As the Red Donkeys sit on a one-point-in-four-games streak in which they were shutout three times, and the future looking anything but bright, let's look at the one area of the field the club seems most deficient at. Tony Meola has been solid in goal; the defense, led by the resurgent Jeff Parke and the always-improving Carlos Mendes, has been solid, if not spectacular; the forwards are hot and cold, but at least Jean-Philippe Peguero seems to find the back of the net and Edson Buddle has improved his game in the past few weeks. Which brings us to the midfield. Amazingly, the strongest part of last year's team has been disintegrated completely.

Let's preface the look at last year by something we've repeated ad nauseam; the 2005 Metro team was rarely outplayed and often, if not always, controlled matches; if not for a number of late breakdowns, it could have become the second best team in Metro history (not much, we know), but even at that, its point total was second only to the 2000 squad. And this was with the midfield quartet of Amado Guevara, Eddie Gaven, Michael Bradley, and one of Mike Magee or Mark Lisi leading the way.

In Guevara and Gaven, we had two players who did not have their best years as Metros, but nevertheless contributed mightily, providing the best scoring punch from any midfield duo in MLS (Guevara had 12 goals and 11 assists, Gaven eight and four). In Bradley, who was learning the defensive midfield role early on and became one of the team's best players by the end of the year, we had a tireless worker who could hold the ball and send it forward when needed. In Lisi and Magee, we had solid contributors; each recorded five assists, and Magee added five goals (but he did play some at forward).

Now fast forward to the offseason, when Alexi Lalas and Mo Johnston set out to fix Metro. And one of the first positions they addressed was the midfield, more specifically the wings. The perceived lack of quality from the sides saw the acquisition of Chris Henderson and Scottish international Peter Canero. Then, Bradley was let go to Holland, with Metro getting nothing in return. Gaven was shipped to Columbus for Edson Buddle. Adrian Serioux was signed to play defensive mid, then inexplicably traded to Houston for Danny O'Rourke.

So this year, the Metro midfield has consisted off, in various four- and five-man formations, of Guevara, Henderson, O'Rourke, Canero, Lisi, Seth Stammler, and Youri Djorkaeff. Well, saying Canero is part of the midfield is an exaggeration, as the supposed starter lost the right wing spot to Stammler, and couldn't win any of the defense slots his supposed versatility allowed him to play. And when Canero did get on the field, he was spotty at best (oh who are we kidding, he sucked). Now he is sidelined with an injury, and with Johnston gone, who knows if Canero will play for Metro ever again.

We will glance over Lisi because he is his usual self, getting assists and getting injured, and move on to Guevara and Djorkaeff. The former had his public spat with Lalas before the season and with Johnston during; the latter has been tried in midfield after being almost exclusively a forward in 2005. For whatever reasons (be it Guevara's drifting back, Djorkaeff's old legs, or the supposed rift between the two), they don't combine well when both are in midfield; in fact, Amado's start to the season has been atrocious, with just one goal and no assists on his stat sheet. With Djorkaeff gone (for good?) this is Guevara's team again, but who knows if he can recapture the form which made him one of the league's best since 2003.

And then we have Henderson and Stammler, the wingers. It's obvious to anyone that Henderson is way past his prime (and trading promising Tim Ward for him could prove to be a huge mistake). Yes, he still runs up and down the wing, but his crossing, a supposed strength, has been horrible. On the other side, Stammler's crossing has been solid and he can shutdown opposing wingers, but he is still learning the position and often looks out of place. But we'll give him a passing grade for now, especially since he did score three goals.

And that moves us to O'Rourke. The Donkeys' iron man has played every minute of the season, and although he had a so-so start, has slipped a lot recently. A defensive midfielder is supposed to link the defense and the attack; O'Rourke doesn't do that. Sure, he tackles well and often wins the ball, but he seems unable to hold it, and his passes always go nowhere (well, they go to the other team). He is a complete zero on offense who contributes nothing in the opponent's side of the field. Unfortunately, the only other defensive midfielder on the roster is undersized and raw Elie Ikangu.

So thank you, Mo and Alexi. You are probably both laughing it up right now, as the Donkeys lose again and again, in large part thanks to this disgusting midfield that you two build. Thank you. If anything, this pathetic group helps us appreciate what Bob Bradley did during his reign here. But that doesn't get us any points in the standings, does it?...