I think this is a testament to our staff's ability to develop young players. When we got Anor, the knock on him was that he was lazy on defense. Now, he's a legitimate two-way player. The one reservation I would have about him at LB is that he may not be able to maintain the consistent focus necessary to be a good defender. If he can, that would be great. He can play a good cross, he has plus athletic ability, and he works hard.
I know Irakli's older brother. A few years back, he would give me updates about his little brother's exciting progress back home in Georgia. I managed to get in touch with his agent last year and suggested that, though I don't represent the club, he should bring the player over for a trial. The agent responded back, "Which league? I haven't heard of it. What is the standard of player?" I emailed back, "Thierry Henry? David Beckham? Maybe you've heard of them? " And with that, our correspondence ended. True story.
I should clarify, I just went back and dug up the exchange and this is not what he said. I was leaning on memory when I initially posted. He actually only inquired as to the standard of the league and whether we were in the first division.
http://www.thecrew.com/news/2012/06/crew-waives-francis-perry-and-veeder Francis, Perry and Veeder are waived....
I sure hope this means some sort of magic is about to happen, with the waivings corresponding with the opening of the transfer window...
I guess I'm both, surprised and not surprised at Francis. He was a servicable left back. Now, who plays LB when Vukovic inevitably comes up lame on Saturday? I really thought Renteria would make way for Arrietta, not Francis. #interestingstuff
I guess this means Anor is our new LB #2? Francis- I'm glad this happened. Francis has the tools, but he'll never be anything more than a good second division player with the flaws he has, and he's injury-prone. Perry/Veeder- I'm confused by this. Either Danny is going to be filling in at full back and they see Balchan there long-term, or they're bringing in someone else, right? Maybe Birchall could fill in? I think I remember reading they'd toyed with Mendes there, but he's way too slow in my opinion. Maybe they'd move Urso to right back? He's a good defender and can play in a good cross.
There is some ill-conceived notion that has taken over the world hat only left footed players can play left back. While this allows them to make overlapping runs in the attack and provide service from their naturally strong foot, I've always thought this was a vastly overrated element of being an outside back. You see, in my crazy world, I tend to like my outside backs to be good defenders first (crazy, I know). Shaun Francis wasn't a great defender. We still have cover at left back. I know most people will say that Anor is our cover out there because he played the position for a week while Robert was in Poland and he is left footed. But I do not believe that Anor has the strength to play as a defender and there is absolutely nothing about his game that makes me think that his defensive skills are high enough to play left back (though I'd love to be proven wrong; I've never thought too highly of Anor though). Danny O'Rourke may be the best left back on our roster. He is a more than capable defender, he has pace, and he is the type of guy that should be on the field every game when he is healthy. With our surplus of central midfielders, this just makes sense. When Balchan is back, he also has the pace and ability to play outside back. Josh Williams can also be a candidate for left back because we have several central defenders and Williams has decent pace and above-average athletic ability. I suppose Julius James can be considered in the discussion, though I consider him to be the worst defender on our roster (never bought into him last year and this year he has looked atrocious). Lastly, Carlos Mendes can play outside back, but he lacks pace and is much better suited for a central role.
What the hell else do you want? I could be wrong, but this smells like the signing of a DP (and maybe another player). I'd gladly give up those three just for a DP.
Sure, right-footed guys can play left back, but Warzycha clearly likes his full backs playing in crosses as often as possible. That's the only source of width in our attack at the moment. It's harder for right-footers to put in good service when they can't get their separation by running down field, where there's normally space, but have to cut in, where there's often another defender. As much as I love Balchan (and he really is one of my favorite guys on the roster), he doesn't have the technical ability to do what RW wants our full backs to do. He's a great defender, but they clearly see him as a DM first and foremost; they said so last season. Anor is a physically strong guy; he's stronger than Francis or Balchan, and I've seen him work his butt off on defense when he's played recently. That's one area of his game that has definitely improved over the beginning of last year. He may not have the positioning down, but I think that's the only thing that would hold him back. People don't just think he's a left back because he spent a week there, he's a potential left back because one of the coaches (Lapper?) said they liked him there.
I don't want to completely scour two positions that are already light on depth. I don't want to hold on to a bunch of forwards that haven't proven they're effective, especially when we're bringing in more attacking options. I don't want to give away young talent that we could develop into solid contributors down the road. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy about the prospect of a DP, but getting rid of all these guys doesn't make sense to me. EDIT: As for making room for a DP, I would have rather seen Horton, Schoenfeld, Heinemann, and either Veeder or Perry, but not both. If we need the international spot, it'd be Renteria (which is hard for me to say, because I love him), Birchall, or Vargas.
I, for one, have seen little from Francis recently to justify keeping him. I've seen even less of Veeder and Perry, and the little I've seen has been starkly underwhelming. I'm not losing sleep over cutting them.
It'll be interesting to see who plays full back in the reserve games. Those guys all got the majority of the minutes. Williams is the only other one who has played there, and he's shown enough at center back to stay there long-term. I guess we also freed up $42,000 from the cap with Francis leaving. Or does Williams/Grossman just move onto the on-budget list?
You're absolutely right that Francis hasn't shown well recently, but I think he has the tools to be a solid backup. As for Aubrey and Veeder, I hate to let two young guys go that you could take time to develop into competent pros. Give them a few years behind Miranda and let them grow. It makes even less sense when you look at all the dead weigh we have at forward.
Who would you cut at forward? Schoenfeld and Heinneman have shown more promise than Veeder and Perry. Maybe, I'd suggest cutting Renteria since he's out of a contract soon, but he might be guaranteed for this year, I don't know. Are you going to cut Vargas? He deserves a little more time. I get what you're saying, I think you're just being a little too idealistic about this. Yes, it'd be great to keep them and develop them, but they haven't shown much and young, cheap, developable talent is plentiful. I will agree though that it seems odd to cut both, which is what has me wondering if we're going to sign two new players, a DP and someone else. There's been scant mentions here and there about other non-DP players they were interested in.
Isn't Renteria's contract guaranteed now that he's been in the league for 3 years? Who do you propose we get rid of at forward? We can't get rid of Teen Wolf because he's on IR. Vargas is a new signing who has had all of 4 months to get acclimated here. I can only assume they think Schoenfeld is a worthwhile target forward project for the future.