Last season, NYCFC seemed to have an answer for every question posed by injuries.

With Heber out most of the campaign, Taty Castellanos elevated his game to that of a Golden Boot winner. When Keaton Parks was forced to miss the playoffs with a blood clot, Alfredo Morales and James Sands held it down in midfield. And when Anton Tinnerholm tore his Achilles in October, Tayvon Gray filled in admirably at right back the rest of the way.

With the dust settled from the club’s MLS Cup run, however, Tinnerholm is nowhere near returning. The weight of his absence is beginning to set in for the club, which has won just one of its opening five league matches.

Gray largely thrived in the postseason, and has proven himself to be at least an able replacement of Tinnerholm. But Gray – who hasn’t played since March 5 – has been dealing with a lower-body injury of his own, leaving coach Ronny Deila with some less-than-ideal options at right back.

The Norwegian has primarily used Andres Jasson, a natural winger, there since Gray’s injury, while center midfielder Nicolas Acevedo was given the start there in last weekend’s 2-1 loss to Toronto FC.

Both Jasson and Acevedo have shown teething problems in their non-conventional roles. In the case of Jasson, the Philadelphia Union scored both of their goals on his side in their 2-0 victory over New York City on March 19.

Deila has been complimentary of Jasson’s crossing ability in the role, and the natural attacker provided a beautiful assist to Talles Magno in the club’s 4-1 win vs. Montreal. But there’s understandably defensive instincts missing from his game; aside from the positional switch, he’s only ever started eight games total in MLS.

Acevedo has played on defense even less, and he and center back Thiago Martins were split open for Toronto’s first goal last weekend. If he (maybe) projects to be more solid defensively than Jasson, than he’s also probably the lesser offensive threat of the two.

Things should improve when Gray returns (he was healthy enough to make the bench vs. Toronto). But even with Gray, there’s still a drop-off from the attacking ability of Tinnerholm, who has at times looked like the team’s primary source of creation over the last two seasons.

Gray held up extremely well over last season’s playoffs, but he’s started just five regular-season matches for the club. Time will tell just how long (and how well) this team can perform without Tinnerholm. Wednesday’s Champions League semifinal first leg in Seattle will be another test.

After the Red Bulls secured a late 1-0 win at the New England Revolution last Saturday, midfielder Frankie Amaya took to Twitter to express his displeasure with being sent off during the match.

“Ball don’t lie,” he wrote, seemingly in reference to his second yellow.

Whether or not Amaya did in fact win the ball with his sliding tackle – and this writer thinks the dismissal was deserved – what’s not debatable is that Amaya will be suspended this weekend unless the Red Bulls win an appeal.

That will be a blow to their hopes of beating Montreal on Saturday. Amaya has started all five games to open the season and added two assists in the process. However, his loss could be the gain of 18-year-old Daniel Edelman.

With Caden Clark nursing a knee injury following the international break (he and Edelman were with the US U-20 squad) and new signing Luquinhas still finding his feet in New York, the young Warren, N.J. native could be thrown into the midfield for his first senior start.

Clark and John Tolkin are recent examples of teenaged Red Bulls breakouts. Whether or not Edelman starts on Saturday, keep an eye on him this season.