COMMERCE CITY —When rookie head coach Pablo Mastroeni took over the Colorado Rapids, he inherited a young team playing a 4-2-3-1 formation that relied on two holding midfielders to protect the defense and wingers to get up into the attack.

It didn’t take him long to put his stamp on the 2014 club.

“I think, for me, we were playing with essentially one forward and we wanted to play with three, but it never turns out that way unless you’re on top of the ball and you have great movement and proper wingers,” Mastroeni said. “I feel like a lot of times it ended up turning into 4-5-1.”

Over the last three matches, Mastroeni has remade his club into a 4-4-2, with a diamond-shaped midfield that has, at times, featured either Dillon Powers or Vicente Sanchez as playmakers at the point. Meanwhile, either Jose Mari or rookie Jared Watts have played in the holding midfield role in front of the back four.

“With our formation, that’s kind of where I find myself right now — kind of that deeper lying midfielder,” said Watts, a second-round pick in the 2014 SuperDraft. “So for me it’s been good, especially with Pablo. He’s been very clear about what he expects from me, what he wants from me in that area.”

Watts has already made two starts in his young MLS career, filling in last week for Jose Mari who has been nursing a quad injury. He says holding midfield is his most comfortable position, where he can concentrate on winning 50/50 balls, breaking up plays and linking simple passes.

“In college I played some holding mid,” Watts said. “It’s a little different of a formation, especially that diamond that deep, but you know, it’s just part of the transition, part of learning on the fly, adapting.”

For Mastroeni, the change was both a philosophical one, and something driven by the players at his disposal.

“That’s what I vibe with. That’s what I understand,” Mastroeni said. “Looking at the roster, you have so many interior midfielders that it just makes so much sense with, you know. Dillon Powers, Sanchez, Dillon Serna, (Nick) Labrocca, (Nathan) Sturgis, Watts, Jose Mari, just really good guys who are interior midfielders who have good feet, it’d be silly to be playing with wingers.”

In the first three matches since making the switch, the results — at least defensively — have been good. The Rapids have allowed only one goal, and earned seven points on the strength of two road wins and a draw.

Offensively, however, it’s been another story. The Rapids have only managed to break through for three goals over the course of the last three games — two of those coming on long-distance strikes from Mari in Vancouver. Mastroeni says he likes the potential pairings he has up top with Deshorn Brown, Gabby Torres, Edson Buddle, Danny Mwanga and Charles Eloundou, but knows it’s a process to get them to click.

“Now, the attacking part is something that, with the new formation especially, people are wondering, ‘Should I drop in here, should I go in here?’ So we’re doing video, practical stuff on the board, coming out here and working tactics, and so it’s going to take some time,” Mastroeni said. “The better teams in the league have been together four or five years playing the same way. I don’t anticipate this team getting there in the next three or four weeks, but what I do expect is a progression, with the right mindset, which I think we have.”

He added that just as the defense starts with the forwards pressing high, the offense begins with strong build-up out of the back, and making sure the midfielders aren’t dropping too deep, forcing the strikers to drop too deep into the midfield.

“I think what I’m trying to say, in all this, we’re trying to sync everything together,” Mastroeni said. “All of that comes with time, and it comes with work, and it comes with practice and it comes with patience.

“I think we have the makeup of a team that could, six months from now, be a really good team that’s asking a lot of questions of playoffs, in real good form, really good understanding.”