Will signing Wilson kill the Argie deal?

[RMDad]

Wilson's performance in the last 2 games has been pretty solid.
I am wondering if his aqcuisition has killed the Argie deal?
Mark

[DCFAN96]

Has nothing to do with the Argie deal, the Argie would replace Boz. As long as he still wants to come here we'll bring him in. The Wilson aquisition just provides us the depth we needed at defense which we lacked earlier this year. The Argie signing is necessary, what will we do if (god forbid) Boz goes down with and injury, we have no one on the roster we is capable of playing CB (please no one say Stokes 'shudders').

[sch2383]

I don't understand going after the Argie...Boz has played great so why spend an allocation (and all that salary cap) for a guy that might not even get playing time. We need depth at that position, no doubt, but an allocation? That just doesn't make sense.

[gnat]

Has nothing to do with the Argie deal, the Argie would replace Boz. As long as he still wants to come here we'll bring him in. The Wilson aquisition just provides us the depth we needed at defense which we lacked earlier this year. The Argie signing is necessary, what will we do if (god forbid) Boz goes down with and injury, we have no one on the roster we is capable of playing CB (please no one say Stokes 'shudders').
I disagree on the depth issue. Wilson effectively replaces Petke, so we are no better off in that regard.

That said I would rather we make another good steal like Wilson from the A-League (or somewhere) to fill out the depth issue, and focus on bringing someone in that can do something with all the crosses we keep sending through the box (besides stand there an say "oooh. That was a nice cross" ;)). We need a new OTC!!! :D

-dave

[neilgrossman]

I don't understand going after the Argie...Boz has played great so why spend an allocation (and all that salary cap) for a guy that might not even get playing time. We need depth at that position, no doubt, but an allocation? That just doesn't make sense.

Where should we spend the allocation? Defense is our worst position.

[Saltenya94]

I don't understand going after the Argie...Boz has played great so why spend an allocation (and all that salary cap) for a guy that might not even get playing time. We need depth at that position, no doubt, but an allocation? That just doesn't make sense.
We need more quality defense on the backline if we're gonna be a championship team. Sure, I love Stokes, the Boz', Namoff, and everybody else we have right now. But last year we won the leauge by having Nelsen, Petke, and even Ezra playing quality defense during the always (must-win mentality & rough play) of the playoffs. If we can have the Argie defender + the Boz', etc. the better we'll be during the play-offs. Not to mention if we play the Concacaf, which I really wanted us to have a more solid Defense for.

[GUTuna]

It won't kill the deal. We still need depth and they don't play the same position.

Just to add though, after tonight, this is 3 solid games from Wilson. Apparently he was gassed, but he absolutely owned Pat Noonan in the first half.

[seahawkdad]

I thought he was spectacular.

A bit prematurely, I started thinking..."left back....hmmmm....I wonder if Bruce is here tonight....hmmmm...Gold Cup....hmmmm"

[Th4119]

Where should we spend the allocation? Defense is our worst position.

Forward.

[Longshoe]

The more I see of Wilson, the more I like. Great job tonight, he's quickly becoming a favorite of our Atlanta contingent.

[ThePuck]

Wilson is amazing. I have been very pleased with his performance so far. The hustle, the energy level, superb. I don't care about some kid that's never played with us before and what he can do when the guy here now is doing so well. If it gums up the works, Argie be damned.

[NicktheGreek]

Wilson's performance in the last 2 games has been pretty solid.
I am wondering if his aqcuisition has killed the Argie deal?
Mark
They may be looking for a different flavor of Argentine. Wilson has proven to be pretty good, and will get better, Guppy is a total loss- I see him hanging up the cleats. The front office is leaving on a scouting trip for 4 days- Are there Confederations Cup games on? The Argies smacked Australia around pretty good with a bit less than the A team Saturday, but even B team Argie internationals are out of our league. Aside from steaks and Tango lessons what else is there to see between now and the weekend?

[Eastern Bear]

What I really like about Wilson is that he wins the ball to teammates most of the time. It really kickstarts the attack. I would really like to have the Argie play on the other outside slot and have a similar capapbility to win the ball and move it directly into the attack. Defensive players like that will make our midfielders and strikers a lot better. In the glory years (even though we played a 4-4-2), I think the ability of our squad to pass well from the back made a big difference. Agoos, Sonora, Pope and Llamos all could win the ball to teammates and make good passes.

[geordienation]

The problem is depth, so yeah, the Argie is needed.

If the team were perfectly healthy, I think you'd see this at the back:

Namoff ---- Boswell ---- Wilson

The fact that Wilson just stepped right into the lineup is an indication of how thin United is right now.

The only player who is assured their spot in the backline right now is Boswell. He's played every minute of every game. After that, a healthy Namoff is probably always in the side. It probably stacks up like this:

Boswell

Namoff
Wilson
Prideaux
Stokes

Reserves (Arena et al)

The Argentinian takes United from (currently) 4 heathly players for 3 spots to 5. Namoff makes 6 when he returns from the hip flexor. THAT's competition and a very good thing.

[Saltenya94]

The Argentinian takes United from (currently) 4 heathly players for 3 spots to 5. Namoff makes 6 when he returns from the hip flexor. THAT's competition and a very good thing.
We have a winner!

[GrillMaster]

The problem is depth, so yeah, the Argie is needed.[snip]I just disagree with spending an allocation on a defender, unless he's a REAL offensive threat moving forward and on set pieces. Any allocation spent on a defender is money down the drain unless the guy is intelligent and possesses at least two of the following: pace, shot accuracy and power, height-enhanced heading ability, vocal leadership inspired by thorough knowledge of the game.

Otherwise, let's go for skill at forward keeping an eye on Jaime's health and age.

GM

[Th4119]

Otherwise, let's go for skill at forward keeping an eye on Jaime's health and age.

GM

...and Alecko's unbelievable slump and Santino Quaranta's injury history.

Folks, DC doesn't have too much up front if something goes wrong.

Gomez is starting to do what he did when he came on last season and score goals from his attacking spot, which is great, but if any of those three go down for an extended period of time (which is very possible right now with Esky) then this team is incredibly thin along the front line.

Someone that I think would be a significant upgrade over Walker, Thompson, and the rest of the forwards would be Matt Delicate from Richmond. He's in his second season now and is leading the Kickers with 8 goals and 2 assists in 13 games played. He's a big target type, but he can also play well with the ball on the ground and is a very intelligent player. He's still a young pro and has a lot of room to grow.

Here's his bio:

http://www.richmondkickers.com/scripts/runisa.dll?m2.197230:gp:844651.458:72098+Elements/Display+E+2323933+Player/+72011+22375+2465947+81672

The Richmond site is lacking and it doesn't show height and weight, but he's probably around 6'1'' or 6'2'' and he plays big.

[gnat]

Any allocation spent on a defender is money down the drain unless the guy is intelligent and possesses at least two of the following: pace, shot accuracy and power, height-enhanced heading ability, vocal leadership inspired by thorough knowledge of the game.
I agree about money down the drain, but for other reasons. Mainly you don't spend a lot of money on for someone to sit on the bench as depth, and neither Boz or Wilson deserve to be relegated to the bench at this point and the combination of Stokes, Nameoff, and Brandon are serviceable for their place. I agree we could use some more solid depth in D, but not someone that demands playing time simply due to the money we spend on him.

-dave

[DangerMouse37]

First, the guys were great last night. Wilson was very strong -- he consistently wins balls, he consistently starts dangerous attacks. A classy guy and an excellent pick-up.

Second, I was impressed with Prideaux last night. Not flawless but a good to very good performance -- much better than other recent outings.

What is clear to me is that there are guys on the B squad that are no way ready to play and not in the team's plans. Should we be carrying them if they're not "depth"?

Either way, we need to bring on more talent. If depth is what we need, lets get more defenders like we did with Wilson (there must be some out there) and use our allocation for a striker.

[dcajedi]

If the Argentine comes in, I wonder if we could, with all the other defenders healthy, move Boswell up to forward. Yeah it sounds weird but didn't he score a lot of goals in college?