- Removing injured players, cut players, and goalkeepers, the player with the least playing time was Marc Burch at 185 minutes, followed by Edson Buddle at 190.
- Mari was the only other field player still with the team under 250 minutes, probably due to his late arrival into camp.
- Berner got about 20 minutes more time than Nasco, but that was probably affected by Nasco's return home for a family issue. I expect Nasco to be Irwin's backup to start the season.
- The 4 remaining trialists:
- Mari - 215 minutes
- Galindo - 265 minutes
- Edward - 340 minutes
- Guzman - 340 minutes
- The player with the most playing time was Serna at 425 minutes, 30 minutes more than Klute in 2nd place.
- After Klute were Moor and Wynne, so safe to say 3 of the back 4 have been decided.
- If we were to pick a starting XI based just on playing time, using the 4-2-3-1, it would look something like this:
Irwin
Edward(?) - Moor - Wynne - Klute
Sturgis - LaBrocca
Chavez - Sanchez - Torres
Brown
- About 330 minutes went to players who didn't make the team (Ayarna, Kindle, Ibikunle)
- Guzman and Edward tied Hill for 7th most minutes, the most by any players who might be new to the Rapids in 2014.
Posts
4 comments:
Wow Jason, you have a lot more patience than I do!
I like your line up, but with out a coach, it's like buying groceries without knowing who is going to cook.
If Pablo is the coach then I could see:
-------------Irwin-------------
O'Niel----Wynn----Moor----Klute
-------Sturgis----Labrocca------
Sanchez-----Powers-------Brown
------------Torres-------------
Hard to say really, until the status of the trialists.
If Mari signs I expect him to slot next to Labrocca as a replacement for Thomas. Sanchez, Galindo or Hill could take the attacking midfield spot. Serna or Eloundou could challenge for a wing spot; or Torres like you said with either Brown or Buddle up top.
There is all still Pickens to sort out. If he stay with the team, it isn't beyond reason that he could win his spot back. of course, when you consider the difference in his and Irwin's salary it's not likely he'll stay with the club.
Personally, I've already written this season off as yet another building year. The sixth straight in our three year plan. My opinion is, more often than not, any new coach needs three years to build a team in their own image. So no matter who the coach is, this will be a 'finding their feet' season.
P.S. Did you see that Dan Loney linked to your blog on his Big Soccer blog! You're somebody now! ;-)
I just read an article on Major League Soccer Soccer, that Michael Stephens just signed with Stabaek. Normally this wouldn't be very interesting, except at the end of the article they stated that he would be filling their final international slot. Their sporting director confirmed that, that rules out signing Pickens, and he has returned to the US.
What do you suppose this does to the Rapids plans for the season? Thats a large chunk of salary cap. If they were planning on having that cap space for one or more of the remaining trialists, then they would need to find a new suitor ASAP! That should be easy with most transfer windows closed, MLS season starting Saturday and Scandanavian leagues starting in a couple weeks. Hopefully they have a plan B.
Oh Well, 15 days until the home opener!!!
I'm sure its in their Plan B file with the Plan B's for the coach and the jersey sponsor.
As we know now, Edwards is gone.
However, you didn't mention that most of Sturgis' playing time this preseason ( and all of it in Tucson, iirc) has been at RB. With O'Neill not ready for 90' yet, and Jose Mari getting big minutes at D-Mid w/ Labrocca, that one little tweak would make for a very accurate starting day projection, I think.
Post a Comment