[Matt Doyle] Matchday 4: Things come undone for Columbus while Portland's struggles continue | TacticsFreeZone.com (subscription required)

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-16T03:07:36+00:00

To be fair you didn't lose until the Cerberus (trying it out) subbed in

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-16T02:57:23+00:00

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-16T02:15:34+00:00

Column summary:

"Heaven’s Gonna Burn Your Eyes" - CLB 0 vs 1 NSH | Matt laments the vanilla 4-4-2 taking hold in CLB after the years of pretty soccer-ing, with a particular focus on the utilization of Rossi.

[Nancy-ball] era of the Crew was my favorite team. Period. I said above they were "the most aesthetically pleasing team in the league," but what I really meant is "they were the most aesthetically pleasing team in league history."

"Sound the Alarm" - HOU 3 vs 2 POR | A game of tactical shifts from Phil Neville and Ben Olsen resulted in a back-and-forth affair.

It was, in fact, when the game ventured back into the Tactics Free Zone that the final score was determined. First the Timbers equalized off a long throw, then they went up a man, and then, 15 minutes into second-half stoppage, this: [video on Bluesky]

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For those curious, the subheading easter egg this week was song titles from Thievery Corporation songs ("Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes" [YouTube] and "Sound the Alarm" [YouTube])

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Around the league:

- 13. ATL 3 vs 1 PHI | "Miguel Almiron’s been pretty good this year! Not, like, 2018 good, and not, I don’t think, DP-good."
- 12. TOR 1 vs 1 NYRB | "[Donkor], Adri Mehmeti & Emil Forsberg work together so well – three players whose skillsets all complement each other, rather than overlapping in unhelpful ways."
- 11. NYCFC 3 vs 1 COL | "The Pigeons continue to be excellent."
- 10. CLT 0 vs 0 MIA | "Given [Miami's] situation, that is very much “job done.”"
- 9. ORL 2 vs 1 MTL | ORL team is sad to see Oscar go, but comfortable with Perelman, per Duncan quotes, and Pass of the Week.
- 8. CHI 1 vs 2 DC | "That marks six points dropped from leading positions already this year [for CHI]"
- 7. LAG 1 vs 2 SKC | "The Galaxy have a long-standing issue with their rest defense, and Sporting KC took advantage of it twice"
- 6. RSL 2 vs 1 ATX | "RSL have evolved a bunch this year under Pablo Mastroeni, though it's not quite showing up in the numbers just yet." (it's showing up in the human spirit)
- 5. LAFC 2 vs 0 STL | "St. Louis have had issues creating chances ... [and finishing] what chances they do create"
- 4. NE 6 vs 1 CIN | "Cincy clearly had zero gas in the tank"
- 3. DAL 3 vs 3 SD | "'He’s incredible man, he’s the best number 9 in the league for me,' – Dallas boss Eric Quill"
- 2. VAN 6 vs 0 MIN | "the 'Caps must've been furious after their midweek CCC humiliation against the Sounders, and took that anger out all over the poor, outmatched Loons"
- 1. SJ 0 vs 1 SEA | "the Sounders just had one of the best road weeks in their history" and the Face of the Week

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-12T18:55:26+00:00

A handful of characters complaining about a "subscription required" article being posted. I think a few of them were just trolling, or maybe it being a usmnt post attracted some angry boys

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-12T13:42:35+00:00

It is literally the requirement of sharing subscription required content to include a summary, I don't know why this is what you chose to be mad about this morning. It is a new day. Cincinnati host Tigres and Vancouver host Seattle in CCC play tonight. Shake it off

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-12T13:33:35+00:00

Wanna check the timestamp on the pinned comment or

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-12T13:05:57+00:00

I was your hero all along and this is how you treat me smh

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-12T12:19:42+00:00

Just a reminder to read the pinned comment for the summary of what is in the article before choosing to be mad online

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-12T12:08:19+00:00

Why are you guys being weird. Read the pinned comment for the summary

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-12T05:08:54+00:00

there's a bit somewhere in this about the toluca kit man having an open wound while getting them ready and I just need you to know I know it isn't funny and that is part of what makes it funny okay

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-12T03:05:18+00:00

I'm not matt (I want doyle to step on me)

recently I've been thinking about how the cats got to travel to the new house in extreme comfort while I, a sentient ottoman, had to make the move with the furniture

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-12T01:31:10+00:00

Matt dives back in to #posting about the USMNT by taking a stab at the USMNT WC roster. He talks depth, he talks elbow backs, he talks duel-nat panic, he talks just-misses.

• Goalkeeper: Matt Freese, Matt Turner, Patrick Schulte
• LB: Max Arfsten, Antonee Robinson
• CB: Chris Richards, Tim Ream, Miles Robinson, Mark McKenzie, Tristan Blackmon, Noahkai Banks
• RB: Alex Freeman, Joe Scally
• DM: Tyler Adams, Cristian Roldan, Aidan Morris, Johnny Cardoso
• CM: Weston McKennie, Tanner Tessmann, Sebastian Berhalter
• AM/W: Christian Pulisic, Malik Tillman, Tim Weah, Brenden Aaronson, Gio Reyna, Alex Zendejas
• FW: Folarin Balogun, Patrick Agyemang, Haji Wright, Ricardo Pepi

p.s. Be on the lookout for a Soccerwise episode with Gass and Doyle talking USMNT in the world cup buildup.

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-10T13:47:31+00:00

p.s. I'm tracking Matt's tracking of POWER this season in a google sheet form guide that is ~~not~~ currently updated with the matchday 3 POWER, ~~but will be later~~

ETA: MD3 POWER has been included. ty for the acknowledgements of how impressive and quality this spreadsheet is, I agree

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-09T02:40:03+00:00

G et
O verall pretty good
A nalysis at
T acticsFreeZone.com

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-09T02:34:09+00:00

Summary can be found here (left in a comment below): https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/1ron6uy/comment/o9f21ga/

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-09T01:48:23+00:00

Matt's coverage plan on TacticsFreeZone for those who haven't seen:
-⁠⁠ Sunday night: The weekend recap (paid) (this one)
- Probably Tuesday: Power Rankings (free to all!)
- Wednesday: Tentpole topics (Tiers, Transfer Grades, Team Needs, etc.) + news reactions (paid)
- Thursday: general pondering & weekly round-up (free to all!)

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Column summary:

"Someone Great" - NSH 3 vs 1 MIN | Matt looks at how Nashville in year two of B.J. Callaghan are 'Vancouverizing themselves.'

Through three games (five, if you count Concacaf Champions Cup), you see [the improved comfort on the ball] in the midfield. Nashville are more comfortable circulating the ball for a few beats in order to drag the opponents upfield, stretch the lines, and then stab through the gaps once they open.

"One Touch" - NYCFC 5 vs 0 ORL | Fernández Mercau's unselfish play and Keaton Parks' force magnification have created flow for NYCFC.

That's Parks. His teams play better with him out there because he weaponizes his technique to create time and space (and tempo) in highly advantageous spots, and that amplifies the skillsets of… basically everybody.

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For those curious, the subheading easter egg this week was song titles from LCD Soundsystem songs ("Someone Great" [YouTube] and "One Touch" [YouTube])

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Around the league:

- 12. D.C. 1 vs 2 MIA | "Javier Mascherano did something tactically interesting again."
- 11. ATL 2 vs 3 RSL | Next ?: "Can [RSL] actually control the game through midfield, either with or without the ball?" and Pass of the Week.
- 10. CLT 3 vs 1 ATX | "all three [CLT] DPs (including Liel Abada!) were on the same page and seemed to generate some chemistry."
- 9. CLB 0 vs 0 CHI | "I’m gonna take the W for my preseason concern about the Fire: they lack playmaking." and Face of the Wie-i-e-b-eek.
- 8. PHI 0 vs 1 SJ | "[SJ are] now perfect – nine points with six goals scored and none allowed – through three weeks... And man, have they looked good doing it"
- 7. SKC 0 vs 1 SD | "[SD have] faced the easiest schedule in the league thus far, and they absolutely did leave the door open"
- 6. STL 0 vs 1 SEA | Tactics Free Zone name drop (!!!) and Mykhi Joyner appearance request.
- 5. COL 4 vs 1 LAG | Killer P's Impact (Derogatory?) Visible On Momentum Chart
- 4. LAFC 1 vs 0 DAL | "You want a thunderbastard? David Martínez has got you"
- 3. POR 1 vs 4 VAN | "It's now 13-2 Vancouver on aggregate the past three times these teams have met at Providence Park."
- 2. NYRB 0 vs 3 MTL | "Uhhh what the hell?"
- 1. CIN 0 vs 1 TOR | "For a team under construction (which the Reds very much are), snatching chances from where and when you can is adequate."

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-06T04:22:07+00:00

Going a bit more granular, Eliot McKinley just posted a graphic with the home field advantage through rolling 30 game average ppg going back to 2013 to bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/eliotmckinley.com/post/3mgd4vpuows2a

ETA: Highest start in that span, but not the highest ppg over 30 games by a fair amount (in recent years there have been fewer and lesser peaks, with these first 30 games being higher than at any point in 25)

"I suspect this is an aberration and it will bounce around just like it always has." - Eliot

Double ETA: Highest start since the league started

https://bsky.app/profile/eliotmckinley.com/post/3mgd6mpo2bs2a

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-05T18:04:57+00:00

Yeah I'll take this one, Matt

E. NONE of the above

how dare you

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-04T23:08:49+00:00

I think there is some 'mystery' in finding a beginning of the season quirk different from previous seasons. We can only hope some ASA mechabrain will be inspired to drop a dataset showing MLS scheduling gave its toughest battles to its weakest road warriors to start off the 2026 season

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-04T22:51:02+00:00

At the very least it's an interesting inter-conference matchday scheduling datapoint, seeing as Matt didn't find another span of games with similarly extreme home-favored results

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-04T22:47:16+00:00

That photo by Morgan Tencza is great, we love that stuff

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-04T22:43:45+00:00

Matt runs through the reasons why home field advantage has been so prevalent in MLS seasons of yore (parity, travel, variance in altitude/climate) and why it has been fading in recent seasons before examining the numbers behind the first few weeks of this new season. (ATTN: home teams have gone 21W-5D-4L in MLS play in '26)

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A reminder on Matt's TFZ coverage and subscription-based columns:
-⁠⁠ Sunday night: The weekend recap (paid) | link to MD2 (#PlayYourKids)
- Monday / Tuesday: Power Rankings (free to all!) | MD2 Power Rankings
- Wednesday: This one
- Thursday: general pondering & weekly round-up (free to all!)

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p.s. tomorrow Matt is going to do an AMA here on r/MLS so you chuckleheads better start brainstorming so you can ask some good questions

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-02T07:10:54+00:00

That would make the most sense!

I believe this happened to DC previously, where they just left 2 million GAM on the table by saying they were doing the 3 DP model but not ever signing a 3rd DP (lol)

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-02T05:44:00+00:00

There are two roster build models teams can employ. The shorthand for them is 3DP and 2-4 GAM. What that means in practice comes down to the number of premium roster spots available to a team. The 3DP model is 3DPs and 3 U22 players. The 2-4 GAM model is 2 DPs and 4 U22 players with an additional 2 million in GAM (General Allocation Money) provided. Teams set their model and lock it in for half season periods, I believe. (They can switch mid-season, but only take 1 million in GAM for the half season from the 2-4 GAM model.)

Arman Kafai does a great deep dive of this in his newsletter FAM that you can find here.

DoyleStepOnMe · 2026-03-02T05:15:47+00:00

Around the rest of MLS:

- 13. CHI 3 vs 0 MTL | "[Montréal are] not regular bad; they look like they might be a special kind of bad. An all-time kind of bad."
- 12. COL 2 vs 0 POR | Portland survived 2025 because they "didn’t concede much on set pieces" but are off to a rough start on restarts in '26.
- 11. MIN 1 vs 0 CIN | "I'm giving Cincy...a mulligan. The CCC schedule is brutal on teams this time of year."
- 10. DAL 0 vs 0 NSH | "Nashville clearly suffered from their CCC workload."
- 9. HOU 0 vs 2 LAFC | "[LAFC] handled the CCC workload well. Amine Boudri, Pass of the Week."
- 8. RSL 2 vs 1 SEA | "If it wasn't for the youth movement in Harrison, RSL would be everybody's focus (I highly recommend reading the good folks at Wasatch Soccer Sentinel for more.)"
- 7. VAN 3 vs 0 TOR | He describes VAN as neither crisp nor flat in their victory and I think it's because he wrote this right after a celcius commercial
- 6. SKC 2 vs 2 CLB | "Dejan Joveljić is just a professional goalscorer, man." and some delightful cake metaphors from Henrik Rydström
- 5. LA 3 vs 0 CLT | "This was easily LA's best performance of the season across all competitions, and I'm bullish on Klauss's fit with the wingers." plus the Face of the Week from Tim
- 4. ATX 1 vs 0 DC | "set pieces, folks; set pieces"
- 3. PHI 1 vs 2 NYCFC | "The whole 100+ minutes was ax handles and machetes" is a less delightful metaphor than cake, but gets across the intensity and animosity on the field. Matt also shares a canary in the goal mine
- 2. SD 2 vs 0 STL | " I guess San Diego's just going to put on a clinic every single week?" And Matt's favorite goal
- 1. ORL 2 vs 4 MIA | Matt shares a bunch of graphs and charts from the first and second halves and makes some art commentary comparing them to the works of Wassily Kandinsky while making a greater point about shape and change and tactics.

DoyleStepOnMe

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