By the way, when the line-up came out on Twitter last night there was a fan who complained about Pajoy over Salihi and Steven Goff replied and basically said Salihi sucks. Here's the exchange: Steven Goff SoccerInsider U r joking, right? RT @thebaconcat: no salihi and no bosko. Did they beat up Ben's dog? No way pajoy is better than salihi Goff later replied to a direct question about Salihi: Steven Goff @SoccerInsider: Poor fitness, not good with ball, doesn't show well in practice RT@freakshad: What is the deal with Salihi? I presume that someone (aka Ben Olsen) is whispering in Goff's ear that Salihi sucks and among the reasons are "poor fitness, not good with ball, and doesn't show well in practice." I suppose he could have just developed that view on his own from watching practices but I'd be shocked if he wasn't being spun to at least some degree by someone in the club... To me, Salihi's (and Bosko's) lack of playing time is the biggest story for DC United this year. You simply can't succeed in this league while having $600,000 or so in salary cap space sitting on the bench. A good reporter would be hammering away at the team (Olsen, Kasper, Payne, etc.) demanding answers. Fans certainly want them but we don't have the access... Goff, Stouffer, Ives, Creditor, someone. Are you listening?
IMHO - It wasnt necessarily Salihi's fault when he wasnt effective, it was a lack of a possession game in midfield by United. Salihi isn't going to be the one racing out during a breakaway or the occasional long ball that sneaks through, he's going to be lurking around the goal making shit happen when the ball is being possessed in the attacking half. I don't think that blends very well with whatever style DC is trying to play.
All things equal, if you assume that Salihi is even close to even with other strikers in terms of skill, you gotta play him. You're paying a fortune and as coach the flak for not playing your most expensive guy isn't worth it. If he plays and sucks, nobody on these boards would be screaming "what we really need is more Long Tan". As for Davies, not sure I ever saw that he was that good. Sorry, but after his first -- very inspiring -- game, he never really impressed, and his flopping was an embarrassment. Don't think the situations are analogous at all.
I pay no attention to Goff unless he is talking about potential trades/movement or reporting on what his sources say about such things. When we start talking about players abilities, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. He is a shill for the front office. The next time he asks a truly hard question to a management type at DCU will be the first time that he asks a truly hard question to a management type at DCU.
I didn't post this b/c I deeply value Goff's opinion. I posted it b/c I think it's a window into what the front office/coaching staff is thinking about Salihi these days... And what they are apparently telling Goff (the "shill for the front office" if you like) is that Salihi has poor fitness, isn't good with the ball, and doesn't show well in practice.
Sounds like Roy Lassiter to me. Oh, and he had 27 goals one year. But anyway, even if all that is true, that means Kasper has to be fired. Period.
Believe me when I say Hamdi Salihi won't be with us in the next 48 hours. The stage has been set for his departure. The european transfer window closes in 2 days and they will likely shift him then. I'd find it extremely strange if he wanted to stay after his horrid time here. Expect a move soon.
As a matter of fact, since our FO is done acquiring players for this year, I would fire him right now. The sooner you find a replacement the better off we are next year.
So you're saying we're going to sell Salihi in the next 36 hours and then bring in an out-of-contract Michael Owen to replace him. Interesting...
If this is indeed the case it will not be a black eye for Salihi. He will go back to Europe and tell all his friends to avoid this nonsense in MLS. If it is the case, it will be a long long long long wait for it Long Tan rest of the season. (And a very short post season, if any)
In his 10 starts (and even in his 8 games as a sub), Salihi hasn't scored one difference-making goal. He's generally been poor as a starter, and really only seems to be able to get good sniffs at goal when other teams are desperately pushing forward and leaving gaping holes in the back. Honestly, I think he's better than even Pajoy, and much better than Tan, but I don't get how he's been sainted over the last week just because Ben has mangled the roster-management side of his job. I don't think anyone can say we've gotten what we paid for.
The first couple of times I saw Salihi play I wasn't all that impressed. But he was definitely growing on me and seemed like he was getting his feet wet and beginning to understand the league. Same with Boskovic. Then he was just flat out sent to the bench. I don't know if Salihi is going to be great in this league and help lead us to glory, but I could see it happening.. I do know that neither Tan or Pajoy are the answer. They are journeymen level quality at best. That seems self-evident. I think what everyone is pissed about is that there maybe some real quality on this team, we've seen glimpses of what it could be, but we're not getting to see it and no one can seem to come up with an explanation as to why. I've rarely post on BigSoccer anymore just because life is too busy with other stuff. But I was so pissed off about that line-up last night in a pretty-much must-win game against our biggest rival that I've spend all day here venting. I love Ben Olsen and everything he was as a player. As a result, he has a very long leash as far as I'm concerned and if takes him some time to grow into this position, I'm willing to let him have it out of respect. But he's burning up a lot of that goodwill with his decision-making right now...
You can downplay his goals all you want, but his record is pretty good. 5 goals in 18 games (10 starts), 1 goal in US Open Cup, 2 in Carolina Cup and all this while being very much on the fringes of the team. Scoring a late goal when an opponent pushes up is still valuable ... his goal in Toronto finished that game off and secured the 3 points. To put into perspective, with his goal scoring rate (1 goal/176 minutes) he would have 12 goals now if he had De Ro's playing time. Maybe that's a bit ambitious ... it's possible that the rate would go down with more minutes and more fatigue, but that would still put him in the 10 goal range. In this league that's not a bad investment for a DP and those numbers would likely make him the highest scorer on the team, which is what he was brought here for.
He's been sainted because, as you acknowledge, the players playing ahead of him aren't very good. Pajoy has one goal since he arrived and Long Tan has one goal on a scuffed shot that a toddler should have stopped. He then celebrated his "golazo" by pointing to the name on the back of his shirt and ignoring the All-Star who fed him the assist. "Saint" Salihi has 5 goals which suggests a modicum skill in putting the ball in the back of the net.
As a Newcastle United follower, I'd say Michael Owen is good....... At sitting on the bench and collecting a paycheck. So yeah, I can totally see this front office making that move!
Does Goff even attend practices anymore? He has good info on rumors and such but his player evaluations are making my head ich. If Salihi is actually dogging it, then I understand Ben's position. But if that was the case, DCU should have been leaking this complaints earlier and louder to get the point across. If DeRo is refusing to pass him the ball, the entire organization would be on his *ss about that shit and would have made them hug it out; it was a pretty unplayable ball and if I had scored that I would have done what Salihi did.
I can't figure out what you're talking about here. What are you referring to by "would have done what Salihi did"? On the other point, people make the assertion that DeRo won't pass Salihi the ball by re-watching time in which they played together and noting that there were quite a few cases where DeRo took the ball into the 18 yard box and a square pass would have given Salihi a shot at an empty net, but DeRo instead choose to go at keeper + defender and coughed the ball up instead.
The "fox in the box" type of poaching striker doesn't work in MLS, anyway. You have to be fast, physical, or both...OR have a wicked outside shot like Rolfe and Pontius. Alan Gordon is probably one of the best poachers in the league at the moment and he manhandles defenders instead of sneaking around like the far-less-successful Kris Boyd. Koevermans was (pre-injury) the only one I can think of who was successful at positional poaching, but he's terrific in the air, which Salihi never was to begin with.
A freak of nature--but point taken. Still, he started on his roll by playing a pinched in outside midfielder picking up back-post headers. This is not a model one can use to acquire foreign talent for MLS. When there were rumblings about Miguel Sabah coming to MLS, I thought that wouldn't be a very smart pickup for just these reasons.
Yes, there are examples of successful poachers in the recent and distant past (Ruiz, RDA, I'm sure there are others), but recently, not so much.
My opinion is that for a poacher to be reasonably successful in this league, the rest of the offense has to already be pretty good. There have to be players who can get the ball to the poacher when the poacher is showing in a dangerous spot. There have to be players who will take advantage of the space the poacher creates when he pulls opposing defenses out of shape. There have to be players who will take the really good shots that the opposing keeper can only desperately block, leaving the poacher with garbage to put away from close range. We had that offense when we had Emilio in 2007. We don't have it now.