2011 Player Rating and Review - Anthony Wallace

This offseason, the Burgundy Wave staff will give short reviews on the play of all Colorado Rapids players who received a decent amount of time on the pitch during the season along with a season grade. Starting with Goalkeepers and then moving up the field as necessary from defenders to forwards, today we'll feature Anthony Wallace.

Name: Anthony Wallace
Number: 6
Appearances: 10 (8)
Stats: 1 Assist
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

There were pretty much only four players who played major minutes for the Rapids on defense in 2011. In fact, only four players managed over 1000 minutes: Drew Moor, Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall and Kosuke Kimura. That was the starting four in the back that we saw for almost the entire year, and it was plenty effective until Marshall lost his footing near the end of the year. Unfortunately, that wasn't the four we were supposed to see back there, since our original starting left back was out for seemingly almost the entire season.

Wallace started the season off strong during that 3-0 tear to start the season. He got an assist on one of Caleb Folan's goals in the DC United match and played brilliant defense as the Rapids outscored their opposition 8-2. Unfortunately, he was one of the first casualties of the season's injury glut and after getting dropped, suffered watching Tyrone Marshall play quite well. Honestly that was one of the biggest mistakes of Gary Smith's season, keeping Wallace out even when healthy in exchange for Marshall. Perhaps Marshall wouldn't have been so tired at season's end had Wallace played 4-5 more starts?

Wallace can't really be rated except on the very few starts he had, and he played very well before injuries and Gary Smith's doghouse took him down for the season. Hopefully he'll be back just as strong in 2012 so we can finally see our starting left back in action for a full year!

PLAYER RATING: 7