Seems we will have a lot to discuss over the next few months. Coach change? Roster shake up? New owner? Cocktail recipe you want to share?
1. Try to hire GBS. 2. Fix the damn wingers. 3. Some more depth/attacking prowess or just a difference maker in CM. 4. A FB option/depth who is better in the air. 5. Possible Pipa, Steffen, Trapp replacements. 6. Backup forward replacement for Mullins/Jahn.
Everything rides on the coach which means they need to get the Transfer deal done ASAP. I would hate to have GBS go to Atlanta or LA just because we don't have an owner yet. One candidate that I heard mentioned recently that I had not thought of is Steve Cherundolo.
Dolo would be like Berhalter 2.0 Great idea! He's an asst. at Stuttgart now, I believe. Also been in Hannover system as youth and asst. coach. 15 yrs. as a player at Hannover. That possibility has me excited. Also in the post game presser, when GGG was choking up he said they had already identified players for next yr. or something to that affect.
The new coach will be Josh Wolff....Accept it, move on, its not that bad (although I also felt this way about Bobby after Sigi left FWIW) and GBS will be in ATL. That last part really sucks but is reality to me.
Dolo, as I recall, was fired when the Stuttgart coaching staff was replaced in early October.... But I doubt he'd want to leave Germany now.
Priorities: Seal the deal, keep the Crew in Columbus - all legal paperwork signed, all government roadblocks accounted for, etc. Final. Done. Secure a short term coach and long term coaching options Fix damage PSV did to Mapfre through negligence I would like to see Pipa win a cup with Columbus but if someone more long term is available so be it As far as other players go, with the right leadership we seem to do well enough to have a competitive team so if we lose some key players or decide to do a full rebuild at some point I would be okay with that Nothing against Frankie but I would like to see a new "face" of the Crew. Recipe (not a cocktail but, meh) Multi-meal White Chili Ingredients 1 package frozen chopped onion 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 packages Purdue ground chicken (or shredded chicken or slow roasted whole; i.e. git sum chikken) 1 package ground breakfast sausage, mild 2 Tbsp fresh ground black pepper 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp coriander 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp garlic or celery salt 2 cans great Northern beans, rinsed 1 can chicken broth 1 can cream of chicken soup (plus enough water to "fill" cooker) 2 cans chopped green chiles 1 package frozen sweet corn (or white corn) 4 Tbsp fine cornmeal I use an Insta-pot for everything. Saute ingredients 1-10 until meat browns. Add 11-15 and slow cook on high for 5 hours. Add cornmeal to thicken and 1-2 hours slow cook on high. Breakfast Add one large egg to a skillet with 1-2 servings of chili. Cook the egg to your preference. Serve over your choice of toasted bread and top with cheddar jack cheese. Lunch Serve as a side with a fresh salad and sandwich or in a bowl with freshly chopped onions, green and red peppers and cilantro. Dinner Duh, eat a big bowl... Garnish with your choice of fresh cilantro, pepper jack or habanero jack cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips. Paula Deen mod, add 5 cups cooked greens and red pepper flakes. For vegans, I find Morningstar Farms soy crumbles work better than the faux-meats and is easier to work with (i.e open bag, dump in). Add sage, marjoram, ground cloves and red pepper for the "breakfast" taste. It's not the same but close.
Step 1: Make the sale official. Step 2: New owners hire new staff likely including coach/technical director. Step 3: ??? (this is my placeholder for player acquisition/restructuring. Attacking mid and keeper being #1 priority) Step 4: Profit
We have a month of limbo on the ownership front and unless US Soccer decided to finally announce we a coach and technical director in limbo. This means who exactly is looking at the roster and scouting new players? What budget are they working under to figure out how to improve this team. That stuff needs sorted out before it feels like the on the field stuff can also happen.
I assume we will hear this week who is in and out of contract. Did Higuain sign on for 2019? We really just need to know officially about Berhalter before anything can happen. The modern OF: Add the cheap ingredients first (in case you screw up, drop the glass, whatever). Ice in a pint glass. 4 dashes of Angostura bitters. 1 oz. simple syrup. 2+ oz. bourbon, I prefer Buffalo Trace (my order of triage at a bar: BT -> 4 Roses -> Bulleit). Stir for 30 seconds. Strain over a big ice cube in a rocks glass. Peel a thick lemon or orange or both and zest over the top, line the glass. Optional: Drop in a cherry (Luxardo > BadaBing > everything else). I prefer this recipe to the classic with its muddled fruit, soda water, and ice chips which for me results in a tepid, diluted drink.
I'd love to see Schelotto here just as much as everyone else, but lets be realistic. Atlanta has money. Now maybe our new owner will be willing to break the bank and offer Schelotto some big money as well. But that's not all there is to it. If all things were equal, then I think he'd be happy to come back here, because he liked Columbus. But Atlanta doesn't just have money to spend on coaches. They also have money to spend on players. Schelotto in Atlanta is going to be given the opportunity to spend a fair amount of money to bring in some quality South American players. (Not to mention the quality Atlanta obviously already has, though you could easily assume that Atlanta will be losing some of their top stars to Europe at some point in the near future.) And that is something the Crew will likely be unable to match. Offering the same coaching paycheck is one thing, but offering the same player roster is something we almost certainly can't compete with Atlanta on.
How do we know what the new owner is willing to spend? Spending in MLS is small potatoes versus the NFL.
With the on-the-field portion of the season complete, I'm ready to put down the sippy cup of #SaveTheCrew news and start drinking from the #SaveTheCrew positive information fire hose. I'm so ready to move on from this mentally exhausting season.
This is going to be an interesting off season. I expect there will be a ton of changes come March when we resume play. Steffen is gone. Trapp is most likely gone. Pipa may be gone. We wont be able to keep Valenzuela from his parent club. None of our wings produced a goal threat. Our coach/Technical director may be gone. 2019 is going to be a transition year. My only hope is the optimism of STC can carry us through what will be a down year.
The 2017-2018 off-season was the worst and longest ********ing off-season in the history of Crew off-seasons. We can only go up. I have high hopes for this one.
I can't believe I'm about to say this about the guy who owns the Browns but... It doesn't have to be a down year. Yes, it'll be tough to retool, but I think it all comes down to the new ownership. Player-wise, we have some pieces in place, and we could be looking at a tasty transfer fee for Steffen (sad) to work with. If the brain trust can find the right coach/TD and open up the purse strings, we could come out guns blazing à la Atlanta or LAFC. Have some sunshine, BJ.
My view of the roster. Steffen- love him but he should go. Afful- Declining rapidly. Time to move on. Mensah- Much improved but still not worth the salary. Sauro- Often injured but playing for cheap. Worth keeping. Milton- I'm not as big on him as others but he has a huge upside. Keep him if we can. Artur- Keep him. Trapp- Keep him. I doubt he goes to Europe at this point and is a great face for the team. Pipa- Definitely slowing down and not worth the huge salary. I hated typing that. Williams/Jiminez/Clark- All decent backups but will not improve. If these guys are long term starters we are in trouble. Hansen/Opoku/Martinez/Argudo/Sosa/Crognale/Abubakar/- All younger with potential but not all will pan out. Jahn- Thank you for an iconic moment. Mullins- Keep him. Meram/Sosa- MOD EDIT: Imagine a colorful but honest assessment of the clowns. Anyone who disagrees must perform unspeakable acts with Anthony Precourt and a rhinoceros simultaneously.
Well not based on the current rosters. But Blank funded the core Atlanta team from scratch. I know its not only money, but money well spent, but Haslem *can* compete dollar-wise with Blank. He like Blank is a multibillionaire. (Blank about 1 billion more). Let's not sell Haslem short. I may be setting myself up for disappointment, but why should we assume that Haslem will act more like Clark Hunt rather than Arthur Blank when it comes to a blueprint for the future? He could triple our roster payroll without too much sweat. 7 million gets him the current roster quality, but for a pittance more (in his world) he can form a juggernaut that competes seriously for titles every year. Ok, I've set myself up for disappointment, but f*ck it, I'm going with that.
Here are salaries for context (Sorry for the formatting): Name Position Base Salary Total Comp Jonathan Mensah CB $774,996 $868,996 Joshua Williams CB $200,000 $200,000 Alex Crognale CB $95,004 $95,004 Lalas Abubakar CB $68,250 $75,750 Gaston Sauro CB $67,500 $67,500 Harrison Afful D $288,100 $363,800 Milton Valenzuela D $282,000 $313,300 Hector Jimenez D $159,996 $159,996 Connor Maloney D $55,654 $55,654 Wil Trapp DM $500,004 $550,004 Artur de Lima DM $210,000 $244,167 Ricardo Clark DM $125,000 $125,000 Gyasi Zardes F $630,000 $630,000 Patrick Mullins F $249,996 $249,996 Adam Jahn F $97,500 $97,500 Zack Steffen GK $145,000 $145,000 Jonathan Kempin GK $80,256 $80,256 Logan Ketterer GK $67,500 $67,500 Ben Lundgaard GK $54,500 $54,500 Federico Higuain M $1,100,000 $1,100,000 Eduardo Sosa M $100,000 $120,200 Pedro Santos WM $747,600 $794,600 Justin Meram WM $550,008 $578,758 Mike Grella WM $195,300 $197,550 Edward Opoku WM $75,000 $96,000 Cristian Martinez WM $68,915 $73,415 Niko Hansen WM $68,250 $75,750 Luis Argudo WM $54,500 $54,500 Things that jump out. There are 1 too many CB, GK and probably 2 too many WM. 1 too few DM (because I did not include Abu), M and D. I think there are a few players that look like good depth or worth some extra time just based on salary (Hansen, Sosa and Abubakar).
Hell, not even that. A lot of it is paid by the league. Which he's *technically* partially responsible for, but it's not direct from pocket in the least.