Welcome to the Wednesday Q&A series, where we focus on one particular topic – today's being the potential return to action of Frank Lampard – and ask you to react, share, and discuss in the comments section. However, feel free to ask about anything game-related (MLS, USL, NASL, USMNT, CanMNT, etc.) over the next several hours.
It seems, based upon the recent evidence, that Frank Lampard will make his season debut for NYCFC tonight against Toronto FC (7 pm ET; MLS LIVE in the US | TSN4 in Canada). This has potential to be a mixed blessing (pun not intended at all, I swear it).
NYCFC have come into their own over the last three weeks based upon a simple premise: In the midfield, there is one piano player -- usually Andrea Pirlo -- and two piano carriers. Those two carriers have generally been youngsters Federico Bravo and Mikey Lopez, with the former usually acting as a pure backline shield and the latter more often as a box-to-box player.
Putting the two of them into the lineup has relieved Pirlo of most of his defensive burdens, while at the same time necessitating a positional shift for the Italian legend. He's been a regista for the last dozen years, but since early April he's been pushed higher up the field as more of a classic, Argentine-style No. 10. He's the furthest forward of the three midfielders, which allows him to be more influential in the final third even if it's reduced his chances to hit the type of searching long-balls that were his staple with Juventus and Italy.
Tonight's game comes on three day's rest after a grueling 90 minutes of constant defense on a turf field on the other side of the continent. Given that, there is no way Pirlo goes from the start in this one.
Enter Lampard. His passing won't be quite so elegant and he won't be as clever with where and how he receives the ball in the build-up, but he'll be a better goal-threat than Pirlo has been and there's really no difference in their expected defensive contributions. The trade-off from one to the other at this point in their careers is within the margins and therefore acceptable.
Given Lampard's fitness and the short turnaround before Saturday's Heineken Rivalry Week match-up against the Red Bulls on Saturday (3 pm ET; FOX), it's a safe bet that Pirlo will be back in the starting lineup and Lampard will be back on the bench. So the next 180 minutes don't present a "numbers crunch" problem for Patrick Vieira.
The problems crop up immediately following that, assuming both DPs stay healthy, because if they do... one of them has to sit. There's only room for one piano player in the midfield, as Mix Diskerud's performance this past weekend mostly showed:
The defensive shortcomings of the Pigeons' midfield against Portland were obvious as they conceded 24 shots, many from good locations. What probably surprised some folks was that, even with getting the more skillful Diskerud into the game, NYCFC's possession and ability to control the tempo was worse than usual.
“No, that wasn’t our plan at all," Vieira said afterward about the way the field tilted toward Portland. "We wanted to control the game and have the possession of the game, but we played against a really good side tonight. You have to give them credit because they make it really difficult for us and that’s the reason why I’m really proud of my team because they showed a lot of character to manage to leave Portland with three points.”
He should be proud, but he should also understand this isn't a Diskerud-specific issue. Rather, it's a "spacing and role" issue. In the absence of Bravo, Diskerud -- a piano player, not a carrier -- struggled to fill Lopez's box-to-box role, while Lopez struggled to fill Bravo's role as a No. 6.
Which brings us back to the 800-pound gorilla in the room: What happens when Lampard and Pirlo are both healthy? One of them's going to be playing the piano, and the other's going to have to help carry it.
It shouldn't be an issue tonight, and I doubt it'll be one this weekend. After that, all bets are off.
Ok folks, thanks for helping me through the afternoon! Enjoy the games and see you all this weekend...
