This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Sandy • Luke Mulholland's moment of clarity — albeit an unfortunate one this time around — came last Saturday at Gillette Stadium. A severely-depleted Real Salt Lake lost control and couldn't maintain the high-flying New England Revolution. Down 3-0 in the second half, Mulholland thought to himself, "Why the hell do I play this sport?"

The 4-0 loss, RSL's second in a row, made the second-year midfielder recognize the cliche that to appreciate the highs, the wins, the goals, you have to realize the possibility of the low lows.

And right now, RSL needs goals — plenty of them.

In its first seven outings, the club has scored six goals, only two of which have come during the run of play. RSL is currently riding a 316-minute scoreless streak and the last time they put one in the back of the net was against the team RSL is facing Friday night at Rio Tinto Stadium, the San Jose Earthquakes, on April 5 at Avaya Stadium.

Naturally, the common questioned posed throughout this week at training has been: What's the fix?

"I think we need to not worry too much about the opposition," Mulholland said. "I think the league's at a point now where every game's a difficult game. There's no easy games in this league, that's why you see a lot of 0-0 games because a lot of teams are hard to break open. For us, we've just got to be more flexible and just unpredictable."

Adapting to the new 4-3-3 formation has displayed RSL's ability to defend and notch shutouts, but the final, obvious key to mastering the new look is finding the back of the net and finding a fluidity to the offense. Mulholland said in the 4-3-3, nine times out of 10 RSL wants it center forward, Alvaro Saborio, floating around the 18-yard box, but need to provide the flanking forwards the license to drop into the midfield, swap sides and have the ability "freestyle."

"I think right now, early on in the season, we've been very static and, 'You stay one side,' and the other player stays on one side, so I think we just touched on it [Thursday], starting our wide forwards a bit wider and defensively so that we can force the ball into the crowded areas and then try to win it in good areas," Mulholland said.

RSL strikers Joao Plata (foot fracture) and Sebastian Jaime (minor tibia fracture) remain sidelined. Plata's expected back to training in three weeks, RSL coach Jeff Cassar said Wednesday, but Jaime's status remains bleak and unknown. But the club does return midfielder Javier Morales, who missed the last two games nursing a quadriceps injury. The 35-year-old midfielder has two goals and three assists in five games so far this season.

Asked how RSL plans to find a way to get Saborio, the club's all-time leading scorer on track and threatening in front of goal, Morales said players need to provide better service and more pinpoint crosses into the box.

"I think we need to feed him a little bit better," Morales said.

Morales said each player has to individually improve to help the offense turn around and flourish.

"Sometimes we need that special play from someone," he said. "I think it's what we need right now, especially at home."

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani