[Luis Chavez]

How Long before we call for Ray to be fired, He has yet to do anything right for the team, it seems everything he has done has gone wrong, Lets evaluate

Trading for villegas, and perez
at first i thought this was a good trade,until he goes off and trades perez again, what was the point in the first place.

Quintanilla-well i know its only been 3 games but he has gone scoreless, (actually the team has gone scoreless too) It might be to early to evaluate this guy, but still it wasnt the best choice.

Picking up Roy was awful this guy sucks, why did we get him back in the first place,

The dispersal draft, aside from Rimando who did we get that is useful to us (LAZO SUCKS)

the 2002 draft, we missed totally missed twellman, and we got MAPP who has yet to play 30 minutes we got kante (who in Rays words is a gem) there was no point in drafting MGinty, we could have gotten an a league goalie for close to nothing as season progressed

getting mckinley was a terrible move

ITS TIME FOR THE BANNERS, FIRE THE COACH

we need a better team and it may not be the coach's fault but we cant fire the whole team.

PS Thanks Ray for beating the ************ing GALXY
thats probally the only thing you did right

[RMDad]

I would say picking up Milton Reyes wasnt too bad an idea.
Mark

[Barbara]

I'm tired of people assuming that all the personnel decisions are entirely Ray's. I'm virtually certain that there are a couple of other people who have quite a bit of say there.


Your post is way premature, Luis. While his schtick is grating on me, I think he deserves another year.

If we're not any better by mid-season next year then we can seriously discuss hiring a plane.



Frankly, my biggest fear right now is that we had the wrong message on the first plane.

[chayes]

ERIF REPSAK!

[Sundevil9]

Luis,

I think you're way off base here.

First off, Ray has not had a proper off season to mold the team.

Secondly, the Lisi-Zadie trade turned into Villegas and Quintanilla. (since Perez was essentially shipped to Chicago to make room for him). And 'nilla has been exciting to watch. Now that he's gotten a feel for the team, he's clicked a lot more.....now if someone could tell him to shoot to the far post.....

McGinty was a good late round pick. If you want an A league goalie at the begining of the year, you need to draft one. When United was out of other guys to pick, they took McGinty.
McKinnley adds some character and grit to the team. And anywhere from 10-20 minutes of solid play....then he runs out of gas.

[SoccerEsq]

I'm beginning to doubt...

Please tell me why starting 4 defenders and 2 defensive midfielders (with Ben Olsen on the bench) made sense for a team desperate to score a goal?

I love Ray's candor, but please convince me this makes sense.

[Jose L. Couso]

Originally posted by Luis Chavez
How Long before we call for Ray to be fired, He has yet to do anything right for the team, it seems everything he has done has gone wrong, Lets evaluate

I respectfully disagree.

He has assembled what is arguably the best defense in MLS.

Originally posted by Luis Chavez
Trading for villegas, and perez
at first i thought this was a good trade,until he goes off and trades perez again, what was the point in the first place.

Even you admit that you "thought this was a good trade". What you conceed is that DC United needed to make some trades. This particular trade does not seem to have worked, but you have to give Ray Hudson credit for trying to make the team better, which was what you and everyone wanted.

Ray traded Perez to make room for Quintanilla.

Originally posted by Luis Chavez
Quintanilla-well i know its only been 3 games but he has gone scoreless, (actually the team has gone scoreless too) It might be to early to evaluate this guy, but still it wasnt the best choice.

Even you conceed that "it might be to early to evaluate this guy". I concur.

Let me add that again Ray Hudson is trying to make the team better.

Originally posted by Luis Chavez
Picking up Roy was awful this guy sucks, why did we get him back in the first place,

Hindsight is 20-20. The fact is that DC United needed help up top. Roy was free. Alas, it did not work, but again Ray Hudson tried.

Originally posted by Luis Chavez
The dispersal draft, aside from Rimando who did we get that is useful to us (LAZO SUCKS)

Rimando is a stud! That pick alone helped DC United immensely.

Lazo was primarily brought in to help last year's defense, which eveyone agreed needed help.

Originally posted by Luis Chavez
the 2002 draft, we missed totally missed twellman, and we got MAPP who has yet to play 30 minutes we got kante (who in Rays words is a gem) there was no point in drafting MGinty, we could have gotten an a league goalie for close to nothing as season progressed

getting mckinley was a terrible move

Experience.

ITS TIME FOR THE BANNERS, FIRE THE COACH

NO.

we need a better team and it may not be the coach's fault but we cant fire the whole team.

Considering that it was the first time all year that the whole team was relatively healthy, let's give them a few more games.

PS Thanks Ray for beating the ************ing GALXY
thats probally the only thing you did right

No he did beat the Metrodonkeys!

With three more games against the Metrodonkeys things can turn around dramatically!

I understand your frustration, but do not despair.

The season is not over, was the mindset that appeared throughout all the players at the meet the team day today.

I too think that your post is premature.

Cheers!

[bofahey]

I think Ray is turning the team in the right direction. We consistently outplay our opponents, but simply lack the ability to finish without at least a healthy Moreno or Q1 in the lineup. Our defense is stellar despite the fact that we definitely do not play "bunker-ball."

If we were fully healthy (especially with Olsen fully fit), I think we could contend for the title.

[DigitalTron]

Originally posted by Jose L. Couso
He has assembled what is arguably the best defense in MLS.

What Jose said.

I don't give Ray credit for acquiring Reyes, because the team had been trying to do that before. In fact, Rongen might have made the playoffs with Reyes.

I do give Ray credit for acquiring/stealing Brandon Prideaux for a substitute SI. As Jose said, this defense can be special. That's very hard to do. While Pope is expensive, Reyes is undercompensated at 100k, and Prideaux is even less expensive. Nelsen, still on his rookie salary, isn't expensive either. All in all, a great and young defense that doesn't cost too much. That's masterful.

Since Hudson has started injecting some offensive structure, we've been creating a ton of chances. If we had some finishing talent we might be singing Ray's praises right now.

IMHO, we're a lot like the KC Wizards were earlier in the season. They played a good possession game. and created chances from Preki, Klein and Quill/Armstrong, but didn't have any finishers. After adding Fabbro and Simuntenkov--decent but not spectacular SI forwards--the Wizards have shot up the table and are one of the top teams.

While I have come to wholeheartedly agree with Cweedchop about Hudson's lack of youth development, I do give Ray some credit in some areas. IMHO, he's probably the best at identifying and bringing in veteran international talent. I expect that he'll add AT LEAST one new forward next season, and that could be all United needs.

One season is too early to properly evaluate a coach, particularly when he purges the roster (as almost every coach does). I'm not Hudson's biggest fan, but I do think he is a good coach and can and will make United great again. Prospects actually look quite bright for next season, assuming we don't have another watershed of injuries.

-Tron

[Jose L. Couso]

Originally posted by SoccerEsq
I'm beginning to doubt...

Please tell me why starting 4 defenders and 2 defensive midfielders (with Ben Olsen on the bench) made sense for a team desperate to score a goal?

I love Ray's candor, but please convince me this makes sense.

You are not the only one.

Perhaps Ray is getting a bit too conservative.

However, let's analyze the situation.

Kansas City does have very strong wing players and decent forwards.

Chris Klein had to be neutralized, so Reyes was put on that side.

Eric Quill may not be the best wing in MLS, but he is a hard working 90 minute player who will run all game. Prideaux was covering that side.

Armstrong & Simuntenkov are decent forwards. Pope and Nelsen covered them.

Preki is still Preki. Richie Williams and McKinley were floating to cover him.

That allowed a lot of freedom to both Convey & Etcheverry. Convey owned Burns last night. Convey did have some problems with Armstrong last game. Etcheverry was more effective last night.

Tactically the formation was sound.

If Moreno put the penalty away, it would have been a different game. Kansas City would have opened up, thereby necessitating more defensive players. DC United may have more easily exposed their backs. As it was they packed the box for 90 minutes.

If Etcheverry hit the second penalty, this
discussion would have been moot.

Let me add that other approaches could have been taken, but the approach taken last night was a reasonable one.