Vox Populi--Week 13, Part 2

[Maximum Optimal]

Chris Rolfe has been voted off. We are now taking votes for one player to be added to the 22 below.

Keller, Howard, Hahnemann
Cherundolo, Onyewu, Lewis, Bocanegra, Hejduk, Gibbs, Berhalter, Pope
Donovan, Mastroeni, O'Brien, Reyna, Beasley, Convey, Dempsey
Johnson, McBride, Wolff, Twellman

Please vote based upon the team YOU would choose, not the one you think Arena would select. Remember we are selecting a team for June not for next week.

After some strange detours, it looks like The People have settled upon a pretty solid group above. As has been noted in other threads, the pecking order has become much clearer in recent weeks. It could well be that the slot we are voting on is the only remaining spot that is wide open. Of course new injuries (or failure to recover from current injuries) could open up another spot or two.

[Friendly Fire Fan]

Rolfe

[DCUSA]

Noonan

[WC2010Champs!]

adu - he could play both wing and forward

[Celo's Bicycle]

Hi everyone.

Zavagnin.

[swedust]

Toughness in midfield:

Clark


As to the roster looking set, that doesn't take into account a 2-goal burst on a given MLS weekend that creates a furor to include Gomez, Buddle, whoever. Or the opposite: an own-goal that gets a sure-thing booted off.

Plus there's those players whose reps are hardly untarnished (Wolff, Twellman, Hejduk, etc.) who only have to look at people funny and critics are howling for their heads. This roster is far from set.

[Casper]

[voxpop macro]

Ralston

[/voxpop macro]

[macheath]

Noonan.

[SamsArmySam]

Zavagnin

[tbgh]

Klein

[ttrevett]

Noonan, I just love his tenacity and he always seems to keep the ball at his feet through all sorts of traffic. He is tough, attack minded and can make plays. I don't understand the negativity towards him on these boards. I admit that I haven't watched much MLS and Revs games to judge his league play, but in all but one of his USMNT games, he has shown a ton of quality.

Edited to add,

I love the above roster. That just makes me stoked for June!

[Javer42]

Klein

[spike]

Chris Rolfe has been voted off. We are now taking votes for one player to be added to the 22 below.

Keller, Howard, Hahnemann
Cherundolo, Onyewu, Lewis, Bocanegra, Hejduk, Gibbs, Berhalter, Pope
Donovan, Mastroeni, O'Brien, Reyna, Beasley, Convey, Dempsey
Johnson, McBride, Wolff, Twellman

Please vote based upon the team YOU would choose, not the one you think Arena would select. Remember we are selecting a team for June not for next week.

After some strange detours, it looks like The People have settled upon a pretty solid group above. As has been noted in other threads, the pecking order has become much clearer in recent weeks. It could well be that the slot we are voting on is the only remaining spot that is wide open. Of course new injuries (or failure to recover from current injuries) could open up another spot or two.

That's 5 -- count 'em, 5 -- center backs and only three wide fullbacks. You don't want boca on a wing, do you?:confused:

[fl-kw]

Rolfe

[Mr Martin]

Ah ha! Vox Populi has reached the crux of the matter. The 22 currently listed all seem very logical if each is healthy. The 23d spot is the wild card and up for grabs.

Should it be an extra outside back? Dunivant is flavor of the month, but Spector has loyal fans and Pearce is in the hunt. Albright anyone?

Should it be cover for the brittleness that is the trio of Reyna, O'Brien, and Mastro? Remember, defensive mids are dear to Arena's heart. Zavagnin, Olsen, Carrol, or maybe even Armas?

Should it be an extra right sided mid like Noonan, Ralston, Klein, or the fast-fading Quaranta? Probably not, since the left-side guys like Beasley and Convey could fill in on the right, since Reyna has Premiership experience there at Man City, and since Dempsey has made his recent surge.

Should it be another striker? Nah, with 4 already and Donovan always a real option, the strikers are set. Rolfe fans need to vote Wolff off first.

I think the strongest case can be made for an outside back, since only Cherundolo and Hejduk are standard issue at this position. Lewis, Boca, or emergency option Convey are converted from other positions that they are better at, and Convey-at-left-back seems like ancient history these days.

The next strongest case can be made for defensive mid.

Dunivant or Zavagnin...???

I vote Dunivant.

[Raulduke]

This is kind of out of left field, but I really like Albright.

[mrliioadin]

Ralston


... Dont forget what he did to help the US win their group in qualification. you wont find a more solid Right outside middie

[goussoccer]

This is interesting for no other reason than it gives you some sense of what BA is going to have to go through in a little while...

While I agree that we are heavy in central defense and a bit weak at wing defenders, I think we need to vote off a defender before I add another defender to the team. So hence, no to Dunivant or Pearce or Spector.

Hence a midfielder is where I am looking and for me it comes down to Zavagnin (holding midfielder only), Noonan (wing midfielder and forward backup) or Ralston (wing midfielder and wing defender backup). So...going with the "everyone's healthy mantra", I am going to go with...

Ralston....defense backup is what you need first and they are the ones most likely to run into card accumulation issues, and we have lots of leftsided midfielders it seems.

[plorish]

ricardo clark...just a hunch that he is going to play his way to Germany at the beginning of the year for MLS. Mastro needs a back-up.

[NBlue]

Dunivant

(btw, I agree that the 22 listed are the 22 going at this point if healthy and that last spot is really, really up for grabs . . .)