When Lachlan Brook made his Real Salt Lake debut on Saturday, one thing stood out about his new league.
“The tempo is a lot quicker,” the 23-year-old Australian winger said.
And after starting the playoff push with a 2-0 home defeat to last-place San Jose, speeding up the newcomers’ acclimation periods will be paramount for RSL.
Brook, who came to Salt Lake from the Aussie A-League during a busy transfer window for his new club, was one of three new players to make their debuts on Saturday.
“It’ll take some time,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said of integrating his new players. “But, really, we’ve got eight games left. Time is valuable and we’ve got to learn quick.”
RSL now sits in third place in the Western Conference with a game in hand but eight points behind the first-place L.A. Galaxy.
And for the first time all season, RSL’s offense will be a question mark.
Midfielder Diogo Gonçalves watched from afar this season as his former teammate, Chicho Arango, has terrorized opposing goalkeepers.
“I knew a little bit about [MLS],” said Gonçalves, who came to RSL from Copenhagen on a $3 million transfer. “I knew Chicho and I saw on his social media that he would score a lot of goals.”
As Gonçalves made his RSL debut on Saturday, he also watched as Arango, the league’s Golden Boot leader, limped to the sideline before the first half had ended.
Salt Lake will be missing the speed and skill of Andres Gomez, who scored 13 goals and had seven assists before being sold to France’s Rennes for $11 million this month.
“Those are two guys we’ve leaned on heavily,” Mastroeni said of Arango and Gomez. “We’re going to have to get to work this week and figure out a different mechanism to be a bit more creative in the final third.”
Gomez’s absence was noticeable on Saturday, as Maikel Chang failed to provide similar pressure on the right wing.
“It’s tough. It goes to show with our attack how much attention … Andres was commanding on that right flank,” Mastroeni said. “He scored a lot of goals from individual brilliance. That’s obviously a position we’re going to have to get more reps in.”
Dominik Marczuk, the 20-year-old Polish winger RSL just bought for a reported $1.5 million, might be able to provide some help once he has acclimated to his new team and the altitude of Salt Lake.
On Saturday, Brook looked lively as a substitute on the right wing before moving more centrally as the game went on.
“I really don’t mind,” the Aussie said of his position. “On the right, I like to cut in. But even when I’m playing central I like to link up as much as possible. Wherever that position is that Pablo sees me playing is where I’m happy to be.”
Brook said fitness was also an issue for him.
“This is my first game in three months,” he said. “It’s almost the start of the season for me. The other boys are coming to the end of their season. … I can train as much as I want with the team but you can really get a feel of the MLS until you play your first game. That was something I was really exited about.”
Mastroeni remains convinced his new additions can catch up in time to make a difference in the postseason.
“It’s not easy, but they’ll continue to get better as they understand the way we play,” the coach said, “and more importantly their teammates’ tendencies.”
Brook and Gonçalves showed some flashes over the weekend.
“That’s what’s expected, not only from us but from the club,” said Gonçalves, the Portuguese attacker. “I only had a few tonight but I hope in the future to have a lot more.”
In the 53rd minute, Gonçalves had perhaps RSL’s best goal-scoring chance of the night, when he took one touch and fired a shot from outside the box that went just wide of the near post.
That, too, will be a chance to improve.
“I think it could have been a lot better,” he said afterward. “It was too far off the goal.”