The Rapids defeated Ipswich Town of the English Championship 3-2 today. Goals by our new signing Rafael Gomes, Nick LaBrocca, and Jovan Kirovski. The starting 11 was:
Bouna
Zambrano - Keel - Erpen - Burciaga
Gomes - DiRaimondo
Cooke - Gomez - Clark
Cummings
With Pablo, Gargan, Ihemelu, and Petke still recovering from injury the likes of Zambrano, Keel, and DiRaimondo got a change to start. Petke and Gargan were able to get some limited time in the second half, while the rest of the team, witht the exception of Bouna, was substituted at half time.
It appears that the Rapids are planning to play a 4-5-1 with two defensive midfielders this season. I have real concerns about this lineup, as we already had a problem of not getting enough offence when we had two forwards on the field. Now we're shifting one of the forwards to an attacking midfield position. On the plus side, iwe should have a very tough defense to score on, so if we can get a goal or two that will probably be enough to win some games. Don't expect a lot of goals this season when the Rapids are playing though.
While in England the Rapids have brought in Tom McManus, a striker formally with Dumferline of the Scottish 1st division, on trial. As one poster on BigSoccer put it, the Rapids are apparently looking for John Spencer 2.
The Rapids will play the Arsenal Reserves tomorrow.
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2 comments:
Do you really need two forwards on the field to score goals? They didn't today scoring three. You said yourself, "Goals by our new signing Rafael Gomes, Nick LaBrocca, and Jovan Kirovski." Only one forward in that bunch.
Maybe the increased possession with more midfielders will allow the Rapids to control more game play and create more chances.
Hey I'm willing to be proven wrong, but last year we tried the 'empty bucket' 4-4-2 and didn't score. The expected 4-5-1 that we're going to play is just the 'empty bucket' 4-4-2 with a forward further back in the midfield. I don't see how moving one of our forwards back significantly increases our chances. As I remember last season posession around the 18 wasn't a significant problem, it was turning that posession into a decent shot where we kept blowing it.
And while we scored 3 goals today, it was against a team who played in the league the night before.
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