Holding Midfielders are Important, and Austin FC Has a Good One in Ilie Sanchez

Opposition counterattacks have been Austin FC’s enemy - will that still be the case in 2025?

Picture the desert. It can be any desert on earth. What pops into your head? There’s likely some cacti, maybe a snake or two, and a bit of sand blowing in the wind. Throw in a tumbleweed drifting by if you’d like. But what you’re probably mostly picturing in your head right now is nothing: vast, open space - land untouched by humanity.

Coincidentally, the image you’re conjuring in your mind right now looks a lot like Austin FC’s midfield did when defending counterattacks under former head coach Josh Wolff. Per WhoScored.com, Austin FC conceded six goals from opposition counterattacks last season - tenth most in MLS. The Verde and Black also conceded six counterattacking goals in 2023, which tied for the most in the league.

The most frequent question uttered (screamed) by Verde fans after Brad Stuver picked the ball out of his net after those goals: where the heck was everyone? Holding midfielders are important; without a good one, a team’s defensive structure can have more holes than your uncle’s arguments during Thanksgiving dinner. Take last weekend’s Premier League action as an example.

Arsenal’s 5-1 walloping of Manchester City continued the transformation of Pep Guardiola’s team from indestructible fire-breathing mutant to cuddly kitten in the absence of Rodi, their holding midfield maestro. And that wasn’t even the gaudiest scoreline inflicted upon a team with defensive midfield deficiencies. Brighton and Hove Albion turned up for a match away to the best counterattacking team on the planet, Nottingham Forrest, missing their dynamic central midfield partnership of Carlos Baleba and Yasin Ayari and lost 7-0.

When Austin FC acquired Alex Ring before its inaugural season, most assumed the team had its holding midfielder for the next few years. That didn’t turn out to be the case when Wolff began to prefer the first overall pick in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft, Dani Pereira, as his deepest midfielder with Ring pushed forward into a right-sided attacking midfield role. Initially, it worked.

Look, you don’t need to tell me that Austin FC’s second-place finish and subsequent run to the 2022 Western Conference final was boosted by healthy expected goal (xG) over-performance. Still, Austin FC went from having an xG differential of -15.1 in 2021 to an xG differential of just -1.7 in 2022. Most of that upturn was due to their expected goals allowed (xGA) dropping from 61.3 in 2021 to 52.7 in 2022 (stats per FBRef.com unless otherwise noted). And per WhoScored.com, Austin FC only conceded one counterattacking goal in 2022.

After playing 1,557 minutes across various midfield positions in 2021, Pereira played 2,316 minutes as Austin FC’s primary holding midfielder in 2022. Despite never looking like a perfect fit as Austin FC’s number 6 (Pereira’s greatest strength as a player is his dribbling ability, and you usually don’t want your number 6 abandoning the area in front of your center-backs to go dribbling upfield), Pereira put up strong numbers in the 2022 campaign. His FBRef.com chart from the 2022 season comparing him to other MLS midfielders is impressive.

Pereira’s attacking numbers stand out, but his defensive contribution was significant, too. Never a particularly adept tackler, Pereira's ability to time an interception made up for it that season. Overall, Pereira registered 2.85 tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes during the 2022 season. His tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes have been in decline ever since.

Three things to note: first, Austin FC was a structural mess for good chunks of the past two seasons, and Pereira (like others on the team) wasn’t consistently put in the best position to succeed due to the chaos surrounding him. Second, defensive metrics in soccer are tricky - I'm sure you've heard the Paolo Maldini quote: "If I have to make a tackle, then I have already made a mistake" - and can fluctuate based on a team's playing style and how much or how little possession it has. But, as Pereira has played his entire MLS career to this point under the same coach in broadly the same system, his dip in defensive production bears mentioning.

Lastly, as stated previously, Pereira’s skill set doesn’t scream holding midfielder. He had to perform a role that wasn't ideal for his talents. Fortunately for Austin FC, the platonic ideal of an MLS holding midfielder was acquired this offseason: Ilie Sanchez. Here’s how Sanchez compared to Pereira last season.

Sanchez’s defensive acumen accrued over eight MLS seasons points to him being a clear upgrade at shielding Austin FC’s backline (side note: as his 2024 chart illustrates, Austin FC fans should be very intrigued by what Pereira can offer in a more attacking role for a full campaign). The Los Angeles FC team Sanchez played in last season averaged a little less possession than the 2024 version of Austin FC - 46.8% for LAFC versus 49.9% for Austin FC - but not enough to overly inflate the Spaniard’s defensive stats.

So, it’s simple, right? Austin FC has added one of the best number 6s in the league so their counterattack defending woes are like many of the Verde and Black’s late-Wolff era problems: something confined to the past that we gladly don’t have to think about anymore. There’s certainly cause for optimism, but Sanchez’s advanced age - he’s 34 - and the fact he found himself relegated to a substitute role for LAFC’s playoff run last season should at least raise an eyebrow or two.

And if we look at the number of counterattacking goals LAFC conceded during Sanchez’s time with the club (2022-2024), per WhoScored.com, we see in the 2022 and 2024 seasons, Steve Cherundolo’s side only allowed one goal on the break (good), but in 2023 it allowed six (not good - and tied with Austin FC and the Los Angeles Galaxy for the most in MLS that season).

I think context is important here: Cherundolo’s LAFC has been one of the most direct teams in the league. Opta measures how quickly a team progresses the ball upfield in meters per second. LAFC has ranked fourth in this direct speed metric in the last two seasons. The faster a team moves the ball toward the opposition's goal, the faster it can head straight back. LAFC’s direct approach while in possession has likely left it more susceptible to quick-strike counterattacks from opposing teams. Pep Guardiola has said he likes his teams to complete 15 passes to get set before attacking to ensure his players are properly structured to guard against a counter.

In his last full season as an MLS head coach, Nico Estevez’s 2023 FC Dallas were one of the least direct teams in the league (FC Dallas progressed the ball upfield at an average rate of 1.70 meters per second while LAFC progressed it upfield 2.01 meters per second). I suspect a more placid possession approach will suit Sanchez at this stage in his career and provide him the platform required to vaporize opposition counterattacks. Space is the enemy of good midfield defending. Under Wolff, Austin FC allowed way too much of it - Sanchez is here to ensure that isn’t the case in 2025.