All,

I really like the gameweek articles that our Stumptown editors offer (training reports, preview, recap, player ratings, MOTM poll etc) but my favorite part of the recap article is always the observations at the bottom. Since we all see different things during the match I thought it would be useful if anyone who wants to simply shares their top 5 observations after each game in a fanpost. These could be specific to the game or have longer term implications. I will try to post mine soon after each of the next few games and see what interest there is. My five for VAN are below

1. Dike played a solid game. His pass to EA during the buildup to Nagbe's goal was solid. His workrate, pace and ability to Dike people creates a lot of space for Nagbe/Songo'o/Zizzo/EA/Jewsbury that they worked pretty well in. If this is the formation we will run next year I think we trade Boyd as he does not fit it and Dike (and Trentito?) do.

2. Nagbe is finally becoming the player we all wanted. Please let this continue.

3. I now want to keep Jack to next year. For a long time I wanted him gone. Now I want to keep him. He is overpriced for his play on the field but his leadership is solid, he can play DM or RB and his ability to pop up around the top of the 18 and hit shots on frame lack from others on this team.

4. Smith has played pretty well as of late. I really hope this guy can become more consistent as if he does then our LB situation drastically improves.

5. The GW out horsepoo....I have never been on that bandwagon. I think some should think about getting off of it. He is not our head coach but I still believe he has not been a bad GM as many of the pieces of our team are solid and young (Mosquera, Chara, EA, Zizzo, Songo'o, Nagbe and tier 2 Mwanga, Fucito, AJB, Kuwalok).