When new players step into a new role or a new team, the transition is rarely easy, but for those given the playmaker tag, expectations are immediate. While fans might just hope new defenders "don't screw up," those that are "given the keys to rev the offensive engine" are saddled with the burden of producing instant "headlines and results," not to mention "a little flash, dash and fancy" writes MLSnet.com's Steve Davis.
Davis looks at a trio of players who enter the 2009 season unfamiliar with the role of carrying the attacking load, with the San Jose Earthquakes' Bobby Convey returning to his old league but a new midfield position, Colombian veteran David Ferreira brought in to feed the Dallas duo of Kenny Cooper and Jeff Cunningham, and the Houston Dynamo's young Stuart Holden trying to fill the sizeable shoes of the departed Dwayne De Rosario.
Although it's just one game into the season, it's hard not to notice how much work each individual has still to do to be effective, with Convey needing to become more comfortable in the center of the field rather than his usual left flank, Ferreira needing to "summon more than three or four productive sequences over 90 minutes," and Holden "not trying to be 'De Ro.'"
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