DC United - 2006

[Hedbal]

No time like the present to think about next year. Who goes? Who stays? Who takes a salary cut?

Do we clean house and agree to take a few years to build for the future, or do we just make minor adjustments to the roster?

Is Nowak the guy we need next year? For as long as he agrees to stay?

Remember, we just got our ass whupped by a team starting three rookies and missing two starters. Will "minor adjustments" close that gap?

I am betraying my preferences, and I will get specific once this thread gets rolling. Let's hear what you think.

[galperin]

Novak...gone. His coaching today was terrible.
Freddy...gone. He can go to the Metros.
Benny...gone. I'll get flamed for this, but DCU needs massive changes, and I think Benny needs to go. He just is not what he used to be.
Rimando...gone. If I have to explain why, you need an MRI.
Walker...gone. Just cannot finish.
Filo...gone. What a waste this guy was.

Boswell...keep. Upside is too good.
Jaime...keep.
Gomez...keep.
Carrol...keep. Decent destroyer. No reason to get rid of him, unless we can find a better 2-way mid to replace him, instead of just an ABMOD-type.
Santino...can play out wide and up front. Probably should keep him for his flexibility.

Big time needs:

Keeper
Organizer for the backline
Target forward...have no way of knowing if Alecko will ever play again
forward
Who to get:

Gaven...in trade for Freddy
Adin Brown, maybe. Anyone else?

[BBBulldog]

before this thread takes off I'm just gonna say I'm glad club's not run by BS posters :D

[H]

Walker should be converted to an outside mid, where his speed will be more useful and his shortcomings with touch and shooting will be less of a problem. Like a lot of other MLS teams, you guys seem to need a target (holding) forward. Esky played that role a bit in the past but really isn't well suited to it. Suddenly guys like Buddle, Jaqua and Ching are at a premium.

[vivaelbolivar]

walker should be cut, rimando should be cut. quaranta needs to hit the gym or be benched. as far as nowak ill let payne decide his fate

[dtduffy]

Playing Perkins more this year would have helped, given him an opportunity to improve, and I would be comfortable taking a chance and letting him start the season, splitting time with another young keeper.

I don't like Erpen or Boswell in the middle of a 3 man line, but both in the back of a 4 man line would be much more appealing, their styles would complement each other. Someone to replace Prideaux would be nice, keep him as a backup in case of injurys.

In the midfield things need to change, I say get rid of Dema and start Gros and Quaranta on the wings, get Q to play some defense and your outside ball control would be much improved, I think gros plays good defense and he needs to continue to improve offensively to warrant consistent minutes. In the middle, Gomez is good but he is not a 90 minute player, he can't start 30 + games a year and be expected to log big minutes, rotate him more with Adu, or even Moreno and I think the team would be better served.

Up front, I hope Esky can come back and be solid, the way he improved as a finisher as the season went on last year was really impressive. Moreno logged too many minutes this year and needs more games off to be truly effective into the playoffs, we have a fairly deep roster and I think we need to use it. Wait and see what Filomena brings next year, he seems to have a nasty streak in him which is good. Personally, I would like to see Adu back because I think if he has the right coaching (someone he connects with and respects) I think he can improve by leaps and bounds. The couple of key players I hope they don't lose are Carroll, Namoff and Olsen.

[Th4119]

No reason to cut Walker.

He's great in the locker room, has carried this team at times during the late summer, has shown consistant improvement over the season, and makes next to nothing on the cap.

[Th4119]

Quaranta's contract is up now, correct?

Wonder if he makes more, less, or the same as his current ~100k.

[neilgrossman]

Tino was a disapointment today. I'm not sure he can be a midfielder. I'd love to have him back a forward, but I don't know how much DC would pay. It seems like we're stockpiling forwards if Eski returns.

Quaranta's contract is up now, correct?

Wonder if he makes more, less, or the same as his current ~100k.

[dale_wilster]

See what we can get for Quaranta, now that his value is high (USMNT member). Perhaps we can get target forward for him.

[Th4119]

Tino was a disapointment today. I'm not sure he can be a midfielder. I'd love to have him back a forward, but I don't know how much DC would pay. It seems like we're stockpiling forwards if Eski returns.

He was a dissapointment today. He just isn't very effective as an outside midfielder in a 3-5-2.

With Esky, who knows?

He's been out since June and they just told him not to exercise whatsoever until December at the earliest. Not looking so great at this point.

[Section106]

See what we can get for Quaranta, now that his value is high (USMNT member). Perhaps we can get target forward for him.

We can package him with Rimando for a competent keeper and salary cap room or high draft picks. I'm serious.

[Lowecifer]

before this thread takes off I'm just gonna say I'm glad club's not run by BS posters :D

Yeah, I think the rest of the board of directors agrees with this.

[Eskandarian11]

i think we are a bit too heated up from our EXIT game for this thread. Some cool down time is needed so we can be more realistic as to the changes that need to be made.

Above all, I still very much believe in Nowak and think he will put together a good team for 06. We didn't get far in the playoffs, but at least we made it. We had some terrible droughts during the season and I for one often doubted if we even would make the playoffs. Aside from that, I hope Esky is okay and we keep him. Freddy, i could care less, because when his time to really shine is reached, he won't be anywhere close to MLS. We are his practice ground to get to bigger better things IMO.

[vivzig]

Gone or Salary Cut/Bench:
Rimando. Outright gone. When playing at his best he does well, but I want a player that is competant even when the going gets rough.
Prideaux. Similar to Rimando. Good for depth and not much else. I want Petke back.
Namoff. Unless he recovers his 2004 form, he needs to see some pine.
Erpen. Not based on tonight obviously, but until he can grow a soccer brain, his skills are required on the bench.
Dema. Despite his heart tonight, I think he has disappeared and skied enough shots this season to warrant a pay cut and some bench time.

Keep:
Walker. He knows his role. We know his role. Quit starting him and let him be the supersub.
Filomeno. Shows much promise. The one bright spot for me tonight.
Gomez. Fix the hernia, or whatever bit you. Now. He got hacked out there tonight and lost it. Move on.
Boswell. More minutes, maybe a different system. The OGs were a fluke, I suspect that next year and after, he's part Nelson and Petke.
Jaime. God love him, but he doesn't set the tone for a game, he follows it. For this, he does not need to be team captain. Still, he's Jaime.
Carrol. Didn't understand his game last year, thought he sucked this year until the past few months when he's sometimes been the only thing keeping our head above water. I'll eat the crow.
Quaranta. Flexible and productive for Bruce. I pray that he can one day bring those skills back to United on more than a temporary basis.
Olsen. I love this guy. To me, he epitomizes everything I love about this team. No one was on his level tonight.

Which brings us to...
Freddy. I just honestly don't give a sh!t. Lackadaisical tonight, perhaps proving his doubters correct: he simply doesn't bleed Black and Red. Therefore, I am as apathetic as he appears to be.

Nowak. I still believe he's the man for us. Things I would change would include earlier and better subs and more flexibility in both playing the bench when warranted for resting purposes (ie, early season when both Gomez and Moreno went the full 90 in relatively meaningless games) and in formations. We need to know how to play 4 in the back for the international competitions that we won't be invited to next year.

[StagsUnited72]

Quaranta's contract is up now, correct?

Yes.

[jason1551]

I'm breaking it down into positions/players we need to upgrade:

Goalkeeper:

Rimando isn't the answer. He's poor on crosses and long-distance shots, and his positioning cost us more goals than most other gks would allow. He may have great reaction saves, but it's usually because he did one of the above in the first place. Go after a serious goalkeeper (Cannon, Adin Brown, etc.) or start Perkins and pick up another young gk as his backup.

Left Back:

Prideaux is a decent defender, but time and again, I see him lose his mark, turn his back to the ball, or get blown past by speedier players. He is nothing more than a journeyman player, and his journey should be over at DC. Pick up a versatile leftback (Jose Burciaga Jr., Segares, etc.) and have Wilson as the back-up.

Left/Right Midfielder:

Sorry, Dema, but you are not a left-sided midfielder, and everyone in the league knows it. You've got tenacity and grit, but your shooting and crosses suck. Add his recklessness and temper, and you've got a player that is a liability. Trade him for a decent winger (Chris Klein, Brad Davis, etc.) OR develop one on our own (Stephen DeRoux, Nick Van Sicklen, etc.).

Left Forward:

Rality check: The odds of Eski coming back are pretty slim. He's suffered his second concussion in three years, and his injury recovery has been so off-kilter that I'm surprised anyone held out hope that he would return at all. I just don't see him ever playing for us again.

That said, we need a target forward to complement Moreno. There's no point in serving up crosses if there's no one tall enough to latch onto the ball. I know that Jamil is not the answer there, as he is better as a sub than as a starter. Go after someone with height and the ability to hold off players (Herculez Gomez, Nate Jaqua, Edson Buddle, etc.).

Bubble positions/ players:

Short list of players who could be here next year or who could be gone through trade or cuts: Olsen, who is expendable in a 4-4-2, and Filomeno, who has a lot to prove in the offseason.

I like Olsen; I like his determination, his work-ethic, and his ability to be a two-way player. What I don't like is his ability to be reckless, talkative, and injury-prone. If we could get a decent starter at one of the above positions, I would trade him. Simms provides that same two-way play and has shown he plays well alongside Carroll, and Kuykendal would be the apprentice for either position.

Filomeno has to show that he's the right man for the job. He proved nothing over the course of his fifity-odd number of minutes of play, but I'm willing to give him the offseason to prove that he's our go-to replacement. If he doesn't work out, find someone else who will.

Every other position is pretty clear cut. The players we have are good, but without that whole left side and part of the right, we give up crosses and leave the center hung out to dry. I would advocate a 4-4-2, but the likelihood of that is slim. However, yesterday could be the ultimate signal than Nowak needs to be more flexible and could be the final straw that changes everything.

[Pints]

Who could we get if we traded about 50% of the posters on our boards?

[Hunter R]

Is there any way we can swing a trade to get Joe Cannon away from the Rapids?

I think his presence in the back would be from a leadership position (which is one of the things we need)

And as far as the Freddy thing, he will get some time starting at AMid next year because Gomez is going to have a few games off for spitting

[DutchFootballRulez]

Who could we get if we traded about 50% of the posters on our boards?

Dante Washington