Injuries, Additions will sculpt the lineup on Saturday

It's been a very busy week for the Rapids in terms of both injury updates and players arriving/leaving through trade, and that should be reflected in the line-up we see take the pitch tomorrow against the New England Revolution. There are way too many ways that coach Gary Smith could tweak the line up and formation, especially since Smith has stated that he wants to see both of his new additions Brian Mullan - traded from Houston for Colin Clark - and Macoumba Kandji - traded from New York for Mehdi Ballouchy - tomorrow in some fashion.

How they will show up is in question, as to get all three of the strikers on the field Gary Smith would most likely have to switch to a 4-3-3 formation, not his usual style and also impractical due to the teams greatest strengths being in the defensive central midfielders. Kandji could play on the wing up in the 4-4-2 formation, but had limited experience there in his time with New York, not looking incredibly effective. If Conor Casey, Omar Cummings and Kandji are all to be on the field in a 4-4-2, it's much more likely that Cummings will be the man slipping out to the left or right midfield, where he played in the 4-5-1.

The midfield picture is also muddled a bit with Brian Mullan's arrival. The talented midfielder has a very good chance at starting in the place where former starter Ballouchy would be, again diminishing the idea of the 4-3-3 due to it most likely being him and the two defenders, both of whom are used to central midfield. Neither Jamie Smith nor Wells Thompson is likely to get many starts for the rest of the season if the Rapids switch, but one of them could potentially start on the left/right if the 4-4-2 remains intact.

Defensively, Julien Baudet's hamstring may sideline him for the game tomorrow, along with a bit of question as to whether or not we'll see Marvell Wynne back in action. Edit - Marvell Wynne is not listed in the injury column, so I'm assuming he's in after all. Without those two, the defensive corps are a bit thin with Anthony Wallace, Drew Moor, Scott Palguta and Kosuke Kimura probably the best four options.Danny Earls is also available but has seemed to fall from Gary Smith's graces, getting highly diminished playing time ever since July when he was the every day starter.

I'm sure Matt Pickens is glad that his goaltending spot isn't in jeopardy of any changes, that's about the only stable sure thing that anyone can predict going into the game tomorrow.