He's on a one year contract, is he not? So, unless he gets a substantial raise, he'll likely bolt for Europe or Mexico.
Just the first year. In year 2 it goes up to $150k. I haven't seen anything on how much the option years are for.
Wow. Sounders FO is playing Football Manager while some others in the league are playing the Sensible World of Soccer. [/football-game-nerd]
I'm feeling pretty smug about my Eddie Johnson signing for Seattle analysis. Is everyone else sorry about their terrible opinions?
No, because I actually put up an estimated goal total for him and thought he'd do well. It's in this thread somewhere ...
He's exceeded my guess for goals this year. I thought he would be around a 10 goal scorer before the season started, which is good productivity. He's looks a bit more skilled in scoring them too then I remember him from before. I thought it was a good trade for Seattle when it went down, and then when I found out how little he's making I thought it was a great trade.
Well done. I meant the people who said it was the atrocious decision in the history of MLS, or something equally hyperbolic. They need to be outed.
Guess I should take my lumps on this one. I wasn't calling it the end of the world but I did think Seattle overpaid for EJ.
i admit he's scored some goals, mostly due to good service and some heading ability ... and fucito and neagle have turned out to be worthless .. so the trade has been a good one for the Sounders but EJ still sucks as an all-around footballer, has the soccer IQ of a toaster and having watched every Sounders game this season is still the king of the utterly useless stepover and has actually dribbled the ball directly out of bounds and a shocking number of occasions.
Which is only about 30% of the story .... but hey, it's hard to admit when you're about as wrong as you can be on something. I know, it happens to me now and again.
you are going to defend EJ's stepovers? or his dribbling the ball directly out of bounds about 5 times a game? are you saying EJ is a highly intelligent excellent all around soccer player? because i'd like some of what you are smoking if so ...
With spin like that you should be working for the Romney/Obama campaign (pick your politician of dislike).
Are you going to ignore EJ's vast improvement as a dribbler and passer ? Are you saying EJ hasn't gotten much better about not only understanding his role, but sticking to it ? I'll pass on whatever you're smoking. I only look to enhance myself with such experiences, not degrade.
No.. What I'm saying is your first paragraph is where you should have stopped your post. If EJ were a perfect soccer player, he wouldn't have crashed out of Europe. However, for what the Sounders needed, someone that could get his head in front of a Rosales cross and put the ball on frame, EJ has been absolutely perfect and his goal scoring stats reflect that. As long as he can continue to do that, the rest is just window dressing meant to distract the haters.
spin? uh, everything in the second part of that post is the absolute truth? care to refute any of it? do you want to argue that EJ doesn't have a proclivity for useless stepovers? or dribbling the ball incompetently out of bounds regularly? are you going to make the argument that EJ is an intelligent and quality all around footballer? face it ... he is a pretty good MLS player, due mostly to his speed and heading ability, and in spite of some pretty serious shortcomings. that can happen in MLS ... it isn't such a high quality league that those with few good traits and just as many poor traits can't succeed to some extent ... but i think his 3-4 years of utterly failing at all sorts of levels in Europe show that MLS is about his ceiling and that in the grand scheme of things he isn't that great of a footballer ... he does a job for Seattle (at least he has this season) and they got a bargain but let's not mistake him for some NT level soccer star.
The point that Yoshou made bears repeating. The lillaputian brigade we had up front simply could't get on the end of a lot of great services our mids where providing. The Sounders scored goals, but we relied heavily on our mids to do so. EJ is an effective target guy, something we've lacked since Jaqua's standout year in '09. I really couldn't care how many silly stepovers he does, or what his soccer IQ is. He is putting the ball into the net and allowing Montero more freedom to create. Folks often say Fredy is streaky this or lazy that, which is mostly based on his scoring. It's nothing but a lot of amateur analysis. Montero is having his best year as a MLSer, thanks in large part to EJ's presence.
i can agree to that ... he found a niche and is fulfilling it to the Sounders credit and benefit ... but he is not a "good" footballer all things considered ... he is very limited and only has a small niche usefulness .... mostly my response is for those who see 13 goals and are clamouring for him to get another chance to show how spectacularly average he is at the NT level.