RSL's Opening Day Line-Up Flawed
Truhlk sifts through the pieces




After a 2-0 loss to expansion team Seattle Sounders FC, many fans are already calling for heads to roll. I have run into a lot of posts on various sites about how the team needs a Designated Player, or a Striker, or better yet a Striker who is a Designated Player. It makes sense that people would be asking for one, I mean after all there is still an opening on the roster and depth up top is a huge issue what with 2 Strikers leaving in the off season. Both Duechar and Espindola saw substantial minutes last season and only 1 player having been added to the mix thus far to replace them.





This gaping hole was never more evident than when one looks at the attacking options Kreis had playing against SSFC. A starting line-up of Movsisyan and Findley is very one dimensional. Both players are going to get their chances by running straight at the opposing goal with the ball at their feet. They both play a style more suited to quick thru balls than to the deliberate build up down one side followed by a weak switch of the field or worse yet a cross to no one that RSL seems to create more often than not. Both of them are good strikers and both deserve minutes but neither adds something RSL can’t get out of the other.


Your backup options in this case were: Tino Nunez, who is coming back from an injury, Clint Mathis, who started on the right wing, and Andy Williams. None of those options have the firepower that the first two have but any of them would provide something RSL won’t get from starting Findley and Movsisyan. They provide options! Nunez is very raw and probably won’t score too many goals but he holds the ball up in the middle and allows other people to play off him. Williams and Mathis are both better in the midfield than up top but they also give RSL’s attack more creativity and much better passing. Clint most recently showed this with his pass to spring Yura at the start of the second half for a 1v1 on Keller that should have been put away. As much as I like Findley, that is not a pass he is capable of making on field turf and Yura wouldn’t even think to make a pass there.


My solution to this problem isn’t to just add another player to the mix, but is to go back to what has worked before. While a proven Striker would be nice, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that they won’t have one signed any time soon and that even if one was on the way, it will be several weeks before they fully acclimate to the team and the league. In the meantime I propose that Kreis make the following moves: Insert Clint back into a striker role with Yura playing above him, start Williams on the right side of the midfield, and bring Findley off the bench. This will allow RSL to play to their strength and better utilize their subs. Findley may not like the move to the bench but if he really is a team first guy then it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. With this lineup Kreis has the option of bringing in Cox or Russell on the left, potentially moving Johnson to the right or bringing Grabavoy or Beltran in on the right. It also allows Kreis to bring Findley off the bench for Yura or Clint if either is lagging and leaves Tino free to be brought in when RSL has a lead and is killing time.


The only question mark left is where do the goals come from? Ideally Yura gets hot and can resume his form from 6 months ago. If he doesn’t, then let us hope the RSL midfield can learn to keep their shots on target from outside the 18. If RSL can get that worked out then the only real big problems left would be to teach players to keep their heads up when crossing the ball and work on defensive marking. But that is another rant for another day.


-Truhlk



























RSL Start Slow in Seattle
By Truhlk




In what looked like a repeat of their first game against NYRB, Seattle showed that they are going to be tough to defeat at home. Armed with a great crowd, the field turf monster, and a solid counterattack, the Sounders came out aggressive and never let up in a 2-0 embarrassment for RSL.


Number 1 draft pick Steve Zakuani took 17 minutes to make his mark in his MLS debut. With two good cut backs to free himself from Tony Beltran, he played a great cross in to Jaqua and the game was as good as over. Rimando was again victimized by Fredy Montero in the 77th minute in what meant little more than extra security. Cuban-born Osvaldo Alonso assisted on both goals and kept Javier Morales in check throughout the game. As good as Montero has looked, and as much pub as Ljungberg and Keller will get, Alonso thus far has been the MVP of their team for me. With a defense as weak-looking on paper as they have, he has been their anchor and has kept opposing players from getting many chances in Seattle’s defensive third.


RSL’s best-looking chance didn’t come until the second half, when Yura Movsisyan won a footrace with Hurtado and was in 1v1 against Kasey Keller. His shot was off the mark though, deflecting off Keller’s legs and back to Mathis who hit it just wide of the far post. Other chances RSL was able to create met with similar fates as they, like NYRB before them, never quite adjusted to the Seattle turf monster. The midfielders were plagued by it throughout the first half. They consistently hit balls too hard on short passes or let the ball get stuck up under their feet, allowing Seattle to take it away and counterattack.


The only real bright spot for the beleaguered RSL side came in an 84th minute substitution of Raphael Cox for Tony Beltran. Time and again Beltran had provided weak runs down the right flank, and when he did get chances to cross the ball in, he was never able to get his head up and find a target. Cox, however, was able to impress by doing exactly what Tony was struggling with. He got up the left flank and played some dangerous balls in for a side that was pressing for the final 10 minutes of the match. To be fair to Beltran though, Cox did have the advantage of a Sounder defense that was playing turtle and allowed RSL players to control possession in the wide areas of the pitch.


When the final whistle blew, several questions about both teams had been answered and some new ones emerged. SSFC is for real. They understand how to play within the confines of their home field; how they do on the road will be interesting to see. They remind me of an RSL side from a year ago: great at home on turf, but after watching two opponents defeat themselves, I’m not sold yet.


RSL also partly answered the question as to how they will play on the road this season. Let us hope that they can turn that around before too much of the season has gone by. If they can figure out how to come out in the first half like they did in the second, things will work out just fine for them.



-Truhlk
















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