Question of the Week: Should Loan Players Start or Ride the Bench?

So far we have seen four different players loaned to the Republic from San Jose (Sherrod, Thompson, Jahn and Colvey). With the roster seeming to change on a weekly basis, should the loanees be put in starting lineup or should they come off the bench in order to give Sacramento a fairly consistent starting lineup?

Evan Eyster (@IronPonyChef)

I feel that the Republic need a consistent lineup over loanees. With the exception of putting in Tommy Thompson whenever he is loaned down, the other offensive loans of Sherrod and Jahn while they are moderate improvements eat into the cohesion that Sacramento has failed to figure out this season. Unless San Jose has guarenteed that a loan will be a minimum of three weeks, a lineup that is used to playing with eachother, knowing where everyone will be, and able to make more substantive attacks is needed.

If Sacramento is faced with a single striker on loan, I would be willing to roll out a striker pair of Stewart and one of Jahn, Sherrod and Thompson that features Williams and Pridham coming in at 60', but for now the Republic need to build their own team. Sacramento is an affiliate of San Jose, not a "B" team. This seemed to be the tactic that Preki took, and even if it meant that less players seemed to be loaned, it made the core that much stronger.

JC Escobar (@ICS_JC)

Even if Buckle decided to leave all the loanees on the bench, he hasn't shown the willingness to use the same starting lineup over a two game period. He changes the lineup depending on that particular week's tactics. Only 6 players have started all 6 games. Jakubek, Klimenta, Foran, Christian, Koval and Barrera.

Josh Beeman (@josh_beeman)

The issue that this brings to my mind is less one of loanees starting or coming off the bench and more one of the structure of the loans in general. I do not have a problem with loanees in the starting lineup provided that they are not just one-offs. And that, really, is the problem because most loans that the Republic receive are either one-offs or very short term. It unfortunately appears to be the nature of the Republic-Quakes affiliation.

A consistent lineup is pretty important for building familiarity among the players in game situations. So with the nature of the affiliation in mind, I would prefer that non-loan players not start if there is a better option ahead of them. Hopefully that is how Buckle already does things.

What do you think about loan players?  Should the Republic be sticking them in the starting lineup?  Are they better as super subs?  Sound off below.

Also, do you have any ideas for Question of the Week that you want to see the ICS writers tackle?  Let us know.