So Cruz Azul has played a third of the season. What can we see ? The most glaring stat is the 5 points after 6 games and dead last in their group. Bad. Really bad. It can be argued that they've only lost once and that they dropped a lot of points they probably shouldn't have. Maybe true. However, I'm still seeing a ton of midfield problems and idiotic defensive lapses. Defense - Newcomer Gilberto Jimenez has gotten a lot of playing time and has really done very little. I'm still not sure what exactly his role is. The game against Santos was the first in which he didn't play and it was because of a muscle problem. Almaguer still looks like he's finding his way around in the MFL again but needs some help. Brown had been out on injuries. Osorio has also had ample playing time and has played well. Angeles and Aaron Galindo have only received sporadic chances. I'm hoping that with the Libertadores matches these guys get a lot more playing time. Midfield - what midfield ? Baldi needs to play more. I've liked what I've seen from him whenever Carrillo puts him in. With Zepeda's injury I figured he'd be starting every match. Guess not. Pinheiro had been playing well before his recent injury. Jose Antonio Hernandez has not seen a lot of playing time, most of which has gone to Galdames. The creative midfield role is one that has been sorely lacking. Palencia drops back there most of his games now in order to help out. Forward - of course Abreu has been the only bright spot. Coming off of injury, he's played very well. He has 6 out of Cruz Azul's 7 goals this season. Cacho hasn't seen much playing time. Seems he still needs to prove himself to Carrillo. Ever since returning from Spain you can see Palencia has gotten much stronger. However, he plays in a very different spot than he did before leaving Mexico. We saw that under Trejo and now we're seeing it under Carrillo. Is it that the coaches themselves see big midfield problems and instruct Palencia to play back more ? Who knows. It wasn't that big a deal when Zepeda was playing, as Zepeda would fill in for Palencia when Palencia would drop back. In the game against Santos, Cacho stayed up on the right flank and that helped create chances for Abreu. Marinho Ledezma has been filling in for Zepeda as the offensive midfielder. Here's a baffling guy. He can have really bad games and then shine for no apparent reason. In fairness, he has had no regular playing time. He may get it with Zepeda's injury. I'm hoping he steps up. We've been waiting for Zepeda to gain the form he had with Atlas. It still hasn't happened and with the new injury, it may be tough for the real Zepeda to come back. To conclude - yes they are only a couple of wins away from being right back in it. The Libertadores games will at least give the players more of a chance to get used to Carrillo's game in a shorter period of time. However, it's the mental game I'm more worried about. The team is pressing for wins. You could see it when they were beating Chivas and when they were beating Santos. It will really be of help to them to get a win under their belt. A win in any way, shape or form. Carrillo is still trying to find his way around the team. In this sense, it's no different that what Trejo did all last year. I'm willing to give Carrillo some slack for this. But Mr. Carrillo ? Please play Baldi a whole game.