Where does Ray go to?

[Dave Brother]

Seeings how we have given Eddie to the Scum........Where is our defense, with Milton going out for the season??

My most important question being..........Who must go to give us a back line?

[mellon002]

Apparently we are going to use a 3 back set because of the injuries. As for who to trade, I think that Quintanilla could be packaged with a draft pick to grab a decent defender.

[GDopplerXT]

I say no-one goes. Get Namoff in there, get Stokes in there, suck it up 'til Ivanov and Prideaux are healthy, and let the team settle.

Unless we can get A.J. Wood to come back as a defender. In which case we should cut Stewart.

I am of course kidding about the A.J. Wood thing.

[Dave Brother]

Originally posted by GDopplerXT
I say no-one goes. Get Namoff in there, get Stokes in there, suck it up 'til Ivanov and Prideaux are healthy, and let the team settle.

Unless we can get A.J. Wood to come back as a defender. In which case we should cut Stewart.

I am of course kidding about the A.J. Wood thing.

I'm NOT kidding about A.J. Wood. I understand he's working in a managerial position for the team, but if he could fill in as a sub until we got somebody back, we might be in a better position.

Coming from an "A.J. Wood Fan".

[DigitalTron]

Originally posted by GDopplerXT
I say no-one goes. Get Namoff in there, get Stokes in there, suck it up 'til Ivanov and Prideaux are healthy, and let the team settle. My sentiments exactly. Well said. :D

One thing this team needs is scoring punch on corners. Every team in the league has at least 2 guys who are strong in the air defensively. If we have a 3rd guy who is strong in the air, we can get some mismatches and score some goals.

Last season if we did not score first (granted we rarely scored at all!) then we lost. We simply couldn't break down bunkers. The best ways to break down bunkers are with set pieces and shots from distance. Guys like Armstrong, Denton and Villegas had long range shots. Last season, only Santino and Villegas had a long range shot, and nobody on the team was willing to even take a long range shot. We had no aerial game whatsoever. So, we were impotent on corners.

Nelsen can be our Bocanegra in the air. Mike Petke can get his head on some crosses. If we get David Stokes in there--who is significantly taller than either Nelsen or Petke--we should be able to get at least one mismatch somewhere. Then with Stewart's speed and Esky's leaping ability, we might even have options. Stokes would really open up chances on corners for his teammates, even if he never recieved corner service.

Every year there's a defender who can step in immediately and contribute. Guys like Bocanegra, Suarez, Gray. IMHO, this year it'll be David Stokes. The time is now to find out.

-Digital