Training Notes: Thoughts on Paulo, Enzo, Arnoux and more; Mansally on trial with RSL

You know that feeling you get when things have seemed dim and gloomy and it's all lifted away? I think that's what I just experienced after attending training. Not that things were wholly dark — hence my usage of 'dim' — but seeing everyone working (and indeed, working much harder than I do while I play, although it may be the case that people who aren't playing at all are working harder than I do when I play — convoluted sentence, much?) — well, it's all seeming a bit brighter.

So with only a bit more further ado, how about some notes? I bet you're all drooling at the prospect. Right? Right? (Oh well. I tried.) We'll start with the established players and move down.

Established Players

By established, I mean mostly that their spot in the squad is solid. They're not going anywhere barring some sea change of ability. Or, you know, if we were to trade them away. Not that I think that's anything near likely to happen but, well, I had to mention it. Why? Who knows.

Really, though, everyone looked alright. I believe Olave was absent, as he's working through injury, but aside from that, I didn't notice anything significant. Chris Schuler was training very lightly, but no risks are being taken with his injury. Fitness, though, is being maintained, and that's always good.

The Less Established Players

Jonny Steele was, as ever, incredibly loud on the pitch. This is no bad thing: Communication is a huge part of the game and, given that we play a relatively fluid system, it's important to know where everybody is on the pitch.

Cody Arnoux showed some very bright moments in his running and movement off the ball, for me. I know I'm always looking to defend him, but I've got some real confidence that he'll make it at the club, and that he could be an important player for us down the road.

Enzo Martinez looked good, too: He's really started to find his feet since he came in the draft, and while I don't think he's likely to make a huge impact this season, next should be telling in his development. But I'd be surprised if he doesn't get some minutes during the CONCACAF crunch — or perhaps even sooner.

The Ones on (Slightly) Shaky Ground

Paulo Junior has oscillated between impressing and depressing this season, but today, he looked very good. He was active all the time, working hard, and looking dangerous going forward. If he's going to make it at Real Salt Lake, he'll have to continue to train like this.

Terukazu Tanaka, too, was working hard. As usual, he was great in attack, and I didn't notice anything too wrong about his defense. Of course, they weren't playing in a match situation, so anything I glean might be inaccurate. Tuesday's reserves match will be telling.

Chris Estridge looked fine but wasn't overly impressive. Again, full backs and center backs are harder to judge from my perspective, as they're judged more in-match on how they respond to attacks on our system. How they respond to our system is important, but it's more important to see how they respond to other systems generally. This is different with attack, where it's more important to have an identity within the system. At any rate, that's another talk for another day.

The Trialists

Matías Quiroga is an Argentine full back who we've brought in on trial, and when he was on the ball, he looked really quite good. I don't remember him doing anything particularly outstanding, but he was solid, to my mind.

Kenny Mansally is a young Gambian winger who we seem to be auditioning for a full back spot. He's big, powerful and likes to get forward in the attack. He looks also to have a good awareness to him, and he was quick to communicate. That's always reassuring.

But Mansally is particularly interesting for what he's done already: He made 89 league appearances at New England Revolution over four or five years there, where he was played more as an attack winger and forward. He only added seven goals during that time. The goals, I'm not concerned about at all. Could we have found a dropped player who might do the job for us? It wouldn't be the first time.

There were at least two other trialists I noticed, and I suspect I may have missed one or two. One was a keeper — I suspect he was in just to fill out the goalkeeping spots (we like to have four keepers available for training, with Jeff Cassar acting as one of those) in Nick's absence. The other was — I think — a forward, or perhaps he was an attacking midfielder. He made one stellar run that stuck in my mind, scoring a brilliant goal over the trialing goalkeeper.

The Academy

Jordan Allen, the 16-year-old wunderkind (I've always wanted to use that in context; Thanks, Jordan, for obliging) who is attending the RSL-Arizona academy in Casa Grande, is startlingly good. I suspect some are trying to turn him into a full back— at least for his development — but his work on the ball is outstanding. He's great in the pass, has a great first touch, and has good vision to him. I'm confident in saying he'll go far in the game if he approaches it properly. I hope it's with us that he does that. Anyway, not to hype the kid or anything, but he's very good.