DC United acquires Chris Rolfe for allocation

Rolfe is ok for depth but this isn't solving more immediate problems

 

Color me surprised. And happy.

Also color me thinking that an injury is what's been keeping Rolfe on the bench..... and color me, as usual, wishing we had made this move 5 years a go

 

Interesting. Not quite familiar with his positioning and style enough to comment but it's something. Does kinda hint that we wont see much form the summer window...

@shammypants You could also look at it as veteran mentorship possibilities. Lot's of those guys aren't necessarily great as they are now BUT they were all good to great in their primes and pairing them up to mentor the younger players could be a good thing.

 

I would agree with that more if we didn't expect them to be starters.

 

Okay? So what? We have 16 players on the team that are 25 and under. Half of which get minutes as either subs or starters. I think DC is either leading the league or close to it with the number of Homegrowns that we have signed and even played. Other than Arnaud, most of the guys you listed have 3-5 years of playing time left. They also give us quality experience from the back through the front of the team.

 

I like it because he has the potential to play well and United has a need.

 

Some of them are still in their primes... Espindola, Christian, Franklin.

 

I see him probably fitting in right behind EJ and Espindola since Silva is going to be out.

 

28-29 isn't young, but it's not old either.

 

I actually think that's good for the youth movement. These guys will be starters until they aren't able to defend their spots and retire. If we'd gone out and gotten ten experienced 27 year olds, that would have really contradicted the youth movement, because they'd take all the minutes for the next 4 years. I do think we've reached our legal limit of over 30s.

We've 5 players over 3o, 10 players over 26. That means 2/3 of our players are still 26 and under. I don't see the imbalance. If anything, we're heavy in the 23-26 bracket, where we have 12 players, and the 22 and under crowd, where we have 7. Take two from each of those groups and add four 27-30 year olds, and then you've got a team with no particular bias, IMO.

 

Rolfe has always impressed me and I was hoping we would get him earlier, but he re-signed with the Fire. Of course, the Rolfe I remember was in his prime, when he had the fastest shot release I've ever seen. Give him a tiny opening and Pow! But the fact that he's been displaced is concerning, unless the Fire are gong with a youth movement. The team has talked about playing him up front or out wide, but I think he could fill in for Silva better than this year's Davy Arnaud.

 

He upgrades depth in about four positions, so I definitely like that about him. And the youth movement was overhyped, either by Kasper/Olsen, the media, the fans or all three. There is youth in the team, and they want to develop it, but not playing first team games. Theoretically, they would be groomed to take the place of the older players next year or the year after.

This trade will come down to whether or not Rolfe plays well. I think his base is good work rate and average/good possession player. That's fine for a game or two now and then as a sub. That's not enough of what this team needs. He'll need to be a threat for goals and taking players on and drawing fouls, while also tying the midfield together. This is what we expected of Pontius, and that's who he's here to replace, along with Silva short term.

 

If he's averaging 3 assists a game he would be very useful

I see this as another lazy Kasper move but I hope it works out

 

In 2012 he was a team MVP. Last year in 2013 he was "subpar" and "lackluster". And he was just an injury time substitute in his most recent game.

Forwards are unpredictable. One bad season is not enough to automatically write him off, but I really hope we didn't blow too much allocation money on him.

Here's what the Chicago Tribune had to say about him a month ago.

Chris Rolfe, Fire believe he can return to form
Coming off lackluster season, 31-year-old Fire forward thinks he can regain scoring touch and new coach Frank Yallop agrees
Fire forward Chris Rolfe seeks to prove his subpar 2013 was merely a departure from the norm.
<SNIP>
A fan favorite, Rolfe rejoined the Fire as a free agent in April 2012 and collected a team-high eight goals — the second most of his career — in 22 appearances.
He struggled to score in 2013 despite starting 26 of 31 games. Rolfe had the team's second most shots (69), was third in shots on goal (19) but just had four scores and none in the season's final three months.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...fe-juan-luis-anangono-fire-coach-frank-yallop

 

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Where did you get that from?

 

hahahahahahahaha, what is our deal of getting players past their prime who terrorized us years ago!?!

Ben stop picking players you wanted to play with in 2008!!!