what's this? where'd you see this? some games he's worth the price of admission on his own. would love to see him come here.
Nah, he's not available. The owner was just talking out his ass the other day. Basically, the team is so bad that no one is safe. Piatti might be playing about perfectly, but he earns a lot and clearly the rest of the team needs upgrading. I doubt he's going anywhere. Unless Saputo really miffed him with his ramblings.
We've seen players leave over less, many times. Saputo's quote was pretty pointed. "I don’t want to start any rumors. For me, personally, like I’ve always said, today, in our current group, there is not one untouchable player.” a clearly frustrated Saputo said in an interview with Jeremy Filosa of local outlet 98.5 Sports after Monday’s loss (interview in French). “I may be speaking a little in the heat of the moment, but, seriously speaking, if someone comes to get Piatti and offers me X amount for him, I save on the salary cap and I make money. “Are we better off having three players at two million apiece instead of one player at six million? I don’t know. Anyways, personally, I’m not happy with our current situation and I’m not an owner who will say 'we’ll finish this year and then make decisions.' We have time to do that now.” PIatti is 33, and i don't see him being happy about this. I also don't see him having the sort of break the bank draw outside of MLS that he would have within it. European clubs won't come calling for a 33 year old who they were not really sold on as a young in his prime player, and Argentine clubs aren't likely to spend anything close to the $1.5m they got when they sold him to Montreal to bring him back. That isn't what they do. He's in an odd situation,. superstar quality in MLS, but fading star/never was a star elsewhere. This may be a blowhard blowing hard and by now realizing he'd better swallow, but I'd be disappointed if SKC didn't at least make a phone call to see what they need.
What kind of workrate does Piatti have? We all know that if he's not willing to run 20mph for 90 minutes and track endline to endline, he'll end up on the bench as a 90+2' sub no matter how good he may be. EDIT: There are plenty of really good players that I try not to worry about not signing because I know Vermes wouldn't play them.
Yeah, but... Shelton is praised for doing everything but scoring, and this weekend he scored. It was, statistically, his best game for SKC. This is his game map if you click off on everyone else on the field. I don't know where the heat maps are these days, but this shows a guy who is doing a bit less than endline to endline running. He's covering the attacking end of the field. This is the same thing for Piatti's last outing if you click off everyone but him. the match v the gals was hardly one of his best. PIatti was at least as active as Shelton (who is loved by Vermes) though there isn't much difference, is there? Was there undocumented running that didn't get the players involved in the play,? Sure, but you've seen Piatti play, he does his share of pulling people out of position with his runs. the primary difference would be that every run Piatti makes creates panic in the defense, for good reason. He's going to score if you give him an inch. Shelton thus far has shown he will score if you give him a lot of inches, plus some feet and yards and a mile or two and a bit of time. Doyle et al talks about Piatti a lot, how he is the consensus pick among MLS defenders for the biggest pain in their asses among league attackers. I don't see Piatti being a less active 9 than Shelton, though I'd love to see the heat map comparisons. I do see him as being an almost infinitely more dangerous 9, however. FTR I am not sure if he was playing as a left sided attacker or 9 in this match, but he's primarily been a 9 this season.
I hear quite a bit of noise about Seattle, and Atlanta and DC and on and on, but not a peep out of SKC. Is there any news?
I mean, no, and what do you expect? Teams that make big moves are making big moves. Teams that tend to quietly sit and hope that what they have is enough are... you know the drill.
i know, but this time it's especially heartbreaking. We're a single player away from a very legit shot at the supporters shield (i first typed the initials, but I'm in Germany and they scan for that sort of thing). I mean, if Almiron leaves for Italy, which sounds quite possible, Atl will stumble, and Felipe is coming back, and sigh, you're right.
I'm not sure we're a good number 9 away from a Supporter's Shield. I'm not sure we have the midfield depth to power through the whole season. Wan Kuzain has been a really great revelation, but once you get past Gutierrez-Espinoza-Ilie, the quality drops off really steeply.
The summer window is approaching and somebody usually gets dropped from the roster to make room for a mid season addition or just to save some bucks. I personally would like to nominate Brad Evans be the first to get the boot, unless his contract guarantees him a salary until the end of his contract. He has all the makings of being Justin Mapp 2.0. Except, Mapp actually made a brief (I think it was about 15 minutes total) appearance in a MLS game. I don’t think Evans will get any minutes in. As the Cauldron chants: Take out your dead.....
Interesting thinking. I mean, I don't care about Brad at all. He can disappear, all good. Who else is on the roster but has sucked in their appearances? Or hasn't played and clearly isn't worth it? I mean, I think Busio is the most expendable, but there is no way he's getting dropped, thank God. I doubt Shelton or Rubio goes. I'm afraid we might trade Gerso to free up roster and cap space for a striker, but if that's the price we pay for a goddamn winner, I can probably deal. Evans is best case scenario though.
I'd put good money on Evans with his experience in the league being on a guaranteed deal. The players waived this time of year are the ones on semi-guaranteed contracts (whose contracts become guaranteed on July 1), players like Jordi Quintilla, Alex Martinez, etc. If you're looking for players to be waived my money would be on Graham Smith or Colton Storm.
Medranda is a legit MLS mid as well. Croizet may not be a DP but we have shown we can win with him playing in midfield. Every team goes through injury spells. We just have to hope that this is ours and we don't get a second round. With a 9 and the return of Felipe, and the rest we've given lately, I think there is reason to be optimistic
Maybe we could trade Didic to a Canadian team for something. I think it's important to have a young CB in development and playing with SPR but keeping Didic in that role is now retarding the development of, well, anyone else He simply doesn't look like a player who is going to cut it in our defense, at least not in the next year. Last year, I had high hopes for him. I realize that only leaves us with Amor as a bench option (I'm thrilled with him), but there's always Evans? Seriously, what is his injury? Did he get in a car accident? Did we not actually sign him and this is all a twitter prank? [edit to add] Evans is only 33? WTF? He should have a good two seasons left as a bench option.
I was afraid of that. Evans on a 200k guarantee right now looks like robbery. If SKC can squeeze some valuable minutes out of him down the stretch to the playoffs it may be worth it. But if he just looks average playing for the Rangers and is perpetually injured, I don’t hold out much hope it will happen.
Guys, I'm having a thought. This is crazy, I know, but judging by results this year... maybe we don't need anyone else? We have 8 goals from subs this year, a new club record, and it's only June 24th. We haven't lost in 9 games across both league and Cup play. We are 1 point back in the SS table. 12 different players have scored this year. Our best player has been injured for two months. Espinoza has his career high assist total already, and it's only June 24th. Daniel Salloi is on pace for double digits in both goals and assists. So is Johnny Russell. Shelton+Rubio has 5 goals and 3 assists. Some of Salloi's production has come as a CF, as well. Can't really argue with results...
Unless the absolute right 9 is available, you're right. If the next Martinez is ready to sign, then we sign him of course. Rubio and Shelton have five goals and 3 assists, but Shelton especially has left too many on the table to feel comfortable. A thought though, Rubio as a late game sub is working out.
I'd rather not stand pat with what we have if the right player comes along. We've been getting the results in the first half of the season many times over the last few years and then struggled down the stretch. Maybe this year is different since injury is forcing more rotation than prior years, but I still think if we can get a "true" goal scorer at the number 9, let Salloi continue to play out wide and cut inside (where I think he plays best) would really be good for us. That said don't just add someone for the sake of doing it if a number 9 isn't out there that the team feels fits.
If Evans can actually play, he's nice insurance for August and September, if we've got some people fading. Kind of doubting whether he will actually be able to play though
I know this post is a bit dated (haven't been on here recently) but plenty of MLS teams would love to have Kuzain and Croziet as "questionable depth" I would imagine. I'd be interested in seeing Hernandez as well. I thought he performed as well as Kuzain as central midfielders at the SPR level.
I think you're right. However, I still feel, quality wholely aside, that we're numerically still weak in midfield depth. I guess if Evans ever is healthy, he could deputize Ilie pretty well, but I don't have the heart to bank on him. I do think our fullback depth has to really piss off a lot of other coaches in this league though, haha.