Here is my take on it. It can only be good things. At least it should be. We'll see how things play out.
If we set up a team from scratch instead of a partnership who would you want to coach the team? I like the idea of giving Mais a shot if he wants it. I think Jeff would make a good coach. Maybe give Robin another shot at a lower level? Ale? Padula?
My guess is that Bliss will do it. But if we bring in a coach? Mais would be great, frankly. Gino might need an assistant (language). These are not bad ideas. Does Frankie want to coach?
I was thinking about Bliss but he has a pretty demanding job already. I love the idea of Gino teaching our young backs positioning. Have we had anyone better at it than him? When he was slowing down it was the only thing that did make him an average MLS defender at worst. Jeff I loved what the rookies said about him, he stayed after practice everyday to work on his game but he took the time to work with them too. I think the evolution Jeff went through as a player could make him a great coach. I'm sure Frankie and Dunc would maybe want a shot too. We have a lot of good options in my opinion.
Setting up a team from scratch won't happen, and shouldn't. That's too much expense. There's no reason, IF this setup were to happen, why the Crew wouldn't utilize the Dutch Lions. The DDL are one of the few USL Pro clubs in nice proximity to other MLS clubs. Why not use them?
My frontal lobe is stuck with the German model (as opposed to copycating baseball/hockey) i.e. clubs reserve teams staying 100% independent of other cities. I just can't and won't see myself rooting for Dayton, Pittsburgh, whoever else just because we have Columbus players there, especially come US Open Cup time.
Interestingly, for all of the kvetching about the FO, the truth is that we really *do* have a lot of good options--many of which are with the team right now. My only slight concern with Gino is a potential language barrier. And you are right about Gino and positioning. One of the reasons he was such a clean player was that. When the speed went, it saved him for a time--when it *really* went is when he started picking up cards.
Which kind of hints at him not grasping his positioning. A lot of the time defenders that can go on well into their 30's even when the legs have gone is because of their posititioning. You can see it with Marshall - not the quickest - so he has to work hard on being in the right place. With a player with pace you often see them having to compensate for lack of position. Francis was that way too - except there was no pace outside of bolt that could have got him in the right place from where he used to drift.
First I really do want to stay away from Dayton, they are an overseas setup hoping to find cheap talent, I don't think either the Dayton or Texas club has done a good job of it. They play their "Dutch" style and aren't really interested in much else including winning. I don't think they'd be very interested in developing our players nor do I think they would care a great deal if they were better than their players hence the best option to win. If we have to link up with a current club I hope it's Pittsburgh, they may have sucked for a long time but at least it seems they have some ambition. Their new stadium is a good sign to me and it'd maybe create a few Crew fans in Pittsburgh; getting our foot in a pretty good size market wouldn't be bad. That said I'd really like it if we had full control of the team to organize training and tactics to match the first team. As the years go on it will be easy to field a full team just from our academy players that won't quite be good enough for the first team right out of college. When next years Freshman class reports you can see where we have plenty of interesting guys in the pipeline but too many to actually give a shot. I also think after the next CBA it might be a moot point anyway. I suspect roster sizes will grow again and we'll see this turn into a real reserve league. Mostly though its just fun to point out the possibilities and speculate.
Really, Gino wasn't exposed until about the last half of his final season. He had the position--they just blew right by him like he wasn't even there. Positioning doesn't do you much good if you can't respond. Other times, it was clear that he *knew* where he needed to be--he just got there late. That led to cards, often. The first part of his career here he was a really clean player in terms of fouls and cards--because his positioning was so good. I don't think he ever had pace--at least not like Francis.
No, not always. He was not able to *react* to the moves fast enough. Until near the end, I always liked what I saw from Gino. But he hit his wall pretty hard at the end. But we can agree to disagree on this.
So will there still be a Crew reserve team? Will they only play other MLS reserve sides or will they have an organized schedule vs the USL sides? It might be practical to loan out a few players for extended periods but most of the non-starters should be kept in Columbus for training and bench duties.
This is how I understand it but surely I will be corrected where wrong. The agreement between MLS and USL Pro will mean MLS will field teams in USL Pro league. This would mean no more MLS "reserve league" as this would be taking it's place. For those teams who do not have a current USL Pro team near them they would basically start up the team to be placed in the league. Teams like us would have an affiliation with Dayton or Pittsburgh most likely were we would send up to 5 players to be a part of the team.
This is both good and bad as I will miss those low pressure reserve games where there are like 200 people there tops and you get to be up close and personal with the teams...
Why would that change? Isn't the proposal that the Crew reserves will play USL sides in addition to other MLS reserve sides? The matches would still be at Obetz or CCS wouldn't they? They aren't proposing to eliminate MLS reserve sides in favor of sending all those guys on loan are they?
USL Pro sides who were MLS teams would be the reserve league. USL PRO would be made up of their already existing teams and MLS teams (old reserve teams) There is a chance that the "Crew USL PRO" team would be located in Dayton or Pittsburgh not Cbus
That would be foolish. Why not have the Crew reserves based in Columbus so they can practice with the first team? They could play Dayton, Pittsburgh, and other teams. Are they depending on ticket sales to finance the venture?
Again, the details will say it all and those haven't been released yet. Just going off what has been said thus far
I definitely understand this, and can side with this. The only benefit that the USL Pro/Reserve merger can do though, is allow for MORE gametime opportunities for those reserve players. That's it. The ability for teams to continue playing each other and integrate the reserves into the USL Pro season, more teams, possibly more games, possibly shorter travel distance, always could mean the ability for more players and more growth for the league (MLS).
