An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Maybe it's just me, but with Sporting Kansas City going into a bye week, I think it's about time Connor Hallisey was given time with the Swope Park Rangers.

While Connor has played in both of the CCL games for Sporting KC, he hasn't appeared in a league game since the 3-0 loss to Portland on August 7th.

The Rangers are in the middle of a five-game homestand. They have two home games this week, one Wednesday against San Antonio FC and one Saturday against Rio Grande Valley FC. They're currently one point out of 8th, the last playoff spot, in the Western Conference with six games to play.

Now, I know that some of you don't think much of Connor's ability. I've seen some of you, on Twitter and elsewhere, find a variety of ways to say you think he sucks.

The problem with that is Peter Vermes doesn't agree with you, and when it comes to talent evaluation, I'll take Peter's opinion over a lot of other people.

Strikers need two things, really, to be good at their jobs. First, they need athletic ability, which Connor has or the club wouldn't have drafted him in the first round last year.

The other thing they need, frankly, is confidence in those abilities. With some people, that confidence is reliant on finding success. With strikers, that means finding the back of the net.

In Connor's case, when you're getting paid to put the ball in the net, and you're having trouble doing that, you start trying too hard. When you try too hard, your task becomes that much more difficult. It also gives your critics more examples to point to and say, "See, we told you he couldn't do it."

The point I'm trying to make here is that giving Connor time with the Rangers could end up helping both. Connor gets a chance to find his scoring touch and the Rangers get help in making their playoff push.

That said, I'm not saying that USL is easy. Anyone who was at the Rangers match with Galaxy II on Saturday night can tell you that guys in this league play hard with the goal of impressing the coaches and technical staff on the big club.

If I could tell Peter Vermes just one thing, it would be this: Give Connor Hallisey time with the Rangers. There aren't any league matches for him to warm the bench for this week, and he just might find the scoring touch that made you draft him in the first place.