Blogs by Dave – A Curmudgeon's View of Life

A comment was made on the Bigsoccer forum about Rapids fans being the most pessimistic.  I replied in that thread.  Here I would like to expand a bit on my thinking behind those comments as well as add a few more thoughts.

To address the original comment…For me, my pessimism or optimism for a new season is primarily based on how the team finished the previous year and what the team has done to mitigate whatever shortfalls prevented the team from meeting their goals the previous year.

I said primarily as there are other factors including, for example, what can we expect from the carry over players. Will they improve/stay the same or regress. Omar and Casey having career years is an example and their performance the first 3/4 of the year may be considered the primary reason for the teams success during that period. What can we expect from them in 2010? Is it safe to assume they will continue or will they “regress” to more historical performance levels. I think a reasonable argument can be made that Omar is maturing and could be the same or better. Conor is older and he may have finally realized his potential, or maybe last year was an aberration and will return to a lower performance level. I have no clue, but I won’t assume they will stay or regress. So for me, that’s an known.

Also contributing to last years final results were serious injuries, most importantly to Clark, so we also need to be cautious about assuming if (when) he will return to form. Another unknown.  Injuries also hit Jamie Smith and Jacob Peterson.  Due to a trade, Jacob’s recovery is now Toronto’s problem, not the Rapids.   According to Coach Smith, Jamie would have been ready to return had the Rapids reached the play-offs.  Based on that, it appears his injury won’t be a factor in 2010.  What’s left to understand, however, is how good is Jamie and can he contribute at a high enough level to contribute to a successful season.  He really didn’t have enough time to answer that question last year so this year, his ability to contribute is unknown.

That leaves how did the Rapids mitigate last years shortfalls.  First of course, is my opinion of what those shortfalls are.  For me, the area the Rapid suffered was twofold.  First, they lacked a consistent attack from central midfield.  That’s not to suggest they need the prototypical number 10, a hub by which, all attacks should flow.  But they lacked someone who could be a threat down the center of the field.  The Rapids attack was predicated on wing play to move the ball from defense to offense.  When they lost their starting wings they lost the ability to move the ball consistently through the midfield.   Neither Mehdi Ballouchy nor Nick LaBrocca possess the skill (vision/ball handling) to competently  and consistently advance the ball.  Nick is a tough, tireless, workmen like force for the team, but once past midfield, he’s not consistent enough to control and distribute the ball.  Mehdi had more ball skills but is to easily knocked off the ball and to slow mentally to distribute timely passes.  What about  Jeff larentowicz, acquired from New England.  Watching him play with New England, Jeff seems like a more physical, less mobile LaBrocca.  But he is a threat to score that 34 yard bomb and can take off heads on a free kick.  But, like Nick, doesn’t possess the ball skills to address this shortfall.

The other shortfall was depth, mostly in the midfield.  Wells Thompson was brought in but I see him as a sub and replacement for Jacob which means he’s replacing, not adding depth.  What if Jamie can’t cut it or what if Colin doesn’t return to form, or at least until he returns?  There are no answers.  Danny Earls was acquired, but he is primarily a left back who can play outside midfield.   In addition the Rapids acquired, at the same time as Earls,  Oscar Murillo.  Oscar is a central defender not much help to the midfield.

Of course the teams success in any year will be predicated on how they do against the competition (duh). Last year I read many comments about how the team improved over the 2008 version.  My response then is the same as it will be this year.  It doesn’t matter, ultimately what matters is how the team improved compared to the other teams.  But until the season starts and we see how the others teams play, I can’t begin to consider how the Rapids will perform against them.  Hindsight will tell how well the Rapids did building their 2010 version compared to the competition.

I limit my thoughts to the previous year and what’s happened this year. I give no consideration beyond that. The fact the the team “never” did this or “always” does that, for me is irrelevant.  Much like how I shake my head at those that say the Rapids (or any team)  are due.  Winning a championship isn’t like flipping a coin where we should expect a certain result due to some random chance algorithm.  This may be another ‘duh’ comment, but teams win championships because they beat the competition not because they succumbed to the odds.  Not because they were there ‘x’ number of times before and damit, it’s about time.  Maybe I digress…so….

I call that territory, hopeful.