We are roughly a month away from the start of the MLS season when we host San Jose on the 25th and we do not have a team that looks like it will be fighting for titles. Our current depth chart has some major holes in it and looks like this:
Looking back at our final game of last season against NYCFC we had a lineup that could use some support, and we have made some moves in the transfer market since then. Pineda went with a 4-2-3-1 and it looked like this:
Since then we have lost two players from that starting lineup, Dom Dwyer was released on a waiver and Alan Franco was transferred to Sao Paulo. That leaves us with a hole at striker and an open slot at center back. The defense is easier to fill as George Campbell has proved himself fully capable of stepping up to the starting 11 while we wait for Miles Robinson to get back to full fitness. The matter of who plays up top is a little bit trickier, though. Currently, we have no one I would be happy with as our striker for the season, no offence to Tyler Wolff and Jackson Conway. When looking at the team sheet I am really hoping that Garth Lagerwey comes through with the three signings he claimed were in the works, and that at least one of them is a true striker. This transfer window we have only signed one attacker, in the form of Derrick Etienne, who is more of a role player provider that can be rotated into the squad some if his time at Columbus was a good picture of his abilities.
Outside of those two positions I am only worried/confused about the goalkeeper slot and the ten role. In goal we have made multiple acquisitions over the transfer window, and we know have 6 registered goalkeepers(including Brad Guzan), which is way more than any team should need. So unless we are planning on selling some of them on I don't understand what is going on there. I am also worried about our number 10 role, and I say that knowing that our best player plays that role. I am worried about our depth. Say Thiago Almada gets injured, then what, and to keep him from getting injured we will have to rotate some, and we don't have any true 10 behind him now that Marcelino Moreno is on loan at Coritiba.
That means that if we want to play a 4-2-3-1 we have to force someone up to CAM, which I guess is Rossetto. Or you could switch to a 4-3-3 with Sosa, Sejdic, and Rossetto. This could be more defensive with Sosa dropping back into a defensive midfielder role. Either way the team will rely on creative output from Luiz Araujo and either Edwin Mosquera, Machop Chol, or Derrick Etienne on the wings, assuming Pineda doesn't opt to push one of his full backs up into the attack.
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