A concern resides on the left side of Minnesota United’s defense going into Saturday’s match against Houston Dynamo.

Left center back Micky Tapias didn’t train on Tuesday and appears likely to be sidelined for his third straight game with a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, fullback Zarek Valentin (thigh) has been out and Joseph Rosales will be suspended one game after picking up two yellow cards in the 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday.

“On one hand, you could look at it as a bit of a problem in the sense that … We are slightly stretched in that particular position, that side of the pitch,” head coach Eric Ramsay said Tuesday. “But also it’s an opportunity for someone, and I think, that’s always the way I look at it.”

Devin Padelford has been filling in for Tapias at center back, but Padelford is more of a full back and Rosales’ backup. It might make the most sense for Padelford to bump out to fullback, but then who steps on at center back?

Victor Eriksson is the most-likely candidate, but the new Swedish addition allowed a goal in his cover-your-eyes, eight-minute MLS debut in the 2-0 loss to Philadelphia on March 30. Hugo Bacharach and Morris Duggan are rookies without MLS experiences, and midfielder Kervin Arriaga has played center back, but he’s rehabbing a knee injury.

“We’ll work on it as the week goes on,” Ramsay said of the mix of players for those two spots. “And you’ll see come Saturday.”

As for potential returns for Tapias and Valentin, Ramsay said: “I think it will be probably a game too soon. But that’s not definitely the case.”

For Padelford, Ramsay used positional examples from his time as an assistant coach at Manchester United.

“We’ve very often playing with Licha (Lisandro) Martinez, who’s not your typical center-half profile and Luke Shaw often played left sided center back,” Ramsay said. “We sort of use those two guys as nice reference points for Dev because, I think, that you don’t need to stereotype the way in which a center half needs to look. And I think (Padelford) has played the role to his set of capabilities really, really well.”

Seeing red

Ramsay and Rosales chatted one-on-one after Tuesday’s training session and scrimmage in Blaine.

“He feels really disappointed in the (red card) situation and (in) himself, to an extent,” Ramsay said. “I think it was a really soft, second yellow card. Obviously, if you look at it objectively, then he sort of put himself in a position where you can allow the referee to do that. And it’s a shame because he played really well.”

MNUFC leaders “had a brief discussion” about trying to appeal Rosales’ second yellow card, “but it’s not something that we’re going to attempt to do,” Ramsay said.

Tani time

Loons backup forward Tani Oluwaseyi has played only 140 minutes this season, but he has four goal contributions (two goals and two assists) in six games. He notched the equalizing goal in the draw in St. Paul last weekend.

“He’s done brilliantly,” Ramsay said. “I spoke to him (Tuesday) and made it clear that’s obviously not going unnoticed; his general energy, enthusiasm, the way he comes on, the way he changes games. No. 1, the way he presses before we get to the goal contributions.

“Obviously he’s an important player for us at the moment,” Ramsay said. “And we just need to make sure that we have a nice balance between how we use him and how we use Teemu (Pukki), who can both, on their day, be a real threat at this level.”

Briefly

Winger Sang Bin Jeong appeared to be taken down by a RSL defender in the 18-yard box on Saturday, but no penalty was awarded to the Loons. “I thought it was a good shout for us, to be honest, but I’m not wanting to dwell on instances like that,” Ramsay said. … Arriaga and Hassani Dotson (hamstring) did “scaled back” work in training on Tuesday. “They got through what we planned for them to get through, so that’s really good,” Ramsay said. … Jordan Adebayo-Smith appeared to injure himself during warmups Tuesday. … Members of MNUFC and MNUFC2 had a closed scrimmage on Tuesday. “It’s something we want to do more of moving forward, making sure that it does feel like we are genuinely on a thread from top to bottom,” Ramsay said. “And the second-team players feel connected to the first team and the first-team players feel like they’ve got a role in bringing the young players through.”

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