Talking Tactics: Minnesota United embrace unorthodox approach of the youngest coach in MLS history, as Eric Ramsay's side offer fascinating case study in on-field discipline
Ramsay has convinced his players to follow a strict directive, a "collective" resulting in an unprecedented start to 2025
Minnesota United are off to the best start in franchise history through seven matches. They sit third in the Western Conference, level on points with San Diego FC, and are also level with the expansion side and Lionel Messi's Inter Miami in the race for the MLS Supporters' Shield.
They are averaging the least amount of possession per-game across all 30 MLS teams to begin 2025 – and by a considerable margin. They're excelling without the ball, playing a game that is focused on moments, timing and what MNUFC manager Eric Ramsay calls "the collective."
"Our job as a group of coaches, my job as a head coach is to squeeze every drop of quality that we can from this group and push the buttons that need to be pushed in order to be competitive," Ramsay told GOAL in an exclusive interview. "I think if you look at what we do as a group, you can guarantee every week there's a level of organization, a level of discipline, a level of pragmatism, and we can cause the opposition a threat in multiple ways."
With a 4-1-2 (WLD) record, the Loons are flying higher than they ever have to start a campaign. Yet they've done so in an unorthodox manner. MNUFC are, as Ramsay describes, "pragmatic." And through a sense of "desperation" they've found identity in 2025.
The Loons sport a 3-5-2 formation, excel in transition and are the most cohesive team in all of MLS in terms of keeping, managing and maintaining their shape. Within seconds, they can threaten – even after going minutes without the ball at their feet. Ramsay has instilled a level of discipline within the team that has them aligned in every area of the pitch, a squad that understands the focus is on all 11 in a core collective.
"We've got a very level-headed group," Ramsay said. "No one's getting ahead of ourselves here. We know what buttons we need to push to continue to be competitive. But I would say in each of the seven games so far we have been really competitive, and we're here in this position on merit, and certainly by the degree of deservedness. And there's no signs of us letting up in that sense."
Led by a striker pairing of Canada international and former MLS SuperDraft pick Tani Oluwaseyi, and Designated Player and former Serie A forward Kelvin Yeboah, Minnesota have become one of the league's most difficult teams to play against in 2025.
And much of it is due to the unorthodox methods of Ramsay, who previously worked as an assistant coach at Manchester United under the likes of of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and Erik Ten Hag. The UK native signed on as Minnesota coach in the early stages of the 2024 season as the youngest manager in league history at 32, and now, is making an impression in the early stages of 2025.
Though he has experience on the touchline, alongside some of the biggest names in world soccer, Ramsay is adamant that he's his own coach; the imprint he's made on Minnesota is who he is as a manager, and who he strives to be as he leads the Western Conference side into the 2025 campaign.
"I wanted to be my own man so that I could solve problems and adapt from within," Ramsay said. "I think that this period of a year or so, now with this group, is a really good example of that. I feel like I've really grown as a coach as a consequence of taking that mentality by which I really only look within, and I look at the strengths of the players. I look at what every individual is capable of doing at their very best. And I try and work out a way that suits those players."
The tactical identity of the Loons is a fascinating combination of playing without possession, capitalizing on set-piece opportunities and ensuring that – despite limited opportunity on the ball – each chance in the final-third is meant to be maximized.
Whether or not it remains to be a sustainable option throughout the season is still to be determined – Ramsay acknowledges that – but right now, the Loons are doing exactly what is being asked of them by their head coach. And they're flourishing.
GOAL sat down with Ramsay to get an inside look into how the Loons are finding success and how his unconventional tactical methods have led the team to the best start in franchise history.
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Dating back to August 2024, MNUFC have lost just three regular season matches in 16 games. To start the 2025 season, they have just one loss, an opening day defeat on the road to reigning Western Conference champions LAFC. In all seven matches this season they have been out-possessed, out-passed and recorded fewer touches than their opposition.
Minnesota had four wins and two draws in those six.
"We're not doing anything that's particularly novel. We're doing something very, very well, and we're executing really well in that sense," Ramsay said of the Loons' use of his 3-5-2 formation.
The Loons have averaged just 36.2 percent of the ball, and are averaging just 452 touches and 229 passes completed per game. Across the league, clubs are averaging 615 touches per game, and 414 passes completed. The Loons trail every category in that regard, but yet are still finding efficient ways to succeed.
"There is no sense in the slightest of us ever leaving the pitch feeling like we have failed in some grand philosophical sense, because we haven't had more than 40 percent of the ball – because we just are not setting out to do that," Ramsay said. "That is very built into the way we think about how this team should play in order to be competitive. When you look at us at our best from an attacking perspective, when you look at some of the goals that we've scored this year, we are very capable of playing a very precise, intricate game with the ball.
"It's just that the way in which our players are, the relentlessness that they want to attack with, I want to feed that, as opposed to try and constrain that."
The Loons have been a consistent threat in the final-third, despite lacking long spells of possession. MNUFC have been consistent in the way they attack each lane, utilizing all areas of the ground – though an emphasis in wide areas has emerged. They've gone forward 238 times into their oppositions half of the pitch, while their wingbacks – Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Joseph Rosales – have helped lead forward motion into the final-third, stretching the game.
With three central defenders, two wingbacks, three central midfielders and a striker tandem, Ramsay has developed a shape that retains itself regardless of positioning. Against Real Salt Lake on Matchday 6 – which resulted in a 2-0 victory for the Loons – that became apparent. Compare how Minnesota's XI were shaped on the pitch in possession (above), versus when they were off the ball (above).
"We're not one of those teams for which it suits to have long spells of really patient possession," Ramsay said. "Because I think if you look everywhere, across our best players, our most effective players, they’re players that want to attack the goal, if you look at Bongi [Hlongwane], Joseph Rosales, our two forwards, Robin Lod, Joaquin Pereyra – they're all very goal-oriented players – and I want to feed that and make that a strength of ours, as opposed to trying to constrain it, and have us become far less effective than we could be.
"We trade off on the amount of the ball we have for a couple of reasons, but because we attack so quickly, because we play for transition moments so purposefully, we tend to look relatively similar when we break to the way in which we look when we defend."
AdvertisementImagnThe collective
Perhaps the most unexpected contributor in the system has been Hlongwane. The South Africa international has been one of Minnesota's best attackers and most exciting players since joining the league in 2022, and in the 2023 Leagues Cup, only trailed Messi in goals scored.
This campaign, though, has seen him adapt and change into a new role as a wingback – a position that Ramsay believes will only make him a "better" footballer as his career progresses.
"We sort of see him playing in what I would describe as sort of a hybrid role on that side – we want him to attack as a winger and often defend as a fullback," Ramsay said. "I hope that's made him a more complete player, and obviously I hope he's someone who's got aspirations to go and play at a really, really high level of the game, and maybe moving to one of the top three or four leagues in the world. I feel like if he looks back at the last year's worth of work, that will really help him in the sense of physically, he's in a really good place."
On the right side of the pitch, Hlongwane has covered 45.45 miles in 627 matches played, which is approximately 6.5 miles per game, starting each game this season. He's recorded just one assist during that span, and although his attacking output might be down, the Loons have been thrilled with his willingness to learn, adapt and progress for the sake of the team. However, it hasn't come without difficulty.
"It's been a lot for me," Hlongwane told GOAL after their victory over NYCFC at Yankee Stadium last weekend. "I've been trying to push myself, even though it's kind of hard for me, but as long as I'm helping the team to move forward… then, yeah, it's not about me, it's about the team. So it's not bad, but at the same time it is because it's not my natural position – but if the coach wants me to play there, then I'm going to do it."
The winger has been key to the success of Ramsay's system, providing width, speed, and physicality on the right flank – while allowing the 24-year-old to own that side of the pitch.
Imagn'Desperate' success
Without Hlongwane lining up in the attack, the Loons needed to re-work their identity – and the implementation of Ramsay's two-striker system has more than made up for the South African's absence. However, it's a rare sight to see that tactical choice made in modern soccer – whereas 10-15 years ago, it was common practice to see two forwards.
Ramsay, however, is a believer that with this player pool available, it's the best solution, though it doesn't come without challenges.
"What we've done so far this season has been based upon almost the desperation to find a way of getting Tani [Oluwaseyi] and Kelvin [Yeboah] to play as a pair," he said. "It was something I really wanted to try and make work last year, but I didn't feel like we had the time, the space, the sort of absence of the real pressure of that business end of the season in order to do so. Whereas I feel now like we've got to a really good point with those guys."
Oluwaseyi and Yeboah have scored nine of the 11 goals to start the campaign. The duo have excelled in the final-third, creating what Ramsay describes "unpredictable" attacking. At times, Minnesota's manager is unsure of how successful they will be in the attack, and what each striker will do to carry the other while creating opportunities. However, that's also what makes them a difficult pair to handle.
"It's hard playing with two forwards. It's hard to make work," Ramsay said. "And there's a reason that you would look across the MLS, and you would look across the top leagues in Europe, and you wouldn't see many teams play with two out-and-out No. 9s. There are a lot of kinks that you have to iron out.
"There are a lot of things that you have to work out in order to make you successful – and it's going to happen in one of two ways. A team is going to play with a variation of 4-4-2 – are they going to play in the way in which we play? A variation of three at the back and then [there is] probably one or two different things that you could do underneath that."
Underneath Oluwaseyi and Yeboah, the Loons don't have a proper defensive midfielder or a traditional attacking midfielder. Rather, they have a wide midfielder in Joaquin Pereyra, who has excelled of late in transition, an MLS midfield veteran in Wil Trapp and the club's all-time leading scorer, Robin Lod – a traditional No. 8 who excels in the attack.
The group has come together, paired with both wingbacks and their striker duo to create 11 "clear cut chances" – tied for the most in MLS with the Philadelphia Union. The Loons have also scored exactly 11 goals – a testament to how clinical they've been in moments in which opportunity has presented itself.
With that, however, the Loons have also established a negative xG efficiency of -5.09 – though there is indication that they will positively regress – ultimately meaning they're capitalizing in the moments when they need too. But there's also room for improvement.
"Our battle over the course of this season will be to make sure that we have enough of the ball at certain points in the game, that we don't constantly take counter-attacking opportunities that aren't necessarily there, and [ensure] we have enough passes within our our attacking transition phase in order to get our wing backs where we want to get them," Ramsay said. "I'm very comfortable with where we are in terms of the thought process that sits behind the way we play at the momen. It's just that we need to continue to evolve to make sure that we find that really nice balance."
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Strike quick, strike fast
In a 2-1 road victory over NYCFC, MNUFC managed just 33.5 percent possession, were outshot 22-16 and out-passed 677 to 254. Yet, for anyone watching the match, it was clear that Minnesota were in control of the game through the first 45 minutes, and then large portions of the second half.
It was the clearest showing yet that Ramsay's system is working, and that even if the numbers on the statsheet are not in their favor, the Loons can find a clear path to victory. In the match, it took them less than 90 seconds to open the scoring with a lightning quick counter-attack.
"We're not an unexciting team to watch, for a team that defends in the way that we defend, and has 30-35 percent of the ball, because we can turn defense into attack in five seconds and find ourselves in really good positions really quickly," Ramsay said.
From an attacking perspective, Minnesota has found success with the counter-attack and in transitional play – and Ramsay is leaning into that. The goal against NYCFC was just the latest example.
"I think what you'll see from us at our best is probably on the ball, lots of close, short connections, lots of ways of progressing through the pitch," he said. "But we're doing it quickly, and we're doing it with a really high rhythm."