UnitedMania.com: United 2007 Player Review

[Cweedchop]

http://unitedmania.com/section/28/content/3376

[John L]

Excellent review - Most fans may deem the grades a bit harsh, but they are very, very objective - You don't get A's unless you've played a very high level consistently (or done just a monster job), and only a few players did this

[wrightcor]

Pretty good review. Most of the grades were fair. I do think at least two of the grades are a bit high though.

1. Troy Perkins - Even though he had a good year. His mistakes were very costly
especially in the Champions Cup. I still don't understand why he has
problems distributing the ball. He needs to work on distributing the ball to open people.
He also kicks the ball out of bounds way to much. My grade B-

2. Greg Vanney - He did a better job than Erpen in my opinion. But he had a couple of bad positioning games in which goals were conceded. Grade: B-

[Count]

The review was way to friendly too Vanney. Not to say that he was exceptionally poor, but he was at fault for the goal in game one of the chicago series.

[dsheon]

Good job overall, but I agree that Vanney is too high; also, I think you were pretty generous to Jaime. Second season in a row that he basically disappears the last two months of the season plus the playoffs. I also think Burch was a little high. He had some truly rookie cards that cost us, though yes, he's a great pick up. I think Addlery and Dyachenko deserve better marks given the limited time they had. Dyachenko's service in our last match was outstanding. We need more of that next year. All of this in my humble opinion of course.

[owendylan]

I thought the grades for Burch and Vanney were too high, I would have lowered them a half or so. Simms and Emilio were deserving of an A.

[GrillMaster]

Burch was a revelation, but his defensive ability is suffering from a lack of experience. I hoped he learned a big lesson from that goal in Chicago.

I am hopeful, because I remember Namoff getting muscled off a header by Razov in either a playoff game or a game that meant making the playoffs three or four years back. Brian certainly became a better defender after that experience.

I think Burch's rating is entirely too favorable, but I understand it because of the big footprint he had in our offense.

GM

[CHICO13]

Nice picture of Tom Soehn but no grade for the coach? IMHO he was cruising at a B pace before he started Boswell in the final game against Chicago.

[Agent Zero]

I would give addlery a little more credit for his performance in the last game of the playoffs. Somehow the game seemed to change when he was on field? I think Vanney's grade was fair and so was Perkins. Even though Perkins may have made a few mistakes this season,he was a key player is so many games when the defense fell through on him. If anyone was graded too high it was Burch. And hell yes for Clyde Simms scoring the A.

[nick]

Nice picture of Tom Soehn but no grade for the coach? IMHO he was cruising at a B pace before he started Boswell in the final game against Chicago.

So what did you give him as a final grade?


In my mind Soehn was no better than a C+ or B-. Frankly, I was not impressed with what he did with what you could argue was one of the top two rosters in MLS.

[CHICO13]

So what did you give him as a final grade?


In my mind Soehn was no better than a C+ or B-.
Right around there. Inheriting a team and trying to put your stamp on it isn't easy. He started off with Nowak's 3-5-2 and was willing to adjust when he saw we weren't getting results with that formation. He managed minutes pretty decently and used his bench as well as could be expected seeing how our depth came into question at times. On the downside, he mismanaged the final game against the Crew and really blew it in the last game against Chicago by not going with the four defenders that took us to the Supporters Shield.

Live and learn I guess....

[Count]

You guys are way to hard on Soehn. He deserves a B for the season at the very least. Don't forget he orchestrated the Vanney-Erpen trade that was loved by so many of the same people who are now trashing him.

[CHICO13]

You guys are way to hard on Soehn. He deserves a B for the season at the very least. Don't forget he orchestrated the Vanney-Erpen trade that was loved by so many of the same people who are now trashing him.

I don't see myself trashing him. I think I'm being realistic in my asessment. A rookie head coach in a tough position to prove himself. He did alot of things right but also made some questionable calls in crunch time. Besides, I think Kasper and Payne had more to do with the Erpen trade than Tom. They were looking at long term $$ and an SI spot and not just a defender for a defender.

Soehn did well but not good enough. A B- or C+ seems fair to me.

[Hedbal]

I would quibble with a few of the assessments, to wit:

I would rank Namoff above McTavish and Burch. He was selected as the club's Defender of the Year, after all. McTavish and Burch are close behind, McT because of his versatility and quality as a defender, and Burch because he did well in a new position and brought some offense to the position. McTavish is my Most Improved, and Burch is my Most Unlikely, but Namoff is my Best Defender.

Thinking about it, I would prefer this ranking system: Exceeded Expectations, Met Expectations, and Failed to Meet Expectations. My ranking:

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS: - Burch, Emilio, Benny, Simms, McTavish, Mediate

MET EXPECTATIONS: - Vanney, Fred, Dyachenko (most of the time), Moose (ditto), Kpene

FAILED TO MEET EXPECTATIONS: - Boswell, B. Carroll, Moreno, Gomez, Addlery

Of course, I'm grading on the curve here. Mediate exceeded my expectations because I wasn't sure he could play at all after his injury, but he clearly is not as good a player as Gomez, who failed to meet my expectations.

[tmas]

I would quibble with a few of the assessments, to wit:

I would rank Namoff above McTavish and Burch. He was selected as the club's Defender of the Year, after all. McTavish and Burch are close behind, McT because of his versatility and quality as a defender, and Burch because he did well in a new position and brought some offense to the position. McTavish is my Most Improved, and Burch is my Most Unlikely, but Namoff is my Best Defender.

Thinking about it, I would prefer this ranking system: Exceeded Expectations, Met Expectations, and Failed to Meet Expectations. My ranking:

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS: - Burch, Emilio, Benny, Simms, McTavish, Mediate

MET EXPECTATIONS: - Vanney, Fred, Dyachenko (most of the time), Moose (ditto), Kpene

FAILED TO MEET EXPECTATIONS: - Boswell, B. Carroll, Moreno, Gomez, Addlery

Of course, I'm grading on the curve here. Mediate exceeded my expectations because I wasn't sure he could play at all after his injury, but he clearly is not as good a player as Gomez, who failed to meet my expectations.
Gomez? He made the MLS Best XI... he started slow, but with Simms sitting deep behind him, he quietly owned at the end of the season. The offensive focal point of the season was Luciano. Remember when Eskandarian barely got 10 goals in the regular season in '04? Gomez got that with almost nobody noticing...

[Maniac]

I thought the grades for Burch and Vanney were too high, I would have lowered them a half or so. Simms and Emilio were deserving of an A.

Ditto; I also though Chris gave Burch and Vanney high grades as well; I should have the latest episode of the UnitedMania Podcast up soon - we talk about all of the grades a bit more in the third segment - I'll keep you all posted when it's up.

[sckrmom]

I find it inconceivable that you could give Dominic Mediate and Brian Carroll the same grade. Mediate is largely invisible on the field, doesn't create or defend, and was given "filler" minutes most of the season. I know that you all have been enticed into a "Brian bashing" season by the powers that be, but come on now, that's just not right!

[Cweedchop]

Ditto; I also though Chris gave Burch and Vanney high grades as well; I should have the latest episode of the UnitedMania Podcast up soon - we talk about all of the grades a bit more in the third segment - I'll keep you all posted when it's up.

Ahh, you're just bitter because Peru sucks big donkey gnads..

[Cweedchop]

I find it inconceivable that you could give Dominic Mediate and Brian Carroll the same grade. Mediate is largely invisible on the field, doesn't create or defend, and was given "filler" minutes most of the season. I know that you all have been enticed into a "Brian bashing" season by the powers that be, but come on now, that's just not right!


Apples and Oranges.

Using the general scale that C is average, you can certainly make the claim that both players were average for the job that they were given.

It's pretty clear to anyone that Carroll is a better player than Mediate, but for the time that they were on the field, they were average. And let's be fair here, I was very generous with Brian's grade.

Yes, he was that bad this season.

[scarshins]

but Burch was poor late in the season

A for the first 2 months
C- after that

the kid needs to keep working to make that spot his, if he really wants it. it can be tough to go from striker to left back.