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By Brian Maurer Dean Smith (Photo courtesy of CJ Hellner/TopBin90) Through nine games the lack of attacking creativity in Charlotte FC’s midfield has become nothing short of resounding. According to FBRef, Charlotte's starting attacking midfielders have only led the team in key passes once this season. That was when Scott Arfield had two in a 3-2 victory over Toronto FC. The position has become the biggest issue for Head Coach Dean Smith as there has been more rotation at the attacking midfield spot than anywhere else on the field. The rotation has not led to any consistent solutions as of yet. Smith starts with the Belgian Smith started with Belgian international Brecht Dejaegere for the first three games. While the creativity of the team was lacking, the issue was covered up by the number of one-on-one chances that were missed, a penalty miss, and the team earning early season points. The rotation begins After three starts from Dejaegere, Smith opted to rotate and try Arfield at the ten when The Crown traveled to Nashville. This was the first change Smith had made to his starting XI that was not due to an injury. Arfield did not provide much in the way of creative solutions in his first start, but again the creativity issue was diluted by the chances Charlotte FC missed to equalize late in the game. A point at least looked to be on the table for Charlotte and lack of finishing was again taking the blame. Charlotte returned home after the loss to Nashville and Smith opted to start Arfield again. This was likely also due to Smith looking for a new solution on the left-wing as he opted to start Dejaegere on the left over Iuri Tavares who had been the LW starter until then. The Crown earned a 2-0 result but the lack of creativity started to become apparent in this game as they were up a man for about 70 minutes and only had six shots from open play during that time. The points were won but at this point, the creativity issues started to look like a major red flag. The matter was made worse by Arfield picking up an injury and having to be subbed out at halftime. Petkovic is given a chance With Arfield being out the following week, Smith started U-22 Initiative signee Nikola Petkovic against FC Cincinnati. After 60 minutes he was subbed off to make way for new Designated Player Liel Abada's debut. This game was about as threatening as Charlotte has looked all season but Petkovic’s direct involvement as an attacking midfielder was limited. Smith continues rotating between Dejaegere and Arfield With Abada joining the starting eleven, Smith opted to go back to Dejaegere as the 10 on the road against New England. The team finished with six total shots. But again, the lack of attacking opportunities in total was easy for fans to overlook because of the big miss by Patrick Agyemang early on. The lack of attacking opportunities did not get overlooked by Smith as he rotated the position again when the team came home to play Toronto as he went back to Arfield to try and spark some more life into the attack. The Crown earned the win and for the first time this season, an attacking midfielder in Charlotte led the team in chances created (Arfield had two key passes). It's not a resounding number, but a first is a first. At this point, optimism about Charlotte’s attack was trending up. It looked like the finishing woes were dissipating. Djibril Diani made a penalty, and the team scored three goals in front of their home crowd. A lot of that optimism came crashing down after Charlotte suffered a 3-0 beatdown by Minnesota United the following week. The Crown had no creative solutions which made it impossible for them to find a way back into the game after falling behind. The lack of creativity was so apparent that Smith opted to sub out Dejaegere in the 53’ for Agyemang. Is this Bender’s big chance to break through? The attacking midfield position looks to be where Smith is having the most difficulty knowing who to trust. It is the only position where the Englishman has started three different players (Dejaegere, Arfield, and Petkovic). It is also one of the only three starting positions where he has made a non-injury-related change. A lack of results makes this position wide open for players to try and earn that trust from Smith. One player who has to be chomping at the bit to get back out there is Ben Bender. He has been injured since last year and has been watching a limited number of goals coming from his primary position. Bender may not have the traditional string-pulling creator playing style of a Lucho Acosta or Carles Gil, but he has shown an ability to find goals. His 14 goal contributions (6g/8a) in 30 career MLS starts makes him easily the most goal-dangerous midfielder in the club’s short history. Smith stated in a recent press conference that he thinks Bender will need some time with MLS NEXT Pro-side Crown Legacy FC before returning to the First Team, but if he can get back to full health and fitness before the secondary transfer window opens this could be the biggest moment in Bender’s career. Petkovic’s minutes A final concern about Charlotte’s midfield is Petkovic’s minutes. The Serbian was signed to a reported $3 million transfer fee last year and has not broken through into regular minutes with the First Team, even with the creativity struggles. While he is still a young player, his transfer fee and the lack of consistent performances from other attacking midfielders make the current state of Petkovic’s situation a bit concerning. The main question that will need to be asked if Dejaegere and Arfield continue to struggle to create chances is why Petkovic isn’t getting an opportunity.

By Brian Maurer Kerwin Vargas celebrates after scoring against Toronto FC (Photo courtesy of CJ Hellner/TopBin90) According to sources, Charlotte FC is signing Colombian winger Kerwin Vargas to a contract extension. The 22-year-old has made 51 MLS appearances for Charlotte FC and has eight career MLS goal contributions (5g/3a). Capology shows that Vargas’ contract was initially set to expire at the end of this season. This contract extension shows The Crown’s commitment to see Vargas’ continued development in the Carolinas. The Colombian recently acquired his green card and will maintain his domestic status through the extended contract length. According to Transfermarkt, Charlotte has several other roster decisions to make as four others (Kristijan Kahlina, Ashley Westwood*, Andrew Privett**, and Nathan Byrne*) from their starting eleven are out of contract at the end of 2024. Several other rotation players are also out of contract; Ben Bender, Scott Arfield*, Jaylin Lindsey*, Patrick Agyemang**, and Júnior Urso*. *One-year contract option **Two-year contract option

By Sam Vanolinda Brecht Dejaegere (Photo courtesy of CJ Hellner/TopBin90) Charlotte FC may be asking for a dome over Bank of America Stadium soon enough because rainy days create nothing but misery for the team this season. An 0-3 loss versus Minnesota on Sunday night created little positives for the team and little to cheer about for the less than 30,000 people attending the match, which also lacked a supporters tailgate because of an incident between two supporters groups. Dean Smith took the blame in this instance, “I’ll take responsibility for the performance of the players today,” He noted post-game. Despite a couple of small chances for the Crown, Minnesota deserved to win this game because of the effort and physicality they showed. Here is the stock up/stock down for Sunday’s match. Stock up Ashley Westwood There is not much to be positive about for the team on Sunday. As a group, the whole team’s stock took a dip. That being said, Westwood had an average game, but he seemed the most consistent and ready-to-play out of all the players. Westwood passed 60 miles of distance traveled this season for the team, which is top 10 in MLS, he also is top 10 in passes into the final third; he has been such a great pivot for this team all season. Over two marathons run in the team's first nine games is hard not to praise, even if he didn’t have an incredible game this weekend. He had three chances created in the match, alongside 15 more passes into the final third. If the team could pair him up with a competent number 10 they would benefit greatly. Stock down Enzo Copetti Copetti goes another game without a goal. It seems like a waste of a DP spot unless he starts to show up this season. Agyemang seemed the more dangerous striker when he came on, he worked better connecting the team and holding up play. If Copetti is not going to score, Agyemang should make the starting lineup over him. It seems like Copetti just lacks the quality to be a star in this league; he has heart, and he always hustles, but the DP’s need to make an impact for a team to make the Playoffs and push for the Cup. As he goes more and more games without a goal it will continue to rub on his confidence, especially with the one-on-ones he has missed already this year. It could be worth trying to acquire a veteran striker with proven goal-scoring ability in the summer. Brecht Dejaegere Dejaegere continues to offer little to the number 10 position. He is a valuable player in a winger or backup role, but being the point guard for this team, right in the middle of the attack is not going to work. Arfield was supposed to start but picked up an injury pre-game, but he isn’t the solution either in that CAM role. 71% on passing, 0.02 xG+xA, zero chances created, and zero successful dribbles from that position are not acceptable numbers, especially at home. Andrew Privett Privett suffers a lot when Malanda is not in the lineup because Malanda is that physical and instinctive defensive center-back who can bail out a lot of mistakes that the team makes. Malanda is also adept at being first to the ball on set pieces and 50/50 plays. Privett was not aggressive enough when Minnesota scored their first goal through Tani Oluwaseyi; despite the amazing finish, he should have gotten in the way of that shot, and not allowed the ball to bounce the way it did. Once Minnesota scored the first goal, the game turned for the worse for Charlotte. Privett is still a great center-back, but because he has played most of his career as a defensive midfielder, Malanda helps him be comfortable, especially with defensive actions. When paired up with Bill Tuiloma, who also had a terrible game Sunday night, his weaknesses as a defender are more apparent. Look for Privett to bounce back once Malanda is fully healthy again. Summary We could write a stock down for most of the players on the team after that game, but there's no use in rubbing salt in the wound. Sunday is a day that you forget about and move on from. I’m sure that is what Smith’s message was in the locker room. There is no use in overthinking this performance – it's time to lock in and prepare for the next game, on the road versus NYCFC on Saturday. Charlotte will look to duplicate their win versus New York in the first game of the year.