certain spot? Are you really well set for the second contact, and are the players on the move for the second contact? 'How is it that when the ball breaks to the edge of the box for a second, third or fourth phase, you can recycle the ball in order to get a second or third chance and continually upgrade the quality of your opportunity as you go?' Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer after newsletter promotion This is the big idea behind Ramsay's set pieces: not that they'll score every time from a perfect routine, but that by using each stoppage to cram a bunch of bodies and the ball into a small area around the opponent's goal, his side can force errors, win second balls and string together chance after chance, set piece after set piece, always ratcheting up the pressure. New phase-of-play data from the livescore app Futi supports this line of thought. (I co-founded Futi with the data scientist Mike Imburgio, who consults on Minnesota's recruitment but isn't involved with set pieces.) Though only 14% of Minnesota's throw-ins into the box produce a shot, they lead to another set piece 20% of the time. Similarly, 45% of the team's deep free kicks reach a second phase where the ball bounces around the box while the defense is still disorganized. The Loons haven't managed a single shot in the first phase of a Dyche Zone free kick but they've scored three goals during those dangerous second phases, plus another from a subsequent corner kick. Add it all up and the value of Minnesota's aggressive set pieces is astonishing: their 10 goals within 45 seconds of a long throw or deep free kick represent nearly a third of the team's season total. Though their entire squad earns about half of Lionel Messi's salary at Inter Miami, Minnesota are perched above Miami in the Supporters Shield standings and doing a pretty good job of recreating Messi in the aggregate just by lobbing dead balls into the box. Fans have bought into a style that might have been a tough sell if it weren't so hard to argue with results. 'There's a bit of an aura around us in set plays, particularly at home,' Ramsay said. 'Our crowd are wild for set plays. At corners, every single member of the crowd is swinging the scarf around.' After years of decline, long throws into the box are on the upswing in MLS and the Premier League. A new generation of managers such as Eddie Howe and Graham Potter are reconsidering deep free kicks, which like Dyche himself had fallen out of fashion as too 'pragmatic.' What looks exotic now may one day be as normal as putting kickoffs out of bounds near the corner flag or building out of the back from a short goal kick. 'I don't think anything we do is rocket science. I don't think it will take the opposition long to work out what sits behind our success,' Ramsay said of his team's extraordinary set piece record after the win in Dallas. 'But stopping it is very different.'
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
🚨 Minnesota dispatch Seattle in a high-scoring Western thriller
The final act of matchday 17 in the 2025 MLS season saw a Western Conference top-four clash end with Minnesota United holding on for a 3-2 win on the road against the Seattle Sounders. Scorers: Rienzi 55', Romero 83' (own goal); Oluwaseyi 51', 58', Lod 54' (pen) Advertisement Across what was an expected intriguing tactical battle between a ball-dominant Sounders side and a pesky counter-attacking outfit in Minnesota, the pair of Western upstarts canceled each other out before heading into the halftime interval. Eric Ramsay's Loons finally broke the deadlock in the 50th minute, with Oluwaseyi once again proving to be the attacking focal point when he turned in a cut-back from Finnish wing-back Robin Lod from close range after Minnesota did well to break quickly. Minnesota was then awarded a penalty just one minute later after substitute Bongokuhle Hlongwane was judged to have been fouled in the box after a storming run from Joaquin Pereyra aimed to pick out the South African forward. Lod would ultimately dispatch his effort from the spot to double their advantage at Lumen Field, a venue they have never picked up a single point at across their history. Advertisement But Seattle would storm back right after play resumed through a close finish from Kalani Rienzi, who put the finishing touch on a cut-back from Pedro De la Vega. The Loons would not be undone after the quick Seattle response, however, with Oluwaseyi completing his brace on the night when he converted the rebound after Stefan Frei could only parry an effort from Pereyra right into his path. Once again the Sounders would storm back as they through everyone into the fray and would narrow the deficit to a single goal after Nicolas Romero turned it into the Minnesota net in the 83rd minute. Advertisement With that, the Loons climb up to second in the West and level on points with MLS upstarts San Diego FC, and now sit four points clear of both Seattle and the Portland Timbers. 📸 Editorial Photo Credit: © Joe Nicholson | 2025 Jun 1 - Imagn Images
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
3️⃣ matches you must watch in MLS this weekend
The busy month of May in MLS wraps up this weekend, and while the players may be starting to run on fumes, the action remains jam-packed on Saturday and Sunday. Let's dig into a few of the most watchable games from around the league this weekend. Seattle Sounders vs Minnesota United Sunday's lone game is a tasty one as we turn our attention to the Pacific Northwest. A top-four battle in Western Conference will commence, with both sides looking to take advantage of Vancouver's slight drop in recent weeks as the conference opens up even further. Advertisement The Sounders have won four of their last six in MLS, and they have done it with major injury issues — Brian Schmetzer teams just seem to always find a way to hang in the picture down the stretch. Meanwhile, Minnesota United have been a superb addition to the conversation out west this season. Eric Ramsay has turned the Loons into one of the most tactically sound sides in MLS, but they do rely upon the play of strike-partners Kelvin Yeboah and Tani Oluwaseyi. The two center-forwards have combined for 15 goal contributions this season. Inter Miami vs Columbus Crew It's becoming a must-watch matchup in MLS, despite the two sides being in the midst of slumps relative to their lofty standards. Advertisement The Crew have not won in MLS since early April, drawing four of five games in that stretch, while Miami have won just two of their last seven in the league. Something has got to give for both of these teams. In the reverse fixture back in April, Columbus found themselves 0-1 losers to the Herons, despite being the better the team on the day by somewhat of a wide margin. Both teams will be looking to reignite their push into the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. Expect fireworks in Fort Lauderdale. New York Red Bulls vs Atlanta United The standings might point to this matchup not being one of the sexier this upcoming weekend, but the narratives surrounding the two sides have begun to build in recent weeks. Advertisement Reigning Eastern Conference champions New York Red Bulls are still looking to recover from a poor start to the campaign, but have won two straight to jump up into the playoff picture. Youngster Mohammed Sofo has scored in both wins for Sandro Schwarz's, perhaps eclipsing stars such as Emil Forsberg and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting as the biggest story at Red Bull Arena this season. Atlanta, on the other hand, have shown signs of life after a disastrous start to the season. The Five Stripes spent massive money in the offseason to revitalize the squad for new head coach Ronny Deila, but their recent two-game victorious run in MLS pulled their win tally up to just four. Two teams desperate to remain hot. We should be in for a tense affair Saturday evening in New Jersey.
Telegraph
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
David Beckham's anger at lack of ‘respect' after MLS rival's jibe
David Beckham has told Minnesota United to 'show a little respect' after they celebrated thrashing his star-studded Inter Miami team by calling them the 'Pink Phony Club'. Saturday's Major League Soccer game between the sides inflicted on Lionel Messi his worst defeat since moving to the United States as Miami lost 4-1 at a packed Allianz Field. Minnesota, managed by former Manchester United coach Eric Ramsay, basked in the afterglow of that win on Instagram by taking aim at their opponents, whom Beckham co-founded in 2018 and who famously wear pink. One post featured an image of their own players celebrating a goal and featured a part of the MLS standings showing Minnesota in fifth, a point ahead of Beckham's side. The post was captioned 'Pink Phony Club' in a play on words on the Chappell Roan song Pink Pony Club. Beckham, the former Manchester United and England midfielder, responded to the post by writing: 'Show a little respect @mnufc be elegant in triumph.' In another jibe seemingly linked to the city of Minnesota's longer association with professional football down the years, a post featured a photograph of a giant banner and read: 'History over hype. Culture over cash.' The post was captioned: '49 years and counting'. Beckham responded, saying 'respect over everything' in a comment featuring a pink heart emoji. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Minnesota United FC (@mnufc) Miami were formed only in 2020 and won the Leagues Cup in 2023 during Messi's first season in Florida. They topped the regular season standings last term to win the Supporters' Shield, only to bow out in the first round of the MLS play-offs to Atlanta United. Miami are fourth in the Eastern Conference and sixth in the overall table after losing to Minnesota, who are enjoying a fruitful second season under Ramsay. The 33-year-old left United for his current role in February last year and has recently been linked with the Southampton job. Welsh coach Ramsay said after beating Miami: 'I think, for the club as a whole, that was really important. But certainly, for us as a team, to show that we can compete with the very best was really important for us. 'We're obviously in a good place at the moment but we've got to keep that going, we've got to keep working.'
