Sporting KC @ Colorado 5/19 8pm p/i/p [R]

Back in action on Saturday against Colorado. For the 3rd straight week we play a team with a midweek game as Colorado plays in DC tomorrow.

We'll be without Espinoza due to his red card. Nagamura would seem to be the favorite to replace him in the lineup. Other than that we could see the return of Sinovic to the lineup, although I don't think Harrington did horrible in either of his games.

Must... well, not lose, at least. With Colorado playing tomorrow I really want to say that this is a winnable game, but every time I've said that lately it's all gone horribly wrong.

Just don't lose this one. Just don't screw up. I think we're still a top tier team that's just made some bad mistakes, but losing to Colorado with San Jose on tap would not be fun.

They will be without Marvell Wynne, Pablo Mastroeni, and Omar Cummings, but we will likely get a heavy dose of Connor Casey. They have a couple of new players too, so who knows what kind of lineup we will see. We'll probably get a good idea in their game tonight.

I know this most likely will not happen, but I would like Convey to slip into Roger's spot, and see the three heading monster of Teal, CJ, & Kei. Teal in the middle with CJ out of the wing.

I would not mind this at all, hadn't even thought about it.

Convey in midfield leaves our only 'bite' in the midfield with Cesar. Not exactly what I want to see on the road.

Yah, I don't think Convey fits that role at all. Maybe for Zusi, but we know that ain't gonna happen. I think Paulo is the obviouse choice here, with Sassano coming in when Paulo runs out of gas.

Other possible options might be Michael Thomas, Konrad Warzycha or, even more unlikely, Cyprian Hedrick (who I'd expect to fill in for Cesar than Roger before anything else, but if everyone else were out then I think he'd be an option)

I think that the Warzycha replacement is intriguing, but agree that Nagamura is probably favorite.

Not that I disagree with you on Warzycha, and I've been wanting to see him play live since he hit that free kick in preseason, but isn't PV and Co. spending significant time trying to make him into a CB? Kind of makes me think he really isn't an option right now, at least not in the midfield.

Well, that's one of the reasons I kinda like the idea of him slotting into Espinoza's spot. He would apparently be defensive enough to fill that aspect of Roger's position but has shown a propensity with going forward as well (almost chipped the Dallas keeper in the reserve match under the lights from 60(?) yards).

PV and Co. may see him as being an option in CB, but there are few guys on this team who can't slot into another position, at least for a spell. Heck, we're talking about replacing Roger, who was our starting LB at the beginning of 2011.

I mean - I agree with you that it's probably unlikely, especially considering the team currently trying to mold him into a CB, but I think it is an intriguing option which I hope that PV and Co. aren't completely dismissing upfront.

Another longshot I actually see being more in the mold of Espinoza is Aiyegbusi. Granted, I'm not positive he has the defensive nature needed to fill Roger's spot, but he is a LB so I figure he probably has some... but will also run all day and can be that annoyance and disruptive factor that Roger provides to the midfield as well. He really is beyond longshot status at this point, probably, since I doubt he really has seen much time not being setup on the left touchline, but is an intriguing option all the same.

Considering Thomas and Warzycha can't get starts in center midfield currently In reserve games, I doubt they're candidates to start this Saturday. It's Nagamura or Sassano, and I don't believe Vermes comment about Peterson (Jacob not Joseph) potentially starting there.

While I'm actually a big fan of Vermes' if-it-aint-broke tactics, if we do wanna switch it up I've been thinking a 4-1-2-1-2 would look awesome for us. Our typical back line with Cesar as a central d-mid, Convey (who's played left back) on the left midfield, Kamara (who tracks back a lot) on the right, Zusi as the attacking midfielder and then Sapong and Bunbury as target strikers up top.

Don't look at me like that. It could work, I swear...

I'm for any hybrid formation that gets CJ, Kei, and Teal on the field together again...

The 4-1-2-1-2 puts a ton of pressure on Cesar to cover a lot of defensive area, in the 4-3-3, he has Espinoza/Nagamura to do that and he can stay at home more

not to mention that it'll probably be a cold day in hell before vermes plays with two up top... unfortunately.

Oh, yea - I know... though I do find Warzycha an intriguing fit there, I agree that it is highly unlikely.

Though did anyone else think that we'd be using Thomas more than we have been? Or is it just me?

Agreed, it would put a lot on Convey and Kamara as well to help out with controlling the midfield while contributing to the attack. Maybe "flip the triangle" and make it a 4-1-1-2-2, or basically a 4-1-3-2 I guess.

I dunno. Just thinking out loud. I'm worried losing Roger might hurt us more than we think at this point.

I wonder what it would take to get PV to put two up front. Neither Sapong nor Bunbury have what it takes to take on the defense alone and put the ball into the net. Sapong has the presence, but could use better foot skills and finishing, and Bunbury is the opposite. Having them together up top could pose significant troubles for defenses.

while i agree with the sentiment of your post, i do not agree that bunbury has better foot skills than sapong. they do have complimentary characteristics that would seem to be a natural pairing up top, but vermes doesn't care.

I second this. The defense presents Exhibit A.

When I think of CJ's footwork, I think of the late goal we got last year at San Jose. CJ's footwork and pass to Teal to score the goal was nails. I'm still not sure how he got that thru ball past the defense.

At the 4:10 mark.

So what scorelines do you all predict for this? Vermes comments in the article about Seth getting back into form worry me. He mentioned going more defenisve as an option. Going away from our normal game to the classic "get a point on the road" defensive mode worries me. 1-1 draw is what I see coming from this if we go defensive. On the other hand, I think the team is ready due for a coming out party, so if we play our normal formation with high pressure I wouldnt be suprised by a 3-1 type scoreline in our favor.

Given Colorado played midweek I really think this should be a winnable game. Personally I'd like to think we win by a goal and look pretty good doing it. Just not making mistakes will be key.

On the flipside, I've been trying to parse peoples bets from the WPL game into some kind of prediction model, and for this game the guessing is dead even, so objectively I think a draw of some sort is likely.