Zoomed N: St. Louis City SC with Flyover Footy

Nashville are back in MLS action after the Leagues Cup break. They played Aston Villa in a friendly match last Saturday, but have otherwise had a full two weeks to rest and prepare for the final nine matches of the MLS regular season.

Nashville travel to St. Louis this weekend for their second-ever match against St. Louis City SC. For the latest on their opponent, we're checking in with Flyover Footy's Phill Grooms, who has covered all things St. Louis soccer for years.

Ben Wright (SixOneFive Soccer): Two managers gone in the last calendar year for St. Louis, and it doesn't seem like anything has improved. What has gone wrong for STL after their fantastic debut?

Phill Grooms (Flyover Footy): Since St. Louis’ inception they’ve gone through two failed coaching hires, both bringing their own problems which have set the club back years.

One of Bradley Carnell’s problems was going through five fullbacks and three attackers during his year and a half tenure. Following him, a team was built around Olof Mellberg’s 3 center back system, which was abandoned mere months later. Correlated with Mellberg’s arrival was players getting injured en masse.

Now, under interim coach David Critchley, the team has "returned to its roots" which in my opinion is code for "back to square one", having lost many players with potential and gained very little in meaningful roster growth. I feel that these failed hires are the greatest cause for City's repeated recapitulation.

BW: What's the mood around the fanbase like?

PG: The fans are now resigned. The playoffs are a figment of our hopeful imagination. While the team looks more functional under David Critchley, it lacks the fire and discipline needed to compete week in and out in MLS.

Hope can, and is, found in the returning of team’s best players to the starting XI, a freshly transferred U22 center back oozing with quality, and roster slots being freed up for more reinforcements. The fans are yearning for the fire of Carnell’s squads and proof of concept from Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel.

BW: On paper, STL have some dangerous pieces like Teuchert, Hartel, Klauss and others. How have their key players performed, and who should Nashville watch out for?

PG: João Klauss scored one goal under Olof Mellberg. Since Critchley took over, he’s scored six in nine games. Marcel Hartel has been called the "last professional street baller" by Pfannenstiel. He looks it. He’s the playmaker. Under Critchley his skills seem to have a much better chance of hitting pay dirt than under Mellberg.

Finally, watch out for Eduard Löwen. He’s finally back and 90 minutes fit. Look for him to sit deep and control the game. He has a way of unlocking players like Hartel with interplay around the box and wide players with big switches. Maybe try not to give him free kicks either…

Having him back has been the brightest hope in the darkest dark for City fans.

BW: How would you describe their tactical setup this season?

PG: To be crude, Olof Mellberg had the boys bunkering and praying. Critchley, who served as City 2’s head coach this year with great success, has brought back a 4-2-3-1 that looks eagerly for pressing cues and insists on pushing on the attack.

Under Critchley, much like Hackworth’s internship last year, St. Louis has shown it can score goals, but not defend out a game. Every week brings a different combination of intensity of pressing, attack, and defense, but I will say they seem to see no reason to be conservative at the end of a game.

Critchley’s 11 will try to score right up to the final whistle if they’re down, but often that opens them up for more goals on the other end.

BW: Do you have a lineup and score prediction?

TH: Looking at Nashville’s previous games, I lean toward comparing this matchup to their matchup against DC United, which was a 1-0 win for Nashville. I think St. Louis will play similar to DC, but perhaps with more quality now that they’re healthy and have defensive reinforcements.

So my prediction with be a 1-1 draw since the proof just hasn’t been there on defense. As a STL fan, I envy the story arc of Nashville’s stability and development this season. The lineup conversation will be fun.

Fallou Fall is their shiny new Senegalese centerback coming to the club via Norway. He’s left-footed and can distribute, but has only had 10 days or so of training and 45 minutes versus Aston Villa. Henry Kessler is also healthy, but has very little time in training. If they play their best, look for those two to start at centerback. Conservatively we’d see the physical Timo Baumgartl.

Outside of that we’ll likely see Conrad Wallem at right back, Devin Padelford at left back, Tomáš Ostrák and Eduard Löwen the dual pivot, then newly acquired Jeong Sang-bin joining Marcel Hartel, Celio Pompeu, and João Klauss as the attacking four in a 4-2-3-1. Hartel will go where he pleases. Celio will dribble.

Klauss will drop in, and Sang-bin will run behind. Generally.

P.S. - The classiest St. Louis fans will be secretly rooting for Joe Willis and Jack Maher, and that might be a nice conversation starter for traveling fans.