The Real Questions: May 16, 2019

Real Salt Lake : Should Jefferson Savarino start again this weekend?

Last week against Colorado Rapids Savarino didn’t start for the first time since RSL’s 1-2 loss to LAFC. In 2019 Savarino has one goal and one assist in 737 minutes played, but 25 shots and 11 on goal as well. Savarino’s replacement, Bofo Saucedo, has an assist and 13 shots in 316 minutes. Their numbers are relatively similar. Saucedo has about half of everything Savarino has in a little less than half the minutes. However, Saucedo had a great game against Colorado. Although he didn’t find the net, he was incredibly dangerous for his 68 minutes, getting two shots and having multiple key passes. Saucedo did a lot of good work in Colorado and deserves to be rewarded with more minutes against Toronto on Saturday. Saucedo didn’t do anything to lose his starting spot, a game against an Eastern Conference opponent is a good opportunity to further gauge his abilities.

Utah Royals FC : How do we fix the midfield woes?

After URFC’s first loss to Houston one thing became apparent, there are some issues in the midfield now that Canadian international Desiree Scott is gone. We haven’t seen a URFC backline without Rachel Corsie just yet, but we have seen a midfield without Scott and it didn’t look great. Throughout the Houston match there was a lot of issues in the midfield that need to be fixed. This weekend against North Carolina, these problems need to be addressed or this game could get pretty ugly. One solution to this could be having Gunny play a more defensive midfield position. She is usually used by Utah in a more attacking sense, but perhaps her grit and strength could be better suited for the defensive side of things to sure up URFC’s midfield. Too many times against Houston balls were turned over in the midfield and opportunities were created.

Real Monarchs SLC : Did the bye week come at just the right time?

Real Monarchs SLC are 1-3-0 in their last four matches. Oftentimes in soccer the bye week seems to come just as a team is heating up and ruins their momentum; the Real Monarchs are hoping to have just the opposite happen to them. RMSLC haven’t won in two games now, their last loss coming at home. This team struggled throughout April and this bye week couldn't have come at a better time. Hopefully they were able to use it to step away from game preparation, get back to the basics, and become the dominate Real Monarchs we have gotten used to seeing in the last two seasons.