Area of most concern

[ursula]

Now that 04 is history the offseason should start to heat up. The worldwide transfer market is now open, the MLS draft is approaching, and gee! we have only 2 months until the first CCC game. So besides the hole left by Nellie's departure (priority #1 obviously), which position(s) on the team are most in need of help this offseason? How should the team fix them? Try to imagine that the team has filled the Nellie hole: what next?

[uniteo]

With the first vote, depth on defense stands at 100%.

I expect that number will go up.

[schmuckatelli]

Now that 04 is history the offseason should start to heat up. The worldwide transfer market is now open, the MLS draft is approaching, and gee! we have only 2 months until the first CCC game. So besides the hole left by Nellie's departure, which position(s) on the team are most in need of help this offseason?
That's pretty much it. Without a quality central defender, United will be hard-pressed to compete for any hardware. While some might argue that Earnie Stewart's place in the team will be hard to fill, with Nelsen and Hendrickson gone, I'd say defender is United's biggest hole right now.

[Detective40oz]

Now that 04 is history the offseason should start to heat up. The worldwide transfer market is now open, the MLS draft is approaching, and gee! we have only 2 months until the first CCC game. So besides the hole left by Nellie's departure, which position(s) on the team are most in need of help this offseason?

Central defense is of course the greatest concern. Getting Petke re-signed and finding someone to take Nellie's place. Other than that I still worry about the Wings. We have Gros on one side, is Adu going to step up on the left, or stay as a substitute in the middle? Q1 and Q2 are both projects on the outside as they are both more comfortable up top at forward and both lack pace which is valuable on the wings. Can Dema be counted on out wide ? We also need a decent backup forward. We are only one injury away to either Alecko or Moreno to having a pretty toothless frontline. Spend the big bucks on a central defender, then add depth to the wing and forward line through the draft.

[ursula]

Maybe my question was a little garbled. try to imagine that the "Nellie hole" has been addressed. What then?

For me, two positions stand out:

1) Wingers

2) defensive depth

Wingers- Right now Dema and Gros are the starting wingers. Not bad. But the problem here is that neither has yet proven to be reliable to contribute on the offensive end though Nowak did a great mid-season job last year getting Gros to think defense first. I think it's safe to say that Dema doesn't have the speed to truly play two-way out on the wing (notice that last year almost all his assists and goals happened when he played in central midfield). But in our playoff run, Earnie was a very important contributer offensively, using his smarts with enough speed to bring real offensive width to bear, making Gomez', Moreno's, and Esky's job that much easier. But who will do that now?

So what to do? First, like Freddy, Gros will just be a sophomore and he will get better. I feel okay in penciling him in for the starter's job and see if he can indeed grow. Dema however is another story. If Gros becomes a valuable offensive player then we can afford Dema on the opposite wing helping out the defense and being his normal pest. But I doubt Gros will be that good right away so I'd like someone else to have time here: either Freddy and/or Santino. Either one Peter: just pick. I think we can solve this problem in house too. (I think how Adu, Quaranta, and Gros play this year will say loads as to how far the team will go.)

I don't think we can solve the defensive depth in-house though. Maybe we can get a prospect from the draft but even still we need to get another veteran. This, again, is in addition to filling Nellie's hole.

[CHICO13]

I think this is Tino's year to shine. With months of rehab behind him and working out with Eddie Mason in front of him, I think he solidifies a spot on the starting eleven. I was impressed with his size and speed towards the end of the season. If only the soccer gods keep him healthy....

[Section106]

I think this is Tino's year to shine. With months of rehab behind him and working out with Eddie Mason in front of him, I think he solidifies a spot on the starting eleven. I was impressed with his size and speed towards the end of the season. If only the soccer gods keep him healthy....


If Jaime is any indication of what Eddie Mason can do then Q1 should be okay. I say we send all DCU players to Mr Mason every offseason.

Edit: Defense is our main concern. I still think Nowak finds us a journeyman defender from eastern Europe that understands what Nowak wants and needs with his three back system. I think that the rest of our team is solid. I don't see Nowak trading away anyone to pick higher in the SuperDraft. With the discovery options change we could see more local talent called into training camp to include A-League players.

[gnat]

Defense is primary, but I also selected Forward depth (though I think that's misleading). At forward I think we need more consistency, regardless if that is a new guy or getting our current players to step up. I think Eski shows promise, but he was kinda on-again-off-again throughout the season and I expect teams to pay more attention to him next year. Moreno did well until the other teams got wise and focused on him, but that still helped as it left our other forwards with little or no marking.

If we get good solid replacements for EZ and Nellie, and two or more guys clicking up top, I think we may have a great season.

The midfield will shuffle a bit with Earnie leaving, but skill-wise and depth I think we are OK. I think his experience and attitude control (as far as not going over the top at a ref and being able to cool bad situations off) will be the biggest shoes to fill. I think Benny can do that though if he keeps his head.

-dave

[Diceson]

You forgot "other", but I voted defense because that seems to be the obvious short-term goal. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but the most important thing for this team is getting a solid set of younger players to develop for the 3 to 5 year range - i.e. reserve teams. At this point I'd say filling out the two P-40 spots, Eskandarian and Carroll were promoted if you didn't know, with any solid players is key.

[McOwen]

I am surprised regarding the lack of recognition of the departure/value Ezra Hendrickson had on our defense.

I firmly believe he was a major reason why we were able to return to the Cup. Defenders that add depth, of his quality and experience do not grow on trees in the A-League. We were really lucky to find him as I am sure he was good for at least a couple of wins this season. (Imagine the horror had we been using Stokes instead....)

Ezra also was an excellent utility guy that automatically gave us depth at midfield AND the back line. Its not something we should overlook.

Finding a stud to replace Nelsen is one thing but finding useful role players (ala Kamler, Maessner, or an Ezra) that truly add affordable/useful/practical depth is another. I think this is why Rongen took him in the draft. He recognized Ezra's value.

Its not a major concern but it should be a concern. (--And one that can become major if key players go down with injury...)

[JoeW]

Actually, I think it's on-field organization and leadership.

Don't get me wrong--I think the world of Moreno and Ben as team leaders on and off the field--I think they make astute judgments on the field. I think we've got a relatively mature team (Dema as the exception of course).

But Nellie was more than just a pretty good defender. He was a team captain that had the rapport and respect of players off the field and in practice--not just in games. He was also an organizer and helped Nowak implement some of the cultural things he was pushing (think back to Nellie's response early in the season about Adu's playing time).

Nothing against a Central American or Eastern European--we can certainly get fine central defenders from those regions. But we're not likely to get someone fluent in English who also knows the league well enough to know that Ruiz is a diver or that Guevara loses his cool. Or how our guys respond under fire (like: when Dema is likely to lose it or what gets Nicky flustered).

Some of that comes from knowing the team--and a new guy (especially if they don't arrive early) isn't likely to know that stuff early in the season. He will play his position but won't initially be much of a leader in the clubhouse and bar. But some of it is more than just familiarity--it comes with fitting in with the group well (b/c you've had a couple of years on the team, couple of years in MLS, speak English fluently).

I'm not sayiing our new central defender needs to do all of those things. In fact, it's almost a certainty that he won't be able to do all of those things. But Piotr and staff needs to be thinking about team leadership and internal direction (not just the kind that comes from the coaches). Nellie was huge--and Earnie provided some of it as well. And that is what the team will need the most (assuming we fill the central defender/organizer role).

[McOwen]

I agree with pretty much everything written above.

But i think it is a good problem (or a lesser of evils if you will) seeing that most people believe we need a new defender/more defenders.

While I think its not as easy to find a "new" Nelsen as people may think (See Bulgarian Exhibit A: Ivanov) IT is much easier then if we were looking for a Gomez/Moreno/Eskadarian/Adu type player.

That was the need that plagued this team for all of the lean years and now that we have finally answered the Convey question (he wasnt the answer...) --re-discovered a spectacular offensive spark (Moreno) ---found quality and depth at A-Mid (Gomez) and a nose for the golden goal finisher (Eski) we are in much better shape.

--I'm basically saying if we had to find a replacement/new person at any position I am glad its at defense for a change.

[Hedbal]

Wherever Petke plays on the back line I suspect he will be the "organizer." In fact, if we do obtain a European/South American defender, even a central defender, it will still fall to Petke to get things sorted out, cooling off Dema, et. al., at least for some time. Do you think Peter would perhaps consider a four-man back line with Petke sharing central duties with a "hairy-chested______(fill in nationality)?"

[BudWiser]

I wonder how we're going to replace Nellie. In the 3-back system, which opposing teams are learning how to deal with, the central defender might be the most important guy on the field. We need a guy who can organize the back, who can move into position and see plays coming before they start, has the speed to keep up w/defenders, and break up plays. Nellie was able to do that very well. Looks like we'll have a lot of cash to spend on a defender the team is looking for to replace Nelsen.

I'm also concerned about Nowak this year-he won it all in his first year, how will he react? Same w/Esky (it was his first real year). Will these guys come back w/the same fire to prove themselves?

Who knows.......who cares, right? I mean the team won the championship. Oh yeah, we care we're the internet nerds :D

[Entropius]

priority #1 is defense- - it's not even debatable, IMO; so i voted for goalkeeping as next in line. Is DC getting an allocation for Ryan and/or Earnie? if so, it should go towards a Nelsen-caliber player. As for GK, i would like to see a replacement being groomed, maybe through the draft.

[gnat]

Is DC getting an allocation for Ryan and/or Earnie? if so, it should go towards a Nelsen-caliber player.
Nope. MLS said that Donovan is the last allocation for a player departing after their contract expires. Though I think it was known that at least Earnie was leaving after this season before little Landy hit the bricks. If they applied it fairly (i.e. SJ don't get squat either) then I would say fine, it makes sense. Since they are giving it to SJ though I think it just sucks.

We did get a nice chunk of cap space freed up though, but Gomez has reportedly taken a fair chunk of it. And I believe we still have some/all of the Bobby allocation left to use.

-dave

[tmas]

Nope. MLS said that Donovan is the last allocation for a player departing after their contract expires. Though I think it was known that at least Earnie was leaving after this season before little Landy hit the bricks. If they applied it fairly (i.e. SJ don't get squat either) then I would say fine, it makes sense. Since they are giving it to SJ though I think it just sucks.

We did get a nice chunk of cap space freed up though, but Gomez has reportedly taken a fair chunk of it. And I believe we still have some/all of the Bobby allocation left to use.

-dave

Yeah, I think it was Diceson who said that Gomez only took a portion of the Convey allocation.

[tmas]

Nothing against a Central American or Eastern European--we can certainly get fine central defenders from those regions. But we're not likely to get someone fluent in English who also knows the league well enough to know that Ruiz is a diver or that Guevara loses his cool. Or how our guys respond under fire (like: when Dema is likely to lose it or what gets Nicky flustered).

Some of that comes from knowing the team--and a new guy (especially if they don't arrive early) isn't likely to know that stuff early in the season. He will play his position but won't initially be much of a leader in the clubhouse and bar. But some of it is more than just familiarity--it comes with fitting in with the group well (b/c you've had a couple of years on the team, couple of years in MLS, speak English fluently).



I think we will be able to find a player who speaks OK English (believe me in Europe everyone speaks English, S. America I'm not really sure). That is why we're after a bunch of players instead of one (per Goff) because one of the priorities probably is that they have at least a basic knowledge of English, enough to be able to make simple communications to the other players. Soccer is the world's game and crosses language barriers, the new player doesn't need to have a perfect grasp of English just a basic understanding.

On the second issue, Goff quoted (I think) Payne that the new player will be in by the start of camp, obviously to be situated. Nowak and the FO realize how important it is to get a foreign player up to speed about MLS so he can succeed right off the bat.

[nick]

I see DC's needs in the following order:

1. Centerback
A replacement for Nellie is absolutely critical and obvious.

2. Leftback
Pekte had a good season but his lack of speed on the flank can be exposed. Bringing in a Left Back would allow Petke to move inside.

3. Center Forward
DC still lacks a strong target forward to vary the style and pace of United's attack.

4. Left Halfback
I put this slot up because its not one of DC's strong points. Dema does an ok job but its not his natural position. This could be the spot for Q1 to make a big impact in 05.

[jason1551]

I still like Gros out on the left as that seemed to be where he was most effective. The right spot should be Q1's to claim unless Nowak thinks he can find an outside source there. Realistically, midfield is our strongest area, forward is second, and defense definitely needs shoring up, as we need to replace Hendrickson and Nelsen in central defense. The prospect of starting a backline of Prideaux-Petke-Namoff worries me a bunch and leaves Stokes as the only help off the bench. Start from the backline, pick up a starting centerback, and then focus on the other spots.