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Tom’s Takes: RSL lose to the Philadelphia Union 4-1 on the road

Another road game for Real Salt Lake and another disappointing loss, this time to the tune of 4-1 against the Union. It was a wet and stormy evening in Chester, Pensylvania which I thought may help RSL put some goals in the back of the net…unfortunately I was wrong as the home team was the one capitalizing on the slippery football.

RSL’s lone goal came in the 65th minute when Bofo Saucedo found Damir Kreilach who finished with class in the bottom left-hand corner from just inside the box. That put RSL within striking distance down 2-1 and looked to have given the away team a spark, only for 2 more Union goals to follow.

Back to basics?

Something needs to change, and it needs to change fast. If I were Mike Petke I would be looking at playing players at their designated positions. For example, Brooks Lennon cannot play RB, Pablo Ruiz cannot play LB and Damir Kreilach needs to play further up the pitch alongside Albert Rusnak. I have been very impressed with Corey Baird at the #9 even though that is not his preferred position either but based on his form I believe you must keep him up top. RSL have a number of players who are not getting minutes with the first team who could come in and offer something at the positions I listed above, for example, Danny Acosta or Aaron Herrera are very exciting young wing backs that I believe deserve a chance. My point is that Mike Petke has options, and I would be baffled if he doesn’t start mixing things up as the group prepares for another road game at Century Link field this upcoming Saturday afternoon.

It is not all doom and gloom…

RSL has been playing well at home (besides the 5-1 thumping against LAFC) picking up wins in 4 of their 5 matches at home thus far. It is the away games that have been horrific, the 4-1 blowout this past weekend is reminiscent of 4 other away matches this season…3-1 @ Toronto, 4-0 @ NYCFC, 2-0 @ Vancouver (against 10 men!!!) and 3-1 @ Orlando. Conceding goals should be priority number one against Seattle, let’s stop wishing and hoping that RSL will pick up 3 points or even a point at Century Link Field this upcoming Saturday, maybe we should hope for no goals conceded as a starting point…

Below is Nick Rimando’s post-game game interview where he discusses the issue at hand:

It is worth reminding all RSL fan’s that as disappointed and angry as you may be, I can guarantee you the players, coaching staff and entire administration feel even more agony. They are giving everything they have but for whatever reason, it is not working out just yet. Give this team more time to gel and see where we end up. I still believe RSL are a playoff team and can do some damage in the post season, there is, however, a lot of work to be done until that point in time.

Follow me on twitter for all the RSL updates @TomCantHackett.

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