I’m going to guess is also designed to kickstart the benched as well, so I guess I can understand it.

On Wallace, it seems like in that lineup though, you’re don’t use his quickness to a full advantage here (cue Dane Richards joke), and the mention of the ideal backline is nice, but he’s only had part of that for 2 games and change, so I’d have to think that keeping him in back is going to get him to learn to swim sooner or later. For whatever it’s worth.

Strangely enough, I could watch your backline against Dallas if for no other reason to see whether it works or not.

It’s not often that I’m accused of being conservative, but I just might be here. I want to keep Perkins in net, at least for tonight. It might be that benching him shakes him up enough that he breaks out of his funk. It might be that Hamid is the Second Coming of Keller and wins GK of the Year after taking over for the year.

But I don’t think the odds of either of those are very good. So I think benching Perkins could break his mojo worse than it is. Let Hamid take over in USOC (and quals), but - for now - leave Troy between the pipes and hope he remembers how to play the position. It would be great to start winning now, but I don’t want to scar Hamid’s development with a shellacking, and I want Troy to pull himself up. I’m doing my best to think longview (in part because the shorter view is so damn depressing, sure).

As for Wallace, I’m torn. I want him to get some more seasoning at LB, but we may need him higher up for now. That said, I think his propensity to pass to the wrong colored shirt is every bit as strong as Morsink’s, so even with his dynamism, I don’t know how much I want him at DM with a makeshift back line behind him. I think I’m leaning toward preferring to keep him at LB, putting King or Barklage next to Simms, and maybe inserting Boyzzz on the wing (It’s fight we’re looking for, right?)

It’s starting to feel like this team is severely lacking in the Answers Dept. Honestly, players have to start showing up on Game Day, wherever they are on the field.

I agree with The AMT on Perkins and Wallace. I might even keep Talley in the mix. It seems to me that the defense needs to gel. I’d hate to tear it up again until we are sure we have better players to insert (Namoff, Jakovic). We’re just asking for more trouble to throw an entirely new backline out there. I could see McTavish in the mix maybe — before James, IMO — if only to give Talley an evening off for a haircut.

As for Moresink, I always thought he was there to back up Simms. Why isn’t he on the bench now that Clyde is back? Wallace to midfield is intriguing, but if his long term role is defense (where his potential is better than Burch), I’d leave him there.

King is an unknown to me, but he or Barklage should probably pair with Simms. Maybe Barklage on the flank as you suggest, with King next to Simms. Or maybe McTavish on the flank with Bark in the middle. I’m happy to see Quaranta benched — that’s the kind of thing he responds to.

I like the Castillo/Najar/Cristman attack that we saw in the OC. It’s probably the best we have at the moment. On the other hand, they haven’t scored yet. Maybe we give Emilio a chance to impress. In any case, bring Jaime in only when we’re up by 2.

Overall, I think the biggest problem with our defense (including Perkins, who seems overly emotional) is our lack of offense. We need the morale boost that comes with scoring goals. I’m all for radical moves up top to make that happen.

I think you’re completely right. Ugh. This season is starting to make me feel like a Washington Wizards fan.

The worst thing that could happen is getting shut out at home, which has happened every game so far this season. Typically I advocate going turbo-youth development when a team just straight-up sucks; I think there are enough players with enough left in the tank to put together a pretty decent list of subs (it’s a lot easier to run around with a fork in your back for 30 minutes instead of 90).

At this point, I think the biggest adjustment could be pounding coffee during halftime like it’s going out of style. Clearly Onalfo hasn’t figured out how to get this team to show up in the second half yet, so might as well make sure nobody can fall asleep then.

I’m with rke and Graysnail. Between the offense’s inability to punish people for allowing us to control long stretches of play and our tendency in every game to become utter crap in the 2nd half, I think we have 2 major fixes to make as a unit that will make more of a difference than positional swaps. Imagine United as a car; we need to get the thing to start and run consistently before we focus on fixing the bald tires and useless suspension. I think taking a 1-0 lead will do us more good than benching anyone.

That said, changes to the team are worth considering. Once Simms started a game, I didn’t want Morsink in any more. What worries me about him is that he seems to still believe that he’s something of an MLS version of Xabi Alonso or Andrea Pirlo. Unfortunately for him, those guys do their jobs under constant pressure; put one clumsy guy on Morsink, and he’ll turn the ball over. He also carries himself like one of those players that needlessly turns games into mean-spirited affairs. There’s an element of nastiness to his tackling and jawing with opposing players/the ref.

I’d prefer to see Barklage or even King in the role alongside Simms. Both players are more likely to add to our potential to score, are less likely to draw a red card, and will hold the ball for less time (thus avoiding Morsink’s turnovers). I also think Barklage in particular would make us a harder-working team in the center, which will be important tonight considering KC’s high-octane approach to the game.

Of course, I’d also have no problem seeing Barklage at right midfield. Quaranta has seemed to have less and less impact with each game that goes by. I also think that, with Cristman in, we need to improve our crossing from the run of play. Barklage is not Beckham, but he’s better than Tino in terms of making the standard cross after enough space to get the ball around your defender. On the other hand, there’s what I was saying over on Soccer Insider: Espinoza looked like he had no idea how to support the rest of his backline this past Saturday, when Houston mercilessly exploited the gap between he and Matt Besler. I think playing someone shifty and unpredictable at right midfield could reap similar benefits for us, because it would be a more confusing and unusual assignment. Barklage plays wide midfield in a fairly traditional fashion, while Quaranta offers a lot of unexpected runs; the teams that stop Tino tend to do it with strong 1v1 marking. There are reasons to go either way, though my preference for Barklage centrally makes me lean just slightly towards keeping Quaranta in.

I’d rather not move Wallace from left back. Graye is getting his legs under him at right back; changing his spot on the team at this point might set that progress back. I also think Wallace will grow into the role if we give him adequate time. I do understand the calls to bench him or move him, but personally I don’t think we’re at that juncture yet (in part because, in my opinion, we have no other options at that position to begin with).

Finally, in goal, I don’t really like either option. Perkins seems stuck in a slump right now. However, is benching him going to help, or is it going to worsen the obvious problems with focus and mentality that he’s having? Also, our option to replace him at a position that is extremely cruel to poor judgment is just 19. I think the calls to change goalkeepers come without considering the possibility that, if Hamid comes in and plays poorly, we potentially have 2 psychologically broken keepers. We wouldn’t just be risking more goals against; it can take a young player a long time to grow past blowing it in his first appearance, and in goal you only have to make one tiny mistake to be regarded as having an awful game.