minnesota – 12th Loon

Amarilla is more than just a 25 goal/season player. He’s an MVP in the making		Amarilla will struggle to hit 25 goals let alone a dozen of them.
I’m a little bit further to the left on this one. I think Amarilla played pretty well in game 1. Little things like knowing when it’s best to just take the ball to the corner and win a corner kick instead of ignoring the wall of defense and blindly pushing through is impressive to me. He obviously has skill on and off the ball and his connection with Finlay for the header was excellent. I hope the midfield is able to feed him better in future games because Amarilla is going to be able to make lemonade.
Reynoso-who? Molino is the true #10 for the rest of the season.		It’s obvious that Molino has lost a step and only scored because of 2 gimmies from a poor Portland defense.
		Put me on the right side here. I thought Molino looked sluggish. I think his goals were the result of being in the right place at the right time. That’s certainly a great feature to have, don’t get me wrong. I just think Portland’s defense was rough around the edges and made a lot of mistakes that we were able to capitalize on, especially in transition. Molino is a fine piece coming off the bench, but I don’t think we’ll be as successful with him in the long term as with a DP in that spot.
The Loons defense is better than last year.		The Loons defense is shallow and is one injury from total ineptitude.
	I’m right in the middle of these views. Our defense is good and will continue to stay good. It feels very “bend but don’t break.” Portland’s attack couldn’t get a clear shot on goal and we kept the pressure on. Players like Yimmy Chara couldn’t overwhelm us with pace. Our height was a big advantage both defensively and offensively. I love Opara. But also… we will get into some card trouble if we need to be overpowering opponents like we were. I can see more penalties and plenty more cards coming. I’m terrified of losing Opara or Metanire to injury because I think our defense falls apart quick without those two.
Miller is a worthy replacement for Vito Mannone and will contribute with a few assists this season.		Miller takes a lot of risks and he was caught out of position more times than comfortable.
		Miller is good. Do I trust him in goal? Yes. Would I feel better had Mannone become the highest paid keeper in the MLS? Definitely. Am I upset having Miller? Absolutely not. Is Miller going to cost us a goal every once in a while? Certainly. Is it the end of the world? No.
Counter-attacking works. We outlasted Portland and took control of the game because we didn’t attack all out at the start.		Counter-attacking will not work & we were sluggish from the get-go. That will cost us goals and points in the future.
	We’ll see on this. I think it was wise to counter-attack against Portland. I loved watching Finlay tear up that right side. I especially liked that it won us the game. It’s not going to work every time and it’s also not going to be our main strategy this season. I can see us taking the offensive more often than not. We’ll see how things shake out over the course of a season.