Minnesota United: Fast start necessary to avoid crumbling

Minnesota United are all-in on the 2019 season after a dramatic squad overhaul in the offseason. As such, they need a fast start to the campaign to avoid crumbling under the pressure.

Going all-in to win in one particular season is risky. With a wage cap and roster designations restricting how much a team can spend, to throw all of your resources on one campaign will sometimes backfire.

It only takes one or two untimely injuries, one mishandled character to infect the dressing room, a bad run of form midway through the year to derail momentum, to completely undermine the whole season. And once the season is over and done with, you have the ramifications of ploughing money into it to deal with.

For Minnesota United, they have well and truly thrown all of their eggs into the 2019 basket. After two disappointing years in which a leaky defence has scuppered any semblance of attacking progress they might have made, the Loons are pushing hard for a playoff run.

They traded almost $1 million in allocation money for Ike Opara. They signed right-back Romain Metanire from France. Defensive midfielders Ozzie Alonso and Jan Gregus arrived, the latter of which being their third and final Designated Player, while Vito Mannone is also in on loan to bolster the goalkeeping position.

The average age of those four outfield players — Opara, Metanire, Alonso and Gregus — is 29.75. And they join DP attackers Darwin Quintero (31) and Angelo Rodriguez (29) to make one of the oldest starting XIs in MLS. Not only have Minnesota invested heavily in new players, they have invested in players that they expect will produce from the very moment they take to the pitch.

That creates a unique pressure for the season ahead. Adrian Heath must recognise that this collection of players, while capable of coming together nicely in the short-term, is not a long-term project. He needs to win now.

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And so, as the season looms, with Minnesota travelling to the recently overhauled Vancouver Whitecaps to open their campaign next weekend, a fast start is absolutely necessary for Heath and his players.

The problem with going all-in as Minnesota United have is that they know that they have go all-in. The pressure is on for them to perform in the very present, not in two or three years. And how many time have we seen these brilliantly assembled teams crumble under the weight of expectation?

That is why a quick start to the season is needed. With so many new players arriving, it is important that they gel from day one, that the team settles into their rhythm and can build momentum for the year ahead. If Minnesota lose three or four of their opening five matches, say, suddenly, the pressure builds, the criticism raises, and the foundations of the team are shaken.

Heath and his players need to win and play well from the very first kick of the season. And that starts this weekend, in Vancouver.