RSL 2012 News Thread (Regular Season)

10 highlights and 10 left footed goals, if I were Lefturo Alvarez I would be questioning the sanity of some of us RSL fans. We basically ran his ass out of town because he could not go right and now we are bummed we may have missed out on another player who has no right foot.?

The stupid thing is with the rights to him, he's someone we could've easily picked up next year or something. If Seattle wanted him, you'd have to think they saw some sort of promise in him.

Kinda like we saw in Steele?

Any word on Schuler's status? Are we stuck with a Borchers/CWS/Wingert CB rotation?

WTF. Was he not fit to begin with? Frustrating.

Well, any small hope I had of winning the SS this year has evaporated. Olave will be good to go for the stretch run - hopefully - but I'm sure we're going to give up more goals than we should while he's out.

RSL should consider getting one of those guys that helps players stay healthy and not get hurt. One would think a guy like that might be a good idea considering the amount of nagging injuries they have suffered through this year.

What are those guys called? Physios or something?

quite frankly the guy they have right now should be fired, if he's the same guy they've had the last few years. he's done a flat out ********ing horrible job. if any one of us sucked at our job as much as that guy has sucked at his over the last 2 years we would all be fired on the spot.

Four weeks could turn into two weeks.
Four weeks could balloon into eight weeks.
Four weeks could translate into game-ready form, only to strike back and put you down for another four weeks.

You never know with a hammy strain.

Lame.

While watching the Vancouver game last week I had a "hey, I know that guy from somewhere" moment when the Vancouver physio went on the pitch.

Seriously, losing Jacob Joachim might have been our biggest "transfer" in the last few years.

And, worse with hammy injuries, players often think they are healed before they actually are. Re-injury of hamstrings are a way too common occurrence.

Did Mario Martinez just score a goal against Brazil in the Olympics? Is this the same Martinez RSL traded to Seattle?

You think we could get him back if we made him a DP?
God our Physio sucks.

Let's hope not!

Simon Borg's comments on KALL 700's "On-Frame" today will sound familiar to most of us on BS:

1. RSL hasn't made a significant acquisition since Sabo 2 and 1/2 years ago! By "significant" he meant "impact"
2. RSL kept the "core" from the 2009 MLS champions team too long. To this, I'll add that moving "core" players implies getting something of value in return. Two core players moved to Europe when contracts expired. One retired last season. We traded one to DCU following last season. So, of the 4 who have left, only one was "moved" by the organization...and that one was done as a favor to the player since he wanted to be with his family in DC. We picked up Sabo in March 2010. It can reasonably be said that we have adequately replaced only one of the 4 core players who are no longer on the team.
3. RSL has too many guys on the wrong side of the hill age-wise.
4. With the CAP structure that's in place teams have to replace part of their core with younger or better players every season. (See my comments in #2)
5. RSL is 4-6-1 in its last 11 games (including Herediano). I have to say that I really wasn't aware of this. It means that the fans' feeling that this team is in trouble has merit. I bring this up because I saw posts after the COL game more or less poo-pooing the concept, reflecting the perspective of "Geez, one bad game and the chicken-little's are out in force". The 4-6-1 record speaks more convincingly.
6. RSL doesn't show the passion on the field that the 2010 and early 2011 teams showed.
7. Teams once feared to play RSL, they no longer do.

The interview wasn't as negative as the parts that I've presented here. However, I found these observations to be thought provoking relative to where RSL is right now. Of course, if RSL rights the ship and goes on to contend for the SS, gets to the MLS Cup semi-finals or finals, and advances out of group in CCL, then I will try to disavow this post. But, if we don't...if we continue the rest of the season winning at a 4/11 rate... it is reasonable to forecast a 2-4 year rebuilding process to become a power again.

Even if we were to win the SS or the cup, this still has merit. The age is showing, and it's not going to get any better. At some point we'll need to trade some players to get younger/faster. I'd rather we do this when they still have value then when they wind up being more or less dead weight. Trading a couple players for younger talent may even also free up salary cap space to where we could sign a big young talent. I wouldn't say we're in full transition mode yet, but I fear it's fast approaching and I hope we move into that phase before we're on the wrong side of it.

So, the big question is who gets traded? Grabs is getting older and isn't very fast, but he was one of most accurate passers in the league during the first part of the year. Javi is getting older and is slow as mud, but when he's on his game there are few MLS midfielders that are as good as him.

Another question is who becomes the new core? Gil, Seba, Schuler, and Alvarez? Johnson could be thrown in there for being the workhorse, but he's not the most technically gifted player on the team. Who would you build the team around?

I'd just like to know what changes people want. Lots are claiming the team is no longer working and needs to change. Well then, who are we getting rid of, and who do people want to see brought in. And I'd like to see possible solutions, not "bring in Messi". If so many want changes, let's hear some viable options.

this is the stuff that Lagerway gets paid to do. Based on the CCL video posted here I think you can tell he is getting nervous about keeping this team together so long. Maybe I'm just reading into it the way I want to, but I really get that vibe of "oh shit, I might have screwed this up".

We're in a position now, though, that we really can't do anything significant until the season ends. Garson has told these guys that the "core" will get another CCL run. That means, unless you really want to lose the locker room, you can't move anybody that actually has trade value until you are a) out of CCL (which could happen this month without a win... but still. or b) out of the SS and playoff chase (which we won't be until...) c) the end of the season.

This coming off-season, therefore, is where we see if Garson can find that magic again.

You don't blow up the entire team, but you do see a significant change to the identity of this team.

I'd look at trading one of Borchers/Olave and 1-2 guys in the middle. Get someone younger that has a solid pass and speed. We don't need to blow it up, but we do need to start injecting good youth and not gambles. You'll always want some vets around for leadership and to help the newer guys, but we're on the wrong side of age with our starters. I think we'd only really need to trade 2-3 guys for younger proven talent and I think we'd be on the right track.