Indy Eleven vs Detroit City FC - 09.27

Summary

- Opponent: Detroit City FC
- Location: Keyworth Stadium
- Attendance: 6,078
- Final Score: 0-0 W

- Starting XI: Trilk, Dambrot, Vazquez, Jerome, Timmer, Brown, Ayoze (C), Ingram, Michael, Tejada, Rivera
- Substitution: Asante 45’ (Michael); Pinho 58' (Rivera)

- Unused: Lewis, Revolorio, Sanchez

- Scoring Summary:
NONE

- Bookings:

DET - Williams 33' (Yellow)
IND - Michael 43’ (Yellow)
DET - Hoppenot 88' (Yellow) 

IND - Trilk 90'+5' (Yellow)
IND - Vazquez 90'+7' (Yellow)

- Referee: Melvin Revis
- Adage goals: None

Thoughts and Opinions

If you're only looking at this game, Indy's performance looked like an attempt to get a draw on the road with a bit of a "parked bus" mentality, which is how the ESPN+ commentators tried to make it seem. However, in full consideration of all the facts, Indy played about as well as they could. With the third match in 8 days, limited bench available for selection (Indy only suited 16 players, three of which were listed as questionable in the Injury Report), an away game after playing the top two teams in each conference, and a hot & humid evening, necessity is the mother of invention. Or at least the mother of tactics in this case. Indy was forced into playing a more defensive game, and picking their moments to counterattack. Did they need the win to make Tulsa (who lost against ATL2) and Detroit nervous about that final playoff spot? Obviously. Indy just couldn't go at Detroit like they needed or would normally want to do. I don't think Indy was "waving the white flag on their season" as the commentators REPEATEDLY stated, they just didn't have the bodies to press the ball like they would want. Whatever your mind wants to do, sometimes your body is just unable to do it with so many games and an inability for rotation in such a short time frame.

At some point, you just have to realize that what you are seeing from Indy, right now, is not necessarily about making the playoffs, but more about trying to keep the remaining pieces available for selection available for selection, and playing for next year. The guys put a ton of miles on their legs in the last week against top opponents and to come out of the week with 7 out of 9 points seems like something that would have been unfathomable after the 12-game winless streak. A 3-game undefeated streak after playing San Antonio, Louisville, and Detroit is a successful week, even if not a playoff making streak. The hole was dug too deep in June, July, and August for there to be an room for non-win results at this stage of the season.

Admittedly, when you look at the stats, it doesn't look good to have a 37 to 7 disadvantage on crosses with a 0% crossing accuracy of your own crosses, or a 62% to 38% disadvantage in possession, or that Indy's first shot on target came in the 90'+6'. Again, though, looking at those facts by themselves, those facts aren't great. However, neither team had a shot on target in the first half, and DET had just two official shots on target in the second half. So for all of DET's possession and activity around Indy's goal, not much truly dangerous situations came from it. Maybe if they had been more clinical around the goal, this would have been a different story, but I think Indy's defensive effort provided enough pressure on DET to frustrate their shooting efforts.

Indy return back to Carroll Stadium next week to face Birmingham realistically, if not mathematically further out of playoff contention. After a difficult three-month stretch, and a continued short bench, Indy needs to find and celebrate successes where they can. A 3-game undefeated streak against playoff-bound opponents is a good way to feel good about things.

Congratulations are in order for two people. First, Detroit's Head Coach Trevor James (who served as Indy Eleven’s Technical Director and Assistant Coach across the 2017-18 seasons) coached his 100th game for DCFC in their previous game against Charleston Battery. Congrats Coach.

Ayoze is now the club's leader in Starts at 102, and now just needs 174 minutes (unofficially by my count) to hold the Minutes record. At which point, Ayoze will hold the Minutes, Starts, Appearances, & Assists records. Congrats Ayo! #IndyForever

The Game Beckons Game Ball

The GBGB goes to the back four of Timmer, Vazques, Jerome, and Dambrot. Any time the opposition gets 37 crosses, you're doing a lot of defending. Any time your backline has a combined 41% of the passes, which were not guys casually knocking it back-and-forth in possession, you're doing a lot of defending. Detroit managed two shots on goal. That's a solid defensive effort from Indy.