The way I see it, with the 2010 season fast approaching, is that Real Salt Lake has some big decisions to make leading up to and throughout training camp. I would like to touch on a few of these over the next couple days, namely team formation, player acquisitions, and position battles. We’ll start off with formation today since I believe everything else needs to be determined by what formation Kreis sends out there.

In 2008 and 2009 coach Kreis grew very fond of a 4-4-2 formation that saw all four midfielders playing in a tight diamond shape up the middle. That formation served them well to end 2008 and then due to some issue’s integrating new players into the mid diamond it was abandoned early in 2009 for a 4-3-3 that lifted Real out of a disastrous month of May where they lost four games and tied two for a win less month.

The 4-4-2 while not perfect does provide some extra attacking options as generally three out of the four midfielders can get up around the box and into the attack. Morales especially seems to thrive in this setup as it makes it harder for him to receive the sole focus of the opposing teams D-mid. For it to work however; the team needs the two wingbacks to excel at getting forward in order to provide the team with some width. This is often exploited by the opposition if they have a fast winger on either side as they are able to counter attack when Real’s back-line is short handed. This formation also seems to do better if at least two out of the four mid’s can create and hold the ball in the attacking third. Last year that role fell to Morales and Mathis or Williams depending on who was in but with the loss of Mathis there appears to be only two quality play-makers currently signed by Salt Lake.

The   4-3-3 formation was the other option that we saw a lot of last year and it did spark the team for a stretch but even with the extra “forward” seemed to lack any creativity in the attacking third. One of the big pros of this formation is the extra defensive presence that it affords. Since neither wing-back is called upon to get forward every play the opposing wingers can’t rely on getting a counter attack opportunity every time RSL loses possession on the opponent’s side of the pitch. It also was setup to allow both Beckerman and Johnson to play a D-Mid role and pick and chose their times to move into the attack. Ideally this should have kept the opposition on their toes as they wouldn’t know where the extra numbers in the attack were going to come from instead this often turned into a negative as teams could focus on the A-mid and force Real to play up the wings.  Without any true wing players on the roster or a target in the middle, the team was then stuck trying to cross balls into space with only one or two attackers in the box. These crosses were easily dealt with by opposing defenders. This also usually forced the two players out on the wing to stay wide and as a result they sometimes appeared to get lost from the action when the ball wasn’t at their feet.

Half way thru last season Garth and Jason started stockpiling talent to play the 4-3-3. Pablo Campos was brought in to not only replace Yura but to provide Real with a target in the middle. Rachid El Khalifi was also signed to provide some depth out on the wing in this formation. El Khalifi will get few chances if the team starts out in a 4-4-2 this year. The 4-3-3 would also benefit David Horst and Rafael Cox not to mention some of the rookies as they would have more defensive help. This will be more important in some of the Cup games that the team will play this year as they automatically qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League and the US Open Cup this year but its lack of attacking options is a cause for concern.

There are other options the team could use aside from these two but my money would be on one of them. With the finish last season one would expect to see the 4-4-2 again but that should be determined in training camp. For this formation to work the team will need to identify one or two more creative options in the midfield. They have a few players that have shown flashes of being capable in that role, Ned Grabavoy is one that comes to mind and so is Nelson Gonzalez but neither of these players saw enough time there to be considered as proper creative depth. Another signing here would go a long way to alleviate concerns for this position. If they do go this way let’s hope for a healthy season from their three wing-backs capable of playing in this formation.