I've read that Fulham plays him out of his position so that's why he doesn't look as great as compared to NT play.
IMO Ruiz is a better player han Earnshaw. I like Earnshaw's agrressiveness but he is not as good a technical player than Brian Ruiz. Ruiz is fast, and takes players on and pulls defenses apart which helps his teams score goals. He can also score as well. Earnshaw is good more at poaching, throwing his body around and being a nasty pest. Neitherwould help us n the air though both are kind of short in stature.
Maybe the Dynamo can find an injured striker somewhere to nurse back to health, play great for 3 games and then rapidly, and inexplicably lose form.
Ruiz would also cost a DP spot + about 10 times the salary. He's not that much better than Earnshaw IMHO.
We can disagree on the quality of each player but I believe Ruiz be worth more value (trophies) at the higher price tag at DP IMO if we played him as a true #10 AM than having Earnshaw as a little buzzing pest forward at a low salary.
Right now I'm finding that teams are managing the salary cap just like playing fantasy leagues - load up with superstars at key roles, and then fill in the gaps with low budget players. The nuance to this approach is that too big a names (the Keanes, Beckhams, Donovans, Henrys) are unreliably, often due to their lack of availability for friendlies, and the general toll of the heavy workload away from the club. Finding the top level performers who are 90+ dedicated to the club seems to be the key, where they are actually PLAYING for the vast majority of the club's matches. It will be interesting to see how TFC manages this in 2014 with Defoe and Bradley. I've noticed the Galaxy taking the secondary tack lately, along with others like the Timbers and now even the Red Bulls. I think that is also our general approach, and while not flashy and media friendly, it does keep us near the top of the table year after year. Now would you please get GDS in orange!
I think part of it with the Galaxy is that Leiweike is gone and the old CFO/ beancounter is running AEG now and may not like the loss leader approach.
I thought that the Dynamo have been pretty much mid-table, and have struggled to get into the playoffs every year as of late. Just wait until NYCFC fills their roster. Gio may not want Houston, but a team like NYC will attract players that wouldn't normally even countenance the idea of playing in this league.
But in reality, everyone is mid table then. Five points separated 4th from 9th this year and 3rd and 9th last year. The parity that is MLS tightens the race so much hat barely making the playoffs is the same as barely winning the conference.
That is certainly a positive way to look at it. I think that usually there are 4-5 teams that are top of the table, a bunch in the middle, and then the lower teams. We have squeezed in at around 9-10th place as of late, and were in 6-7 place in 2011, and then 2010...well. I wouldn't consider it near the top of the table but average. I think that we make good runs in the playoffs though, which is really all that matters in the North American game.
the "midtable" talk is only applicable if there was a single table. The truth of it-we have always been an average team that has the uncanny ability to get it done in the last month. We have never really been in a SS race. More times than not, we're getting into the dance with the last ticket. But the only thing people remember is how far you go in a cup run. And with that-we are the undisputed kings in MLS history. I remember Chingy saying that the 08 team was most talented team he had been a part of it-and of course we sh$% the bed and were upset in the first round. I have to come to grips that this our lot in life-the cardiac kids, not the world beaters. We can cause damage in MLS but will never be a major player in this region. But that can be fun-I will always remember that NYRB match in November and the delayed shock when we scored. Hey-you could be a Chivas USA fan, the little brother of a big team, that will always be the "little" team with no fans and no aspirations. We're just a little team, with some fairweather fans, with aspirations.
I was just pointing out, in reality I think there have been really only 1-2 teams at the top of the table. In fact in 2013 there really weren't any as it was a sliding scale from 1 to 9th pretty closely grouped and even the Dynamo had a chance at first in the conference (second overall) with two weeks remaining. 2011 and 2012 saw only two teams really run away. My point is with parity the way it is in the league; you rarely see a huge divide between have and have nots in actual performance and however you want to classify it; everyone is so tightly packed as to give "mid table" little meaning.
With the rule changing that the cup now goes to the highest playoff seed makes winning the cup more difficult if you are a mid table club. We should be painfully aware of that by now after 2011, 2012. Upsets happen in the playoffs of course like HD vs NY in 2008 and last year against NY but the cup final is something different. RSL should have won this year but KC wins it in part due to home field intangibles that favpr KC (Aurelian doesn't get deserved second yellow card, match is overly physical first half, PKs taken in front of KC's supporter section, pitch is frozen and difficult for a RSL possession game etc etc). You have got to finish higher than mid table to get a good shot at hosting that home Cup final - I think that is key now to increasing your odds of wininng.
disagree-RSL lost the Cup because they hit the post and a sitter in the second half that would have had them up 3-0. We missed a sitter that would have had us up 2-0 vs. KC as well. They should have learned from our mistake. Never let KC hang around-go for the jugular and the kill. Playing in KC really wasn't that big of deal in this year's Cup final. But your point-yes it does matter. That second Cup in LA (the first one we would have lost no matter what without Brad) would have been ours if we were here.
You don't think RSL would have gotten more calls in Salt Lake against the agressiveness of KC? You don't think it mattered that the KC crowd antics were getting into RSL pk takers heads? Or what about the fact that the pitch was icy and less familiar to RSL? All that didn't matter it came down to the lack of technical performance by RSL? Yes they missed by inches but the way brains operate in game conditions - outside influences do matter a great deal. Home crowds influences players and referees. Field conditions / sight lines are more familiar with home teams and they usually profit for it. Another example - we lost that superliga final game in NE due mainly to those issues.
I do agree with your point that teams need to overcome issues like that to become champions but my argument is that is tilts some of the odds in favor of the home team. In a league of 'parity' that's important.
They should never taken that match to penalties in the first place. At that point you are putting your destiny in the hands of the soccer gods. Their fault for not finishing them off in regular time. I didn't think the calls were enough to sway the match. Collin doesn't get that second yellow even in Sandy-sorry but Ref is going to make that call in that match, regardless of address. Icy pitch? The field in Sandy was going to be frozen tundra. As for familiarity of the field-at this level, unless the dimensions are completely wacky-like our place, it doesn't really come into play. If RSL won 3-0 because they could actually finish their chances, we wouldn't be talking about familiarity with the field. Yes-home crowd can influence, but it sure didn't look like that they had in effect in the 60th minute, when they were about to bury the home team but couldn't because of their lack of finishing. I don't think those missed opportunities had anything to do with those misses-but the crowd turning when they were missed definitely lifted the Wiz. As for the Superligal final with NE-beats me-DIRECT TV sucks so I couldn't watch the end. But I agree-homefield can make a difference, I just don't think it really played a huge role in this year's final.