for me, the staff, the players -- it was embarrassing," said Doyle. "We were playing New York, who was also struggling, but we let them get away at home so easy. That was where myself and Frank [Yallop] said 'Things have to change.' All the positive encouragement, now we have to put a little bit more pressure on the guys, because we've given them every opportunity to succeed."
Doyle is already looking at other options up top, bringing former MLS veteran Cornell Glen in on trial. A trip to Costa Rica to scout players is also in the works, as are trips to Gold Cup matches. Doyle also indicated that his immediate plans are to shore up the spine of the team, with a central defender, a center midfielder, and a forward tops on his priority list.
"We didn't want to change things around at all," said Doyle. "We thought we had done all the work at the start of the season, with the exception of one or two players. But we have some work to do that's for sure. We're very disappointed with the way things are going."
Different formation, same result: In a bid to change their woeful road form, Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis opted for a 4-5-1 formation last Saturday against Chivas USA, and despite falling 1-0 to the league leaders, Kreis liked what he saw.
"I thought we limited the number of chances Chivas had," Kreis said. "In previous road games I thought we gave up a whole lot more chances than we did tonight. And for the first time we've ever played in that shape I thought we attacked pretty well out of it as well, and created some things, so that's a positive thing for us that we can draw from that game."
One item that Kreis still has left to ponder is the rough patch that forward Yura Movsisyan is going through. The Armenian-born striker has been on the end of some great chances during RSL's away games, yet hasn't been able to convert. He hasn't fared much better at home, with just one goal and an assist to his name. With Fabian Espindola and Luis Miguel Escalada pushing for more playing time, Kreis will likely find it difficult to keep both players on the bench, no matter how his team lines up.
Jeff Carlisle is a regular contributor to ESPN Soccernet, and covers the San Jose Earthquakes for Center Line Soccer and MLSnet.com. Jeff can be reached at eljefe1@yahoo.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
