Rapids Season Ends With A Thud

We should have seen this coming.  In the three longer-than-a-week breaks this team took in 2020 they ended up losing the 3 following games by a combined score of 10-1.  So losing this game 3-0 is right in line with how we've done things.  While we didn't look so listless initially as we did in those earlier games it was the same result, once Minnesota withstood our initial flurry in each half we were left looking like we were just happy to be in the playoffs.

I have real concerns with the tactical approach to this game.  Apparently Sam Vines was fighting a hamstring issue all week and the Rapids had to plan for the possibility, and eventual reality, that he'd miss his first start of the season.  The plan was apparently to drag Acosta out of position and place him at left back.  This despite having Deklan Wynne and Jeremy Kelly, both of whom are capable of playing LB (its Wynne's natural position) on the roster and signing Steven Beitashour mid-season specifically to back up Sam Vines!  When asked after the game Fraser said he didn't think it was fair to throw Beitashour in there for his first game time in a playoff game after more than a year off.  Dine, but then why didn't Fraser get Beitashour some playing time during the season if that was a concern?  And that still doesn't explain why Acosta was chosen over Kelly or Wynne.

Not that Acosta was bad or to blame or anything in his efforts at left back.  You'll see at the end of this that I named him the man of the match.  But having Acosta at LB took him away from the area where he was more valuable.  Combined with rather off games from Price and Namli the center of the pitch was wide open to Minnesota and they regularly took advantage of it.  Honestly Minnesota could have had another goal or two given the chances we gave them.

Maybe this game turns out different if in the first 10-15 minutes of each half, when we were really pushing and looked dangerous we scored.  Going up 1-0, or tying the game at 1-1 would have given us confidence and might have kept us in that aggressive posture.  Instead on both halves we regressed to looking like a young team getting their first playoff experience.  Combine that with some poor play from Wilson, Lewis, and Rubio and we never felt like we were going to turn it around after the initial surge.

We'll get into the offseason discussion more in coming weeks (but probably not until next week, given Thanksgiving) but this game showed how much the Rapids need to go out and get a top quality #9 this season.  Its great that anyone on the team can score, but its a problem when you can't lean on anyone with an expectation to score.  Rubio showed he can't carry the team as a 9 last night.  We need somebody in the Conor Casey mold (not in style of play, but in reliability and consistency).

Man of the Match: Kellyn Acosta.  Asked to play out of position and did it well.  And given how many of his teammates had off games, not having an off game when out of position says something.