Someone with Bez's ear on Twitter or something, please tell him this roster needs turned over like a compost pile.
Very true. Those four are terrific players. It makes me sad though that not a single German player is on the list at all anymore. Popp, Maroszan and the others are not at the level German players were 5-6 years ago.
Argudo, Lundgaard and Kempin all started in the Riverhounds 3-1 win over Hartford. Probably not unique to have both keepers in a game under contract with the same team but its not exactly common either
I think Lundgaard is our next Steffen he has more potential than our other keepers. Bendik is average at best and won’t get better. Kempin might get marginally better but I would start Lundgaard sometime this season after Zac leaves .
Lundgaard being our next Steffen sounds rather extreme. With that said, I'm interested in his development. He was our top draft pick last season and hes obviously still with us this season. Leads me to believe our former GK coach and now technical director Onstad might be high on him. I mean who knows for sure....but once Steffen is gone....I think it's worth giving him some opportunities to start...especially if he excels on loan. It's not like Bendik or Kempin are exceptional and that Bendik deserves to have the spot locked down or anything. If we have a stable of mediocre, serviceable at best gks.. might as well run out the one with some potential a bit. I also agree with @stanger about JJ Williams. Seemed like a beast in a preseason. Just dominated a debut game in USL. I dont see why he shouldn't be 2nd choice striker honestly.
I dunno whether Williams is the real deal or if he's ready or whatever, BUT when your team isn't scoring goals don't you run some other potential scorers out there and see if they can do better?
I tend to agree about JJ. Obviously I don't know what Coachbot is seeing in practice but with Mullins sub performance on Saturday (which granted didn't give him much time to do anything) and play vs Philly and JJs loan performance/preseason, I'm ready for JJ to get legit first team minutes over Mullins and wouldn't be upset if Zardes found the bench too. Maybe 1 forward up top first half, open the 2nd with 2 up top and sub off the starter after 15-20 minutes. Add a little flexibility in the attack to loosen up the D. Right now we have our preferred attack which seems to fail repeatedly for 80 minutes and then 10 minutes of flailing with 2 forwards as a backup plan. No bueno. As for GK, something tells me Lundgaard is more a potential backup/stopgap roster spot and not the future. A younger Kempin/Bendik. I could see giving him a chance to earn it but the writing may already be on the wall. If that's the case, I'll defer to Coachbot on whoever he send out PS (Post-Steffen aka the future dark ages).
Eh, you never know about the kids. Few years back my team was getting smoked and on their way to almost certain relegation. They decided to give the local kid a chance. We didn't get relegated after all. His name? ter Stegen. He's at Barcelona now....
New Crew boo J.J. Williams was named to the USL Championship Team of the Week. "F – J.J. Williams, Birmingham Legion FC: Williams scored twice after coming off the bench to make his Legion FC debut and helped the visitors hand Saint Louis FC its first loss of the season in a 3-2 win." A new train is pulling into the station! Drag that broke-down Zardes bum off the tracks!
Good news! We have a scouting czar. And he was with Celtic so... yay? Introducing #Crew96 Director of Scouting, Neil McGuinness! 📰: https://t.co/3qcWaIm0o6 pic.twitter.com/tMiP27FK1y— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) April 17, 2019 "Columbus Crew SC today announced that it has named Neil McGuinness as its Director of Scouting. McGuinness most recently worked for the Qatar Football Association as a Senior Player Recruiter and previously served as the First Team Senior Scout for Celtic Football Club of the Scottish Premiership, Scotland’s topflight."
Qatar national team and the Crew. Name a better match. But this seems like a decent hire on paper? Only thing I know about this guy is that his name is what a beer order at a Mcdonalds would sound like.
FYI, this kinda/sorta who he's replacing: https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/or...c-names-ricardo-moreira-director-of-scouting/ Can't say I'm blown away with his resume. But I also have no idea how other clubs staff such a position. It's always seemed as though MLS clubs are tight lipped about their scouting organizations.
This is two years old, but still pretty informative: http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-le...efront-of-major-league-soccer-rapid-evolution
I mean, he was on staff with Celtic and responsible for first team scouting and recruitment when they brought in Virgil Van Dijk...
Why would the FO pay McGuiness if they don’t have a need for him? I would expect some international signings this summer.
Fair point. Also keep in mind that the club has stated on the record that they want to run their own Crew 2 USL side in the relatively near future. As noted, that ESPN article above is two years old. But it certainly seems as though MLS clubs approach "scouting" in vastly different ways, and that resourcing scouting remains a relatively new thing in MLS. You'd think (or at least I hope) that the sale of players like Steffen and Gonzalez, hell, even Ajax's amazing run this year, might make new ownership willing to drop some cash on building out a top flight (for MLS) scouting operation.
Well of course being a Senior Recruiter for Qatar isnt anything much like any other job. His job was not wandering the desert looking for hidden soccer talent. There isnt any. Qatar consists of pudgy princelings who drive Maseratis until they run out of gas or something and then leave them by the side of the road. Everyone else is a "guest" worker, essentially a slave. They live in old truck trailers and die hy the hundreds every month. They are not and never will be Qatari citizens, and have no free time to be playing soccer anyway. Mostly southern Asian, although the North Koreans do rent out thousands of slaves as well. So what this guy did was wander Africa looking for young players whose families could be easily bribed to come to Qatar and become naturalized citizens, giving them housing and money and pretend jobs. Then their sons can get Qatari papers and play for their nationals. Their leading scorer is a native of Sudan. Their center mid is an Iraqi. Last month, when Qatar beat the UAE, they were pelted with shoes by the fans. The UAE filed a complaint which FIFA refused to comment on or do anything about, pointing out that neither player, among others, can legally play for Qatar Its an ugly, cynical program, and the fact that this guy was part of it gives one pause. On the plus side, maybe he felt he couldn't stand the stink any more, despite what was undoubtedly good money, a went.looking
We will not make a move before May deadline . When will we make a move ? I think they now know exactly what we have so the question is how much talent can we find before the offseason because we need to get rid of about 50% of this roster some of them should be on a Crew 2 USL team .
I change my mind : Abubakar, Lalas 17 D SR keep/ USL team Afful, Harrison 25 D SR keep as a back up or sell Argudo, Luis 2 M RES sell/ USL team Bendik, Joe 1 GK SR sell ASAP Clark, Ricardo 13 M SR move on after this season Crognale, Alex 21 D RES HG keep/USL team Artur 8 M SR keep until you find a better replacement then keep for back up Francis, Waylon 14 D SR keep as MVs back up Hansen, Niko 28 M SR keep/ USL team Higuain, Federico 10 M SR DP keep on discount only ( under 100,000) Jimenez, Hector 16 M SR keep until you find a better younger utility guy Keita, Aboubacar 30 D RES HG keep/ USL team Kempin, Jon 24 GK SUP replace Lundgaard, Ben 12 GK RES keep/ USL team Maloney, Connor 31 D SUP cut ASAP/ USL team back up Mensah, Jonathan 4 D SR keep Meram, Justin 9 M SR sell to Iraq or Cut Mullins, Patrick 32 F SR Cut Opoku, Edward 27 F SUP GA keep only because he is GA/ USL team Robinho 18 M SR INTL keep Santos, Pedro 7 M SR DP, INTL- keep until you find 2 better starters but next year he would have to take a pay cut , he actually plays well but lacks finishing in final 3rd which we need Sauro, Gaston 22 D SR - keep unless you sell high Sosa, Eduardo 20 M SR INTL- personally i like him and would start him in mid week games but he seems to be on his way out. Takes a international spot and if you can’t contribute now than you at least loan him out ./ USL team Steffen, Zack 23 GK SR - wish we could get on loan , once Man City’s season is over Trapp, Wil 6 M SR - keep unless you can sell high Williams, Josh 3 D SR - keep for back up Williams, JJ 33 F SUP GA- keep/ USL team Zardes, Gyasi 11 F SR - keep 28 of 30 spots filled Players that do not count against the 30-man active roster Valenzuela, Milton- keep So you sign this summer A GK , cut Bendeik or Kempin Sign as soon as you find a quality starter no later than before next season A RB , cut Maloney A CAM A winger Considering much of our roster is USL talent level We need a USL team by 2020 season so we can add better players . Core team you keep because they should start: LB: Valenzuela CB: Mensah CDM: Trapp ST: Zardes We basically have only 4 guys that are important and valuable everyone else is expendable and should be a back up. We need 7 new starters next year .
Coincidentally, when Sigi took over after 2005, his 2006 roster had IIRC exactly four players left from the previous year. That was a dreadful team but he was building something. Some of the guys he offloaded weren't that terrible and several had long, productive careers afterwards. Sigi just wanted a clean slate