D.C. United got their second win on the road on Saturday night, defeating the Colorado Rapids 3-2. It was a wild affair in Commerce City, as United fell behind early, reeled off three goals in an eight-minute span, and then had to hold on for dear life in the second half. 

Regardless, United ended their funk, having failed to score in their previous two games and having dropped five points at home in the course of four days. The win took them back to the top of the Eastern Conference with 14 points from seven games played. 

It's time to take a tactical look back at the game, breaking down a couple of important moments from the match, to go along with a different formation from the visitors. The formation, with three central defenders, might be used again this weekend against New York City FC as United wait for several outside backs to get back healthy.

Durkin Gets His First Goal

Chris Durkin got his first start of the season on Saturday night, after having been used sparingly through the first six games of the season. Durkin responded by having an overall solid game, but he made the night memorable by scoring his first goal for the Black-and-Red. It was a delightful finish, powering a shot past Tim Howard to give the visitors the lead. Here's a still image moments before the goal is scored.

There are two things to point out from this play. Firstly, as highlighted in yellow, Durkin recognizes the gaps in the Colorado defense. So when Acosta finds Rodriguez, Durkin already knows where to go to exploit the situation. Recognition like that may not be what we expect from Durkin as a deep-lying midfielder; he is more known as the guy capable of picking out the pass for a teammate into that space, not occupying it himself. 

He probably won't ever turn into a consistent goal scorer, capable of hitting 8-10 goals in a season as some midfielders are capable of, but if Durkin can add late runs into the box, or continues to take advantage of defensive frailties like this, he can aid United's cause going forward. 

Maybe more important to the success of this play though is Luciano Acosta's decision-making and passing ability. There's a gap in between Rapids players that makes this pass a bit easier, but finding Rodriguez is a lot riskier than a pass out wide to Paul Arriola, who isn't tightly marked. However, a pass to Arriola would have allowed for the Colorado defense to recover to an extent. The pass from Acosta to Rodriguez cut out three Rapids midfielders, which allowed Titi to find Durkin in space. 

MLSsoccer's Matt Doyle called the pass from Acosta his Pass of the Week. Not for the difficulty, but because it was the pass that Acosta needed to make to help create this play. For his effort, United's No. 10 should have been credited with the secondary assist. 

The Switch To A 3-Man Back Line

Probably more out of necessity than anything else, Ben Olsen deviated from his usual reliance on a 4-2-3-1 formation on Saturday. Joseph Mora, Leonardo Jara, and Chris McCann are all injured to go along with the long-term absences of Oniel Fisher and Chris Odoi-Atsem. That left him with few options to play his preferred formation. It was still possible, but Olsen rolled the dice and inserted Jalen Robinson and Donovan Pines alongside Steven Birnbaum to create the three-man back line. 

Olsen only used this formation to start a game once in 2018. It was in the September home game against the New York Red Bulls, the one which ended in the wild 3-3 draw. But at halftime of that game, Olsen pulled Robinson and put on Fisher, reverting back to the norm. 

Below are two player position maps from United's past two games, courtesy of WhoScored. The first is United's lineup against the Rapids, and the second was from the home draw earlier in the week against the Montreal Impact. 

You can see the distinct differences in the back line between the two games. Before the game, Olsen told the broadcast that the game wasn't going to be perfect because of the change in formation. Ulises Segura was given a different role than usual, and though Arriola has some experience at right back his job was slightly altered as well. That was combined with the first starts of the season for Robinson and Durkin, to go along with the debut of Pines.

United were left scrambling for much of the second half to preserve their win, much like in their previous road win over Orlando City. That makes deciphering the success of the formation a bit difficult, especially since the first goal that United conceded came from a set piece, and the second came shortly after another corner. 

But so long as the players can continue to understand their roles in the system, and how it varies from the four-man back line, this look might be one Olsen uses a bit more. Especially before he has a full complement of outside backs to call upon.

Lapse In Defending The Box

Through seven games this season, United have given up seven goals. Four of those came in the loss to LAFC, all of which were born out of mistakes in the midfield and LAFC's incredible counter-attacking ability. However, the other three goals that the Black-and-Red have conceded have all come from wide open players. Dom Dwyer's header in March was unopposed, as was Benny Feilhaber's opener on Saturday night.

Same goes for Kei Kamara's second-half goal, which set up a nervy ending for United. Shortly before the goal, United cleared a corner kick from the Rapids, who quickly recycled possession, and after a moment of danger in the box, worked the ball out to the left for Feilhaber. Here's an image just before Feilhaber delivers the cross into the box. 

Feilhaber has four options in the box to aim for, but those players are surrounded by six D.C. defenders, with another two hurrying into the box. From this position, United seemed well equipped to deal with the danger. Furthermore, by the time that Feilhaber would cross the ball in, the only players for the Black-and-Red not in the box are Acosta and Wayne Rooney. 

Robinson goes out to close down Feilhaber, but then United lose sight of where the danger lies. Kamara, who has 116 MLS goals to his name, should have been the No. 1 focus for United. Kamara's ability in the air has few equals in the league, which makes him dangerous even when he's being closely marked. 

Instead, though, Kamara takes a step back, United don't follow him, there's a misread on the cross, and the striker is all alone to head past Bill Hamid. 

The ball is obscured by the white advertising board, but Kamara finishes the chance and gets the Rapids back within a goal. There have been so many instances of how well United has defended the box this year. But on three of the goals they have conceded, there have been breakdowns that have left the scorers wide open. There's enough quality in the league to beat teams without mistakes, so United need to get back in cutting down these lapses.