2016 Orlando City Season in Review: Servando Carrasco

Two thousand, one minute. That’s how long Servando Carrasco was on the pitch representing the Orlando City Lions this season. It was the first time the man saw more than 1,402 minutes in an MLS season, and it happened on one of the worst teams in the league.

Hm.

Statistical Breakdown

Servando proved to be an active defensive midfielder throughout the longest season of his career, finishing fourth on the team with two tackles per game, if you include Darwin Ceren's time in purple. He never showed a great tendency to defend passing lanes, though he was in the upper half of the club with 1.8 interceptions per game. While he rarely takes your breath away, the reality is he's quite strong on the ball, completing 84.2% of his passes and ranking amongst the bottom of the club in dispossessions per game.

Best Game

He never did score a goal, but against Columbus Crew on September 17, he found Cyle Larin outside the box en route to Orlando City’s 4-1 victory.

He finished that game with three tackles and three interceptions while completing 86.2% of his passes.

2016 Final Rating

Personally, I like what Servando brought to the club. I was in agreeance with the rest of the staff in coming to a grade of 5.5. He keeps busy with his effort, passes with a level head and is capable of springing speedsters Hadji Barry and Carlos Rivas with his accuracy passing deep.

I think he makes for a solid depth piece in the defensive midfield. We maybe don't need to see 33 hours of him in a season and expect to be competitive.

2017 Outlook

Carrasco looks set to be a Lion for a long time, though I would suspect in somewhat of a reduced role. Should Kreis move permanently to the diamond that he is known to appreciate, there will be just 90 defensive midfield minutes to go around per game — though he will surely see his fair share, it's difficult to imagine 33 of an available 51 hours of playing time going to Carrasco.