Keepin' It Real: The Unthinkable: A Home Loss

First, there was thoughts of 15-0 at home, and then a brief stumble with a draw against LA. Now this. A loss. At home. Unfathomable. I guess we all should have seen this coming. Real Salt Lake hasn't really played all that well since that 6-0 outburst at home against the depleted Revs. Since that point they have had the following:

A miserable Open Cup performance against Seattle, losing 4-1.
The debacle in Colorado, where the team played horribly losing 2-0, gave up two easy goals to their opponent, lost Rimando to injury, saw Olave pick up a red card and watched Morales deck Mastroeni with an elbow (okay so that part wasn't so bad).
The giving up of 2 stoppage time goals to the Beckham-less ones from SoCal. The draw was one that everyone on the RSL side agreed felt like a loss.
The "morale victory" road match at Chivas, where RSL only gave up 1 goal. True, this was the best of their road games, but still not even close to the level of performance we would expect to see from this team that came into the season with much hype.

And now this. Seems like this team has forgotten how to score goals as they have only scored 3 goals in that 5-game stretch. Of course, they have also forgotten how to defend as they have given up 11 goals in that same stretch. So where do we stand?

Well frankly we had a great game against an undermanned New England team. We beat a DC team sans Ben Olsen and Jaime Moreno. And we beat a Columbus team who now sits at the bottom of the East and had a gimpy Robbie Rogers just returning to the lineup. We had a disappointing draw against the LA Galaxy, and we've been shutout on the road. So I think it's fair to question our accomplishments, and be concerned about our future.

Before this match, I believe that our ability at home was exaggerated in the positive, and our ability on the road has been exaggerated in the negative. Now the bubble has burst with our home record, and we'll see Saturday if we can change the trend on the road.

In my mind, this is a mediocre team until they prove otherwise.

Kansas City Game Thoughts

Brilliant Game Plan by KC: they used RSL's aggressiveness against them. Although Onalfo was a bit smug about this fact after, the game it was clearly by design. Several KC players referenced the "game plan" as a reason for their success. The game plan? Simple - wait for RSL's wing-backs to push forward and then beat them with quick counters out on the edges. Also, let RSL's line push up high, and beat them with well-timed runs in the early part of their half as they try to employ the offside trap. And float Lopez all across the defensive line looking for open space when a defender gets out of position. Effective.

Desperation by RSL offensively: It's easy to see that this team is struggling offensively. There are tell-tale signs of it all over the place. First, lack of creativity. We are seeing too much of the same attempts to beat the defense with the long ball. Second, impatience. Time and time again it seemed like we rushed shots, or took shots when an extra pass may have netted us a goal.

Defensive breakdowns: I was perplexed by the number of defensive snafu's that we had early on against KC. Wingert seemed to get beat repeatedly during the first 30 minutes. Russell struggled at times, but he usually managed to recover and push his man out wide from the goal mouth. Both Olave and Borchers mis-judged numerous plays throughout the game.

Disappearing midfield: 2nd game in a row that I felt Mathis was below average after starting the year as our best player. Johnson was running endlessly, without results. Morales had some good plays, but was frequently out of the play defensively when he should have been pressuring the ball.

Changes Coming: I would assume that there are changes coming in the lineup this week, with FWD being a likely possibility. If Kreis goes again with a 4-5-1, I would think that Espindola could get the nod. In a 4-4-2 could we see a pair of Argentines?

I was initially reluctant to consider both players, because I thought we would need Movsisyan creating shots. However, looking at the numbers for Findley/Movsisyan –vs- Escalada/Espindola their minutes per shot and minutes per shots on goal are comparable.

min/g

min/shot

min/sog

Robbie Findley

679

136

Kyle Beckerman

810