Couple of notes from the Post today: http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci...pids-pablo-mastroeni-feeling-better-about-his http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci...orado-rapids-shifts-into-offseason-evaluation
I'm awfully skeptical that new players are going to really have much impact on the fundamental problems this team has. Tactics will overcome individual players 99.9% of the time...and that issue rests squarely on Pareja's solders.
I like the way Rivero, Castrillon, and Hill play together. They're our best on the ball, combine well, and look like they enjoying playing together. The first time we saw this group on the field together was at the Swansea friendly, where they immediately looked like the free-flowing, attacking team we were supposed to have, and then now, in the last two games. Granted, in all 3 games, there was nothing at stake for the opponents, but it's puzzling why we didn't see more of this trio. This is really the core to build around next year: --------------------Striker------------------- Castrillon---------Rivero-------------Hill ------------Larentowicz--Thomas---------- Klute------Wynne-------Moor-------RB -------------------Pickens--------------------
I have thought about Castrillon as a Striker and Cascio as LW since he actually plays defense. Klute I can not give starting role too based off 1 games against a B side, but he did look good.
STRIKER Thoughts on depth chart & personnel: Omar Cummings -- Keep Omar. He's a relatively good value at $90k, and with Jamaica in the Hex, he has an incentive to have a good year. Andre Akpan -- Keep. He looks good out there with the Castrillon, Rivero, Hill trio. Scored against Swansea & against Houston playing with those guys. If CRH are the main lineup next year, he could easily earn his way into the #1 spot. Otherwise, he's probably solidified himself as #2. Edu -- Cut. Conor Casey -- This is the tricky one. Casey makes $400k, and was injured and non-productive this year. He stated he wants to come back. We do need another quality striker to go with the two above. Is Casey that guy? At what reduced salary is it worth it to bring Casey back? Does he have any trade value? Overall, I think we need to add another striker in the off season, whether or not Casey is in the mix. Going forward, the striker is more of a supplementary midfield scorer, rather than the dominant focus of the attack. The strikers need to have chemistry with the midfield and combine well with the midfield where most of our attack and goals came from. Good Idea: Bringing in a younger, but known MLS commodity. Juan Agudelo, as someone suggested, is an excellent idea. I don't see the Rapids splashing for a known top-scorer, and I'm not even sure who would be available in the MLS market, anyway. Bad Idea: Searching abroad for an aging striker (Edu). We've already got Casey. Rehash him first. Also, searching abroad for a young, unknown talent and trying to integrate them into the team. Not worth it. We have Cummings and Akpan who can work with the current midfield.
MIDFIELD Thoughts on depth chart & personnel: There's a lot more to ruminate on here. Cascio, Castrillon, Rivero, Hill -- Keep, and find a way to get all of them on the field together. Brian Mullan -- He's signed for the next 2 seasons, I believe, so we're keeping him. Where he fits into the scheme next year is unknown. Converting him to right back would be an excellent option, allowing us to get more of our Best XI on the field together. Jaimie Smith -- Smith is also one of our best players on the ball, and combines & plays well with the top four. However, he's older and been injury prone, has a relatively high salary, ~$125k, I think. He provides technical depth to Castrillon, Rivero, and Hill, and with reduced minutes, he may be able to stay healthy, as he did at the finish of this season. Verdict: unless another, younger technical midfield option is brought in, keep. Hendry Thomas -- Keep. He was terrific, and should be a starter whether we play with 1 CM or 2. Jeff Larentowicz -- Keep. I saw some calls for trading JL, but we need quality depth at that position. Injuries can be disastrous at this position, wit what we lost with Pablo. With two good defensive CM's, we can play 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-3-2. Shane O'Neill -- Our promising box-to-box prospect. With Thomas, and Larentowicz, and O'Neill, we're pretty solid here. Joseph Nane -- Keep. Looked solid in his fill-in outings for the most part. Again, needed for CM depth & injuries. Pablo Mastroeni -- Pablo has stated he intends to keep training with the team in the off-season and make a decision later. Verdict: unknown.
DEFENSE Thoughts on depth chart & personnel: Running out of time to go player by player. At left back, we're solid. I thought Zapata was solid all year. With Wallace and Klute, we have bodies. Klute impressed v. Houston on Saturday. Fast and physical, and his perfect left-footed cross to Rivero led to Akpan's header on the rebound. Klute also got unlucky when Castrillon shanked a really nice heads up pass by Klute 1 foot from the goal over the top bar. The biggest need is another center back, as everyone knows. It should be an MLS starting caliber CB, too, not necessarily replace Moor or Wynne, but for rotation and cover. The drop off to Marshall/Palguta is too much. At right back, I think Freeman is expendable. He played reasonably well, but if Mullan were to convert to RB, he'd be an upgrade, we'd be ok. Freeman also makes $105k. Could bring Armstrong along a little more as the #2 behind Mullan, with Moor providing cover when necessary, since we're going to pick up an MLS starting quality CB, right? Right? Wahl, Palguta, Marshall -- Cut. Upgrade. GOALIE: Pickens, Ceus. Keep. Need a quality backup behind Pickens for those nagging injuries goalies pick up. It might be hard to keep Ceus for much longer--league minimum, and he's showing he can play. Trade bait. But, he might also have the opportunity to start on the Rapids should Pickens injure his groin again next year.
How much turnover could/should we see? Edu, Casey, Smith, Mastroeni, Wahl, Palguta, Marshall, Freeman, Zapata That's 9 potential slots. Forward: Add 1 forward. +/- Casey Drop Edu. Midfield: Add another, younger technical player to fit with CRH. +/- Smith If Smith dropped, add 2 players. Back line: We need a new CB, or two, badly. There're four back line players above, with Palguta, Marshall, and Wahl being the most expendable. Replace two of these slots with quality CB's, at least one MLS starter, and a solid backup or youngster. Make decisions on Zapata & Freeman.
I don't see Brian Mullan becoming a RB. They tried it during the second half of one of the games towards the end and it didn't work very well. Granted, I'm sure it would be better if he fully converted, and trained there, but I just don't see him as the answer at RB. I think instead he will be kept around but he will become more of a bit part player or a guy that you save and start in the big games for his experience.
Is Oduro worth trade cost + a $100k+ salary? The latter is probably the bigger deal. Personally, I don't see making a move for Oduro as anyone other than a backup player. He's been around the MLS for a decent chunk of time and only managed one good year. http://www.spotrac.com/mls/chicago-fire/dominic-oduro/ http://www.mlssoccer.com/players/dominic-oduro
I agree with Big Chil that there are a lot of issues surrounding Casey, but he has a rather unique skill set and is worth keeping around. There are not many quality target forwards in MLS. Just because someone is 6'3" (looking at you Kenny Cooper) doesn't mean that are physical enough to win the ball and hold the ball up. While there are other guys who are willing to be physical (i.e. Lenhart), they lack touch and technical ability of Casey. I don't care what 'system' a team plays, a physical target forward with some skill will be useful to have, even if it is off the bench. As far as right back goes, it is not easy to convert a winger like Mullan to a fullback. There are so many more defensive responsibilities that a fullback has compared to outside midfielder. Mullan might be good at RB when the Rapids are pushing to score an equalizer, but I'd like to see someone with more experience on defense playing RB. I'd stay away from Oduro. He's a backup at best and the Rapids had a burner with questionable technical ability (Amarikwa (sp?)), who they cut.
Does anybody have stats on our set-piece scoring this year compared to others. I know that I was continually frustrated by the number of Rivero's corners which didn't make it past the first defender. In the last game I also noticed that Freeman started taking the corners and they were very dangerous. Rivero does great on long free kicks though and I remember one in particular that he took from near the half line that Moor put away. Looking at the stats from last year to this year though, Moor only had 17 shots this year compared to 28 last year. I'm assuming that the majority of his shots come from set-pieces and the drop to me that is a reflection of the poor service and a tendency to take free quicks more often this year. It made me wonder about our effectiveness on set-pieces though. So, does anybody have numbers on that?
You really can't compare Oduro's and Casey's games. Oduro is all about speed, while Casey has size and good positioning. Oduro has a lower salary, but it depends on who/what the Rapids would have to give up to get him. Oduro doesn't have the injury history Casey does either (at least that I know). Oduro is also younger and much faster. That said, if he is healthy, I'll take the guy who has double digit goal seasons in both MLS and Germany over the guy who has one season with more than 6 goals.
This. Between 2008 and his injury that ended his 2011 season the only player in MLS with more goals than Casey was Donovan. If the Rapids believe that Casey can recover to that level (or somewhat close to it) they would be crazy not to pick up his option, even at 400K. If they don't think he can get back to or near that level then its time to talk about releasing him and/or signing him at a reduced salary.
The issue is Casey hasn't been that guy for over a year. He had the achilles injury on top of the knee injuries, then had lots of nagging injuries after he got back while showing no sign that he can still be that guy. He'll turn 32 next season. I think they have every reason not to pick up a $400,000 option while still offering him an attractive deal.
I used to watch Oduro in Dallas; he was always a fan favorite. However, remember, Houston let him go for a reason.
lol since 2011 his had i think about 18 goals. sorry but oduro is just on the wrong team always. i'd take him over fatboy casey any day of the week.
6 this year, 12 last year. For comparison's sake Omar played 177 minutes more than Oduro this season (about 5 minutes/game) and had the same number of goals. Here are the two careers in goals/season: 6, 12, 5, 1, 5, 3, 1 6, 3, 14, 8, 6, 2 The top is Oduro, the bottom is Omar. Omar has played about 875 minutes more in his career than Oduro and scored 6 more goals. He also has 10 more assists. Here's Casey's numbers: 2, 6, 13, 16, 11, 2 - 900 less minutes than Oduro, 1 less assist. IMO, Oduro is (essentially) Omar.
all i'm saying oduro on the left omar on the right = nightmare. oduro just needs the right team. correct me if i'm wrong but since his arrival chi town has changed directions and management since than? casey is an aging player with a salary that no other team in the mls would pay. oduro is a safer bet holds bigger trade value.
18 goals over 2 seasons? I am totally convinced. I'll just totally ignore the other seasons where Oduro did nothing and the fact he seems to last about 2 seasons with teams before they decide they can do better. I guess Dallas, Houston, NY, and now apparently Chicago (if they trade him) all realized that they were the wrong team for him. Also, when you resort to name calling, it makes it seem like you have no real substance to your argument. It gives the impression that you are just resorting to immature tactics in order to cover for a lack of facts supporting your argument.
If Freddy Adu were to be come available with Philly picking up a decent chunk of his salary, is that worth looking into? I've rarely seen the guy play, so maybe he was just a disaster for Philly. He didn't light up the stat sheet, either, but then again they were a poor team that went through a coaching change. I also don't like the rumors about his attitude, but I have no idea how substantiated those are.