Which MLS team has had the best offseason?

[strider026]

Why did anyone vote for the Metro? They picked up an old European and what?

[prk166]

I voted Real Salt Lake. MLS Galacticos (Pope, Mathis, Kreis)

MLS Galacticos? I like that term. :)

I think RSL's done a good job in the off season.

I have to give some props to Dallas nabbin' Vanney to help make up for the loss of Gibbs and seeming to keep Eddie Johnson happy enough to stick around. And I think Mulrooney was a great aquisition.

[metrofan_goal23]

I would have to say RSL has had the best offseason. They are my favorite to get to the MLS Cup, and its their first year! Mathis, Pope, Kreis. They've got all of the tools of a championship team. Not to mention they picked up Jay Nolly in the Superdraft, who is going to become a great goalkeeper within the next year or two.

[emailryoung]

it has to be dallas. if just becasue GAM stayed but the fact they made it easier on him

Dallas.

1. kept Eddie, last year's leading scorer despite modest support.
2. added Mulrooney, a very good MLS midfielder, in a trade that weakened key rival San Jose
3, added Vanney, a MNT quality back
4. added Yi, a baby NAT quality back
5. added Alvarez, a baby NAT quality left-sided attacking player

Sure, they lost Gibbs but those are major additions. FC Dallas will be a very big step up from the last edition of the Burn.

[SoulflyTribeFC]

I was about to vote for Dallas when I remembered that they had lost Cory Gibbs. I don't think you can lose a guy like that and still have the best offseason in the league.

So I voted for RSL. Not only do I think they'll be competitive, I think they'll make the playoffs and could make a run at the cup.

But Dallas I guess would be 1A for me. They did get better, even if Gibbs is gone.

I think it's those two by a mile.

[Dom. FC]

Chivas, for anyone reading between the lines it is apparent that there are MLS rules and then there are MLS rules V2.0 CD Chivas exceptional circumstances. Having set that up for themselves in the long run will matter more for their future stock than any shorter term personnel actions. If they aren't doing well as the season gets going I will not be surprised to see their talent poll change as about as often as I change my socks. (I was going to say underwear but you really don't need that image.)

[Wizardscharter]

DC fans are delirious. They think their team last season was the best in the history of MLS by a mile. No, it really wasn't. [dc] sucked for most of the year, picked it up at the end of the season, and then had an ok playoffs (ran over a demoralized Metrostars, gave up 3 goals to a horrible Revs team, and won MLS Cup with 2 flub goals)...I think the team to beat going in is Kansas City. They lost nobody from last year, and Gansler is a superior coach.Don't forget KC in the final was without 3 multiple All-11 players, two of which are MLS MVPs. Far and away the 2 worst playoff winners both wore the black and white of dc - 1996 and 2004. Combined record of one more total win than total losses, well below .500 in point terms. Those two embarassing teams are the best anti-playoff arguement.

To KC: With KC's strengths they have the ability to win everything, but only if potential comes to fruition with something more concrete than hope.

Two Achilles': Completely missing is an ability to spark a fast break counter from the GK spot. Oshoniyi can stop shots, but has great difficulty in long distribution. Kicks directly OB, and his default options to the deepest uncovered defender being the all-too-easy criticisms. Eskandarian certainly agrees. For those crude few who haven't noticed because they were wrongly dismissing KC as a, "bunker team"; KC has been extreemly effective in that offensive dept. with Meola back there.

Like a class wide-out in gridiron, the ability to strech a D creates exploitable margins all over. Lack of an ability to get downfield quick allows D's to recover and think about less area immediately, allowing greater attacking freedom to range and poach. For KC, its exactly the difference between being able to dominate the last :10 and not.

Second, there has been little evidence to suggest KC can be creative enough consistently. Someone needs to show the ability to disect multiple defenders with a pass. As KC so far lacks a spark to their run the alternative is always working against 7+ close to the box. That requires creativity at some point.

Preki is getting no time, Diego Walsh seems a wasted signing to date, and with Klein hurt Wolff was KC's assist leader in '04. Not bad, but not the best sign either for your premier forward. Wolff passing to Arnaud was a pillar in '04. Today's lack is someone getting the ball to Wolff...

Right now if KC finds a guy besides Wolff who puts up 10+ assists, they have a legitimate shot to win everything. Hell, they might even get a point in Chicago (0-for existence @ CHI). :rolleyes:

[Hugo Sanchez]

You need to study your Jamaican music history. Desmond Dekker and the Aces were a ska group. Then came a short period of Rock Steady, which was slightly slower. Rock Steady came about when there was a heat wave in Jamaica and the dancers begged the bands to have mercy on them. Finally, Reggae arrived when Bob Marley came to back from building Chryslers in Mayland and started his own record label, Tuff Gong. BTW, there's a great Desmond Dekker compilation out. I especially like it when he channels the Beach Boys:
"Girls like sand,
Too much every mon..."
I was seriously going to answer him, but you did quite exceptionally here.

So I'll be brief in recapping you. :)

Ska - Rocksteady - Reggae - 2Tone (independent of Reggae, though)

Ska came about in the 50s and 60s with Coxsone Dodd, Clue J and the infamous Prince Buster.

Other notable ska acts of Dekker's time were The Skatalites, Toots and The Maytals, Laurel Aitken and Derrick Morgan.

"Israelites" was the first Jamaican record to hit Gold.

"Israelites", a ska record.

[Roblar]

Dallas.

1. kept Eddie, last year's leading scorer despite modest support.
2. added Mulrooney, a very good MLS midfielder, in a trade that weakened key rival San Jose
3, added Vanney, a MNT quality back
4. added Yi, a baby NAT quality back
5. added Alvarez, a baby NAT quality left-sided attacking player
Almost exactly. In addition:
1) Mulrooney is not just "very good", he is "outstanding" (if not the best D-mid in MLS). Paired with Valakari (sp.?) Dallas should have an extremely solid defensive midfield, and BOTH Mulrooney and Valakari pass well and are capable of getting into attack (which equals GREAT service for EJ).
2) They kept hold of O'Brien. This guy, when injury free, is a very talented and creative player. (=more GREAT service for EJ)
3) They added Glenn. While I'm not completely sold on Glenn, he certainly showed flashes of talent last season. He could be a great complement to EJ. His talent could open up space for EJ. If not, Glenn should certainly have much more space to work with (since the opposition will key on EJ).
4) They watched KC ship out to the East while TWO expansion teams sailed in to the West. (In addition, SJ has lost Donovan, Mulrooney, and Ekelund.) In the MLS, all you have to do is get to the play-offs and then roll your dice. It is difficult to see Dallas miss-out on the post-season like they did last year. They could easily win the West.
5) Will be moving to a new stadium (eventually) this season. ....well, this is on the slow track now, but...

[DCFAN96]

Chicago had a great offseason, picking up Sanneh, Caballero, Guerrero, Thorrington, etc. They have a brand new team that looks really solid.

[SoccerPrime]

Yeah Fire is great except that pesky problem of having no experienced forwards except Herron.

Fire might become the CRapids of 2005. You can play HankiBall.

[Brushes Sand]

FC Dallas by a country mile. Had they lost Eddie Johnson...

Well, let's just not think about that.


FC Dallas, two weeks before the season begins, has
the same number of allocations that they had 14 months
ago. Gibbs bolted, in return we get a player that's
8 years older who was never as good as Gibbs in his
prime; we picked up Mulrooney, a 2nd defensive
midfielder to pair with Valakari, landed Yi, and that's
it. Last year's most anemic attack will continue to
be just that because any team in MLS only needs
to shut down EJ and ROB. If Glenn can prove his
Swampstay was an anomaly, then maybe he can
draw away some of the attention that EJ's going
to get. I suspect that Glenn will deliver the same
value as Rhine: 3-5 goals, but not a difference maker,
and certainly not a gamebreaking threat you have
to gameplan to contain. But with no significant
upgrade in Offensive Creativity, and the vacuum
on last year's left side still in place, in light of the
number of allocations in the bank, and the obvious(?)
need to beef up the side's flair for the league's 3rd
SSS debut, giving a single vote to FCD as having
the best offseason is a HERESY punishable by
the STARK FIST of the Soccer Gawdz.

-bs

[Brushes Sand]

Dallas.

1. kept Eddie, last year's leading scorer despite modest support.
2. added Mulrooney, a very good MLS midfielder, in a trade that weakened key rival San Jose
3, added Vanney, a MNT quality back
4. added Yi, a baby NAT quality back
5. added Alvarez, a baby NAT quality left-sided attacking player

Sure, they lost Gibbs but those are major additions. FC Dallas will be a very big step up from the last edition of the Burn.


Not. Read the Dallas forum. There is almost unanimous despair.

Yi and Alvarez are completely unproven, Vanney is a significant downgrade
from Gibbs; GE and ClarkE both have stated it's insane to pay outside
backs in MLS anything more than $50k, so to break that cap management
strategy 3-fold for Vanney again proves we get the bones from Ivan.
We already had a great MLS D-Mid in Valakari and now we've doubled
our cash expenditure at the same position. Glenn didn't make the cut
at the Swamp.

I could be proven wrong, but instead of adding flair to the most anemic
attack in MLS in a year where the side will open the 3rd SSS in MLS,
we've only added defensive talent to compensate for losing defensive
talent on a defense that had already had a 40% increase in Goals Against
from '03 to '04.

Here's what's going to happen this summer.

Reyna is going to return to MLS. FCD will trade an allocation to
Metro for _______, a former 2nd-round draft choice.

JOB is going to return to MLS. FCD will trade an allocation to
Gals for _______, a former 2nd-round draft choice.

In so doing the assets accumulated through the debacle
of Sucklack and the Adu Rape will be nicely disposed of without
having to spend an ounce of "MLS Currency". If you think the
I/O's don't participate in the cashflows for players that are
not proportionate to their absorbtion of capitalized losses,
then you are incredibly naiive.

-bs

-bs

[Brushes Sand]

Almost exactly. In addition:
1) Mulrooney is not just "very good", he is "outstanding" (if not the best D-mid in MLS). Paired with Valakari (sp.?) Dallas should have an extremely solid defensive midfield, and BOTH Mulrooney and Valakari pass well and are capable of getting into attack (which equals GREAT service for EJ).
2) They kept hold of O'Brien. This guy, when injury free, is a very talented and creative player. (=more GREAT service for EJ)
3) They added Glenn. While I'm not completely sold on Glenn, he certainly showed flashes of talent last season. He could be a great complement to EJ. His talent could open up space for EJ. If not, Glenn should certainly have much more space to work with (since the opposition will key on EJ).
4) They watched KC ship out to the East while TWO expansion teams sailed in to the West. (In addition, SJ has lost Donovan, Mulrooney, and Ekelund.) In the MLS, all you have to do is get to the play-offs and then roll your dice. It is difficult to see Dallas miss-out on the post-season like they did last year. They could easily win the West.
5) Will be moving to a new stadium (eventually) this season. ....well, this is on the slow track now, but...

It's a sad state of affairs, and yet an accurate comment on the
"politics" of MLS, and the different standards to which each franchise
is subjected, when Dallas is considered to have a good offseason primarily
because we didn't lose all of our blue-chip assets, as if that is the
expectation for Dallas, the perennial under-supplied redheaded stepchild
of the league. It was understandable when there was no I/O .....

-bs

[Rommul]

If Glenn can prove his
Swampstay was an anomaly, then maybe he can
draw away some of the attention that EJ's going
to get. I suspect that Glenn will deliver the same
value as Rhine: 3-5 goals, but not a difference maker,
and certainly not a gamebreaking threat you have
to gameplan to contain.

UH Cornell Glen socred at a faster clip than Eddie Johnson did last year.

His prolem was getting playing time from Bradley not scoring.

He is a steal.

[Brushes Sand]

UH Cornell Glen socred at a faster clip than Eddie Johnson did last year.

His prolem was getting playing time from Bradley not scoring.

He is a steal.

Bob Bradley is possibly the best evaluator of talent in the league.

Why didn't he get playing time in Metro's striker carousel?

Has Glen lit it up at International Level any time recently?

You'd score at a faster clip than EJ too if you were supported
by anything other than what could best be described as a
vacuum in midfield behind you.

-bs

[Arisrules]

The problem with Glen wasn't that he didn't get onto the field because of Bradley...but rather he is injured....a lot. If he stays healthy, then that trade is a steal. If he isn't, and Ward pans out, then it's a steal for the Metros. There are a lot of variables at play here.

[Rommul]

Bob Bradley is possibly the best evaluator of talent in the league.

Why didn't he get playing time in Metro's striker carousel?

Has Glen lit it up at International Level any time recently?

You'd score at a faster clip than EJ too if you were supported
by anything other than what could best be described as a
vacuum in midfield behind you.

-bs

Oh good lord.

Glenn is not a player who depends on service to score. He largely creates his own goals.

Did you see what he did to Jolley?

At any rate I don't want to jack a perfectly good thread.

[Rommul]

The problem with Glen wasn't that he didn't get onto the field because of Bradley...but rather he is injured....a lot. If he stays healthy, then that trade is a steal. If he isn't, and Ward pans out, then it's a steal for the Metros. There are a lot of variables at play here.

Yep.

These comparisons with Bobby Rhine are beyond odd.

[sl7vk]

Real went from nothing to what I'm guessing will be a very competitive team in the offseason. Enough said.