There have come in our season a number of bumps and unintended consequences from those bumps. Seasons don’t get much bumpier than this for a team that could be successful, but it’s to the point that we must ask a serious question: Are the wheels falling off or is the road just getting bumpier still?
In the last month we’ve experienced some of our toughest problems since that dark day in May: First, our defense fell apart. Next, in our first consecutive league loss for eons, the midfield fell apart. On Saturday, the forward line fell apart, in a manner of speaking.
I’ve addressed the first two problems before, so I do think it’s necessary to address what exactly happened on Saturday (perhaps not in technical terms). The end result, I think, will be the answer — or at least a hint at one — to the question, “Can Espindola and Saborio work together?”
Let us first wonder about their personalities. We have up front on any given weekend two strikers who could be described as moody and mercurial. They both care a great deal about how they perform personally, and they both seem to care a great deal about the club. Saborio, for his part, may sometimes seem to not care much for the club, but I ask you, does a player return from international duty earlier than expected (he could have rested after Costa Rica exited the Gold Cup) and not care for the club? All the same, the question remains, but I don’t think either has a commitment issue.
But do their personalities particularly work together? Seeing them celebrate together is an awkward thing: Against New York Red Bulls, Saborio successfully took a penalty, and after everyone else had celebrated, they seemed to share a small but significant celebration, but it seemed one packed with resentment or angst. Still, I’m no psychologist, and I am certainly looking too much into something that wasn’t there. Did Espindola want to take the penalty? Perhaps. And that may be where any resentment would come from.
At any rate, we could do with a head that stays more calm in circumstances like Saturday’s. Espindola and Saborio were both visibly frustrated, and that’s hardly acceptable when the score’s still 0-0 and we’ve got a good chance to go forward. I understand missing chances, but the key is in getting up and getting on with it.
Oh, those chances that went missing were a plenty, too. Early on, we had some Espindola strikes that went wide or hit the crossbar — chances that he should and could have put away. His finishing is much better than was on display, I’m sure of it, but his lack of calm certainly cost him there. He’s not a poacher in the same way Saborio can be. Where Espindola managed to shine was in creating chances, in dribbling into the box and laying off chances for Saborio, and that’s where he typically shines. He’s pacy on the ball and (typically, at least ) direct, and that’s really a necessary thing in our system, as I’ve discussed before and will certainly discuss again. I still owe you a completed chart of how I think our system works, you see!
So what about Saborio’s chances? They’re a bit more subtle and were less obviously clear-cut chances, but I’m certain he deserves just as much of the blame for missing them as Espindola does for his. See, Saborio was brought in to finish chances, and he’s showed time and time again that he’s capable of finishing chances. We’re missing, though, the vital consistency that would make him a stand-out player in the Claret and Cobalt. On Saturday, he had several chances to go in with unmarked headers in the box, but he sent them well over the bar. He had opportunities to slot the ball in smoothly up close, but he sent those wide. He missed several chances served to him by Espindola on a plate simply because his runs were mistimed, and we may be able to pin that on a lack of understanding between the strike pair.
So the question comes up: Do they work together? Is the Espindola-Saborio pairing born of necessity, and is it going to serve us for the rest of the season? Is it a case of some delicious Costa Rican gallo pinto being paired with an Argentinian Malbec, and the flavors, great on their own, don’t pair well?
It’s hard to answer any of those questions on the basis of this season. Every last part of the team has been disrupted by injury and fatigue, and they continue to show their quality — just without that vital consistency. But the question, as hard as it may be to answer on the basis of our season, remains: Can Fabian Espindola and Alvaro Saborio work together? Time, I’m sure, will tell.
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