Looking for a Second Goal Threat

It's been awhile since we've seen a forward not named Saer Sene score for the Revs. In fact, you have to go all the way back to May 5th to find a goal from another Revs forward with Blake Brettschneider. Before that it was April 14th when Jose Moreno score his only goal of the season.

Outside of Sene, who leads the New England Revolution with seven goals, Brettschneider and Moreno are the next highest scoring forwards at one a piece. Beyond that, the majority of the goals have come from the midfield with only Fernando Cardenas and Kelyn Rowe having more than one (two each). When delving further into the club's goal scoring prowess, it's frightening to find that New England's defenders have combined for just as many goals as the core of forwards not named Sene (Chris Tierney and A.J. Soares tallied two collective goals).

Generally speaking, teams need two people putting away goals to truly compete. They do not both have to be forwards, but that is usually how it works out. New York Red Bulls have Kenny Cooper and Thierry Henry, Seattle Sounders have Fredy Montero and (to a lesser extent) Eddie Johnson, Real Salt Lake has Fabian Espindola and Alvaro Saborio and even San Jose Earthquakes have Steven Lenhart to pair with Chris Wondolowski.

But right now New England only has Saer Sene. So as teams are beginning to defensively key in on Sene, the need for another goal scoring threat is starting to become apparent. Over the last few weeks, rumors have circulated that New England brought in Mads Junker on trial, and Kyle McCarthy has let us know that Dimitry Imbongo Boele is currently with the team.

Obviously, most people are happy with Sene and his production, but have been less impressed with Moreno, mostly underwhelmed by Brettschneider and left virtually clueless by the continually injured Bjorn Runstrom. So what's a club to do?

Moreno, who's alleged early season antics have still not been wiped clean by many supporters, has been struggling for fitness, has yet to play a full 90 minutes in MLS competition, has only one goal, has registered only seven shots on target and has no assists. Yet some of his hold up play has been extremely promising. With his continually sharp passing Moreno has on several occasions unlocked defenses, but no one has yet to finish any of the chances he's created. It is, in actuality, starting to seem as if he may be less of a true goal scorer and more of a play maker. However, for whatever reason he has not yet been able to cohesively blend with Sene. Runstrom, on the other hand, has played a grand total of 32 minutes this season. There has been no way to fairly judge what he can do with Sene or even by himself.

Yes, Moreno is a much better partner for Sene than Brettschneider, and he is probably a better partner than Diego Fagundez would be as Sene's game is a more polished version of Diego's; but, we have yet to see if he can do anything with Runstrom. Still, it seems as though the team needs to either sign another player to regularly put the ball into the net or find a working partnership for Sene with a player already on the roster,.

As the Revs' defense is beginning to shore itself up, New England needs to begin looking for that second scorer. It does not necessarily have to be a forward; as perhaps, someone in the midfield (Lee Nguyen and Fernando Cardenas spring to mind) could pick up the slack.

It would appear that between Moreno, Brettschneider, Runstrom, Boele and the rumored trial of Junker (all center forwards by trait) the team is looking for another target-styled forward to play with Sene. But what can be done in the meantime? Are any of these forwards good enough to make a difference in the long run? Is it a target forward they need or just someone who can finish chances?

I'm not ready to give up on Moreno -- or Runstrom for that matter -- yet, but if the salary that the MLS Player's Union claims Moreno is receiving is accurate, then the midfield needs to start putting away the chances he's creating. Either that or the money spent on Pepe needs to be better spent and perhaps he does need to go.