The 2019/2020 MLS season is about 25% complete, and some players are distancing themselves ahead of the pack as the best in the league and frontrunners for MLS MVP. While it’s early still and lots can happen in the next 75% of the season, some guys look unstoppable. On the other hand, some players look lost.



Last month, the hot ones were Jordan Morris and Darwin Quintero. Since then, Jordan Morris has slowed down statistically. He started the season very strong with three goals and an assist in the first three games, but hasn’t added to either tally since then; however, he still remains a strong presence on the field. Darwin Quintero, on the other hand, has continued performing for Minnesota. Since the first edition of Hot or Not: MLS, he has added three goals to his tally. His team, however, is not doing so well – losing leads and valuable points in thrilling games.



The not so hot guys, Marco Fabian and Diego Chara have not really improved on their form yet. Marco Fabian added one goal against new side FC Cincinnati in their 2-0 victory, missed a PK to tie the game against FC Dallas and then got injured again against LA Galaxy and has been out since. Diego Chara, upon return from his suspension, did not hit the ground running for someone who had some time off. He was still lacking defensively, but in Portland’s first win of the season against a sloppy Columbus Crew, his importance was evident. His form is slowly getting better.



Hot:

Carlos Vela, 30, LAFC



Carlos Vela was ‘Heating Up’ the last time MLS was featured in Hot or Not, and for good reason. He had great form the first three games and has continued or improved his form since then. The LAFC captain and Mexican international is on pace to break records and he and his team look unstoppable at the present time. Similar to Coutinho or Arjen Robben, he is becoming known for cutting inside and rifling shots into the back of the net from the edge of the area.



Through his first nine games, he has ten goals and five assists in 799 minutes. Thats a goal or an assist every 53 minutes or so. He has almost caught up to his numbers from last season where he appeared in 29 games and had 14 goals and 11 assists, but the season is only 25% complete. He has come into the league as a high profile player and many knew of his qualities, but he is quickly becoming one of, if not, the best in MLS history.



The 30-year-old is averaging 5.7 shots per game and 2.6 completed dribbles per game. He makes around 31 passes per game with a 72.8 percent completion rate and 3.3 key passes per game. The high amount of shots and key passes are essential to his game, creating chances for his team. It is evident that it is working, with his 10 goals and five assists.



In his nine games, he also has five man-of-the-match awards. Of his 10 goals, he has recorded two braces and one hat trick against San Jose Earthquakes. Vela has lead LAFC to seven wins, one draw and one loss in the first nine games of the season. Some of his strengths include finishing, passing, vision, through balls, and long shots. His style of play works perfectly in Bob Bradley’s tactic. They play a very attacking style of play, where the creative players are asked to take risks and, for Vela and his other attacking partners, it is working.



Carlos Vela does not look like he will be slowing down anytime soon and as long as the rest of the team can continue clicking, Bob Bradley, LAFC and Carlos Vela will have a great year and be very difficult to stop. LAFC just overtook Seattle Sounders, who have also been hot this season but were missing some key players, but on Sunday, April 28, LAFC will travel to CenturyLink Field in Washington for a rematch against a healthier Seattle team.



Carlos Vela in 2019 #MLS season:



Most goals (10)

T-Most assists (5)

Most goal involvements (15)

Most shots (51)

Most shots on target (21)

Most chances created (30)

Most successful dribbles (23)

Most crosses (67)



Best player on the best team. Unstoppable.#ElTri #LAFC ???⭐️? pic.twitter.com/QE37BSeeu4 — Joga Bonito (@Jasoninho10) April 22, 2019

Alejandro Pozuelo, 27, Toronto FC



Joining Toronto FC after two games this season, Alejandro Pozuelo has hit the ground running. With four goals and five assists in four games or 349 minutes, Pozuelo is averaging a goal or assist every 38 (!!!) minutes. Despite the small sample size, he is poised to have an amazing season if he can keep his form up. He has quickly become a fan favorite in Toronto due to his amazing energy and immense quality on the field. Even for neutrals or fans of other MLS teams, he is a fun player to watch.



Not afraid of running at defenders, Pozuelo completes about 3.8 dribbles per game and takes roughly 2.5 shots per game so far. He covers a lot of the field, making himself available to receive the ball. He makes about 69.8 passes per game, averaging a 85.3 percent pass completion rate and makes about 4 key passes per game. He is even putting in a good amount of defensive work, making 1.8 tackles per game.



His high energy style of play has brought new life to Toronto FC. He likes short passes and layoffs, so he covers a lot of ground to get closer to the ball where he will make a lot of one-two passes and then continue moving to open up space for himself and his teammates. His high vision and passing combined with his dribbling ability allow him to beat defenders and then find the open forward, mainly Jozy Altidore, to rack up assists. On the other hand, his shooting ability has gotten him some great goals so far in his first four games.



Toronto will be taking on the Portland Timbers, who have been struggling this season – only picking up their first win in their most recent game – and Orlando City who are doing well this year, in their next few games. With Altidore picking up an injury in his last game, Pozuelo will need to keep up his influence on games and either do the work himself or create new connections with his teammates to continue Toronto’s run of form and take the first place spot in the Eastern Division.



Heating Up:

Wayne Rooney(DC United, 8 games, 5 goals, 2 assist, 2.6 key passes per game)

Junior Moreno (DC United, 9 games, 2 assists, 2.9 tackles per game, ~60 passes per game, 88.7% pass completion rate)

Shea Salinas (San Jose Earthquakes, 5 games, 4 goals, 1 assist, 1 man-of-the-match award)



Not:

Diego Fagundez, 24, New England Revolution

Coming off a season where he had his highest goal tally since his rookie season in 2013 and his highest ever assists in a season, he has not performed to those standards yet this season. Last season, with the forward/winger appearing in 33 matches for 2671 minutes and getting nine goals and eight assists, he was averaging a goal or assist every 157 minutes or so. This season he has no offensive output thus far.



Diego Fagundez has started four matches this season and appeared as a sub in another three, totalling 405 minutes. With zero goals or assists on the season so far, he is creating at half the speed of last season and the longer without a goal or assist, the worse it will get for the New England Revolution. The Revolution find themselves in tenth place in the east, with two wins, one draw and six losses. The problem for New England is scoring goals. They have the second least goals scored in the East, only ahead of Atlanta United who have five goals to New England’s six. They have been shut out five out of their nine games this season. The other four games they have two games of scoring only one goal and the other two they got two goals in each. When a team is barely scoring goals, heads begin to look towards the strikers first.



This season, the Uruguayan forward is only averaging 1.3 shots per game, compared to the past three years where he is averaging around two shots per game. He is also being involved in the play less. So far this year, he is only attempting 17.4 passes per game with a 72.1 percent completion rate and 0.9 key passes per game where last season he averaged 26.9 passes per game with 76 percent pass completion and 2.8 key passes per game and in 2017 he was involved the most, having around 36.8 passes per game completing 80.9 percent of those passes and creating 1.1 key passes per game. He is also dribbling a lot less, with this season only attempting 0.3 dribbles per game where in the past he has had 1.1 dribbles per game in 2018 and 1.6 dribbles per game in 2017.



Due to him being involved less in the attacking phases of the game, his team is suffering. Fagundez is someone who likes to get on the ball, complete short passes to get around defenders and then cut inside from wider areas to create space to shoot for himself. This season he has not been able to do this, and it is hurting his team. His creativity is not what it was the past few season, and Brad Friedel needs to get him to shoot more often. More evidently in more recent games, the more New England shoot, the better they do. If Friedel can inspire his team to click offensively, they will likely charge up the table. Until then, they will stay below the playoff spots and struggle for points.



"We're all professionals and we need to move on" to SKC – Diego Fagundez#NERevs pic.twitter.com/niLyKHPALz — New England Revolution (@NERevolution) April 25, 2019

Colorado Rapids Defense

Keegan Rosenberry, Axel Sjöberg, Deklan Wynne, Dillon Serna, Danny Wilson, Sam Vines, Kofi Opare, Tommy Smith have all played minutes along the defensive line for the Colorado Rapids. The Colorado Rapids have zero wins this season. The Rapids have conceded 23 goals through eight games. They are on pace to concede 98 goals this season. The record for most allowed in a single season is 74 in 2018 by Orlando City.



While it would be unfair to pick out a single player or say that it is solely the defensive line’s fault that they are conceding so much, it is unacceptable to be on pace to concede a record 98 goals in a season, crushing the record by 24 goals. Sure, the midfielders and forwards have jobs to do defensively as well, but it is the main role of defenders to attempt to stop goals from going in. They’re the last line of defense, therefore need to be the strongest defenders. Head coach Anthony Hudson has been trying many different combinations of defenders to try and sort out the back with little success. It also does not help that in their eight games played, they have picked up four red cards.



Overall, the team is weak at defending through balls and attacks down the wings, and fail to get pressure on players who sit outside the box and attempt to shoot long ranged. Breaking down the most used combination of defenders: Keegan Rosenberry on the right, Axel Sjöberg and Deklan Wynne in the middle, and Dillon Serna on the left. This line has conceded eight goals, getting two draws and one loss for Colorado and allowing the offense to score five goals.



Out of that back four, Keegan Rosenberry has been the most consistent. Transferring in from Philadelphia Union, he has 2.1 tackles and team a leading 2.1 interceptions per game this season. He also sees a lot of the ball, attempting 40.6 passes per game at an 80.9 percent completion rate and 1.6 key passes per game.



Axel Sjöberg has been letting the team down this season. He has one own goal, which does not help. Alongside that, he is averaging 1.2 tackles and interceptions per game. He also commits over 1.2 fouls per game as well. Standing at 6 feet and 6 inches, he only wins one aerial duel per game. It should be a lot more with that height. Deklan Wynne also has below average stats for a center back, only making 1.3 tackles per game and 0.8 interceptions per game.



Dillon Serna has been playing at left back for the Rapids, making 1.5 tackles per game and 0.9 interceptions per game. While his numbers look better than he has played in the past, it is still not good enough comparing it to better left backs in the league, such as Kai Wagner of the Philadelphia Union who has been performing amazingly this season. Wagner has an impressive 3.4 tackles per game and 1.9 interceptions per game, as well as getting involved in the attack racking up two assists thus far.



Clearly, the Colorado Rapids have a lot to improve upon. Averaging over 2.8 goals conceded per game, their defense is really leaky. Whether Anthony Hudson needs to pick a back four and stick with it to build chemistry, or keep searching for different tactical solutions, the season is going by fast. Already a fourth of the way through, the team is on pace to break records, and they aren’t good ones. With a game against a struggling Atlanta United in Atlanta and a game against the Vancouver Whitecaps, there is a good opportunity for the Rapids to get the cogs turning and get a result.



Colorado Rapids manager Anthony Hudson has managed them 44 times. 8 wins, 10 draws & 26 defeats. Surely time to go now?! #Rapids96 pic.twitter.com/POEmCT5aMN — The MLS Hub (@TheMLSHub) April 20, 2019

Like what you see? Click Here to Tweet this article and share it with your social network! We appreciate your support…

Sign up with MyBookie and use the promo code BRKDWN to get a 50% bonus on your first deposit! MyBookie is America’s most Trusted Sportsbook & you can Bet Online with players around the world. MyBookie has odds on all of the Best Sporting Events and is the Sportsbook you can Trust.



Related