To be fair to Corporate Shill Andrew King, that is by far the most important and relevant piece of journalism that he has put out since covering this team. Good work, CSAK. Getting to the heart of the matter here I know that there will be Berhalter Believers who will spout forth the talking points about how Gregg works players into the team slowly, and how this is nothing to worry about. That's wrong. There is pattern of this sort of thing under Berhalter, and it's especially troubling in this scenario. Gregg is the Sporting Director. In his own words Manneh would "immediately improve the team." Over a month since then we haven't seen Manneh on the field. At this point either the Sporting Director didn't know what he was trading for and overvalued Manneh, or the Head Coach doesn't know how to use Manneh. It's not a good situation, and it's another example of our GAM and TAM being used for players who are on the fringe of the team and not producing. With those resources and what we spend on DP's you absolutely 100% need production from Last year we used this to bring in Dilly Duka. We spend DP money on Mensah who has been outplayed by a rookie, and who hasn't looked anywhere near DP quality while on the field. Now, we trade Tchani, and GAM and TAM for Manneh who is in the last year of his contract and who Vancouver gets most of the sell on rights if he transfers out. This is insane. Berhalter needs to get something out of Manneh this season. This is a player who was fit enough to play in CONCACAF Champions League and score a goal against Red Bulls. This is a player that was talented enough to be called into Bruce's first camp back. This player is definitely good enough to help the team and help the team NOW. If he isn't the blame falls squarely on the shoulder of Berhalter the Sporting Director for overvaluing him in the trade, and Berhalter the coach for not figuring out how to use him. Right now, Gregg is not looking to good.
Jimenez is making 150K which is not that much for a veteran backup player. Mensah is the guy who sticks out on that list. How soon can we unload him? I hope he's only here for 1 year at that price. We should be free of Sauro's contract after 2017, and those moves will free up a lot of cap space. Wasn't Tchani making a similar amount to Abu?
Agree on this being a bust if he doesn't pan out for us, but Tchani was also on the last year of his contract and is a free agent (an actual MLS free agent!) after this season. You were a big fan of Manneh being brought in. There was a lot of talk that he was mismanaged in Vancouver. But if a player isn't fulfilling his potential with one club and then fails to fulfill it with another, I think that says more about that player than the clubs- not that it doesn't still reflect poorly upon Berhalter if he brings in a player who underperforms. I hope this works out.
Gentlemen, can't you see GGGs master plan? It is soo obvious. He is building a roster to win the Open Cup.
With 2 keepers, you're 1 injury away from not having a backup keeper in your 18. Sure, you can go out and sign someone, but then you have to cut another player. Only 2 MLS clubs carry only 2 goalkeepers: Dallas and NYRB. Another side of it is having enough goalkeepers for practice. Sure during the summer we could bring in a college keeper from the area, but when they're in season that isn't really an option. Same with the Academy keepers. It helps to have 3 on the roster.
I don't know if this applies any longer, but there used to be an MLS rule that if your team only carried 2 goalkeepers, you were not allowed to use the pool goalkeeper in case of an injury.
There must be something wrong. I have learned that the Crew FO are the worst in the league but this makes them look like near the top. There is the problem, it is total salary. What if you only count the salary of the player who have played. For example take out Kaka from Orlando since he has not played. That might help. There has to be some way to make the Crew look as bad as I am told they are. . .
I thought Swanson was on season ending injury list too? Or does it not matter. Not having a go just a q
If only championships were given for the arbitrary standard of points per dollar spent with 76.5% of the season left to go. If only said championship was not given to the first place team in this arbitrary system but to the 4th place team. Man that would be awesome. We could call the trophy, The Arsenal....
If Manneh isn't playing its for a good reason. The fact is no one knows why specifically. At this point Its not fitness. My 5 guesses and nothing new here 1) Still adapting to very different system where he must play defense. 2) Work ethic .. 3G is high on this. 3) Really is no reason to rush at this time in the season. 4) He is not very mature..may have an attitude.. 5) Some kind of super trade deal is in the works..Crew get Falcao
If Manneh doesn't get meaningful playing time this season, it'll be a total Berhalter failure. That said, it's really only last week that I wondered at his lack of a role (playing time or in the 18). I didn't expect him to be ready to play at Chicago. He was in the 18 for the home match vs. TFC, but would have been a bizarre sub with us up by a goal in the second half. He didn't make the 18 at RBNY last week. Berhalter needs to find a way to use someone with Manneh's talent. I don't have a problem with taking adequate time to integrate him into the team. But Manneh should be pushing for starting XI status, not just bubble status on the 18. Especially with Artur's injury and the associated need to juggle things around to adjust for that, if he doesn't get meaningful playing time during this run of home games, this will have been a huge failure of Berhalter's.
2 points on this: 1. If Manneh doesn't work out, I'd question Berhalter the TD's acquisition more than Berhalter the head coach's man management (though trading one player with an expiring contract who could be worth something down the line for another player with an expiring contract isn't a terrible gamble). Manneh was alright in Vancouver, but there's a reason they were fine letting him walk and that he didn't take the league by storm. Sure as heck wouldn't be the first player to fail to live up to the hype. 2. The guys ahead of Manneh on the depth chart- Kamara, Jahn, Finlay, Meram, and Hansen- aren't going to be shuffled due to Artur's injury.
Most teams do this. Steffen was actually slated to be the third keeper at Freiburg before the transfer. One big reason is injury--who do you then scrimmage with if one guy is out? The "pool keeper" used to cover that--but I think MLS figured teams now had enough cash where a pool keeper is no longer needed league wide.Then of course, the Crew had the "Year of the 6 (7)Keepers", where they went through 6 keepers in 2005--and 7 the next--due to injuries.
It's the $400K in cash we sent with Tchani that is the most concerning. That's nearly a max salary player's worth of GAM and TAM. If we traded a known quantity that started every game when healthy the last 2 years for a guy who doesn't factor in to the plans it was a bad deal. When you factor in that if Manneh were happy here that he'd be more likely to re-sign and it seems at the moment that he's not happy it is even worse. Tchani is better than Abu, I have no problem saying that. Artur seems like he is an upgrade over Tchani in some ways and certainly has better potential being very young. We have zero MLS caliber like for like replacements for Artur. That's a problem. In a shuffle of spots, Meram could come central for Artur making room for Manneh I suppose. He can't be worse there than Abu.
I'd bet some of that TAM/GAM was gonna expire. GB can surely be criticized for signing Abu, he's garbage. That being said, he also brought in Artur, drafted Hansen, and was able to sign Crognale. I'm sure Hang will show up at some point and say Crognale doesn't count etc etc, but Philly wasn't able to keep Steffen, Dallas lost some kid to Schalke within the last year, and someone like Seattle came very close to losing Jordan Morris, so perhaps GB should get at least a crumb or two of credit for that. No one has a 100% record signing players. I think GB has probably brought in more good signings than bad. Tchani for Manneh... well, trading two players who will probably never live up to their potential, all the physical tools but can't get the mental part right. Both with expiring contracts. I'd bet if Tchani was parked on the bench all year, he'd be a giant locker room cancer. Manneh has potential to change up the offense. It's a gamble for us no doubt. Manneh needs to quit crying and start busting his ass.