As far as Real Salt Lake is concerned, the wins will eventually take care of themselves if the club continues working hard, like it did during Saturday's loss at FC Dallas.
"I thought the effort was great, and that's the effort we're going to need every night," said Jeff Cunningham.
Another more subtle step in the process is linking the pieces together, especially with a central midfield consisting of defensive-minded players. While RSL's defenders seem to work well together at times, as do the midfielders and strikers, the fluid link between the different areas of the field is often missing. The most noticeable weakness is in the attacking third.
"That's the hardest part, it could take a few games for the link to happen," said RSL coach John Ellinger.
That process may take a little longer as Kenny Cutler and Douglas Sequeira become familiar with each other's tendencies in their new midfield roles. In their first game sharing midfield duties Saturday, the duo's interaction helped shore up several of the problem areas that emerged in the team's season-opening loss at Chivas USA.
The drawback to that defensive style is obviously on the attacking side.
Neither Cutler nor Sequeira will ever be mistaken for offensive masterminds. Instead, they rely on hard work and quick passes to try and control the midfield. Developing that cohesiveness amongst themselves and the rest of the nine players on the field is a never-ending process.
"I just think we need to play a little quicker. I wouldn't say our touch is off right now, but we tend to take one or two more touches than we should," said midfielder Andy Williams. "If we can play out of the back quicker and try and catch the other team off guard, that should benefit us."
More than anything, as the players become more and more acquainted with each other in training sessions and games, the offensive punch in the final third is bound to improve.
For Cutler, he recognizes the moral victory involved with Saturday's loss, but he also knows he could've been better at shoring up the midfield.
"They still came down the middle, their No. 17 (Simo Valakari), he was open a lot and he played several dangerous balls into Carlos Ruiz and (Roberto) Mina," said Cutler. "I think I could've done a lot better in cutting down passing lanes and services to the forwards."
RSL will take its next step toward increasing that chemistry this Saturday in its home opener against the New York Red Bulls.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com