Despite the stupid ass MLS player acquisition mechanism, I'd never go to a rival team.— brad evans (@brad_evans3) February 16, 2017 He blasted Montero for going to "a rival" and said he'd never do that. He's trying to say he's not a hypocrite - because we are not a rival. EDIT: And here: https://www.sounderatheart.com/2018/2/13/17009988/brad-evans-sporting-kc
To be fair, we are no more a Seattle rival than any decent side in the west. Portland and Vanc would be their real rivals, I'd think. Cascadia Cup and all that
This roster reminds me of how I was feeling about us in the days before Nemeth left. At that time, i thought we were deep and really well balanced. We turned out not to be, and it cannot have all been down to his departure and Opara's injury. But this time I really do like our depth, and I like our top talent, a lot. This is the first time in years we've met the SKC bar of adding the three top players to the roster during an offseason.
"Evans was also a perfect 14-for-14 from the penalty spot, including his successful shootout attempt in the 2016 MLS Cup." I did not know that. Looks like we have a late game sub for a Cup final.
Question: as both Croizet and Russell are strongest on the left side, and Croizet looks to have been pushed onto the front line and Russell used to be a flat out central striker (with quite a bit of success in that role several years back in Scotland he had 17 and 14 goal seasons), is our new number 7 our new 9? Russell of course played on the right and the left, but left most commonly, and only sometimes centrally with Derby. Just wondering if Shelton/Rubio are 2 and 1 or 1 and 2 or if maybe they aren't..
No, I don't think so. As far as I've seen, Vermes has never mentioned considering Russell for striker, just winger or 10. If Croizet does get pushed to the front line more (ugh please put him back in the midfield), I do expect him to be consistently on the right to play inverted, as is Pete's MO. I would expect Gerso to be the likeliest loser rather than Rubio or apparently Shelton.
Russell actually has said he prefers the right. https://www.thebluetestament.com/20...iews-with-peter-vermes-and-johnny-russell-mls
That's interesting. Derby played him on the left a lot more than the right, though in his final years he played wing a ton more than CF and i was asking about that. His most interesting year was one in which he started on the right 11 times, left 11 times and CF 11 times. But his preference to cut onto his stronger foot jibes with PV. Would we have two DP level wings with stronger left feet who played on the right? Also interesting in that piece that Vermes described our mid as having two AMs (a really empty bucket?), unless that is also how he saw our previous wonky line setup. Out March starting 11 is going to be really interesting.
I don't think it's an empty bucket. It's a traditional 4-3-3 with all 3 of our mids in a triangle in the center with the wingers and OB's overlapping like crazy. It puts a ton of pressure on the wings which is why it's nice to have so many quality players for once that can play on the wings. It may almost force Peter to rotate players, but it could also give us the flexibility to play this for instance and get all 11 best players on the field at the same time: ----Gerso----Russell----Croizet ------------Espinoza----Gutteriez ------------------Ilie Medranda--Besler-Opara-- Zusi Gerso and Croizet can always cut inside allowing for overlaps. Or if we keep Russell outside, we can move Croizet to a MF spot and plug in Salloi or Rubio. The nice part is that we now have a ton of flexibility with almost all players (except our CBs and Ilie) being able to play multiple spots on the field well. Hopefully now that we have the players for flexibility, we'll see more of that happen tactically on the field this year.
I still think Rubio gets the start up top, but if Shelton can show himself as a Sapong caliber striker, best case scenario.
Would be nice to consistently play 1 for 60 minutes and the other for 30 ... and ride the hot hand for the start and then get fresh legs for the finish. Same could be done with our depth on the wing ... or at the #8 position (between Roger and Felipe). I'd rather see Croizet play the #10 spot and have a rotation of wingers between Gerso/Russell/Salloi ... and Roger and Felipe rotate a bit while providing games off for Illie and Croizet as well. Gerso/Shelton/Russell Croizet/Felipe Illie With Salloi subbing in for a wing, Rubio for Shelton and Roger for a midfielder. But that's not likely to happen with Vermes lack of sub usage.
I'm not sure there are many fans at all who would disagree with yay. It sounds like such a perfect, no-brainer strategy...
Our CB depth chart Besler-Opara Amor-Evans Didic-Ellis Lewis-Smith 8 deep at the position ... we have ALL the CB's! I understand that Ellis is likely already off of Vermes "white board" depth chart ... and Evans can factor in at RB (although we're 3 deep there too).