Real Salt Lake’s loss to Austin FC brings with it a number of questions, and one of the individually focused questions is a big one: Why isn’t Jonathan Menendez starting?
The answer, as RSL interim coach Pablo Mastroeni puts it, is pretty straightforward: He doesn’t fit in the 3-5-2 system the club has been playing.
Some quotes from Mastroeni from his press conference following the loss are below:
The guys that came in, Rubio [Rubin] was bright and Jonathan [Menendez] brings a different dynamic in that wingback position. Obviously it’s not his preferred position, but with Glad behind him I thought we had a little bit more cover.