MONTREAL – The Impact created chances last weekend in Toronto. This weekend, they’ll try finishing them.
As Jesse Marsch aims to send the Montreal fans home happy at the final whistle of Saturday afternoon’s season finale against the New England Revolution at Stade Saputo (2 pm ET; watch LIVE online), he will tweak his XI one last time. The hope is that the shifts in midfield help his team’s attacking play after none of the Impact’s 17 attempts on TFC’s goal last Saturday found twine.
In order to give Calum Mallace another start alongside Patrice Bernier in the center, Marsch will call upon more experienced players on the flanks. Davy Arnaud will step out of the backline and move to the left of midfield, while the Collen Warner experiment at right midfield will continue.
READ: Mallace following Bernier's lead in rookie season
“I think that Collen, whether it was when he was in Salt Lake or at different moments in his career, has done a good job of being an attacking guy from a wide spot,” Marsch told reporters earlier this week.
As for Arnaud, it is just another day at the office. The Impact team captain has played either side of midfield, at right back and in the hole behind a main striker in 2012. He has moved to the left in the middle of games this season, but it will be Arnaud’s first start on that side.
The scorer of the club’s first-ever goal in MLS has relished big occasions this season, which makes the possibility of him cutting in from the left and hitting the target for his fifth of the season a conceivable one.
“At the end of the day, it’s the same ideas,” Arnaud told reporters on Friday. “It’s a little bit different here and there, but throughout my career, I’ve moved around pretty much all over the field. It’s something that I really don’t mind. I pride myself on being able to play in some different spots.”
