In its third year of existence, Seattle Sounders FC 2 has turned a crucial corner in terms of player development. The squad is much younger than in seasons past, and more importantly, there are plenty of individual prospects who possess the talent and ability to break into the first team in the future.
Two of those players, holding midfielders Francisco Narbon and Ray Saari, have played an instrumental role in helping S2 rise in the Western Conference standings because they excel at doing the little things right. They do a lot of the team’s dirty work on defense, tending to fly under the radar and allowing others to shine.
In S2’s 4-2-3-1 formation, Narbon and Saari occupy a role called the double pivot. As the two midfielders sitting between the back four and attacking midfielders, they are tasked with shielding the defense and dictating the tempo of the match going forward. Typically speaking, one of those two holding midfielders is a dedicated No. 6, or defensive midfielder, while the other is more of a No. 8, or an all-action, box-to-box midfielder.
But the Sounders organization views the makeup of a double pivot a little differently.
“The way we sort of play [the double pivot[ in the club with those two guys in that central role — in the first team it’s Ozzie [Alonso] and Cristian [Roldan] — it’s not a pure No. 6 or a pure No. 8, it’s a mix,” said Sounders FC Director of Player Personnel Kurt Schmid. “It’s a little bit more left- and right-sided with both players having the intelligence and soccer IQ to balance off the other one if they need to do something different.”
While Narbon and Saari are each a bit of a hybrid between a pure No. 6 and a pure No. 8, both players possess different strengths that make their respective roles more specialized in S2’s system.
“My personal opinion, and the way it turns out, is Narbon is a little bit more of a No. 6 type, he’s got a little bit more steel in his game and plays a bit deeper,” said Schmid. “Ray has a little bit more of that distributor role and is a little bit more of a No. 8, but they do a good job of the other role when the other is doing something different. It’s a good partnership.”
The key word here is partnership. Each player is capable of playing as either a No. 6 or a No. 8, but when they line up together in the double pivot, the synergy leads to an amplification of their collective strengths while minimizing individual weaknesses.
The most crucial service the duo provides as a double pivot is regaining possession for S2 and quickly relaunching the team’s offense.
Narbon (86) and Saari (73) lead all S2 players in duels won. More specifically, they lead all players on the team in tackles won with 35 and 29, respectively. These figures reveal just how effective they are at breaking up attacks, nullifying dribblers and disrupting the tempo of the opposing team. They’re also incredibly effective at cutting off opposition passing lanes, combining for 36 interceptions.
In addition to shielding the back four and winning back possession, the pair is extremely effective going forward. Narbon (43.4) and Saari (44.2) lead all outfield players with at least five starts in passes per 90 minutes, making them the heartbeat of S2’s attacking, possession-oriented brand of soccer. And with Saari leading the team in passing percentage (80.6), chances created (22) and assists (four), it’s clear just how effective he is as at providing the link between defense and offense.
“Saari and Narbon have been very excellent for us, they cover the back four and they also help our attack,” said S2 head coach Ezra Hendrickson. “They understand the game very well tactically, they understand the space and read the space pretty well. They give the team a solid base, a solid foundation to build off.”
Narbon and Saari have been at the heart of S2’s most exciting season to date. And with so much promising young talent on the roster, the foundation they provide in the heart of Seattle’s midfield will make everyone around them better.
