How would you lineup the Rapids after watching them for 4 matches? Here's my idea... Roberts........Schmidt .........Spencer......... Henderson......Chung ...Mastroeni....Riso... Stewart..Fraser..Herdsman Sub Beckerman for Spencer at 60-70 or play Beckerman if Spenny is hurt. Sub Carrieri for Schmidt at 60-70. Use Kingsley more late as a sub late (70) for Chris or Mark. Nobody else has a nose for moving forward like Spenny and nobody creates a spark on this team like the wee Scot. Casey was scoring goals like shooting fish in a barrel and now nothing. Back in preseason, we didn't have Spencer and the frog barely played so our midfield distribution worked with Beckerman then, why not now. If Spencer doesn't turn out to be a good #10, go with Beckerman. But from what little I've seen of Kyle, he doesn't push the ball forward like I KNOW Spenny will. That's why I'd rather try the above first (instead of go with Beckerman from the get go). No matter what, we need a motivator like John on the field NO MATTER WHAT. Nobody else on the team takes his place in this regard. Hell, maybe Pablo could learn to be a #10 and have Riso be our D-Mid. The problem we have is the preseason assumed a #10 would exist. Now that he doesn't, we'll loose a lot of games starting a new preseason when the games count. I'm not sure I would blame Hanky for this. I will blame him for loosing control of his team. But no matter who we get to run the squad, that person would be experimenting to find what works. We shouldn't, however, see ANY experimenting with our defense and there's no excuse for this behavior (reason #2 for Tim bashing). Funny how many of you are complaining about Kyle wasting away on the Rapids. I feel a similar way regarding Hart and Kingsley. We have a lot of good young talent...
Thats fine but what about the 11th player on the field? You left out the keeper, I missed the game this week. SO I just want to know that part also. But a lot of that stuff you say, is right on. I think carrieri and Spenny should start and learn to work to gether, and let the new kids be reserves.
I would, and do, for a couple of reasons. First, they didn't play the whole preseason with a man down, right? No, they had someone (Beckerman among them) in at that spot. Grimandi was around for, what, 1 or 2 games? So the team clearly spent a lot of time coming together without him on the field... and, given the number of balls that found their way to Schmidt up top, I'd say that they came together reasonably well (even after discounting the fact that it was preseason). If the only thing that has changed, personnel-wise, is that Grimandi's not around, I fail to see why the preseason work and planning is affected at all. Secondly, Hankinson has to be smart enough to not put all his eggs in one basket. Did his entire plan for the season revolve around an aging French mid-fielder? And he didn't adjust that plan during the pre-season when Grimandi was absent? I do agree with you about the young talent on the team... I think a lot of it is being wasted away. Hart is getting minutes, but Hankinson has him playing musical positions. Kingsley and Beckerman should be given more opportunity than they have been thus far. So with all this great talent on the team, many of them young and hungry to make their stamp on the game and catch Arena's eye, why can't they gel as a team? I'm still looking Hankinson's way.
I am really tired of all the talk about lineups. Go with the preseason lineup for awhile and see what happens. We had a good preseason. Alot of the games had henderson, spencer, roberts and rizo OUT.So try what was successful in preseason...WHAT does he have to lose.?????IMO The coach just has to go..I am sure he is the talk of the coaches' circle!! Vallow hart, stewart, fraser, kotchau crawford, pablo, beckerman, chung carrieri, schmidt
As much as a like to talk about lineups, I have to admit it's not going to make a real difference. Hankinson has lost control of the team and until he is replaced no true turnaround can occur. Right now it's just shuffling deck chairs on the Titantic. Start bringing signs to fire Hankinson and maybe someone will listen.
I don't think that's the problem. A "#10" as you claim was not at all what Hankinson was planning on. Traditionally when someone refers to a "#10" they're talking about a playmaking and/or attacking center mid. Hankinson's plan all along was to use Pablo and Gilles together to clog the midfield. Their primary responsibility was to win the ball and feed it to the forwards or attacking mids (Chungy/Hendo). If they had space, then they'd move forward with the ball, but their primary responsibility was to be holding midfielders. We really should stop referring to positions by numbers, as they don't really apply. Just as how game announcers and generic media keeps claiming that "Colorado is still searching for a replacement for Valderrama." That couldn't be farther from the truth. Every player and coach on this team has made it clear that they are looking to play an entirely different game than they played with Valderrama. Nobody has once suggested that they want to get a player like Valderrama into the lineup. Why? It's unreasonable, and no top team in any league in the world has found success with this approach in the past 10 years. There are two real problems that seem to be plaguing this team. One of them is suggested by the title of this thread, "Lineup Du Jour." There is no consistent lineup nor understanding among the players. Not only does this affect them on gameday, but they're not able to effectively train during the week knowing exactly what position they'll be playing, who they'll be squaring off against and what their tactical responsibilities will be. The other problem is that quite simply, Hankinson's strategy isn't working. It was fine in the preseason against rusty MLS opponents and college teams, and it worked great against an Atlas side that greatly underestimated the desire of the Rapids. However for as much credit as you can give to preseason results, the Rapids also found significant difficulty once they played reserve sides in Mexico. Even with a consistent lineup, this is the bigger problem. This bowling-alley defensive idea isn't working. Utilizing two defensive midfielders isn't working. Having Chungy and Hendo floating rather than assigned to the wings isn't working. And pairing the big fella with a workhorse isn't working, either. I disagree, especially if the Rapids replaced Hankinson with someone who is already somewhat familiar with the players, such as Bravo or Trittschuh. Hell, with the exception fo the college kids I'm sure recent MLSers like Vermes have a pretty good idea as well. All it would really take is committing to a simple set of tactics, and let the team go from there. Weekly experimentation isn't necessary; give the team a month to play and make adjustments as necessary. This isn't to say that it would be easy for anyone to turn this team into a contender, nor should we even expect that this simple move would get the Rapids to win just half of their games. Rather, it might at least stop the bleeding and provide clues as to where to take the team, as compared to the current system which shows no progress nor light at the end of the tunnel. Then again, you could just wind up with the kind of results that "who-woulda-guessed" coaches like Hudson and Nicol achieved when they were put in charge.
Hankinson went so far as to tell the team manager NOT to issue the #10 this season as a symbol that he didn't want to run his offense through a single player. He wanted all of midfield to share the load and help distribute. IIRC, he used Man Utd as an example of a successful team that doesn't have a true playmaker but can get forward in numbers through anyone of their four middies. The problems with the Rapids have nothing to do with the absence of a playmaker. It has everything to do with the fact that Hankinson has no real plan on how he wants his team to play and it shows on the field when his players look lost. Adding a #10 isn't going to solve anything. And neither is adding another player. The players on this team are more than capable, physically, to start winning. Whether they are mentally is another matter and that starts with Hankinson.
Four games into the season and we've seen four starting lineups. v. San Jose - Loss 2 - 1 (9 SOG): Garlick Hart, Fraser, Herdsman, Crawford, Carrieri, Chung, Mastroeni, Carrieri Roberts Schmidt v. DC - Tie 1 - 1 (9 SOG): Vallow Hart, Fraser, Stewart, Rizo Hendo, Pablo, Beckerman, Chung Roberts, Spencer v. Metros - Loss 2 - 1 (7 SOG): Vallow Hart, Fraser, Stewart, Crawford Henderson, Mastroeni, Rizo, Chung Roberts, Spencer v. Columbus - Loss 2 - 0 (3 SOG) Vallow Stewart, Fraser, Herdsman, Rizo Henderson, Hart, Mastroeni, Chung Carrieri, Roberts 4 games 3 goals with 2 being from the run of play. Looking at the 4 games that have been played, and the stats that go along with it I come up with but one conclusion. There are no magic lineups. It's really a matter of choosing one and working on execution. I have a preferred lineup in my head, but it doesn't matter since the best we can expect is to grind out a 1 goal win. It's pretty clear that no matter who pairs with Mastroeni we won't be seeing lots of goals from the group. It's now Monday. The best thing Hankinson can do is tell the players who will start against the Metrostars, and have them train as a group for the week. I know a lot of coaches like to foster competition for spots, but it's time to work on cohesiveness. And, for the love of god decide who's gonna take free kicks before hand.
I wouldn't expect this to change this Saturday. Hanki has shown no signs that he will discontinue setting his line up by who is "showing it" in training. 2+ years and he has only fielded an unchanged line up 3 times. The only way we'll ever see an unchanged line up is if all the reserves are injured and he only has 11 players available for a couple weeks.
Hanki has shown no signs that he will discontinue setting his line up by who is "showing it" in training ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ IMO he has his favorites and they can "not be showing it" in practice or games and they will never be sat down for a game. He has not tried to comprehend what the problem is..BECAUSE he ignores mistakes from his favorites and he doesn't communicate with the players at all....