Wednesday at Real Salt Lake, Pereyra was removed at halftime, though Ramsay insisted it was for reasons other than his performance.
“I sat down with him today prior to the game and gave him a real pat on the back about how he defended against Colorado, and some of the big steps forward that he has taken,” said Ramsay, after the game. “He is getting used to doing something very different here, [compared] to his previous club. He wasn’t taken off at halftime today for performance; it was solely because I wanted to get a second forward on the pitch, [and] I wanted to change our shape.”
According to Ramsay, Pereyra defended in a man-to-man system at Atlético Tucumán, his previous club, and also had an enormous amount of liberty to freelance offensively. With Minnesota, he’s got to fit into a more-straitlaced system — especially defensively, where the Loons focus a lot of energy on proper rotations to close off the midfield.
“He’s shown some really big steps in his understanding and execution of some of that stuff,” said Ramsay — who also noted that he wants Pereyra to bring a bit of his freelance ability to the Loons, as well. “We want to make sure that he adapts to us, but we also adapt to him.”
Since MLS resumed its regular season following the Leagues Cup, Minnesota is tied for the fifth-best record in MLS, and has almost the best underlying numbers in the league. Pereyra and Díaz are helping with that — and need to continue to quickly improve, to help keep the Loons dangerous come playoff time.