This weekend doesn’t get much easier for Ohio, according to coach Aaron Rodgers.
After two Mid-American Conference losses last week, Ohio's (2-6-1, 0-2 MAC) fixtures with Western Michigan and Northern Illinois will be just as difficult.
One thing Rodgers said he learned after the two away losses was that his team needs to finish.
The current formation he coaches is a (4-3-3), which allows more opportunity to play down the left and right wings and play balls into the middle to set up a potential goal.
This season his team has played through the middle for most of the attack and then pass out wide to set something up.
In the Friday game against Western Michigan and the Sunday game against Northern Illinois, Rodgers might experiment with the formation a little bit and tactically try to change things up to solve his teams problem of finishing up front.
“The only thing that the coaching staff and I have talked about is potentially being slightly more direct in certain moments,” Rodgers said.
That means rather than Ohio trying to create takes with passing, the team could opt for long balls and try to catch the opponent on a counter attack.
The plan to fixing this won’t necessarily mean a formation shift, but what it might mean is moving players around the pitch to be able to utilize all of the strengths and depth his team has.
In the first home weekend of conference play for Ohio, Rodgers is looking to get back to .500 in the MAC. Another tough weekend might challenge that, but if he can get his team to simplify their play style, it might result in more goals.
