2013-2014 Off-season rumors, news, opinions and hijinks

Discussion in 'D.C. United' started by JoeSoccerFan, Oct 6, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Boda United

    Boda United Member

    Apr 18, 2003
    No. Va.
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Had to LOL, capitalization DOES matter. :cool:
     
    MagpieFan, sitruc, Alejandro 10 and 2 others repped this.
  2. DecadeOfDCU26

    DecadeOfDCU26 Member+

    May 2, 2007
    DC
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Am I the only one who thought Johnny Thorrington had a good season (when he was healthy). Seems to be no talk of him being retained or even thought of as starting caliber next year. I don't think he should be penciled in as a 34 game starter at all, but I absolutely think he should be kept around. I don't believe he is making that much if IIRC, didn't we negotiate salary with him after the re-entry pick last year?
     
  3. Hedbal

    Hedbal Member+

    Jul 31, 2000
    DC
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think Thorrington has been our most consistently good player this year. He has great soccer intelligence, works very hard, and is a very gritty tackler. Unfortunately, I think he is a bit of a 'tweener; not really an AM but not perhaps a starting DM. If we went to a 4-2-3-1, I could see him paired with Kitchen behind, say, Silva.
     
  4. nobletea

    nobletea Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 29, 2004
    HarCo
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He's not good enough as a starter at any position any more. Calling him a tweener now is the default option because he doesn't have the wheels or gas to play outside anymore. Goff mentioned that he could return. Theoretically I don't have a problem with that. He's a great spot starter, perhaps even at 34 or 35. If he earns his spot and isn't overpaid for it, I'm happy to have him next year.
     
  5. Funkfoot

    Funkfoot Member+

    May 18, 2002
    New Orleans, LA
    The team does seem to play better when he's on the field.
     
  6. fatbastard

    fatbastard Member+

    Aug 1, 2003
    Lincoln (ish), Va
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    More precisely, Perry Kitchen seems to play better when he's on the field - which in turn means United can hold midfield better and seem to be playing better because their defenders can focus on defending.
     
    Marco10 repped this.
  7. GumbyG

    GumbyG Member+

    DC United
    Mar 22, 2007
    Chesapeake, VA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I wouldn't pay DP money for either of them, really. I'd take Oneywu at something like Jakovic's salary. Lower would be better. That's still possible since it looks like he's out of contract, hasn't been picked up as a DP by any other teams, and has stated his desire to one day return to MLS and DC specifically. I might rather have Edu for the long term, but he isn't nearly the threat on set pieces that Onyewu is, isn't a natural center back, and I haven't heard that he'd be either affordable or interested. Am I misunderstanding the situation?o_O
     
  8. DangerMouse37

    DangerMouse37 Member+

    Jan 22, 2004
    WDC / Barra
    I think Thorrington does make the team much better. What it says to me, sadly, is less about his effectiveness and more about how low the soccer IQ is on other players. So much of this is positional awareness and taking the time to stop and think about the next play.

    Two general rules of MLS that seem over and over again to prove themselves out: 1) coaching quality matters; and 2) the brain is faster than the ball (if well trained and applied). We have a number of good athletes, but we need more soccer smarts if we don't want to repeat 2013.
     
    JRHokie, griffin1108 and Hedbal repped this.
  9. Murr

    Murr Member+

    Apr 14, 2007
    Houston, TX
    Club:
    DC United

    Ben loves him, knew John would only give DCU a few games, loves his soccer mind and influences he brings to certain games.
     
    Barbieri repped this.
  10. Murr

    Murr Member+

    Apr 14, 2007
    Houston, TX
    Club:
    DC United
    Awesome. Goff answered one on my tweets:

    Steven Goff ‏@SoccerInsider9 Oct
    @MurrDCU Alam is barely on roster this year. In Jakarta since July. Club will cut ties after Indonesia tour in Dec
     
  11. Eastern Bear

    Eastern Bear Member+

    Feb 27, 1999
    Great Falls, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Thorrington was the biggest waste of money this year. On the rare occasion that he played, he did well. He hasn't been through a full season healthy probably ever. He's also a very inconsistent passer. He's smart and probably has good leadership skills, but he's no answer.
     
    Boloni86 repped this.
  12. Murr

    Murr Member+

    Apr 14, 2007
    Houston, TX
    Club:
    DC United
    Thorrington was this season's Ernie Stewart; no trophy without him.
     
  13. Boloni86

    Boloni86 Member+

    Jun 7, 2000
    Baltimore
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Gibraltar
    I could go either way on Thorrington. And Onyewu and Edu are poor options IMO.

    We need better ideas folks
     
    benni... and Alejandro 10 repped this.
  14. fischy

    fischy Member

    Aug 27, 2006
    You must have JT confused with Pajoy or BMac.

    I said all along there was no way he was gonna be worth what he was being paid, given his injury history -- but, I was pleasantly surprised with his play when he was healthy, especially in Cup matches. The team, too, just looked better when he was on. Without him, we don't win some of those games.

    Of course, he's no "answer" for a team that is rebuilding from the very bottom, given his age and history. Still, the team could do worse than bring him back for another go around. He's at least a quarter of the player DeRo is, and he isn't even making that much.
     
    TheJoeGreene repped this.
  15. jason1551

    jason1551 Member+

    Apr 9, 2003
    Columbus, GA
    Club:
    DC United
    Looking at the list of prospects available, only Lichaj, Lletget, and Spector stand out as worthwhile choices.

    Personally, I think we wind up with Onyewu, and people are surprised that he's not as damaged as we make him out to be.
     
  16. fischy

    fischy Member

    Aug 27, 2006
    Well, if we're talking about the allocation slot -- the only other options I see that might be on the table, if we're willing to wait until summer, would be J. Jones (probably aDP signing instead), Cherundolo, Parkhurst, possibly Diskerud (rumors of his interest in playing here), and maybe Joe Gyau abandons his European adventure (which seems to be headed in the wrong direction right now). I guess there's always the chance that Gomez might be tempted by a DP deal.

    One guy, who it seems to me, ought to be contacted is Preston Zimmerman. According to his Wiki page, he quit from his 3rd division team in Germany after last season, to retire and go to school. I don't know if that was over there or whether he's back in the States, but I gotta think he could make an MLS lineup, if he wanted. Maybe, he and Martin could ride Metro together to class....
     
  17. nobletea

    nobletea Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 29, 2004
    HarCo
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Lichaj might consider the move if he thought the local exposure would get him on the WC team, but it seems like he's playing pretty regularly at NFFC and they are (it's early, lord help me) in the running for promotion place, so I think he'd like to stay where he is at least until summer. No idea of his contract status.
     
  18. JRHokie

    JRHokie Member+

    Aug 23, 2001
    Fairfax, VA
    As long as we can get him signed up on one of the Government exchanges for health insurance he'll be fine. Those pre-existing conditions were killing our medical bills.
     
  19. GumbyG

    GumbyG Member+

    DC United
    Mar 22, 2007
    Chesapeake, VA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think we end up using the allocation spot for Onyewu, if he's interested, only because I have trouble imagining anyone else jumping the line ahead of Oneywu who wouldn't demand a DP salary, and we don't need to waste the allocation spot on a DP, if I understand things correctly..?
     
  20. fatbastard

    fatbastard Member+

    Aug 1, 2003
    Lincoln (ish), Va
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The 2014 Carolina Challenge Cup:

    Charleston Battery
    DC United
    Seattle
    Houston
     
    Marco10 and Barbieri repped this.
  21. griffin1108

    griffin1108 BigSoccer Supporter

    Dec 5, 2003
    Virginia
    Apparently Onyewu is working out a deal with Valencia, so he's off the radar anyway.
     
  22. jason1551

    jason1551 Member+

    Apr 9, 2003
    Columbus, GA
    Club:
    DC United
    Is he? Or is that Valencia is just interested in him?
     
  23. DangSkippy

    DangSkippy Member+

    Apr 28, 2009
    MoCo Maryland
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My problem is that I just can't tell how good the forwards are. Obviously, none of them are setting the world on fire, but I feel like the forwards are too often isolated and/or don't get decent service. We may or may not have a couple of decent goalscorers who aren't getting the chances they need due to the lack of quality around them (and the formation. . . and the defense first strategy. . . ).

    Also, on the comments on Thorrington - I don't think he's not downright bad in his position. He's not the reason that this team is awful, but I'm not sure keeping him is the path to success either. I think on a better team, he'd be a reliable placeholder while the team looked for someone better or waited for a player to come back from injury and I don't think DC should treat him any differently. He's not a "must go," imo, but the team should definitely have an eye out for an upgrade.
     
  24. DangSkippy

    DangSkippy Member+

    Apr 28, 2009
    MoCo Maryland
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here's my manifesto:

    DC has lost a couple of multi-goal games and I'm not sure that the defense is where we want it to be, but I'm also not sure they're the biggest problem. Goals and sustained offense seem to be DC's biggest hurdle this year. I think the big question is whether or not DC plays defensively because that is just Olsen's style or because Olsen doesn't think the back four are good enough. If Olsen would end the defensive mindset with more reliable defenders, then obviously defenders are the priority. However, I would point out the salaries of DC's defenders at the beginning of the year and that doesn't suggest a lack of faith. So, if Olsen is going to continue to have a defense-first strategy, I think that DC needs to go bank-breakingly big on a striker, because in the current system, the striker or strikers are going to find themselves isolated and it really takes something special to function in that environment.
    If I had to guess, we have several strikers who are average (who knows, maybe slightly above or below) for MLS, but that's not good enough for the way DC plays and intends to play. If the striker's support in wings or midfield are going to be playing deep, he needs to be able to create his own opportunities and not just hold up the ball or pass backward, slowing the counter. I don't think cast-offs or draft picks are the solution, I'm not sure it has to be a DP, but for the type of quality I think is necessary, I would guess that it probably would be.
    Whichever is the first priority, defenders or a striker, I think the next would be players to push Pontius, DeLeon, and maybe Kitchen, but primarily the outside midfielders. It would suck to lose one of them because they're not happy with playing time or because their salaries are too high, but I think their positions are essential to the way DC plays. Without them carrying a threat, the opposing defenders are able to focus even more on the strikers and the attack durdles in the middle third or ends before it begins. That's less true for Kitchen, but I just get the impression that he is not developing as he should - he focuses on what he is good at and does it well, but I don't think his weak points (primarily passing) have shown the improvements I would like and I wonder if some of that is because he has been relatively unchallenged internally.
     
  25. Mikey mouse

    Mikey mouse Member

    Jul 27, 1999
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Charleston
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    some press

    http://charlestonbattery.com/news/m...rs-fc-to-play-in-2014-carolina-challenge-cup/

    http://www.chssoccer.net/carolina-challenge-three-interesting-opponents/

    http://www.postandcourier.com/artic...4-carolina-cup-challenge-at-blackbaud-stadium

    We here in Charleston always look forward to this week as it is the ends a long off season, gets us back to our little stadium with old friends and good times. The Regiment our local supporters group will be hosting any traveling supporters at our tailgate, and looking at adding some other events during the week (pub crawl.

    Any questions about the city don't hesitate to ask but there are enough United supporters that have made the trip that can help out too.
     

Share This Page