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










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