The referenced article says"Salihi was a star under former boss Peter Pacult but the poacher has struggled to adapt to (new manager) Schoettel's counter-attacking style." This sounds very much like his story here in DC. And 44 goals in 70 appearances is a lot of poaching(!). With DeRo coming back and Boskovic apparently in Benny's good graces, why not change United's style of play from counterattacking to one which makes good use of such a "poacher?"
How in the world was that a flop? CD9 scored big goals for us and, IMHO, played a big role in bringing a new attitude about winning (by any means necessary) to a team that had not done much of it for years. DeRo's arrival made him surplus to the club's needs but his performance in the first 8-10 games of the year was enough to make his (relatively cheap) loan deal a success.
I like Gabriel Gomez's game, but not so sure about the attitude and he's super expensive. Solli is maybe the best pick up on that list ... I like Vukovic too
I have a feeling in my bones. We're going to make a big signing this offseason. And it will pay off. A forward, or course, and I'd bet from a notable European league. Vague guess, I know, but I feel it.
I do not think we will make a move for a big DP-- unless we actually, truly, seriously, no-take-backs, have a deal in place for a stadium. Then I think it would be worth it for the buzz factor going into a new stadium. Otherwise, it still seems too early to me, even if we have the money to do it right now. We'll see. I'd like to be wrong. What I do think we'll do is maybe move some people around and have a new DP player of about the same quality that we have had. I don't think the roster requires major changes. Coming in #3 on the season, and #4 overall in the playoffs, and considering Ben has repeatedly talked about how he's got the team united and playing for each other, I don't think he's going to be quick to blow it up. He will take what he has and make the moderate changes. Those changes should be: 1) Figure out how to get our best players on the field at the same time. I honestly don't know how to do this. We have some players that are good or great at certain roles, but also have limitations. This hits us mostly in midfield, which causes us to have to make adjustments elsewhere. The simplest solution, I think, is to acquire a massively competent two-way central midfielder to pair with Kitchen. Not as an AM/DM, but as CM/CM who obviously have slightly different roles. This will allow us have the extra forward we need to score goals consistently. This will probably mean Boskovic leaves in the summer and this guy comes in. Does this guy exist? Can we get him? I have no idea. Short of this, most of our forward pairings consist of player who don't complement each other, and I really think we need to have 2 forwards. 2) Acquire forwards, unless Pontius and Dero are going to be used exclusively as forwards. But again, the problem is still that they are too much alike IMO, and that means you can't do this, and either way you have to replace them in midfield with something. Leads me to believe we will see Pontius at LM again next year, which is unfortunate. 3) Find the right fit of formation and players. This is kinda like the first job, but in this one I will specifically say that either 451, 442, or 433 could all work just fine, and maybe we will have certain players for certain formations/situations, but we have got to have some tactical flexibility and use people in the right places, which for most of this year I didn't really see that. Even with the same players, I think changes here need to be made. Specific ideas: 442 Forwards: Pajoy/Santos/Tan-- Salihi/Pontius/Dero LM Pontius/DeLeon/Korb/Neal RM Pontius/DeLeon/Najar/Korb CM Boskovic/New Guy--- Kitchen/Saragosa/Shanosky LB Woolard/Korb RB Najar/Korb 433: Pontius/Salihi-- Pajoy/Santos-- Dero/Salihi Deleon--New Awesome Mid--Kitchen--Najar/Korb Wollard/Korb--CB-CB--Najar/Korb 451: ----New Awesome Foward Guy --------Pontius-- Dero DeLeon-----Kitchen----Najar Woolard---CB---CB----Korb Okay I'm out of ideas. EDIT: I lied. 4312: ----Dero-- Salihi ------Pontius--- DeLeon-- Kitchen-- Najar Woolard-CB/CB/Korb
Hey Nobletea, I must have missed something. Would let me know how we were 4th overall in the playoffs? The best I can figure we were 3rd overall in both the season and playoffs. Thanks! A
nope, we are equal to Seattle in the "bounced out of Conf Finals" level of the playoffs but outscored them on points, so we're 3rd. Screws us into a bad draft position without any reward at all (could have been CCL if either San Jose or KC made the Cup instead of LA and Houston) - other than "pride"
Haven't read thru this thread, so please forgive any repeat comments, but if this scenario presents itself (and trust me, it won't) above, I will go on Craigslist and find a hit man to assassinate front office personnel. On what planet is Andy Najar for Juan Agudelo a "shiny" trade? Yikes....
My bad I thought they scored more goals than us, seeing as we scored like, 3 in 4 games. No idea what the tiebreakers are, just guestimating.
Soccer Insider: "*Salihi, a designated player with a guaranteed year remaining on his contract, said he hopes to return and has “nothing else in my head now. In the future, you never know because in this business, things can change every day, especially when it is transfer time. I am concentrating on the contract I have and starting next season better than the last. Everyone wants to play, but you have to accept the decision of the coach. You just have to work hard and make things change in your favor.” Me too man. I am a certified Salihi fan. I really hope he and branko do stick around.
Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...2/11/20/d-c-united-begins-player-evaluations/ news on Jakovic out of contract and Boskovic decision coming in a couple days
I think the decision that needs to be made is weather Ben can tactically coach a team that has Bosko/Salihi starting. If he can't figure that out tactically then they need to go. We need a gameplan now that we train to implement for the start of next season. Ben just needs to dial back the grind it out approach and let creative players have freedom. James
...and you get your wish: http://www.dcunited.com/news/2012/11/dejan-jakovic-signs-new-contract james
Excellent. Our CB partnership stays intact. I'd be OK with Dudar staying too, but he needs to take a paycut if he's going to be the 3rd man in the rotation. $150,000 - $175,ooo sounds fair.