I'm not sure what Stieber has to do to prove he can start on this team. I've been watching him closely all season and he's been terrific on the attack in nearly every game he's played. I consider him at least the equal to Asad. But Ben clearly prefers Asad. I think that's because Ben is a little gunshy to have Stieber and Asad on the field at the same time since neither is defensively all that tenacious. I hope and believe that the presence of Deleon on the right will really unlock the right side. He's a better dribbler and a better defender than O'Neil Fisher. I have a feeling he's going to run rampant if his fitness is up to snuff. If I'm Ben, I play Deleon and Arriola on the right under normal circumstances and Arriola and Stieber when I absolutely need to score.
If we thought Steiber could replicate Asad's numbers then passing on Asad might make sense, but I've no reason to think we could get someone as good as Asad for such a reasonable price. Yes, he's not much interested in defending, but neither was Acosta until recently, IMO.
I think Asad's defensive work is "OK". He's very good on the high press, much less good in defensive zone marking and tracking. However, he's very tidy with the ball, a good passer and can score on a regular basis. I think a purchase of his contract is a no-brainer. Acosta's defense used to be similar, it's gotten much better. Maybe Señor Wayne can tutor Asad in the offseason on the importance of staying committed to defensive work.
IIRC, Stieber's contract is up at the end of the season. He's a Euro with substantial BL1 and BL2 experience. My suspicion is that Stieber will want to return to Europe regardless of whether or not he starts. Asad is younger, wasn't getting playing time in SA and DCU can buy his contract for $700K which is less than Stieber's annual salary. Put another way, Asad is a building block, and Stieber is more a win now at a higher price type of player. Personally, I would like to see him stick around. A midfield of Arriola, Asad, Stieber and Segura on the wings is pretty good for MLS.
I’ve seen Stieber track back on defense and snuff out attacks deep behind Fisher many times. And I’ve seen Asad consistently shrug off challenges while surrounded by opponents in midfield. Both can score when given the opening. I’d keep both. Right now we have potential starters coming on as strategic subs. You keep them if at all possible.
Don't look now but United's defense has given up one goal in the last 3 games. Granted these were home games, but 4 months ago a streak like this looked impossible. Lots of credit to Hamid and Canouse IMO ...
Also to Mora, who looked pretty bad his first few months here but had turned into a good LB. At RB, we've had, fisher, ellis, Arriola, deleon, and robinson in just the past 3 games in which we gave up 1 goal... And even Brillant has played well enough the past few games while filling in for Opare.
Robinson was awful, by the way. I still like him as depth in the center but he's absolutely terrible on the right, both offensively and defensively.
Good material for Loudoun United. He's just not MLS quality, that ship has sailed and gone over the horizon.
No sign of the Clark is a perfectly fine MLS goalkeeper posts lately so I guess you're right on Hamid. Just stay healthy Bill
I think it's clear that Robinson is woefully out of position at outside back. He's looked at least okay when he's played where he should be, which is in the middle.
Agree on Robinson. Our defense was maligned earlier in the year. especially in the pre-Rooney days when we weren't scoring, but post-Rooney (and Hamid) we have allowed relatively few goals. I still think, though, that we need upgrades, not least in speed. Out only defender with real wheels, IMO, is Odoi-Atsem, and the aforementioned Robinson. Our central defenders just aren't fast enough to close the gap if they are passed.
Fisher has amazing speed. That alone makes me want to hang on to him. Once he started making good decisions he became an above average MLS right back. He's 26 now so I don't know how much more he could improve, but he certainly got better with playing time.
Yes, but someone has to teach him not to face up to BWP 10 yards from the goal with your legs wide open like a croquet wicket. We coulda/shoulda won that match.
Being behind the goal, I did not have the best perspective to watch the Dallas match. And I didn't watch again on DVR when I got home. So everything I say may be crap (well, more crap than usual). But it seemed to me that there were two big problems with our offense on Saturday. The first is that Dallas was able to take advantage of how much our offense is dependent upon Rooney and Acosta, and in particlular the connection between those two. They didn't double-team defending them, but they always had a crowd of players between them, so the short simple interactive passing game that they've relied upon just wasn't there. The second issue was that often, we didn't even try that simple passing game -- it seemed like quite frequently we were impatient on offense, looking for the killer ball to split open the Dallas D when the passing that served us well against Atlanta and Orlando would have been better in the long run. Both of these things would improve if there were one or two more really dangerous threats to score. I remember Nowak's little pre-season seminar in 2005 about how any really good team needs four threats on offense. The player we're missing most on offense right now, IMO, is Asad. I'm not saying he's playing badly, not at all. But since he came back from injury, he's not the threat on attack that he was earlier in the season. Obviously part of that is the change in orientation of the offense, with Rooney here. But that's just the point: he and the team haven't seemed to figure out how he fits in yet. We'd be a lot more dangerous if he/we did.
I'm going to cross a couple of threads in response to you, @Bootsy Collins, but a couple of people near me at Audi Field on Saturday were imploring United to keep it simple. It did look like they were looking for that cute combination play that's unlocked so many defenses the second half of the season too much on Saturday, or trying to hit the hero pass when there was a simpler, more available option there for them (and no, I don't mean a backpass). To tie into that, I think the team still stands around too much when they have the ball. For all the work and running they do when they don't have the ball (particularly when the high press is working), they are far too stagnant and involved in ball watching when they have the ball. Yes, there are occasionally runs, but they aren't a consistent thing, and the team rarely bombs more than 2-3 players into the box. The team will need to move on from Ben Olsen to truly unlock the potential that the group of players here is capable of achieving.
I noticed the crowd of players between Acosta and Rooney too. Which left Stieber wide open on more than one occasion. But Rooney and Acosta insist on forcing the ball to each other, and ignored the better alternative option. For whatever reason they don't seem to click with Stieber, who seems to have a better connection with Mattocks. Unless Ben can coach them out of this bad habit, we may need Arriola back in attack. With De Leon healthy, we may not need Arriola in defense after all.
I don't get the criticism of Asad in the last match. He showed some great moves, and the only reason he might have been overlooked is that Acosta and Rooney are the go-to guys that everyone passes to. For this reason, even a very competent player like Stieber gets overlooked. Acosta loves a challenge, but I would rather seem him lay it off (to Asad or Stieber, for example) than dribble into a pack of defenders.
Cute dribblers (like Acosta) and cute pairs (Acosta & Rooney) need to spend the first 15-20 minutes on passing the ball to other players (Stieber, Asad, Arriola, etc) making the good runs towards the box. Likewise, all midfielders (esp Acosta, but even Rooney) need to take killer shots from outside the box. Force the defense to go out and defend outside the normal limits their coaches have told them. This opens up the game, and makes everything else much easier.