Great move by our beloved Rapids. Check out the Rapids website for the upcoming press release.

On first glance this seems to be an excellent trade. Larentowicz shared the midfield with Shalrie Joseph, though he appears to be more of a defensive midfielder (I’m still hoping for a Xavi clone). Thompson is called a “two-footed, wide midfielder” on the Revs website, and might address the need for wingers as I posted earlier.

Gibbs has struggled with injury and keeping his place in the starting XI with the addition of Baudet and Moor. Burpo is a great backup, but with a healthy Matt Pickens and young Steward Ceus in the wings, this is a trade that needs to happen.

One of the first areas this shows up is the lack of a default starting 11. If you look at the Rapids losses on 3/21 to Chivas USA, 4/19 to Houston, 6/28 to Seattle, 7/4 to Chicago, and 7/18 to DC United, these are the players who started.

1. Matt Pickens
2. Preston Burpo
3. Jordan Harvey
4. Ugo Ihemelu
5. Scott Palguta
6. Cory Gibbs
7. Julien Baudet
8. Kosuke Kimura
9. Nick LaBrocca
10. Mehdi Ballouchy
11. Jacob Peterson
12. Pablo Mastroeni
13. Greg Dalby
14. Colin Clark
15. Conor Casey
16. Pan Noonan
17. Omar Cummings

For the 6/24 and 7/4 losses there was some turnover due to international duties (Casey, Cummings, Clark), however if you look at this list I can’t say who El Capitan is going to pick for our upcoming match against New York. Not only that, but how players are used is also in question. Is Kimura effective enough as an attacking defender to make up for deficiencies in shutting down attackers? How does Noonan fit into our attack, can he mesh soon enough to make an impact this season? Is Baudet a helpful addition to the squad, or are we disrupting our defense by inserting him mid season?

And what is our style? Are we hard nosed and aggressive like Mastroeni? Are we quick on the counter like Clark and Cummings? Are we fluid like Ballouchy? I realize all of these can coexist at some level, but it seems like individual players have their own style, but the Rapids have not developed a style all their own.

If we can identify the starting 11 that perform well together and have the best chance of creating a cohesive style, we might achieve some consistency and get back into the playoff picture.

What are your thoughts?

A good bit of credit must also go to the fist of Preston Burpo, and admittedly to the crossbar which was clearly favoring the Rapids on Saturday. A perusal of the video highlights shows how fortunate the Rapids were to come away with a point. Reigning MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto wreaked havoc on the Rapids from set pieces, and his goal in the 41st minute was setup by an shaky back line.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one underwhelmed by Kosuke Kimura, as Ty Harden took his place in the back. However, a possible Harden hamstring injury forced El Capitan to put in Scott Palguta. That will be a position to watch this weekend, as we certainly need to develop cohesion at the back.

Up next: a Houston team hungry for it’s first win of the season, and another road test for our Rapids.

For more coverage of the game

• Video Highlights
• The Denver Post
• Official Rapids Website

Gary Smith, from the Denver Post

“Wonderful, absolutely wonderful,” gushed Smith. “No game away from home is easy, we all know that. We took the game to them, and then we implode a little bit. It was a difficult night, but I think we showed a lot of character.”

The Rapids did manage some shaky play in the first half. Preston Burpo appeared to have his feet in concrete as rookie Omar Gonzalez put a Landon Donovan cross into the back of the net (36′). The entire back four caught the slows in the 48th minute and they were unable to close down a nice passing attack resulting in goal number two.

However Casey was not to be denied. The former South High School answered less than 2 minutes later with a deja vu tap-in of a Cummings cross (watch for that Thunder & Lighting combo all year). Then in a complete collapse of the Galaxy defense, he found himself all alone in the 84th minute, calmly steered around the goalie, and pounded in the winner.

I wouldn’t presume we will find all defenses so accommodating in the future. The set piece goal was needless, we will certainly want to improve our marking (especially the really tall guys!). It will be interesting to see who is in net next week as well, I haven’t heard why Preston Burpo replaces Pickens in goal, who has been performing well.

Again, however, the Rapids ability to score and score often (I can’t believe I said that) led the way. The Casey/Cummings combo is a delight to watch.

Next up: the Galaxy again, Tuesday night, in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

For more coverage of the game

• The Denver Post
• Video Highlights