Armchair Analyst: On the radar for Week 25 of the 2015 MLS season

I'm back from Maui. It is hot there, and expensive, but it is a vacation spot that belongs on everybody's bucket list. Try the fish tacos.

The best part of vacation? The fact that I was able to scald myself in the sun while sipping rum from a coconut on a boat in the middle of the Pacific – and still watch soccer on my tablet via MLS Live, WatchESPN, FoxSportsGO, and any number of other apps.

We live in the future and it is awesome.

On to the weekend's games:

1. Canary in a Coalmine

It's been said time and again – by me and others – that most mid-season signings need a few months to settle into the swing of things before showing their true value in MLS. David Beckham was a disaster in 2007; the Red Bulls sunk upon Thierry Henry's arrival in 2010; and even Robbie Keane was a little slow to hit his groove for a 2011 Galaxy team that still probably has to be argued as the best in the league's history.

That pattern is holding true in Portland, where the Timbers added attacking DP Lucas Melano in July and have yet to see anything tangible in return. Melano has played 137 minutes spread across four games so far, and has yet to score or register an assist.

It happens. The league is hard.

More concerning, however, is that Melano has yet to create a single chance, as measured by Opta. A game-and-a-half's worth of minutes isn't enough to punch any panic alarms just yet, and not everything that counts can be counted, but this is pretty discouraging from a guy who's been put in position to make an impact:

Gio Dos Santos, Nelson Valdez and Gonzalo Veron, to name three, have vastly different stat lines since their introductions.

The good news for Portland is that they've taken seven points from Melano's four appearances, and are working on a three-match shutout streak heading into Friday's showdown against an uneven Houston side at Providence Park (11 pm ET; UniMás | UnivisionDeportes.com). This is another winnable game for Portland – really, it's a should-win game – and the Timbers have become very good at taking the requisite amount of points out of those as they've climbed the table.

Their problems have come against the tougher teams in the race (4-1 at Dallas, 5-0 at LA), and Melano was supposed to, in some measure, close the gap on those front-runners. He'll have something close to 90 minutes against the Dynamo to work toward creating enough attacking chemistry to do that that, and then the schedule gets scary: six of the following seven are against playoff teams, including trips to Seattle and LA.

I'll also be watching... A diamond, maybe? It seems like Owen Coyle has trotted out the Dynamo in every formation but that one this year. Now he's got Will Bruin, Cubo Torres and Giles Barnes finally all under one roof, so why not?

2. Synchronicity II

One of the great joys of the 2014 season was watching FC Dallas winger Fabian Castillo, who a very smart and not-prone-to-hyperbole friend of mine calls "one of the five best players in the league," start realizing his potential as both a goalscorer and chance creator rather than just a run-of-the-mill field-stretcher. Castillo added a cleverness and change-of-pace to his game, and can wait for plays to develop with the type of patience that he simply outran in his younger days.

Kekuta Manneh has made the same sort of leap in 2015, and let's take a minute to praise Carl Robinson for it just as we praised Papi Pareja last year. Developing players into the best versions of themselves is a key component of any successful MLS manager, and the guys at the top of the all-time "successful MLS manager" list – Bruce, Bob, Sigi, Dom – are as notable for the talent they started and helped to flourish as they are for the titles they've won.

Robinson has the early signs of being masterful at that particular skill, and the breakthrough he's coaxed out of Manneh has been based more upon risk-taking than precision. Manneh's pass completion percentage in both the attacking half and final third have dropped from 2014 to 2015, but his ability to create what Opta deems to be "big chances", or chances that they feel should be scored, has been the pay-off.

In other words: Manneh now uses his individual skills to take selective risks, and in so doing makes the game easier for his teammates:

That's right out of the Landon Donovan School of Chance Creation. Create just enough space in the box, draw the defense a half-step out of position while your teammate gets to the back post, then hit it low and hard across the area.

It'll be a pleasure to see Manneh and Castillo go head-to-head on Saturday night when the 'Caps host Dallas (10 pm ET; TSN 1 | MLS LIVE).

I'll also be watching... Pareja's been a great developer of talent in both his MLS stops, but one player who's apparently hit a wall is central defender Walker Zimmerman. He's played two minutes in the last two months, and the FCD boss has actually preferred converts like Zach Loyd or Je-Vaughn Watson as Matt Hedges' backline partner.

Zimmerman is still just 22, and has battled injuries throughout his three years in the league. But his development remains crucial for a Dallas group that has often been forced to scramble at the back when they've faced the league's more potent attacking teams.

3. Walking On The Moon

Here's what I wrote a few weeks back about how NYCFC needed to play, following a 3-2 loss to Montreal:

This is the part where I say Kwadwo Poku has to become a fulltime starter, and that the best way to use him is as a hybrid attacking midfielder/second forward in the way Sevilla, Real Madrid and Roma used to use Julio Baptista. Poku, like Baptista, can physically boss almost anyone, and with him occupying the defense's attention it would allow David Villa and Tommy McNamara to buzz around picking up recoveries and attacking at angles.

And here's how Poku is playing now:

Notice how deep into midfield he's dropped, and how far off the back line Tyson Wahl has to come in order to get any defensive purchase? Poku receives the ball like a No. 9, but does so in the spot usually occupied by a No. 10. He then turns and burns the Columbus defense to ash.

That is the Julio Baptista role. Poku is very good at it, and with Villa and McNamara working with him, as well as a steady stream of service from Andrea Pirlo, NYCFC have started looking like a real soccer team.

The big problem facing them is that they'll now have to do this at StubHub center on Sunday (3 pm ET; ESPN) against a Galaxy team looking close to unstoppable:

So I'm not holding my breath for the continuation of this run of good NYCFC results to carry over into the weekend. But I do think they know, finally, who they are as a team.

(And no, I still have no idea how Lampard fits)

I'll also be watching... Robbie Rogers and Sebastian Lletget working down LA's left side. Teams have gone at the NYCFC right back all year, no matter who it's been. I'd expect the Galaxy to continue that pattern.

One more thing:

Happy weekending, everybody.