Tab Ramos Concerned About Hartford Athletic’s Defensive Struggles: “We Need To Defend Better”
Ahead of Hartford’s match vs. Louisville City FC this weekend, Ramos expressed concern at the amount of goals the Hartford have given up in key moments of games.
For Hartford Athletic, a turbulent two weeks began with a first-ever home win and ultimately culminated in a 4-1 loss to league-leading Sacramento Republic on Saturday.
Now, the focus shifts to the final game of their three-game home stand this weekend as they welcome third-place Louisville City to Hartford on Saturday. With the attack outshooting and outposessing Sacramento through 90 minutes in what head coach Tab Ramos called a ‘dominant’ performance last weekend, he says the lopsided result was a consequence of his team’s poor defending — something that has plagued them through the first third of the season.
“I thought we played fairly well last week, but I think at this point it takes the other teams very few chances for them to score,” Ramos said. “If you look at one of their [Sacramento’s] goals, it was just basically a clearance where we have four defenders defending two of their players…These things normally don’t happen. We’re working on defending better.”
Ramos also mentioned that part of a necessary effort to strengthen the backline may involve additions to the team if the current defenders are unable to improve their play.
According to Ramos, even with a shift in system from a four-man backline to five in the back system that featured three central defenders, his team still concedes too many goals.
“We started playing a 4-3-3, which is what we want to play, but we felt like we don’t defend well enough to have only four defenders in the back,” Ramos said. “We’re still giving up a lot of goals. For a team that still has hopes of being a playoff team once we’re healthy…We still cannot give up those types of goals.”
Next weekend will not be any easier for Hartford, who welcome in another USL Championship powerhouse in Louisville City FC, who currently sit third in the Eastern Conference with a 6-2-3 record on the year. The game will kick off a month of June that will see Hartford play four of their five games at home, something that Ramos says will be crucial as the Green and Blue hit a vital stretch of in-conference opponents.
“Now we’re getting into conference schedule, I’m just hoping at this point that Prince [Saydee] at least can be back,” Ramos said. “Prince has been our most dangerous player and we really need him for this run.”
A timeline for Saydee, who came off injured in the second half of Hartford’s 2-0 win vs. Loudoun United two weeks ago, has not been specified.
But what do Hartford fans really need to look for as they approach the summer stretch? To Ramos, it all comes back to being solid in the back.
“Having said all that stuff, we need to defend better,” Ramos said. “You can’t be falling behind games and chasing games all the time, that’s difficult.”
Kickoff from Trinity Health Stadium is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday on WCTX MyTV9 and ESPN+.