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Three things to watch for against Chivas USA: Rust and relaxation

Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

It's matchday again, and that means it's time to take a look at three things we should be watching when Real Salt Lake takes on the dreaded the kind-of unremarkable Chivas USA.

We'd rather not talk about our last match, which we're not even sure happened in the first place.

Will we be rusty?

Jeff Cassar has expressed that we won't be in his latest interviews, which should give us some amount of hope. In fact, he's described the latest training sessions as some of our best of the season, so that's really encouraging. Unless he's putting us on, of course. That would be disappointing. Unless we win. Then I'll just be torn.

Will we be relaxed?

That's always a good question to ask after a bad run of form, but especially after we've had time to dwell on it a bit. We don't want to be lackadaisical, but we do want to be in a good state of mind for what will be an important match. (Because some are unimportant? I don't think that's true.)

Will we play with ease and express our style, or will we be a bit nervous to start out? Let's hope it's the former.

Something more practical: Who plays at right back?

It's a big question with Tony Beltran out, which is all a little remarkable and funny. We do have two simple options, but the answer could shift our approach on the flanks.

Do we put Abdoulie Mansally on the left and move Chris Wingert to the right? We get a bit more attacking flair on the left side, and maybe that allows us to take a slightly different approach in the midfield.

On the other hand, do we retain a similar style and put Rich Balchan in on the right side? Either seems a reasonable option, but it's hard to guess what we'll do. If anything, we've proved an unpredictable side, and while that's fun, it does render everything a bit more terrifying than it needs be.