Armchair Analyst: On the radar for Week 14 of the 2015 MLS season

The most interesting matchup of the weekend is actually on Saturday night, when the Seattle Sounders travel to the City of Fountains to take on Sporting (8:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE). Part of what makes it interesting is that these are the Nos. 1 & 2 teams in the Power Rankings, and part of what makes it interesting is we have no idea who'll be playing up top for either/both.

Clint Dempsey appears to be home on daddy duty. Obafemi Martins is Questionable - Broken Face. Krisztian Nemeth is off being a Magical Magyar. Dom Dwyer? He might be back, but he might not, and same for Jacob Peterson. If they can't go Peter Vermes doesn't have attackers to turn to, but he's got jokes:

Other options? Vermes smiled and started listing goalkeepers.
“Tim [Melia]. [Jon] Kempin,” he said. “Yeah. That's where we're at.”

That was from Thursday's preview.

So... we'll see what we see. One thing I'm definitely hoping for is a few minutes from Seattle Homegrown Victor Mansaray, who is a murderous passer in transition:

I'm not certain Sporting have a similarly talented young option to turn to, but part of what makes this game fun is that we might find out.

That's my focus for Saturday. Here's what I'm looking at for the rest of the weekend:

1. Troubled Times

Hey, guess what? The Red Bulls miss Thierry Henry.

Writing that is going to cause me some pain, since many, many of my friends took umbrage with my contention last season that Henry, and not Bradley Wright-Phillips, was the actual MVP of the 2014 RBNY team. That led to a lot of arguments and people I hold dear incorrectly using the word "narrative." It's good fun.

Henry's playmaking, goals from out wide and – especially this – positional gravity opened up the field of play for the likes of BWP, Lloyd Sam, Peguy Luyindula and others. Without Henry's ability to tilt the entire opposing defense toward his side of the field, there's no chance to do stuff like this:

That's called "opening up the field," and the current RBNY options at left wing (Mike Grella, Dane Richards, and pre-injury Sal Zizzo) don't do it. They also don't create chances at a high clip, and are on pace to create, as a group, less than half the open-play chances Henry generated last season.

Yeah, duh, these guys aren't as good as one of the 25 greatest ever to play the game. That's no surprise, and that's part of the reason why Jesse Marsch has deployed his team as a high-pressure, front-foot unit. You can't replace Henry like-for-like, so you have to adjust the balance of the entire team.

But the adjustment has taken an unexpected turn, because it's BWP himself who's become New York's primary open play chance generator (he has 20, four of them being "Big Chances", ones that Opta reckons should lead to a goal). That's a nice haul for a center forward, and speaks to his evolution as a complete player over the last two seasons. But the problem is nobody in the midfield – nobody he's creating chances for, in the 4-2-3-1 – is a real goalscorer.

Sam has had his moments, as has Grella, and few players in the league are better at getting into dangerous spots than Sacha Kljestan, whose all-around game is key to Marsch's gameplan. But combined they've got only eight goals. That'd be fine if BWP was getting the type of service and space he got last season, but... 

It hasn't been enough. At some point, all the pressure and possession has to start leading to goals. They'll get their chance to right the ship on Friday night (9 pm ET; UniMas | UDN | UnivisionDeportes.com) in Houston.

I'll also be watching... Will Bruin. He's got five goals in under 800 minutes, and the only regulars sporting better goals-per-90 this season are Kei Kamara, Jozy Altidore, Krisztian Nemeth, Chris Wondolowski, Clint Dempesy and Obafemi Martins. Pretty good company for a guy who'd lost his starting job at the start of the season.

• UPDATE: Grella scored, but the Red Bulls continued to miss Henry. And on the flip side, Bruin continued to be red hot, banging in two goals and adding an assist. Houston won 4-2.

2. Off the Radar

The Colorado Rapids went out last month and got themselves two new forwards in DP Kevin Doyle and Argentine Luis Solignac. The hope is that they score a bunch of goals. And the reality is that they should score a bunch of goals, because Dillon Powers is running around giving people lay-ups like he's Steve Nash:

Rapids fans should be thrilled to see Gabriel Torres on that list, too. He's been excellent when played out wide as a true winger.

But the engine is Powers. He's not just a nice attacker who will put up numbers; he's a field-controlling midfielder who will change the shape of entire games, no matter where he's played. He doesn't get enough love from the national press because the Rapids have been not so good, but just watch him and you'll see a guy who understands the game at a high level and can pull defenses apart without necessarily having to be the guy who hits the last pass.

Colorado will need Doyle & Solignac to start finishing a few of the chances Powers creates in order to get back into the West race, starting Sunday at RSL (5 pm ET; ESPNews | ESPN Deportes | WatchESPN | TSN2).

I'll also be watching... If you've been watching the US U-20s, you've probably noticed a certain lack of depth at right back. Justen Glad might be the guy to fix that. The 18-year-old had a good 70 minutes last week in his MLS debut, then was abused by Kekuta Manneh for the final 20. All part of the learning curve.

3. No. 9

One of my favorite rookies of 2014 made his return to action last week. Mark Sherrod didn't do much in his first game back from more than year-long layoff following a gruesome ACL tear last spring, but he moved well, battled in his typical fashion and this was his first touch:

Playing long balls from the back is not a high-percentage attacking build-up, but – this may make me a philistine – that aerial win from Sherrod took vision, creativity, field sense and skill. Yes, he's big and strong and tall, but he is first and foremost a good soccer player.

I've written this before: soccer is about creating time and space, and one of the best ways to do that is to draw two defenders then, one way or another, beat them to the ball and find an open teammate. Sherrod's ability to do this in the air shouldn't be written off, especially since he brings other stuff to the table. He should be able to open up the field for San Jose, but can also function really well by making it small and combining with the rest of the San Jose attackers.

Plus I love how he attacks set pieces.

How he does against the FC Dallas twin towers of Matt Hedges and Walker Zimmerman on Sunday (7 pm ET; FoxSports 1 | FoxDeportes | FoxSportsGO) should be interesting to see. I don't think he'll start, but I'll be shocked if he doesn't get some time in this one – and I'll bet he makes a difference.

I'll also be watching... Where does Mauro Diaz drift to? The Magic Little Unicorn^TM hasn't been as influential this year, and was effectively neutralized by Sporting last week even before Dallas went down to 10.

Diaz has struggled to find space all year, but San Jose gave up acres to the TFC central midfielders last weekend. Diaz has to be aggressive in seeking the ball and then making plays.

Dare to be great:

Happy weekend, everybody.