Offseason changes to the midfield

Returnees: Kellyn Acosta (CM), Jack Price (CDM), Nana Boateng (CM), Dillon Serna (LM/CAM), Cole Bassett (CM), Johan Blomberg (RM/CM)

Subtractions: Enzo Martinez (CAM), Sam Hamilton (CDM), Ricardo Perez (CAM)

Additions: Benny Feilhaber (CM), Nicolas Mezquida (CAM)

Before addressing the ever-so-slight changes to the midfield, it helps if we remind ourselves that Colorado made a switch from a 5-3-2 formation to a 4-4-2 diamond at the end of July last year, and it looks as if they plan to begin 2019 in the diamond, as well.

The diamond is typically a quick-passing or careful-possession approach to soccer. It tends to rely on overwhelming numbers in the midfield to move the ball forward while eschewing width and speed. Good players for the diamond are pass-and-move specialists.

That diamond is wonderful for returning Rapid Kellyn Acosta, who came over from FC Dallas midsummer in a trade that sent striker Dominique Badji to Texas. Acosta is best when he has passing partners that, like him, have a sixth sense for where everybody else is, and where they are going to be in 10 yards and 1.5 seconds.

That diamond-wisdom and sixth sense are also why Colorado went out and got USMNT veteran Benny Feilhaber. Feilhaber, formerly of LAFC and Sporting Kansas City, comes to the Rapids at the ripe old age of 34 years old. He has lost a little spring to his step, but he can play a crafty pass on a dime to his midfield partners or ahead to a forward.

I’m less sure of what to make of Nicolas Mezquida. He’s a talented player — a final-third dribbler with a scoring bite — but at 27 years old and in five seasons in Vancouver, he has never broken through to become a lockdown starter for the often mediocre Whitecaps. Maybe he was misused and misunderstood in the past by his head coach, Carl Robinson? But I think he’s just not that great.

Jack Price is going to play at the base of this diamond, and he’s a fun presence for this team, especially with the ball at his feet. Defensively, he was so-so in 2018, his first year in Commerce City. Price picked up a yellow card in the second, third, fourth and fifth matches of the season, and after earning another in week 9, he was the first player in MLS suspended for accumulation. Not great, Jack! If he can truly serve as a shield when the Rapids have a lead, it will make a big difference to the success of this team.

The challenge is that there are no other options. Colorado doesn’t really have another suitable defensive-minded midfielder that can chase opposing midfielders and bulldog his way around the dangerous central zones of the final third. Jared Watts and Micheal Azira were sent packing midseason in 2018; Sam Hamilton didn’t quite pan out as an MLS-level talent, and Nana Boateng has spent two seasons showing off flashes of brilliance and also moments of dumbfoundingly poor judgment. I sure would like to have a player to bring on that can lock down the game with 20 minutes left and a 2-1 lead, but I guess Anthony Hudson disagrees.

There’s a lot to like here: the Rapids have a number of talented midfield options to choose from, and they come into February knowing what system they’ll be playing in. Perhaps the most likable thing to talk about on this entire roster is Cole Bassett, a local-boy-makes-good story from the Rapids Academy. Bassett is just 17 years old and earned a professional contract to play soccer with his hometown club. That would be nothing more than heartwarming if it weren’t for the fact the kid can also, you know, play a little. He earned 307 minutes in his first season, he scored his first professional goal and he displayed that he has moves like this nifty shimmy-shuffle-dish:

https://twitter.com/soccer_ rabbi/status/1048770058569310209

He has a lot to learn, but I feel great about the future if the Rapids keep him and let him mature and develop as a player. He might not be ready, but if he were to start every game as one of the midfield “shuttlers,” I’d be quite happy with that, even if it took some growing pains to adjust to.

The one thing that has confounded diehard fans for the past five years is the team’s lack of a “true No. 10” — a creative midfielder that can lay in the final pass, take a filthy bending shot and/or roulette his man on the dribble and score. Acquiring a 10 is something Colorado didn’t do in the offseason, possibly because that kind of player is prohibitively expensive to acquire on the open market.

Which leaves a lot of pundits pontificating on who will open the season at the top of the diamond for Colorado.

Will it be Acosta, who has been more of a central-shuttler in his history, moving up higher? Will Mezquida slot into the midfield and finally establish himself as a legitimate full-time player? Will hometown-favorite Dillon Serna, who got a few starts at central-attacking midfielder at the end of 2018, get the nod and turn years of “promise” into reality? Will Colorado turn the position over to finishers Diego Rubio or Sam Nicholson?

Maybe this attack can be lethal without a true No. 10. Maybe this midfield can be the impregnable fort that the defense needs to be better. Maybe the bench players after the likely starting triumvirate of Price, Acosta and Feilhaber (young Cole Bassett, useful cog Johan Blomberg, disappointing Nana Boateng) can fill in admirably when needed off the bench. But … that’s a lot of maybes.

Better, worse, or the same?

The midfield is better, but it is also maybe a little one dimensional. Gone are speedy wingers that can bomb forward and gather in deep over-the-top passes. Gone are the full-throttle midfield menaces that go into 50-50 balls with wild abandon and defend like Helms Deep dwarves on methamphetamine. They’ve all been replaced by smart-passing, sharp-dribbling types that possess and pass well, and can do the other things at a maybe average level. Still, there is much to be happy with this bunch.