MASR: View From The Mezzanine

[Cweedchop]

http://unitedmania.matchnight.com/umindex.cfm?page=ARTICLE&show=20227


Enjoy. Any comments would be helpful, except from Mike Martin.

[Vasco]

I think he is right.

while it looks the same, it is different because they are signing people from South America.

With some skillful and beautiful players on the team, I am awaiting December 2007 already, and the world club championship.

Watching DC beat some european team to win it, or SA team to win it will be great even if i do have to get up at 5am to do it.

I believe payne and kasper know what they are doing. Even when you know what your doing it doesn't always work out. So yes they are not perfect, but I am looking forward to December already.

[fatbastard]

Enjoy. Any comments would be helpful, except from Mike Martin.
[channeling Mr. Martin]
This is typical of your overly-optimistic, man-crush-on-Kevin-Payne, agreeing-with-John-Dyson kind of uneducated drivel. The team is decimated and our past with foreign allocations prove it is like buying lottery tickets. Now we have a no-named coach who's supposed to rebuild a team in 5 weeks and take it to Honduras to win a game against a top club?
You're high
[/channeling Mike M]

I don't know what he's all upset about, I liked it :D

[chessplayer]

A well-written article. I would disagree only on the Moreno/Gomez question. He is right that we need to support them with scoring and possession/playmakers around them, as they are not youthful and in decline, but I think both will prove to be useful 70-minute players if they are platooned enough. Furthermore, they can prolong their careers and help the team most (I think) by settling back from trying to score and focus their energy on moving the ball and setting others up with their passing, which I think remains effective. To that end, we need more effective attackers in the midfield and up front, as the group last year wore down and didn't get the job done in the second half of the season.
Another good point made is that we will have to wait until this summer to see how it all gels and what kind of team we have. But this team is not as young and inexperienced as the 2001 bunch was, and if Payne et al get the right people in here I think we will be more than competitive. Time will tell, I will hold my judgement.
Did we do that badly in the draft? I have been impressed with the eye for talent that Payne/Kasper have shown, whatever the source of the talent. Consider that the MLS GKOY and the DOY were both undrafted rookies that we invited into camp- how rare is that that they would be identified and developed as they have been?

[JoeSoccerFan]

[channeling Mr. Martin]
This is typical of your overly-optimistic, man-crush-on-Kevin-Payne, agreeing-with-John-Dyson kind of uneducated drivel. The team is decimated and our past with foreign allocations prove it is like buying lottery tickets. Now we have a no-named coach who's supposed to rebuild a team in 5 weeks and take it to Honduras to win a game against a top club?
You're high
[/channeling Mike M]

I don't know what he's all upset about, I liked it :D

I agree. As usual Mike has a opinion that is incongruous with what Chris has written. It's a pretty bad stretch Mike....

[Marco10]

Actually, how could I disagree with Chris on this one? His article does little more than state what has happened, with a dubious comparison to '00-'01, and some half hearted blind homerism in United's braintrust. Hard to conflict with that one.

However, for forms sake, I will point out that the 2000 purge was far more severe. Four starters of All-Star quality versus two starters with potential and two backups with baggage of some sort. Hardly a panic move to jettison them. It's obviously a calculated gamble.

In my opinion, United has just unloaded talented players all who have some warts on them in favor of getting the money to get players more well rounded.
Freddy was great, but he's an average winger and wasn't going to take over for Gomez any time soon, and he's too small and disgruntled as well as likely leaving soon, so it's a good idea to bring in a guy who's more suited to the wing and will be a steady contributor for a while.
Alecko was great too, but he was a bit small and a streaky scorer who has injury issues. A more accomplished forward with less potential perhaps, but more consistency seems to be a good idea assuming that's what DC does.
Nicky, too short and prone to bone-headed mistakes, and he was a backup anyway. Dyachenko, wasn't cutting it as a forward, nor really threatening for Gomez's job, and you can't protect everyone anyway. Surely other players of that caliber will fall out of a tree somewhere along the line.
Losing Nowak is a bit more dicey, but then again he might well have shot his bolt and it's a good time to thank him for his service and move on.

Still, the 800 pound gorilla is that United has to sign the right guys to make this worthwhile and the jury is still out on that one obviously. However, I think it will be able to find the right guys as I don't think they're really losing that much.

Heck, donkey even quoted Hudson, how could I argue with that? Still, even a blind homer can find a donut :)

[owendylan]

Actually, how could I disagree with Chris on this one? His article does little more than state what has happened, with a dubious comparison to '00-'01, and some half hearted blind homerism in United's braintrust. Hard to conflict with that one.

However, for forms sake, I will point out that the 2000 purge was far more severe. Four starters of All-Star quality versus two starters with potential and two backups with baggage of some sort. Hardly a panic move to jettison them. It's obviously a calculated gamble.

In my opinion, United has just unloaded talented players all who have some warts on them in favor of getting the money to get players more well rounded.
Freddy was great, but he's an average winger and wasn't going to take over for Gomez any time soon, and he's too small and disgruntled as well as likely leaving soon, so it's a good idea to bring in a guy who's more suited to the wing and will be a steady contributor for a while.
Alecko was great too, but he was a bit small and a streaky scorer who has injury issues. A more accomplished forward with less potential perhaps, but more consistency seems to be a good idea assuming that's what DC does.
Nicky, too short and prone to bone-headed mistakes, and he was a backup anyway. Dyachenko, wasn't cutting it as a forward, nor really threatening for Gomez's job, and you can't protect everyone anyway. Surely other players of that caliber will fall out of a tree somewhere along the line.
Losing Nowak is a bit more dicey, but then again he might well have shot his bolt and it's a good time to thank him for his service and move on.

Still, the 800 pound gorilla is that United has to sign the right guys to make this worthwhile and the jury is still out on that one obviously. However, I think it will be able to find the right guys as I don't think they're really losing that much.

Heck, donkey even quoted Hudson, how could I argue with that? Still, even a blind homer can find a donut :)

I've got to agree with this. I see losing these players as the tweaking, when we jettisoned players in 2000, they were much more valuable to the team then what we got rid of this year. It is a calculated gamble if the foreign signings pay off they will look brilliant, if not we'll probably still make the play-offs but it will be hard work to do so versus the coasting we've done the last 2 seasons. The new players need to add some hunger to the way the team plays, something that has been missing since Nowak's first season.

[Cweedchop]

Actually, how could I disagree with Chris on this one? His article does little more than state what has happened, with a dubious comparison to '00-'01, and some half hearted blind homerism in United's braintrust. Hard to conflict with that one.

However, for forms sake, I will point out that the 2000 purge was far more severe. Four starters of All-Star quality versus two starters with potential and two backups with baggage of some sort. Hardly a panic move to jettison them. It's obviously a calculated gamble.

In my opinion, United has just unloaded talented players all who have some warts on them in favor of getting the money to get players more well rounded.
Freddy was great, but he's an average winger and wasn't going to take over for Gomez any time soon, and he's too small and disgruntled as well as likely leaving soon, so it's a good idea to bring in a guy who's more suited to the wing and will be a steady contributor for a while.
Alecko was great too, but he was a bit small and a streaky scorer who has injury issues. A more accomplished forward with less potential perhaps, but more consistency seems to be a good idea assuming that's what DC does.
Nicky, too short and prone to bone-headed mistakes, and he was a backup anyway. Dyachenko, wasn't cutting it as a forward, nor really threatening for Gomez's job, and you can't protect everyone anyway. Surely other players of that caliber will fall out of a tree somewhere along the line.
Losing Nowak is a bit more dicey, but then again he might well have shot his bolt and it's a good time to thank him for his service and move on.

Still, the 800 pound gorilla is that United has to sign the right guys to make this worthwhile and the jury is still out on that one obviously. However, I think it will be able to find the right guys as I don't think they're really losing that much.

Heck, donkey even quoted Hudson, how could I argue with that? Still, even a blind homer can find a donut :)

As I feared, your comments are not helpful.

[Cweedchop]

Actually, how could I disagree with Chris on this one? His article does little more than state what has happened, with a dubious comparison to '00-'01, and some half hearted blind homerism in United's braintrust. Hard to conflict with that one.

However, for forms sake, I will point out that the 2000 purge was far more severe. Four starters of All-Star quality versus two starters with potential and two backups with baggage of some sort. Hardly a panic move to jettison them. It's obviously a calculated gamble.

In my opinion, United has just unloaded talented players all who have some warts on them in favor of getting the money to get players more well rounded.
Freddy was great, but he's an average winger and wasn't going to take over for Gomez any time soon, and he's too small and disgruntled as well as likely leaving soon, so it's a good idea to bring in a guy who's more suited to the wing and will be a steady contributor for a while.
Alecko was great too, but he was a bit small and a streaky scorer who has injury issues. A more accomplished forward with less potential perhaps, but more consistency seems to be a good idea assuming that's what DC does.
Nicky, too short and prone to bone-headed mistakes, and he was a backup anyway. Dyachenko, wasn't cutting it as a forward, nor really threatening for Gomez's job, and you can't protect everyone anyway. Surely other players of that caliber will fall out of a tree somewhere along the line.
Losing Nowak is a bit more dicey, but then again he might well have shot his bolt and it's a good time to thank him for his service and move on.

Still, the 800 pound gorilla is that United has to sign the right guys to make this worthwhile and the jury is still out on that one obviously. However, I think it will be able to find the right guys as I don't think they're really losing that much.

Heck, donkey even quoted Hudson, how could I argue with that? Still, even a blind homer can find a donut :)

As I feared, your comments are not helpful. :p

Please return to your sleepless nights Mr. Mom.