Rapids offense needs a boost – of Conor Casey?

Unfortunately, Conor Casey was injured during the DC United game. Concerns were slightly settled by the great performance we saw out of Folan in that game as he scored a brace with some surprisingly good looking stuff from the big guy who was supposed to be experiencing a period of adjustment as he moved from fringe Premier League side Hull to the different style of play in MLS. Since then it's looked like the performance was due more to the fact that he was playing against a DC patchwork defense than his actual ability. Folan has looked somewhat out of position and a bit slow on the pitch throughout his last three starts with Conor Casey missing, although he showed improvement during the Seattle game. Sadly, all this has accomplished is letting the people on the 'No, seriously. Conor Casey is better than Folan and why the heck are you convinced otherwise' bandwagon have a cheap laugh. (You know who you are, people who have argued with me about this!)

Even without Conor, all is not lost. Is it time to start burning the city down and nail-bitingly worrying about another of the Rapids' now famous 'summer swoons' that this team has turned into a science over the years? It's hard to say if that's the case. These last three games have come under some trying circumstances far different from the first three matches played. The team had relative ease in their first three matches not just in opponent – although both the Timbers and DC United have since shown that they're not quite as terrible as first thought – but injury wise. After losing both Pablo Mastroeni and Casey, this team was hurt quite badly, we saw that when Joesph Nane stepped in and got eaten up against FC Dallas. The terrible call in the Real Salt Lake game that should have by all means been a tough 0-0 draw didn't help matters either. The Seattle game was played with 10 men for 87 minutes and still didn't look all that bad out there all things considered.

There will be better days for the Rapids offense than these last three, we've seen what they can do in the first three games and allowing five goals in three games against tough sides like Seattle, Salt Lake and Dallas shows that the defense is surely trying their hardest to keep the games close. Lest this devolve into another summer like last years – I shudder at the thought – let's hope that we get our #9 back soon. He may be one of the most underrated players in the league as to what he provides this offense other than goals.