The Knee Jerk: RSL vs LAFC

Another wild swing. Consistently either terrible or good, this dichotomous 2020 RSL team. I’m not sure what to expect, but I never really expect to see what I expected play out through fielded expectations. It’s a roll of 1d2 on which RSL we see game to game.

There were some good bits. Kind of. Our wide service got much better in the second half. Meram didn’t have a great first half. I’m also rather impressed with the wide service Douglas Martínez provides. If only we could put those things away.

We have no Rusnák, and RSL looked the same. Does this continue? The camps on Rusnák are wide and varied. Is he our best player? Is he not doing enough? Is he overpayed? Is he earning his Designated Player spot? The opinions on this are all over, but these next few matches without him are going to be telling. We might get some answers, or we might just be left with more questions.

Here’s intermittent once and future RSL stats guy Charles Barnard with some rather telling numbers, so I won’t ramble too much here.

Our defense just wasn’t good enough.

I guess we’re still in it, based on the Western Conference table, but are we really? It doesn’t feel like we’re in it, but neither did 2009, so maybe I should not be so cynical.

Please be courteous and wear your masks.

Overreactions

RSL should chalk this season up as a wash and start some weird experimentation in preparation for 2021. 2020 is going to be riddled with asterisks as it is. Maybe give Nick Rimando a two-game contract, play him as forward, and see if we can get him a goal. I used to do that when I played FIFA, so it’ll definitely work out in the real world.

Once Ochoa’s back, start him. Every match. Jeizon Ramírez too. Tell them “hey, you guys are the future of this club, so get out there and make your mistakes so we can win MLS Cup in 2021.” Something like that.

Maybe make a few more substitutions here and there. Might be a bit of a wild take, though.