First things first. Should we play three or four in the back? I think that the fairly obvious answer is four. Recent results bear this out. It is especially true with Dejan Jakovic out of the lineup. I don't see another player on the roster capable of holding down the middle in a three man backline. Even with Dejan in the lineup, we have been exposed repeatedly on counterattacks.
The good news is that in Namoff and Dejan (once he's back) we have two steady and reliable professionals. The question marks are the other two spots. I think that Marc Burch has made signicant strides in his marking ability. I also think his skill set would benefit a great deal from having a second inside back on the field to provide cover.
The top question in my mind is the other centerback slot. Greg Janicki? No thank you. Julius James? I haven't seen him enough to know whether his performance against Dallas last night was indicative of a marginal player's typical performance or a capable player having a bad night. I also haven't seen enough of Habarugira to know what to think about where he should fit in. In considering this slot further, another question comes to mind. Does the team still consider Devon McTavish an option on defense? I thought his play on the backline in the past was decent. Not great, but decent. Considering all of the options available, I would like to see him get a shot at the second centerback slot.
One final thought, the fact that what formation we should be using could even up for debate in the month of September says something about the leadership of this team. But that is a subject for another post.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment