Pilots line up v. Ducks

My guess is that 8 players are sure to start barring last minute injuries (Jessica Tsao, Cloee Colohan, Michelle Olivier, Elli Reed, Keelin Winters, Michelle Enyeart, Sophie Schmidt, Danielle Foxhoven). There are questions about where Elli plays and to a lesser extent also for Michelle E and therefore Sophie.

Jessice, Cloee, Michelle O will be three of the back four. Question is whether Megan Sweeney or Elli starts on left. My preference would be Elli but I think that Megan was with those three in the orange vests in the scrimmage on Wednesday lunchtime. May be a clue or maybe means nothing at all.

I'd be very surprised if Garrett changes the Sophie and Danielle tandem up front. So Michelle E plays midfield. Question would be where and who else aside from Keelin starts. ME can play wide or on the point of the diamond (assuming they are staying with that formation). Either way it begs the question as to who the other two starters will be. If Elli is not on defense then I assume she is one of them which means the other is probably Charney Burk or Kendra Chandhoke. If Elli is at the back, I'd guess that both Charney and Kendra start unless Kendall Johnson has forced her way into the team.

Looked like Kelsey is still getting back to full health and fitness so I'd expect Hailee to start.

If it was my call, and fortunately for everyone it's not!, I'd have:

Hailee; Jessica, Cloee, Michelle O, Elli; Keelin, Kendra, Charney, Michelle E (with Kendra and Michelle out wide); Sophie, Danielle.

All of which is just an excuse to speculate and start the build up to kick off tomorrow evening.

I like that lineup a lot, Harry. But I'd sure like to see Michelle E up top where she can use her talent for getting free on breakaways. How about a 4-3-3 with Sophie as the target forward in the middle and Danielle and Michelle E flying up the sides? Then put Kendra and Charney as distributors in central midfield and let Elli and Jessica overlap when the opportunity arises?

I also agree with ol 'arry that that is the likely opening night lineup. I was also thinking along the same lines as SoreKnees, in wondering what formation would best serve our skills. Obviously our system makes the team look great, but aside from that what Formation would have the highest upside.

Also I think not having Michelle up front takes away one of her biggest strengths which is her knack for running onto a through ball, getting behind the defense and then patiently working the keeper out of position for a score. I'd almost like to see some sort of rotation up top to keep them fresh. But you can't not start all 3 of them.

Thoughts?

I think what I was seeing at the BBQ scrimmage -- not that it may mean much -- was Michelle playing at the forward point of the midfield, going right or left as the situation indicated. That way, she had a lot of touches, which is what I think the team wants. It was something of a back-and-forth between a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3.

I think that Michelle E's greatest asset is her ability to run very fast with the ball at her feet.

So, if I were picking the team, one important question for me is figuring out which position she gets to make best use of that attribute. For me, it's outside midfield. As with Megan R last year - whose game flourished after she moved in to that position - I'd give her permission to wander in and out as she sees fit. And I'd expect that she and Kendra and Charney (if that is the three) would ebb and flow and flex among themselves too.

Which leads to the second major question when figuring out where top play Michelle. And that's what the strength's of the other players are.

Sophie is the best on the team at holding the ball and serving as a target up front. She is fearless. Danielle is the goalscorer. She's Jermaine Defoe. I think that Charney has good touch on the ball and a good eye for the vital pass but not great pace; hence my preference for her at the point of the diamond. She can be the hub around which Michelle and Kendra and Elli and Jessica operate and create chances for one another and Sophie and Danielle.

As to 4-3-3 or 4-4-2, I think the beauty of the 4-4-2 with the diamond for midfield is that it flexes into 4-3-3 in some ways. If the attack is wide down the right side then the wide player on the left is free to get upfield onto the far post as effectively a third forward, and vice versa. The reason I'd go with Kendra and Michelle as the wide players is that they have the pace to get up and down the field so quickly that they can do just that.

Haha so basically you are assigning Michelle kind of a Cuauhtemoc Blanco sort of role?? (Only clearly with WAY more relative speed obviously) That could be very interesting...

Consider opposing defenses warned....