Once upon a time, there was a team that topped the Western Conference....
The Whitecaps are no longer top of the league. I hope you all got a screenshot of that wonderful moment after week one, because it might be a while before we see it again. Week one of next season perhaps.
Carl Robinson had his Fairytale of New York. It was fun at the grand opening ball, whilst it lasted. So were Vancouver's creatively attacking midfield.
Whatever happened to them? One minute adventurous and cutting quite the dashing figure, then, as if by magic at the stroke of midnight, they turn into pumpkins for the next two games.
It was ugly, sister. Grim.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Now as the Whitecaps return home, still unbeaten but looking a little more ragged than when they left, Carl Robinson has a quest ahead of him this week. Can he find the right person, people, to fit in to his team?
Who will come forward and fit the footballing glass slipper to perfection?
Now we don't want to get too doom and gloom. Plenty of weeks left in the season for that! But, once again, Vancouver looked like a different team on the road, than at BC Place, albeit one that makes attacking substitutions and that's been a joy to behold.
Before we look at the bad, it would be improper not to mention the good.
As we said in our report on Saturday, if you'd offered Robinson a home win and two away draws to kick off his first managerial stint, he'd have bitten your hand off faster than the Big Bad Wolf.
The Caps are still unbeaten, one of four such teams in the West and seven overall in MLS. Quite impressive numbers really after three weeks.
If Vancouver were to take the vast majority of points from their home games (I'd like all, but I want to be somewhat realistic) and keep picking up points away from home when they're not playing to their best, then the end result should be a playoff spot.
For all the faults in their first two games on the road, they've only conceded one goal and a clean sheet against a dangerous New England side on Saturday was impressive.
The defence played well. David Ousted was Man of the Match, Andy O'Brien and Johnny Leveron played solidly well together, when they weren't booting the ball as far up the pitch as they could in the first half, and both full backs held tight.
Steven Beitashour was sort of invisible but that's not a bad thing defensively. He just went about his job with little fuss or drama. I'd like to see him push forward more and the same with Jordan Harvey, for whom it must have been hard for him to do that when he was being attacked most of the game up that wing. The Revs clearly saw that as a weak option and, as usual, he got his detractors online, but as we said, he held tight and a clean sheet was had.
With Jay DeMerit rested, and the centreback pairing of O'Brien and Leveron playing well, Robinson's first dilemma this week is does he bring back the Caps captain?
Now if you've been reading or listening to me these last few months, you'll know I'm going to say no! But, looking at it more objectively, or trying to, do you want to split up a pairing that hasn't conceded and has more mobility than what a pair of ageing centre halfs offer?
One of the other big dilemmas for Robinson this week was going to be, what does he do with Nigel Reo-Coker?
I haven't seen anyone struggle as much on the road since I gave my wife that driving lesson last year. At least she had a rough idea of where she was going.
Reo-Coker has had very few away games in MLS where he's shone. The last two matches aren't two of them. Saturday's game looked like a disaster waiting to happen after he picked up his early booking. He survived an early bath from the ref, but was given one when hooked by Robinson.
He simply doesn't look up to speed yet with his fitness, awareness or Robinson's gameplan. The odd flash of magic here and there, but nowhere near enough. He's struggled to get a good bond with Matias Laba and the Argentine's performance have dipped as a result too as far I'm concerned, as he has to carry him in part.
At least Robinson's decision as to whether to drop Reo-Coker is probably going to have been made for him, after the Englishman missed training today following a freak bike rack injury that saw the midfielder fall over one of the metal beasts and damage his head and face, with questions raised around possibly even a concussion.
Obviously such an injury is no laughing matter, but it does make you wary that he didn't even have the mobility to get around a stationary object. As Colin Elmes (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/colinelmes" target="_blank">@ColinElmes</a>) replied to me on Twitter today, "at least the bike rack didn't come away with the ball for a goalscoring opportunity".
Reo-Coker's injury will now give Gershon Koffie his opportunity. He needs to take it if he wants to stick around. He had a good week of training last week and did fairly well when he came on as sub on Saturday, certainly better than Reo-Coker.
And this is the key for all of these fringe guys and what Robinson needs to see. He needs the players on the outside looking in to grab their opportunity with both hands when it comes along.
There will be others looking to do that apart from Koffie.
Sebastian Fernandez had a great MLS debut but then has been posted missing for most of the following 180 minutes. He is surely going to drop to bench on Saturday and whether that allows in Kekuta Manneh or Nicolas Mezquida will depend on formation and tactics. Both should see minutes against Houston.
Up front, Kenny Miller is being wasted out wide or dropped back. He needs to be playing up front. He needs to be the striker. You saw the difference in his play when he moved back up there the past two games.
Darren Mattocks is joint leading MLS in assists. His workrate is much better and I'm starting to like him again, but how long do you give someone who is primarily a striker to actually score goals? Does his work save his place over someone who can put the ball in the back of the net? And do we even have that person in the squad right now?
A lot of big decisions for the Caps rookie coach this week. This is the first real test of how he approaches "adversity". I've put that in inverted commas as it's sort of hard to say that an unbeaten team is in the mire. The Whitecaps most certainly are not, but there are some warning signs and cracks appearing.
If they want to live happily ever after, then they need to be addressed early.
Houston are a dangerous side that go for it from the off. The Whitecaps can't afford to be caught napping and they can't keep relying on being a second half team.
It's going to be a huge test for the team. So who are the real 2014 Whitecaps? The New York winning ones or the uninspiring New England drawing ones? Not long till we find out.
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