Four Colorado Rapids who should Improve under the new regime

This will not only stop all of the 'boring football' complaints from around America when they think of Colorado, but it should also give a spark to some of the players who just couldn't thrive in Gary Smith's system. Here are four players who you might want to watch in 2012 for some improvement to their game under the new system.

– I still feel sorry for Caleb Folan. The guy didn't have a good year but he, sometimes unfairly, was lambasted more than any other player on the club in 2011 by the fans. There were certainly plenty of easy complaints to throw at the guy: he seemed almost lazy in his movements at times, his jumps were often low and he was offside so often that you could have started an office pool on how many times per game it could happen.What's intriguing is that even then, he managed to bang home 6 goals and 2 assists in an off year for Colorado's offense. Under Gary Smith's old stop and go defensive system of play Caleb seemed absolutely lost. He actually seemed to play better when he was placed up top as the lone target forward rather than trying to stick with another striker up top trying to figure out the backpassings of the midfield up toward him. You have to have the feeling that either Folan is going to take the new offensive style of play and flame into a leading scorer on the Rapids or get even worse than he was last season.

There were plenty of flashes of brilliance from Folan – though most of them frustratingly wound up inches from the net instead of in it – in 2011 despite the bad overall appearance. Perhaps it's just a coach who knows how the goals are scored who can get him to finally put those balls into the net. Remember, Folan did have the 2nd most shots on the team last season – and the 3rd most on goal – it's up to him to find a way to put those away and become the 12 goal striker we were all expecting from the guy coming into last year. In fact, I'd be willing to say that an increase in the quality of the service towards the box would add another 3-4 goals onto his total alone… but that's a story for another day.

Well, getting Casey back will immediately put Omar back to his old self, but I think Pareja can do a little something more. Omar last season seemed like a guy who was just not being coached all that well – I think Gary Smith just figured that leaving him to his own devices was the best medicine even though that clearly wasn't the case. That's why he kept playing like he was a central attacking midfielder more than a striker. He was trying awful cheeky backheels to nobody, shooting from 30 yards out and just not making the speedy slanted runs toward the box that made him such a famous MLS goalscorer the previous two years.

2012 is probably the last chance for Wallace to finally hit his peak. It's with a guy he's been coached by before and a guy who knows how to deal with youth players – remember that Wallace is only 22! – so if there's any time that Wally will become the future USMNT left back we've been hoping for, it's the present. Even if he doesn't, there's hardly any way that his game can get worse from 2011, is there?