Pablo Mastroeni’s Diamond Needs Someone To Shine Offensively

It means nothing, but it seems to be the scapegoat people are pointing to this year for the Rapids' failures on offense. Just like lambasting a player for not having enough 'heart', talking about a team's lack of 'creativity' is simply a way to wash over an issue without actually picking into it. In this case, picking into it isn't even all that hard a task: the Rapids midfield has been fantastic defensively, but hideous offensively.

Like the 2010 side, this Rapids team likes to go for a bit of longball themselves, but they prefer to do it from the midfield instead of from the defense. Unfortunately, that has left the forwards on an island all season long, because just about everyone in the midfield seems more interested in lofting it up than making a run themselves. Since the move to the diamond 4-4-2, the midfield has been stocked with guys great in possession, but more suited for a defense-minded box-to-box role than anything involving attacking flair. That has meant great passing and possession in the bottom two thirds of the pitch, but discombobulation in the final third.

It makes sense that the Rapids forwards are having major issues, because this is nearly the opposite of what they had going for them last year. The 2013 Rapids were at their best when a fire drill was on up the field and six or seven guys were flinging themselves forward at once to create mismatches. Compared with the stagnant offense with little movement we're seeing this year, it's just bad.

It's not the fault of the diamond tactic in general, as some might say. As much as Rapids fans have loved to crow endlessly about width the past few weeks, it's very possible to work well offensively in a diamond as long as they players in it know when to break forward and work in tandem with the fullbacks. It's a matter of getting the right players into the mix, which it's very arguable that Pablo hasn't done.